Sizing / Reference

Dehumidifier capacity chart

Every number you need to compare one class against another, in one place, with the source for each one. This is the page to bookmark.

By Scooter M.

Published September 1, 2026

Last updated September 1, 2026

The short answer

Portable dehumidifiers are sold in DOE capacity classes from about 8 to 50 pints per day. A 50-pint unit draws a median 488 W, a 30-32 pint 318 W, a 20-22 pint 258 W and a 10-pint 105 W. The 50-pint class was labeled 70-pint before 2020.

Capacity, draw and cost, by class

Rows of printed figures under hard directional light — Every figure below names its source and the date it was retrieved.

Average power draw by DOE capacity class, computed across 527 certified portable models

Class	DOE capacity	Models	Median draw	Range	Median IEF	kWh/year
~10 pint	8-13 pt/day	39	105 W	92-128 W	1.91	117
~16 pint	14-18 pt/day	44	167 W	166-180 W	1.89	181
20-22 pint	19-23 pt/day	51	258 W	214-267 W	1.7	276
25 pint	23-27 pt/day	127	265 W	236-289 W	1.79	285
30-32 pint	27-33 pt/day	21	318 W	293-318 W	2.01	343
35 pint	33-38 pt/day	73	351 W	313-373 W	2.01	375
40 pint	38-45 pt/day	5	401 W	396-410 W	2.21	432
50 pint	45-52 pt/day	164	488 W	443-490 W	2.01	520

Computed on 2026-09-01 from the ENERGY STAR certified product list (136 brands). Formula: liters/day = pints/day x 0.473176; kWh/day = liters/day / IEF; watts = kWh/day x 1000 / 24. Cross-check: dividing each model's published annual consumption by its computed draw gives a median implied run time of 1074 hours a year across the whole list. Source data.

Every unit we track, and whether its maker publishes a wattage

Unit	DOE pints	Drainage	Average draw	Where the figure comes from
Midea Cube 50 Pint Dehumidifier	50	gravity	487 W	ENERGY STAR certified entry, computed
Midea Cube 50 Pint Dehumidifier with Pump	50	pump	487 W	ENERGY STAR certified entry, computed
Frigidaire 50 Pint Dehumidifier with Pump and Wi-Fi	50	pump	490 W	ENERGY STAR certified entry, computed
Frigidaire 50 Pint Dehumidifier with Pump	50	pump	Not published	No named certified entry
Frigidaire 50 Pint Portable Dehumidifier	50	gravity	Not published	No named certified entry
GE ENERGY STAR 50 Pint Dehumidifier with Pump	50	pump	487 W	ENERGY STAR certified entry, computed
GE ENERGY STAR 50 Pint Dehumidifier	50	gravity	487 W	ENERGY STAR certified entry, computed
Honeywell 50 Pint Dehumidifier with Pump (TP70PWKNR)	50	pump	Not published	No named certified entry
hOmeLabs 50 Pint Dehumidifier	50	gravity	Not published	No named certified entry
hOmeLabs 50 Pint Dehumidifier with Pump	50	pump	Not published	No named certified entry
hOmeLabs 32 Pint Dehumidifier	32	gravity	318 W	ENERGY STAR certified entry, computed
Waykar 34 Pint ENERGY STAR Dehumidifier	34	gravity	Not published	No named certified entry
Waykar 30 Pint ENERGY STAR Dehumidifier	30	gravity	Not published	No named certified entry
Honeywell Smart Wi-Fi 30 Pint Dehumidifier (TP50AWKN)	30	gravity	Not published	No named certified entry
hOmeLabs 8 Pint Dehumidifier	8	bucket	Not published	No named certified entry
AlorAir Sentinel HD55 Crawl Space Dehumidifier	36	gravity	344 W	ENERGY STAR certified entry, computed
AlorAir Sentinel HDi65S Crawl Space Dehumidifier with Pump	55	pump	Not published	No named certified entry
Waykar 80 Pint ENERGY STAR Dehumidifier	50	gravity	Not published	No named certified entry
Ivation 19 Pint Desiccant Dehumidifier	19	gravity	Not published	No named certified entry
Ivation 13 Pint Desiccant Dehumidifier	13	gravity	Not published	No named certified entry
Pro Breeze Electric Mini Dehumidifier	1	bucket	Not published	No named certified entry

Seven of twenty-one map to a named entry in the ENERGY STAR certified list and carry a computed figure. The other fourteen say so rather than borrowing a sibling model's number.

