Waykar 158 Pints Crawl Space Dehumidifier with Remote Control up to 6,500 sq. ft., Dual Duct HVAC Commercial Whole-House Dehumidifier for Basement, Industry Water Damage Unit - 5-Year Quality Coverage

Brief summary: Humidity bad. Waykar good. Long winded version: I’ve been running a Waykar upright dehumidifier in my workshop for three years now. I’m down near the Gulf coast and the humidity stands outside the door waiting to punch you in the face and kick your teeth in as soon as you step outside. Unfortunately, it also causes steel to rust. A lot. Badly. And I have way too much money invested in tools and old Land Cruisers to allow that thief to corrode my stuff. Hence the dehumidifier…sorry, I got a bit distracted there. Anyway, after three years of continuous operation the poor thing quit dehumidifying. It still runs and all, but it quit drawing out water so I contacted Waykar customer service via email. They responded very quickly, asked some questions, had me run some tests to troubleshoot, and ultimately determined that it was low on refrigerant. Unfortunately, most small fridges and dehumidifiers are not designed for servicing because the service would cost half as much as the unit, so it’s pointless. However, Waykar recommended this slightly smaller unit so I went to Amazon and snagged one. I know, you’re wondering why you’re bothering to read such a rambling review. I apologize. Some shipping damage but it’s a work piece, not a show piece, so I figured I’d see if it works before going to all the effort to return and exchange. Zero problems! The unit runs perfectly and within 3 minutes had dropped humidity by 1% in a 3600 sq ft shop. The shop is pretty well sealed with two large overhead fans to keep air moving. Within 10 minutes it was down by 3% and in 15 minutes down from 31% to 26% where it automatically kicked off (my setting). LIKES: Dude. Super easy to use. The operating manual makes sense, is well written and covers everything, but the controls are intuitive. Quiet - now it’s not silent by any means, and I can hear that it’s running when I’m across the shop from it, but it’s not loud. You can have a conversation directly beside this thing without raising your voice. I’m also a biggo fan of the fact that it has both a continuous gravity drain and an automatic pump drain if you’re using it under a house. We don’t have basements in Texas, but the feature is cool. And finally, the gravity drain port is same size as the inside of a standard garden hose. I cut the end off an old hose, pushed the cut end over that drain port and routed the other end to a bulkhead fitting through the shop wall so it can drain outside and never have to touch it again. I like. In case you couldn’t tell.

The unit itself is impressively built and very heavy, I had to have it delivered specifically to the crawlspace for my home where it was to be placed. The unit has performed well, easily keeping the recommended 50-60% humidity that the crawlspace should be at, without any issues. Having both the gravity drain and pump as options for draining helped, as I can use both due to the area it's in. This ensures it won't potentially ever fill or overflow. The unit is still performing well, having bought it in June, but I did have the control panel display the 'EC' code. This required contacting the company. I was astonished at how quick their responses have been and their support through the troubleshooting. While the unit is functioning, the panel does not correctly display the humidity and temperature of the area while their (separately bought) control panel external control does indeed display the correct current conditions. They offered a replacement motherboard, but after discussion with them we are going to replace the whole unit. Considering the weight and size, I was pleased to discover that their shipping cost (since it has been many months) was absolutely much lower than I expected and I am working with them to get the new unit shipped and in place. Overall I can highly recommend this company for their quality and response in customer service, as well as the ability for the unit to continue working even with a detected internal error.

