Any dehumidifier gurus out there?

[Lobster]

I've got a dehumidifier, a few years old now. Recently I've been getting
the 'defrost' warning light on all the time, supposedly indicating that
either the ambient tempoerature is too low (it isn't) or that the air
filter is clogged (it isn't).

The fan and compressor run apparently normally, but the unit is no longer
collecting any significant amount of water. I've opened up the unit while
running, and it's copper cooling coils feel about room temperature.

The model is a B&Q-branded WDH-610HA (see
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AFCMTXO)

Any ideas what's wrong, please, and if it's fixable?

Thanks

[Jim K]

Lobster <davidlobs...@hotmail.com> Wrote in message:

Link bust?

Whats it owe you?
If coils don't get cold its probly not worth repairing. Dump & buy new.
--
Jim K


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[Roger Hayter]

The link works without the terminal ) but there is no price. Doesn't
look worth repairing if the powered bits are working. Perhaps it has
lost its refrigerant?

--

Roger Hayter

[Harry Bloomfield]

After serious thinking Lobster wrote :

> The fan and compressor run apparently normally, but the unit is no longer
> collecting any significant amount of water. I've opened up the unit while
> running, and it's copper cooling coils feel about room temperature.
>
> The model is a B&Q-branded WDH-610HA (see
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AFCMTXO)
>
> Any ideas what's wrong, please, and if it's fixable?
>
> Thanks

It has probably lost its gas. Fixable, yes - worth the cost of fixing,
no..

[tabb...@gmail.com]

If the cold side of the coil (on the air intake) isn't getting cold after the compressor has been running for several minutes then it's lost its refrigerant gas and is not realistically repairable. The outlet side coil never gets cold of course.


NT

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

The coils should be very very cold. A wet finger should stick to them.
It has a leak and lost the refrigerant.
Not worth repairing. Sorry.

[Andrew]

It might be the solenoid that reverses the warm gas flow to melt the ice
on the cooling coils has failed. I would investigate this and try and
disable it before assuming the gas has gone.

This is now my 30 yo ebac homedry works. There is a 555 timer that
triggers for 5 mins, once an hour to operate a solenoid that backfires
warm gas through the cold coils melting any ice.

when I took it to Fiji I phoned ebac and they said because the
heat and humidity would be so high I could just pull the spade
connector off the solenoid and allow it to drip into the
container all the time.

[newshound]

Lack of gas would have been my first guess too, I wondered if there is a
charging point compatible with the cans you can get for car aircon.

But I think this is a very good call, and it is what I would look at first.

[Tim+]

newshound <news...@stevejqr.plus.com> Wrote in message:

Filling a machine that has an unidentified leak with a random
refrigerant doesn't sound very clever to me.

Tim
--

[Harry Bloomfield]

newshound has brought this to us :

> Lack of gas would have been my first guess too, I wondered if there is a
> charging point compatible with the cans you can get for car aircon.
>
> But I think this is a very good call, and it is what I would look at first.

They use a crimped over then usually braised fill pipe seal after
filling. They are not built to be refilled.

[tabb...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, 24 April 2018 20:17:10 UTC+1, newshound wrote:
> On 24/04/2018 19:24, Andrew wrote:

it'd only leak out again. Butane etc are cheap & sometimes usable, but also explosive.


NT

[Brian Gaff]

Yes this works much like a fridge and hence if the coolant is gone you are
just pumping nothing. I doubt its possible to recharge the system in these,
though some up market ones can have the whole module replaced, probably not
worth it for a cheapy.
After all if you want to collect moisture you have to lower the temperature
of the air so the moisture is released.
Brian

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[Andrew]

There is no positive evidence of a gas leak that we are aware of (yet).

It could be a failure of the mechanism that prevents or deals with
ice on the condensers that has failed.

[Tim+]

Well the cooling coils aren’t getting cold so *either* it’s leaked *or* it
got an electrical problem. In both cases refilling randomly is a daft
idea.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

[Johnny B Good]

On Wed, 25 Apr 2018 07:33:13 +0100, Brian Gaff wrote:

> Yes this works much like a fridge and hence if the coolant is gone you

Refrigerant, not coolant. Coolant is the fluid used to transfer heat
from a hot place to a cooler place by flow of the fluid (thermal siphon
effect or with a pump) relying on latent heat absorption at the hot end
and latent heat emmission at the cool end without involving any change of
phase (solid to liquid or liquid to gas or vapour, for instance).

A refrigerant does something similar to the above but with the addition
of changes of phase such as turning from a gas or vapour into a liquid,
usually when under compression in a cooling coil of finned tubing at
higher than ambient temperature to dissipate heat energy into the
atmosphere (eg, the back of the fridge) before this, cooled to just above
ambient and still compressed, liquid is returned to the part that needs
cooling via a restrictor nozzle into a lower pressure cooling coil of
pipework to absorb heat from the thing that needs cooling (eg the fridge
interior) by virtue of the expansion of the refrigerant causing it to
drop in temperature to below that of the thing to be cooled before it is
returned to the compressor intake where it is compressed, raising its
temperature, to be sent back to the cooling coils to condense it back
into a liquid which can then be recycled ad infinitum (or for as long as
the compressor keeps running).

