Are dehumidifiers worth repair? Any experience?
Motor still runs but stops collecting water. Either filter is dirty blocking air flow or cooling has stopped maybe due to loss of coolant.
Any suggestions out there?
There is a fan motor and another for a compressor. I would try to figure out which are running. Is air blowing? You should be able to feel it. Is anything getting cold?
I wouldnât invest more work into one than such diagnosis as above, and simple cleaning.
Remember to dispose of an old one as you would an air conditioner.
The one I have now used to just run, and run, and run, even when the humidity was low. When powered off and on again it worked correctly, for a little while, then just ran and ran and ran. I put it on a timer set to turn off briefly on some sort of interval I donât recall. It has been doing alright since then.
If you let water collect in the tank, big test is does it still collect water.
Easy to tell if air flow is blocked. Cool air can be difficult. Clean coil is sometimes recommended but often they are hard to get to. Sealed construction.
Final test is is humidity high or is it coming down. Blocked air flow from dirty âscreenâ is most common but also most obvious.
When it runs but humidity does not come down can be that unit is too small for the area.
Or simply lower temp setting on AC to remove more humidity. Dehumidifier is probably more cost effective and energy efficient if it does the job.
Hi @pauleckler,
My suggestion is make, model & google. Preface with the word âmanualâ
Could be as simple as a vacuum cleaner job.
Does that help you?
Gene
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Profile - gdett2 - Motley Fool Community (Click Expand)
I did the major refurb on the last one yesterday. Cleaned screen. Ran overnight. Fan worked but no water in the bucket.
I recall the days when a new refrigerator would run for 20 yrs. Now if they run 5 yrs you are doing well.
I suspect the problem is compressor failure.
Got new 120 pt/day model from Home Depot. Have it running now. Will see how it does.
I have six of these around the house. They track temperature and humidity. They are cheap, and have only been lasting a few years, so most are replacements. They only keep track of the last couple of weeks, so I try to remember to use their app on my phone to save history every Saturday. When one stops working I have learned I must use a new name for the replacement, as deleting the dead one looses all the data in the app. When the dehumidifier stopped working in the basement I could see that, and that the new one was working.
Here is a screen capture from the app showing a year of one in the attic.
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Whirlpool. Mfg under license by XLS Products, Inc. Four models 23 to 50 pt w R32.
50 pt for 650 sf.
30 pt for 400 sf.
GE. 50 pt for 4500 sf
They do make commercial size dehumidifiers. On Nextdoor someone suggested this one:
Not many familiar brands out there. Whirlpool and GE have them if you go looking for them.
Mine came from Kesnos. I got it at Home Depot. Working five so far. Removed a gallon in 6 hrs. Brought humidity down from 75% to 65%. Built in humidity gauge does not match unit on the wall. Built-in reads low by 10% or so. Iâm hoping setting for 40% will get me close to the desired 50%. 120 pts is 15 gal per day. Hope to maintain 50% w/o running compressor full time. I estimate abt 2.5 gal required to reach my goal.
Kesnos also makes commercial units for up to 8500 sf and 155 pts.
Looks like the worst you can do for a dehumidifier is buy an undersized unit. I donât know but suspect a refrigerator compressor runs abt 10 min per hour. Undersized dehumidifier runs up to 24 hrs per day. No wonder they wear out after only a few years.
Hi @pauleckler,
In our previous house, I had a similar AprilAire unit installed. The 2005 level of integration was low. I had to manually switch it on and manually run the blower to circulate air. It did work well.
But I found that after the first year as the concrete fully dried down in the floor and walls, there were very few days where the house seemed humid. A quick run of the A/C cured that.
When our outside unit burned blew out, 284 V instead of 240, we also had to change the inside unit or wait at least another week at Christmas time with no heat. At that point, I had them remove the dehumidifier.
In this house, we have a Trane ERV. It pulls in fresh air once per hour, running the main blower at low speed to circulate. Also the main blower runs 2 more times per hour (so every 20 minutes) to mix the air. With the two levels open to each other, cold air collects down here and you know where the warm air goes, 20 feet above my feet!
About 1/2 of this level is âutility room.â When I saw the heating guy not putting any air supply into the space, I got him to add 2. It keeps it nice and fresh, usable space. I have a work table and exercise equipment plus some storage.
Since I used ICF from the foundation to the 15 x 2 inch glulam top plate, the âutility roomâ is warmish, not cool and damp.
Does that help you?
Gene
All holdings and some statistics on my Fool profile page
Profile - gdett2 - Motley Fool Community (Click Expand)
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Consumer Reports has an article and recommends models in large, medium, and small ranges. Not very many brands I recognize. Many recommended sold on Amazon.
In my case, I have central air for the living space on one level, but the full basement (poured concrete) isnât part of that. The temperature down there never needs cooling, but the humidity varies, higher after heavy rain. The dehumidifier helps a lot with that.
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