Dehumidifiers... ugh.

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TPA

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Has anyone been able to find a reliable dehumidifier in recent years?

I have ~20 or so of them and it seems like I'm replacing them about every 0.2-2.5 years. They either get recalled, internal pumps fail, or the refrigerant leaks out. I've even tried desiccant dehumidifiers since they lack a sealed refrigeration system, but those have been plagued by bad bearings and failed controls, not to mention aren't exactly the best for the Florida climate. When they do work, they're usually short-cycling due to the humidity sensor being less than 1/2" from the coils.

Most often I'm buying them from Costco, so when they break, I just drag them back there and let Costco go after the manufacturer. If I could get >3.5 years out of one of them, I'd eat the cost, but I'm not getting anywhere near that. I just had a 2-month of Midea unit's pump fail.... 2 months.

I just started experimenting with some of the non-Midea Chinese white-label stuff, in particular their tiny compressor systems, hoping that since it's so small, it'll run 24/7 and potentially avoid the short-cycling wear and tear.
 
TPA said:
Has anyone been able to find a reliable dehumidifier in recent years?

I have ~20 or so of them and it seems like I'm replacing them about every 0.2-2.5 years. They either get recalled, internal pumps fail, or the refrigerant leaks out. I've even tried desiccant dehumidifiers since they lack a sealed refrigeration system, but those have been plagued by bad bearings and failed controls, not to mention aren't exactly the best for the Florida climate. When they do work, they're usually short-cycling due to the humidity sensor being less than 1/2" from the coils.

Most often I'm buying them from Costco, so when they break, I just drag them back there and let Costco go after the manufacturer. If I could get >3.5 years out of one of them, I'd eat the cost, but I'm not getting anywhere near that. I just had a 2-month of Midea unit's pump fail.... 2 months.

I just started experimenting with some of the non-Midea Chinese white-label stuff, in particular their tiny compressor systems, hoping that since it's so small, it'll run 24/7 and potentially avoid the short-cycling wear and tear.
Click to expand...
Even frigidaire stuff?
 
What's failing on the pumps on your units? I recently had the pump on a unit not work after being stored for a couple of months, and it ended up being a stuck float switch. Symptoms were the pump running and not turning off until safety timer stopped it and disabled the pump (and the pump made a not so great noise when running dry). Cleaning the tray and exercising the float seems to have fixed it, which was a perhaps half hour job requiring a cabinet screwdriver (some of the screws were deep in holes), rags, and compressed air (the compressed air is optional but easier than a brush).
 
+

Haven't run my AC unit all summer, that' s saying something.
Although I do run my Frigidaire Dehumidifier in my basement and circulate that cooler dry air around my house via central air blower fan.
If I didn't do that,, think I'd melt

Couple weeks ago I had an error on my Frigidaire unit, did a youtube search and found what it was, seemed like an easy fix.
On taking it apart I damaged the humidity sensor, then in trying to salvage it I damaged it even more.
Usually don't make stuff worse fixing it and I was super pissed at myself,, just couldn't let it go.:mad:

Being a firm believer in having backups of important things, got my new spare unit running.

> I empty the bucket manually, no hose drip to then let most of that re'evaporate back

edit: fixed typo
 
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dc38 said:
Even frigidaire stuff?
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I had 3 of those at one point, every single one recalled due to being a fire risk. The replacements they sent lasted about 1-2 years. IIRC, two lost their refrigerant charges, the third one's humidity sensor broke, so it runs 24/7 no matter what you set it to.

LEDphile said:
What's failing on the pumps on your units?
Click to expand...

I'm not exactly sure. Most of the time, the pumps' flow rate slowly gets weaker and weaker over time. I've taken them apart the best that I can, but nothing obvious/user serviceable. I keep the buckets as clean as possible, usually cleaning them before I see "jellyfish" appear. Some of the pumps just stop making any noise at all. The float switches are working because the units shut off and indicate Bucket Full (very helpful on the phone app). The Midea design of waiting for the bucket to get full before pumping it down really seems to be a poor choice.

orbital said:
+

Haven't run my AC unit all summer, that' s saying something.


> I empty the bucket manually, no hose drip to then let most of that re'evaporate back
Click to expand...
AC's running 12 months a year here. I still don't know how they handled the area before aircon, especially before electricity when you didn't even have a fan. And the mosquitoes to boot.

I'd empty them manually, but I can't be everywhere. Sometimes it'll be months before I get to a location, sometimes up to a year in some cases. Gravity drain isn't an option in most of the locations either, so I'm stuck with the pump situation. I've thought about putting external condensate pumps on these, BUT, those fail and if that happens the dehumidifier will keep happily dumping water, which would end up on the floor if the external pump failed.
 
