The Quietest Dehumidifiers – Decibels, Capacity And Coverage

Dehumidifiers are the best way to remove excess moisture from your home and can even bring down the level of mold, mildew, and allergens. Unfortunately, most regular dehumidifiers produce a constant buzzing noise when they’re on. While this is completely normal, it can feel annoying or frankly disturbing depending on your tolerance to noise.

Thankfully, there are many dehumidifiers that are specifically designed to be quiet. In this guide, we cover the quietest dehumidifiers and explain how they rank in terms of their:

• Noise levels 
• Coverage area 
• Overall performance

Features that make a dehumidifier noisy

A dehumidifier essentially works by sucking in large amounts of air, removing the moisture from it, and then blowing dry air out. 

The biggest source of noise in a dehumidifier is something known as a ‘compressor’, which is basically the motor that condenses air in your room and helps remove its moisture. 

Along with the compressor, the fan of your dehumidifier can also produce noise both when it sucks in moist air and blows out dry air. 

As you can tell, these are vital processes for your dehumidifier to work properly, and therefore cannot be replaced. However, some companies have designed their compressor and fan to be particularly quiet, which is what you should be looking for in a quiet dehumidifier.

How quiet should a ‘quiet dehumidifier’ actually be?

Noise levels are measured in a unit called decibel, or dB for short. 

High noise levels at or above 70 decibels can be annoying, while levels above 80 can cause permanent hearing loss if you’re exposed to it for long periods of time.

There are no specific standards that decide when a dehumidifier is considered loud or quiet, but note that:

• Dehumidifiers above 60 decibels will almost certainly feel loud. 
• Those between 50-57 decibels can be considered relatively quiet, and
• Dehumidifiers that make less than 50 decibels of noise are super quiet.

To give you an idea, here are some everyday items and the amount of noise they make:

Silent dehumidifiers

There are dehumidifiers that are so quiet that they seem silent, but no dehumidifier can ever be completely noiseless. This is because almost dehumidifiers come with a fan, which by their very nature, produce noise when they operate.

While it’s possible to change the design of the dehumidifier to ensure they produce very little noise, it’s not possible to completely eradicate this sound.

Some of the quietest dehumidifiers on our list today produce noises less than 40 decibels, making them whisper-quiet.

If you are only looking to dehumidify a small space like a cupboard, then you can use a completely silent desiccant instead. There are granule types, or companies like Pure Enrichment also offer moisture absorbing stones.

The quietest dehumidifier available

Considering the noise levels as well as other essential features, NineSky’s 85oz dehumidifier is currently the quietest dehumidifier available. It produces less than 30 decibels of noise when operating in its quiet mode. 

You can find more information about NineSky’s dehumidifier (along with 4 other quiet dehumidifiers) in our list below.

The Top 5 Quietest Dehumidifiers 

We looked at more than 30 dehumidifiers to figure out which ones were quietest, and how they performed in terms of the amount of water removed each day, and the room size covered.

Dehumidifiers that only cover a small area are usually quieter than larger ones (which makes sense).

In general, you’ll find that a quiet dehumidifier for a small room should be able to make less than 35 decibels of noise, while a quiet unit able to service large rooms up to 4,500 square feet should still produce less than 55 decibels.

Well, here are the results of our research, you can click on the links to get their latest price (and other details) from Amazon.

1. NineSky 85 oz Dehumidifier

The quietest dehumidifier available is this model from NineSky. It comes with two modes (night and day), and when set to the night mode option it makes less than 30 decibels of noise, making it whisper quiet.

Even when turned to day mode it’s still quiet, only making 40 decibels of noise (or less)

It can remove up to 2.1 pints (around 1 Litre) of water per day from rooms as big as 800 sq. ft – making it perfect for small to medium-sized rooms.

Pros:

• Whisper-quiet
• Color changing LED lights

Cons:

• No customer service
• 1-year warranty only
• Only available from Amazon

2. Seavon 35 oz Dehumidifier

Producing just 30 decibels of noise in its whisper quiet mode, Seavon’s 35 oz dehumidifier is the second quietest device on our list today.

Performance wise, the dehumidifier can extract 450 ml (or 1 pint) of moisture per day from rooms up to 280 sq. ft. in size.

While this dehumidifier is definitely not suitable for larger rooms, it can works perfectly for smaller spaces, especially bathrooms, where it is most efficient.

Seavon also offers some unique, fun features like LED lights with seven changing colors, an auto-off feature, and two different speeds. Combined with a two year warranty, a 60 day money-back guarantee and an affordable price tag, this is definitely an investment you can consider making.

Pros:

• Color changing LED lights
• 2 year warranty

Cons:

• Small coverage area
• No automatic drainage
• No smart features

3. Frigidaire 50 Pint Dehumidifier

Operating at just 47 decibels of noise on its lowest fan setting, this model from Frigidaire can extract up to 50 pints of moisture per day and is suitable for medium to large sized rooms, which includes standard sized living rooms, kitchens or even basements.

It also offers an auto-off feature, and a continuous drain option with a washable filter. To be honest, it’s the continuous drain option that makes this Frigidaire a good deal. Most other quiet dehumidifiers don’t have this option and just have a bucket or water reservoir that needs regular (daily) emptying.

To top it all off, the device has an energy star rating and is great for large spaces.

Pros:

• Wheels on the main device body
• Continuous drainage option
• Easy humidity control

Cons:

• Bulky design
• No smart features

4. Midea 35 pint dehumidifier

The Midea 35 pint dehumidifier is one of the best rated dehumidifiers in our line-up today, and for good reason at only 47 decibels of noise when covering an area as large as 3,000 square feet.

With a decent capacity of 35 pints per day and an airflow of 320 m³/h, this dehumidifier can operate at noises up to 51 decibels, at its loudest setting This is even more impressive considering how the device is designed to work in large spaces up to 3000 sq. ft.

The only design ‘flaw’ would be its weight of 33 pounds, but the wheels at the bottom do make it fairly easy to move.

Pros:

• Large area coverage
• Environmentally friendly, Energy star rated

Cons:

• Heavy
• Too large for smaller rooms
• Only 1 year warranty

5. Tosot 50 pint Dehumidifier with Internal Pump 

Tosot is a popular name in the world of dehumidifiers because of its consistent quality, performance and reasonable costs, all of which can be seen in its 50 pint super quiet dehumidifier. 

This device generates noises of 48, 50 and 52 decibels when working on the low, medium and high settings, which is the equivalent to hearing a light drizzle outside your window.

Suitable for spaces from 3000-4500 sq. ft., it can remove up to 50 pints of moisture per day and is the quietest one available for large rooms.

One unique feature is its internal pump, which can automatically pump out the collected liquid. The pump is so powerful it can even drain water up to 12 feet high from where your dehumidifier is located.

Pros:

• Internal Pump
• Large area coverage
• 3 fan speeds

Cons:

• Bulky design