Best / Roundup

The best dehumidifiers for an apartment

No floor drain, a neighbor through the wall, and an electricity bill with your name on it. Three constraints that change the answer.

By Scooter M.

Published September 1, 2026

Last updated September 1, 2026

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The short answer

For most apartments, a 30 to 32-pint unit at around 318 watts, chosen for its tank size as much as its capacity. There is rarely anywhere to run a continuous drain, so how easy the bucket is to carry to a sink matters more than any other feature.

The drain constraint, which nobody writes about

Every buying guide in this category assumes a floor drain. Apartments do not have one. The bath, the shower tray and the kitchen sink are all above the machine, which rules out gravity drainage entirely, and running a hose across a living space is not a thing anyone actually does.

So an apartment dehumidifier is a bucket appliance, and the specification that governs your life is tank volume. Our registry runs from 0.62 to 4.2 gallons. At 30 pints a day, a 0.62 gallon tank fills in about four hours of active running - though in a room that is only moderately damp, actual collection is far lower and a tank may last a day or two.

The practical version: pick the largest tank you are willing to carry, and put the machine within a short walk of a sink. A full 1.7 gallon tank is about 14 pounds, and the awkward part is not the weight but crossing a room with an open container of water.

The bill is yours, so run time matters

A 30-32 pint unit, the apartment default

(318 W / 1000) x 12 h x $0.1834/kWh = $0.70 per day

0.318

kWh per hour

$21.30

per month, 12 h/day

$42.61

per month, 24 h/day

Rate is the US residential average of 18.34 cents/kWh from the EIA Electric Power Monthly, June 2026. Yours will differ - use the calculator.

Two things reduce that number honestly. Set a realistic target - 50% rather than 40% - because the last ten points of humidity cost disproportionately. And use a schedule if the unit has one: several here run from an app, and running during off-peak hours is a real saving on a time-of-use tariff. Neither of those is a compromise on the result.

A utility sink with exposed pipework — With no floor drain, the sink is the destination and the bucket is the appliance.

Quick picks

#	Product	Best for	Draw	Price
1	hOmeLabs 32 Pint DehumidifierThe one hOmeLabs unit with a named entry in the ENERGY STAR list, so it is the one where the running cost is a published figure rather than a class estimate.	A bedroom that is damp but not wet	318 W	$234.99View on Amazon #ad Price as of October 16, 2026. How we are funded
2	Honeywell Smart Wi-Fi 30 Pint Dehumidifier (TP50AWKN)The anti-spill design is the actual selling point here, and it is a better reason to buy than the voice control the listing leads with.	A room you want to run on a schedule	Not published	$311.16View on Amazon #ad Price as of October 16, 2026. How we are funded
3	hOmeLabs 8 Pint DehumidifierA real compressor unit at a size where most competitors sell thermoelectric toys, which makes it the smallest machine here that actually removes meaningful water.	A closet, a boat, or a single small room	Not published	$174.99View on Amazon #ad Price as of October 16, 2026. How we are funded

hOmeLabs

hOmeLabs 32 Pint Dehumidifier

Best for: A bedroom that is damp but not wet

The one hOmeLabs unit with a named entry in the ENERGY STAR list, so it is the one where the running cost is a published figure rather than a class estimate.

Average draw

318 W

Computed from the ENERGY STAR certified entry hOmeLabs HME0089: 32.46 pt/day at IEF 2.01 L/kWh. This is the only hOmeLabs capacity in this registry with a named certified entry, which is why it is the only one carrying a number rather than a band.

What is good

318 W against the 50-pint class median of 488 W - about 35% less to run, hour for hour
Named in the ENERGY STAR certified list, so its IEF is public
Quiet enough for a bedroom in a way that a 50-pint compressor generally is not
Wi-Fi and auto shut-off at a small-unit price

What is not

32 DOE pints is genuinely less water than 50 - undersizing a wet basement costs more than the machine saved
Gravity drainage only
4,500 sq ft coverage for 32 pints is another claim to ignore

Who it is for

A bedroom, a home office, or a small basement that is humid rather than actively wet.

Skip it if

Skip it if the floor is ever damp to the touch or the walls sweat. That is a 50-pint problem, and a 32-pint machine will run continuously and still lose.

Honeywell

Honeywell Smart Wi-Fi 30 Pint Dehumidifier (TP50AWKN)

Best for: A room you want to run on a schedule

The anti-spill design is the actual selling point here, and it is a better reason to buy than the voice control the listing leads with.