### Update 2 ### Received my replacement unit within 5 days of my requesting same. Waykar Customer service kept me informed of the process every step of the way and shipment arrived right on schedule. Unit I received was brand new with a manufacturing date of March 2022. Even this was above and beyond what I expected. I thought I would have received a refurbished unit and not a brand new one. I was able to simply disconnect the cables and duct work from my old unit and put the new one in its place; and once power was turned on it took only a couple hours to be down to my desired RH setting. Unit has been working flawlessly to keep my crawl space dry once again. Thank you Waykar customer service for all your help. ***Update: After working perfectly at keeping my crawlspace dry for 20 months the unit has had issues with frost buildup at the air intake. Upon contacting Waykar customer service and explaining the problem I was experiencing, they responded overnight and requested I perform a sequence of events and take pictures to help them determine what the problem may be. Upon completing this task and provided them the information they, once again, responded overnight and offered me several options to repair/replace my defective unit. I was very happy with how quickly and congenially their customer service helped me with addressing this issue and look forward to a quick turnaround on my replacement. I would still recommend this Waykar product to anyone who is looking to combat moisture in there crawlspace. ************ The thing that sold me on this unit was the large capacity and excellent price. The specs for this unit was much higher that other manufacturers costing hundreds more. The unit arrive quickly (Amazon Prime) and in good condition. This unit was replacing another dehumidifier from another manufacturer from 5 years ago in our crawl space. Some of the big differences I liked about this new unit was the remote control panel, remote humidity sensor, and the ability to use flexible duct work to redirect the exhaust side of the dehumidifier. THe installation was relatively simple with the only effort required to remove the old unit and lift the new unit up on the mounting bracket to hang it from the floor joists under the house. With the 10M remote cable I was able to run it out of the crawlspace and onto a inside wall of the Garage for easy monitoring. The old unit was installed a good 20 ft under the house from the crawlspace entrance and had no way of knowing if it was working or not. I really liked hanging the remote humidity sensor away from the unit more close to the middle of the crawlspace. THe only additional item purchased was a 20ft 6 inch flexible duct that I connected to the exhaust on the unit and had the discharge go further back into the crawlspace, which in my opinion made for much better airflow to remove more moisture in the crawlspace. I set the humidity level at 45% and check the control panel on a regular basis, since it is easily accessible from my garage, and I have seen the level rise to as much as 48% and within a short period of time lower down to 43%. On average it fluctuates around 45% as I would have expected. So, all in all the unit performs as advertised and I would recommend to anyone needing a crawlspace dehumidifier.

The unit is built well solid construction - heavy duty and is easy to set up. The only weakness is in the control unit. For some reason they don’t attach it well to the wire. You can pull it apart very easily- I put it to use and within a few hours the humidity level started to drop. We had some water damage so I called in the big guns with this one. The remote and humidistat sensors came with plenty of cord to give you placement options. Customer support responds quickly to inquiries and helped me with my questions. This is my 4th Waykar product and they all have been a great purchase.

We originally bought this Waykar dehumidifier to dry out the crawl space under our house, and it performed extremely well. It pulled moisture out quickly and consistently, and we were pleasantly surprised to see that it also kept humidity low in our laundry room. After about 11 months of continuous use, it has remained reliable and effective. The unit runs steadily, manages moisture efficiently, and has made a noticeable difference in both spaces. We also picked up a smaller Waykar model for a storage shed, and that one has been working just as well. It keeps the area dry without any extra effort on our part. Overall, the performance has been solid across both units, and the results have been exactly what we needed. Highly recommended.

This has been an awesome dehumidifier. We have a walk out basement and had issues keeping humidity down. We had smaller units that claimed to do the size we needed but this was a game changer. I recommend an Airthings monitor (I have the Wave Plus). It really dials in all your air quality recordings. The dehumidifier has made a huge impact. On air quality for our basement. After a few months I did a permanent whole house install venting from utility area through wall with a diffuser and now can barely hear it. Have it draining to a sump. Definitely more efficient than smaller units. No issues for year we have had. For the price difference of the bigger names I can buy a new one every so often. Bought extended warranty for very little on Amazon.

Update #2 - I have now had the machine 8 months and it is getting a second error. This time "EM". It runs for a minute and shuts off. I sent an email to customer service and received no response. Interestingly enough, when I signed in to update this, my 1 star was changed to a 2. I reset it to 1, because 0 is not an option. I purchased the unit and paid to have it installed by a licensed HVAC tech. It gave a sensor error code (E4). I emailed customer service and got no response. I called customer service and nobody answered. I had to leave a call back number. I was eventually contacted by customer service via phone. All other communications were via text. The company has a US address but a lookup on the South Carolina secretary of state's website shows that it is foreign owned. The address is a ghost address used by multiple companies. So, that explains the lack of good customer service. I was first told to see if it is working and ignore the code. I was then told to let it run for 24 hours and the code will go away. I will be testing it soon and update this post. Either way, it has been a poor experience. I would not buy another one. Update - The code never went away. The company sent a new humidity sensor, which I had to install myself. That seemed to fix the problem. If there had been proper testing procedures when the product was produced, this never would have happened.

Great unit! Works as advertised