GE Dehumidifier with Pump & Hose, 50 Pint for Basement & Home, 5000 Sq Ft

Why it's worth it

A 50-pint unit with a built-in pump that pushes condensate up to 16 feet away, to a utility sink, a laundry standpipe, or a drain in the next room. Smart Dry adjusts fan speed on its own, so it eases off once the room settles at your setpoint.

Most basement dehumidifier headaches are really drainage headaches. A gravity hose has to run downhill the entire way, and plenty of basements simply don't offer that — the drain is buried under the stairs, or there isn't one at all, just a laundry sink on a plinth. The GE's pump ignores the geometry. Run the included hose where you need it, and stop planning your basement around a drain.

Smart Dry is the rare automatic mode that does something you'd actually want. It reads the room and raises fan speed when humidity climbs, then backs off once conditions hold steady. So it's quieter on an ordinary day and more aggressive after a thunderstorm, with nobody standing there pressing buttons. It also cuts down on the constant full-tilt running that wears a compressor out early.

From our review of 11 basement dehumidifiers, by David Sinclair, Managing Editor

What we like

• +Most basement dehumidifier headaches are really drainage headaches
• +Smart Dry is the rare automatic mode that does something you'd actually want
• +GE describes it as ultra quiet in its own specifications, and the layout is consistent with that: one compressor in a tall,…
• +The alerts are the part you'll appreciate six months in

What to know

• –There's no app and no voice control
• –A pump is also one more thing that can fail