Average draw

Not published

Not published. Honeywell's certified 32-pint entries, the TPFIT32AWK and TPFIT32WK, compute to 318 W at 32.46 pt/day and IEF 2.01. This is a different product line, so that figure sits in the note rather than in the spec table.

What is good

Anti-spill bucket, which matters more than any app feature if the machine lives upstairs
Scheduling through the app, so it can run when electricity is cheapest
ENERGY STAR certified at a small-room capacity
Alerts on the phone rather than only a beep in an empty room

What is not

No published wattage, and the certified list carries a different Honeywell line
3,000 sq ft for 30 pints is an optimistic claim
Depends on Honeywell's app remaining supported

Who it is for

An upstairs room or a rental where a spilled bucket is somebody's ceiling, and where scheduling is genuinely useful.

Skip it if

Skip it if the machine will sit on concrete next to a drain. You would be paying for spill protection and scheduling that a floor drain makes irrelevant.

hOmeLabs

hOmeLabs 8 Pint Dehumidifier

Best for: A closet, a boat, or a single small room

A real compressor unit at a size where most competitors sell thermoelectric toys, which makes it the smallest machine here that actually removes meaningful water.

Average draw

Not published

Not published. The certified 8-13 pint class runs 92-128 W with a median of 105 W across 39 models, and the median unit in that class uses 117 kWh a year.

What is good

A compressor at 8 pints, so it keeps working where a Peltier unit stops
Roughly a fifth of the power of a 50-pint machine
Wi-Fi and auto shut-off, unusual at this size
Small enough to sit in a wardrobe or a berth

What is not

1,800 sq ft coverage for 8 DOE pints is not a serious claim
Bucket only - no continuous drain at this size
Not ENERGY STAR certified, so no published IEF

Who it is for

Closets, gun safes, boat cabins, and single small rooms where a large machine is absurd.

Skip it if

Skip it for any room where you can feel the damp. Eight pints a day is a maintenance dose, not a cure.

Before you buy: is it condensation or a leak?

Apartment damp splits into two very different problems and they need different responses. Condensation damp appears on cold surfaces - window reveals, external corners, behind furniture against an outside wall - and is caused by ordinary living moisture in a space that is under-ventilated. That is what a dehumidifier fixes.

Penetrating damp or a plumbing leak appears as a patch that is wet regardless of the weather, often with staining, sometimes growing. A dehumidifier will run permanently, remove water indefinitely, and never resolve it - and in a rental, documenting it and telling the landlord is both the fix and your protection. A machine that quietly manages a leak also quietly conceals it. A manufactured home is a different problem again - fewer circuits, a lower ceiling and a federal moisture standard already built into the structure. The best dehumidifiers for a mobile home.

What we would skip

A 50-pint unit in a one-bedroom apartment
Too loud for the room, too much capacity for the moisture load, and 488 W on a bill you pay yourself. An oversized unit also cycles more frequently, which is the noise pattern people actually notice through a wall.
Any unit whose tank you cannot lift when full
With no floor drain, an apartment dehumidifier is a bucket appliance. A 1.7 gallon tank weighs about 14 pounds full and has to be carried to a sink without slopping. Tank size is a convenience spec in a basement and an ergonomics spec in an apartment.

How we picked

Sized for one to two rooms rather than a basement, at 30 to 32 DOE pints and roughly 318 W.
Tank capacity and how easily it empties, because there is usually nowhere to run a hose.
Cycling behavior, which is what a neighbor hears.
Anything that reduces run time on your own bill: a schedule, a decent humidistat, an auto-restart after a power cut.
Not tested by us.

We did not test these units. The full criteria and their weighting are on the methodology page.

FAQ

Questions

What size dehumidifier do I need for an apartment?

For a typical one or two-bedroom, 30 to 32 DOE pints. Bigger costs more to run, is louder, and cycles more often without drying the place any faster.

How often will I have to empty the tank?

It depends on how damp the place is. At full rated extraction a 0.62 gallon tank is about four hours, but a moderately damp apartment will not run anywhere near rated capacity, and a day or two per tank is more typical.

Will a dehumidifier lower my electricity bill by helping the AC?

It can reduce the latent load on an air conditioner, but it does so by using electricity itself. Do not buy one expecting a net saving - buy it because dry 76F air is more comfortable than humid 72F air, which lets you set the thermostat higher.

Can my landlord object to a dehumidifier?

It is a plug-in appliance, so ordinarily no. What matters more is that persistent damp in a rental is usually the landlord's problem to fix, and a dehumidifier that hides it works against you.

Sources