TPA said:
I'm not exactly sure. Most of the time, the pumps' flow rate slowly gets weaker and weaker over time. I've taken them apart the best that I can, but nothing obvious/user serviceable. I keep the buckets as clean as possible, usually cleaning them before I see "jellyfish" appear. Some of the pumps just stop making any noise at all. The float switches are working because the units shut off and indicate Bucket Full (very helpful on the phone app). The Midea design of waiting for the bucket to get full before pumping it down really seems to be a poor choice.
Click to expand...
Hm, the unit I opened up had the pump connected directly to the condensate tray, complete with separate float switch. So nothing went into the bucket when the pump was functioning correctly. But pumps reducing in flow over time until eventually failing sounds like either a deposit buildup inside the pump, or wear on the impeller or other fluid-handling parts of the pump (or both). The former is probably fixable, the latter is not.
 
I have a friend that I have known since childhood, who was a large appliance dealer and technician for most of his career. I have him come over and repair my large appliances. He tells me to keep my older appliances as long as I can get repair parts for them, because the new stuff is crap*. The new stuff currently on the market is cheaply made, and doesn't last long at all before breaking. They aren't made to repair, so you have to junk it and by another new one, which, lather, rinse, repeat, cycles all over again. Sounds like your problem with the dehumidifiers. If you can, find some old ones that are still repairable, and try them.

*Speed Queen, the old school manual control washers like you find in laundromats, are still made well and you can buy models for the home.
 
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I have a GE dehumidifier which I bought when I started working at GE in the mid-80's that is still running strong today. I am totally in agreement with what IMA SOL MAN said above (#7). The Samsung refrigerator in our house (we bought a year ago) is a piece of crap. I worked for KitchenAid before it was purchased by Whirlpool. We made great products then. Not so sure about them now.
 
IMA SOL MAN said:
I have a friend that I have known since childhood, who was a large appliance dealer and technician for most of his career. I have him come over and repair my large appliances. He tells me to keep my older appliances as long as I can get repair parts for them, because the new stuff is crap*. The new stuff currently on the market is cheaply made, and doesn't last long at all before breaking. They aren't made to repair, so you have to junk it and by another new one, which, lather, rinse, repeat, cycles all over again. Sounds like your problem with the dehumidifiers. If you can, find some old ones that are still repairable, and try them.

*Speed Queen, the old school manual control washers like you find in laundromats, are still made well and you can buy models for the home.
Click to expand...
I'd love to be able to import some of the Asian (JP/SG/KR) models, but haven't found an economical way to do so yet. Some of those definitely aren't made by the Chinese companies. Some unusual features too, like inverter-driven compressors and desiccant/compressor combo units.

I've tried buying older dehumidifiers hoping to avoid the problems, but both the circa-2001 Hampton Bay and LG dehumidifiers I picked up used were recalled in separate recalls. It's amazing how many of these have been recalled over the years. Arguably one of the most recalled appliances out there.

Vintage dehumidifiers may indeed last forever, however their moisture removal capabilities leave much to be desired when the dewpoint starts to drop. I prefer <45%RH, <51F dp, which those vintage units just can't do. Not to mention the noise of those beasts. I enjoy the rumble of a hotel AC, BUT, vintage dehumidifiers are absolutely loud, not something you want to be in the same room.

Fully agree on Speed Queen, so much that I bought these in December. I know these aren't the Classic series, but I don't like noise. These also have a longer warranty.


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Houses in Florida were built much different before vs. after air conditioning as well. A lot of attention was paid to shading and cross-ventilation. Tall ceilings, transom windows, deep covered wrap-around porches, awnings, ventilation shafts, shutters, ventilation underneath floors, sometimes even primitive water cooling. And shade trees! LOTS of shade trees all over the place.

Modern Florida homes are the antithesis of good design for the climate. The first thing developers do is mow over every single tree on the property. Even modern HVAC practices in Florida go against good practices for our climate. In fact, the HVAC systems I've designed for 25+ years are all illegal and against code here, despite that they use less electricity, produce less noise, and provide better comfort than code-compliant systems. I just had another one of my designs installed yesterday, still just as non-compliant as ever.
 
Unrelated to humidifiers, but telling in regard to today's appliance quality.

www.cpsc.gov

Curtis International Recalls Frigidaire-brand Minifridges Due to Fire and Burn Hazards; More Than $700,000 Reported in Property Damage

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled minifridges and follow the instructions to receive a refund at www.recallrtr.com/minifridge. Consumers should unplug and cut the power cord and write “Recall” using a permanent marker on the front door of the unit. Consumers should dispose of...
www.cpsc.gov www.cpsc.gov
 
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Marine technicians routinely build air conditioners for the tough conditions seen in boats, and those are pretty tough.

Maybe look into either components to build something yourself, or have something built from more commercial / industrial parts.

A dehumidifier is just a refrigerator / air conditioner operated slightly differently.

If you can can find something that runs on R290 high purity propane, that will be fairly efficient compared to modern refrigerants.
 
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