Waykar 34 Pint ENERGY STAR

The 30 percent setting, and when it earns its keep

Almost every household dehumidifier has a humidistat floor of 40% relative humidity. That is a sensible floor for living space - the EPA's recommended band runs 30 to 50%, and below 40 a room starts to feel dry without any benefit, because the mold threshold is 60 and you are already well clear of it.

So for ordinary running, the 30% capability does nothing for you and you should not use it. Where it matters is drying something out:

• After a leak or a flood. Getting materials to give up their moisture means pulling the air drier than you would ever hold it. A 40% floor makes that slower.
• A storage room with paper, cardboard or fabric. Those materials equilibrate with the air around them, and 35% stores better than 50%.
• A workshop with tools. Surface corrosion slows markedly as humidity falls.
• A space you are about to close up - a boat, a seasonal property, a store room nobody will visit.

For a basement you simply want to keep comfortable, this is a specification you will set once to 50% and never think about. Ideal humidity settings.

The wattage, and why we will not print a single number

Waykar publishes no power figure for this unit, which is normal in this category - of 21 units we track, one prints a wattage on its listing.

Waykar is a harder case than most, though, and it is worth explaining rather than glossing. It sells this capacity under several different certified model numbers rather than one: JD025CE-120, CHWA120A, CHWA120B, CHWA120E, and the YD-120 family all sit in the ENERGY STAR list at 35-ish DOE pints. Computed from their published IEF and capacity, they land between 342 W and 362 W, clustering around 345.

Any one of those numbers would look more authoritative on this page than a range. It would also be a guess about which certified model this particular listing corresponds to, and we do not have that mapping. The band is what the evidence supports. How the wattages are computed.

Quick picks

#	Product	Best for	Draw	Price
1	Waykar 34 Pint ENERGY STAR DehumidifierOne of the few units at any size that will set below the usual 40% floor, which is the difference between a dry basement and a merely less-damp one.	Drying below 40% relative humidity	Not published	Check price on Amazon #ad How we are funded
2	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	Check price on Amazon #ad How we are funded

1

Waykar

Waykar 34 Pint ENERGY STAR Dehumidifier

Best for: Drying below 40% relative humidity

One of the few units at any size that will set below the usual 40% floor, which is the difference between a dry basement and a merely less-damp one.

Average draw

Not published

Waykar publishes no wattage and sells this capacity under several certified model numbers rather than one. Its certified 35-pint entries - JD025CE-120, CHWA120A/B/E and the YD-120 family - compute to between 342 W and 362 W, clustering at 345 W. That band is the honest figure; picking one of those model numbers to print under this listing would be a guess.

What is good

• +Sets down to 30% RH where most units stop at 40%, which matters for storage and post-flood drying
• +Automatic defrost, so it keeps working as the room cools
• +Drain hose in the box rather than a separate purchase
• +A 2,000 sq ft coverage claim that is at least in the same universe as its capacity

What is not

• -No wattage published and no single certified model number to map to
• -0.66 gallon tank is small - on bucket duty in a damp room this is a twice-a-day machine
• -Gravity drainage only

Who it is for

Storage rooms, workshops and basements where 40% is not dry enough and you have somewhere for the hose to go.

Skip it if

Skip it if you plan to empty a bucket. At 0.66 gallons and 34 pints a day, a full tank is roughly four hours of work.

2

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.

The tank is the real compromise

0.66 gallons. At 34 pints a day - which is 4.25 gallons - a full tank is roughly four hours of work in a genuinely damp room.

That is not a defect so much as a design decision: this unit expects to be plumbed. Waykar includes a 6.56 ft drain hose in the box rather than selling it separately, which is a fair signal of intent. Run it on gravity to a floor drain and the tank never fills; run it on the bucket and you will resent it within a week. Capacity versus tank size.

Coverage claim, for once not absurd

2,000 square feet for 34 DOE pints. Set against the rest of this category that is restrained - hOmeLabs claims 7,000 sq ft for a 50-pint machine, and units with identical certified capacity claim figures 1.9x apart. Waykar's number is at least in the same universe as its capacity.

It is still not a specification, because no coverage claim is. There is no test procedure behind any of them. Why the square footage is not a spec.

Who should buy something else

• Anyone with no drain. Gravity only, and a small tank. This is the wrong machine for a room where the bucket is the only outlet.
• Anyone whose drain is above the machine. No pump. Pump versus gravity.
• Anyone with a genuinely wet basement. 34 pints is a mid-size unit; a wet below-grade room usually wants 50. The basement roundup.
• Anyone who wants a published wattage. The band is honest but it is a band.

What we did not do

We have not run this unit. No noise measurement, no extraction test, no check of whether the humidistat actually reaches 30% in a real room rather than on a spec sheet - that last one would be genuinely worth knowing and we cannot tell you. What this page adds is the certified data, the model-number ambiguity stated plainly, and the sources linked.