The pre-2020 equivalents

Portable dehumidifiers: pre-2020 rating to post-2019 rating

Labeled before 2020	The same hardware now	Change
30 pint	20 pint	Identical machine, cooler test, smaller number
40 pint	25 pint	Identical machine, cooler test, smaller number
50 pint	30 pint	Identical machine, cooler test, smaller number
55 pint	30-35 pint	Identical machine, cooler test, smaller number
60 pint	35 pint	Identical machine, cooler test, smaller number
70 pint	40-45 pint	Identical machine, cooler test, smaller number
90 pint	55 pint	Identical machine, cooler test, smaller number

Published by ENERGY STAR as the approximate correlation between the two test procedures. It is not our conversion and it is not a rule of thumb - it is the official mapping. Source.

Whole-home ducted dehumidifiers: the same correlation

Labeled before 2020	The same hardware now
80 pint	70 pint
100 pint	85 pint
120 pint	100 pint
140 pint	115 pint
160 pint	135 pint
200 pint	170 pint

Whole-home units lost proportionally less because they were already tested closer to their real operating condition.

Cost per month by class and schedule

US average residential rate, 18.34 cents/kWh, 30.44-day month

Class	Median watts	4 h/day	8 h/day	12 h/day	24 h/day
~10 pint	105 W	$2.31	$4.62	$6.93	$13.87
~16 pint	167 W	$3.68	$7.35	$11.03	$22.06
20-22 pint	258 W	$5.68	$11.36	$17.04	$34.08
25 pint	265 W	$5.84	$11.67	$17.51	$35.02
30-32 pint	318 W	$7.00	$14.00	$21.00	$42.01
35 pint	351 W	$7.73	$15.45	$23.18	$46.37
40 pint	401 W	$8.83	$17.66	$26.49	$52.98
50 pint	488 W	$10.74	$21.48	$32.24	$64.47

Computed as (watts / 1000) x hours x 30.44 x $0.1834. The rate is the EIA US residential average for June 2026; yours will differ, sometimes by a factor of four. Rates by state.

Room guidance, with the caveat attached

A starting point only. Measure the humidity before you trust any row.

Space	Typical class	Why
Wardrobe, gun safe, boat cabin	Thermoelectric or ~10 pint	About a pint a day is enough for an enclosed volume with a smell rather than a problem
Bathroom	10-19 pint, desiccant if cold	The load arrives in bursts; a fan does most of the work
Bedroom, home office	30-32 pint	Quiet enough, and about 318 W on a bill you notice
Apartment, one to two bed	30-32 pint	Tank ergonomics matter more than capacity - there is no drain
Basement, damp	50 pint	The default. Cool, below grade, gains moisture continuously
Basement, wet or over 2,500 sq ft	50 pint plus drainage, or two units	Capacity plus somewhere for the water to go
Garage, summer	50 pint	Large, leaky, and a slab that wicks
Garage, winter, unheated	Desiccant	A compressor ices below about 41F and stops being useful
Crawl space	Low-profile 35-55 pint DOE	Form factor and low-temperature operation, not raw capacity

How to read a listing against this chart

Match on the DOE pint rating, not on square footage and not on a saturation figure. If a listing gives a capacity at 95F and 90% RH, divide your expectations by somewhere between two and three - the units in our registry run from 2.4x to 3.1x between their headline and their DOE rating.

If a unit carries an ENERGY STAR badge, its exact certified capacity and efficiency are public and you can look them up rather than trusting the listing. That is a genuine reason to prefer certified models beyond the efficiency itself. What IEF buys.

FAQ

Questions

How many watts does a dehumidifier use?

By class median across the ENERGY STAR certified list: 105 W at 10 pints, 258 W at 20-22, 318 W at 30-32, 351 W at 35 and 488 W at 50. Individual models vary within about ten percent of their class.

How many pints per day should a dehumidifier remove?

Its rated capacity, at 65F and 60% RH. In a cooler or drier room it will remove less, and that is the machine behaving correctly rather than underperforming.

What is the biggest portable dehumidifier you can buy?

50 DOE pints is effectively the top of the household portable class - 164 of the 527 certified portable models sit there. Above that you are into ducted whole-home units, which run 461 to 1,088 W and are installed rather than plugged in.

Sources