Coolant is basically used just to reduce the temperature difference
between a hot thing and its immediate surroundings whereas a refrigerant
provides the means by which to cool a hot thing to a temperature *below*
that of its immediate surroundings via the mechanism of phase change
(typically, liquid to vapour).

Strictly speaking, this process of cooling by expansion and reheating by
compression still works even if the refrigerant remains in its gaseous
state throughout the whole cycle, it simply won't be as efficient as a
system that utilises the effect of latent heat of evaporation and
condensation with a carefully formulated refrigerant optimised for the
particular temperatures involved.

> are just pumping nothing. I doubt its possible to recharge the system in
> these,
> though some up market ones can have the whole module replaced, probably
> not worth it for a cheapy.
> After all if you want to collect moisture you have to lower the
> temperature
> of the air so the moisture is released.

You have to make sure the air temperature is lowered only in the
location where the condensed out moisture can be conveniently collected
into a holding tank which can either continuously drain away or else be
regularly emptied. The dehumidifier has to direct the air to a 'cool
spot' that's colder than any other part of the room which would otherwise
act as the 'cool spot', accumulating condensed out moisture where it can
cause harm.

--
Johnny B Good

[Andrew]

The cooling coils on my ebac homedry will never get cold if the solenoid
remains activated, even though it doesn't need re-gassing.

[Tim+]

Johnny B Good <johnny...@invalid.ntlworld.com> Wrote in message:

> On Wed, 25 Apr 2018 07:33:13 +0100, Brian Gaff wrote:
>
>> Yes this works much like a fridge and hence if the coolant is gone you
>
> Refrigerant, not coolant. Coolant is the fluid used to transfer heat

You know, I think we all knew what Brian meant. ;-)

Tim


--

[Tim+]

Andrew <Andrew9...@mybtinternet.com> Wrote in message:

>> Well the cooling coils aren?t getting cold so *either* it?s leaked *or* it

>> got an electrical problem. In both cases refilling randomly is a daft
>> idea.
>>
>> Tim
>>
> The cooling coils on my ebac homedry will never get cold if the solenoid
> remains activated, even though it doesn't need re-gassing.
>
>
>

So you think re-gassing is a good idea? Sorry but I don't
understand the point you're trying to make...

I'm only pointing out that re-gassing with a non-specifically
refridgerant, even if possible, is pointless without knowing
whether it's leaked or not. Almost certainly not cost-effective
to go down this route.

Tim
--

[Roger Hayter]

Johnny B Good <johnny...@invalid.ntlworld.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 25 Apr 2018 07:33:13 +0100, Brian Gaff wrote:
>
> > Yes this works much like a fridge and hence if the coolant is gone you
>
> Refrigerant, not coolant. Coolant is the fluid used to transfer heat
> from a hot place to a cooler place by flow of the fluid (thermal siphon
> effect or with a pump) relying on latent heat absorption at the hot end
> and latent heat emmission at the cool end without involving any change of
> phase (solid to liquid or liquid to gas or vapour, for instance).

This paragraph would be better if you removed the two "latents".


snip

>


--

Roger Hayter

[Jim K]

Andrew <Andrew9...@mybtinternet.com> Wrote in message:

Would the compressor try to start if the gas is gone?
If so if the OPs machine tries to compress, then the mechanism you
describe is probably working? If nothing gets cold, no gas...

[Johnny B Good]

I wasn't entirely sure myself but, on reflection, I think I did rather
'over-egg' this particular pudding. :-(

--
Johnny B Good

[Jim K]

Johnny B Good <johnny...@invalid.ntlworld.com> Wrote in message:

Shurely not....

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

Is the compressor definitely running not just the fan?

I had a "posh" Misubishi one that stopped working a few years back but
fan was working. Finally last autumn I thought "kill or cure" and
dismantled the beast. Fortunately before I did too much destructive
investigation I spotted a bulge in a large square packaged electrolytic
capacitor. Couldn't find an exact 450V(?) match but found a similar one
at 350V from RS. bought 2, fitted one and it's been working perfectly
since then, plus I now have a spare capaitor stored inside the unit for
when it's required in the future.

:)

[Andrew Gabriel]

In article <pbnsom$1ve5$1...@gioia.aioe.org>,

Andrew <Andrew9...@mybtinternet.com> writes:
> It might be the solenoid that reverses the warm gas flow to melt the ice
> on the cooling coils has failed. I would investigate this and try and
> disable it before assuming the gas has gone.

Never seen that in a dehumidifier. Defrost is normally
just switching off the compressor but keeping the fan on,
if the evaporator drops below zero.

> This is now my 30 yo ebac homedry works. There is a 555 timer that
> triggers for 5 mins, once an hour to operate a solenoid that backfires
> warm gas through the cold coils melting any ice.
>
> when I took it to Fiji I phoned ebac and they said because the
> heat and humidity would be so high I could just pull the spade
> connector off the solenoid and allow it to drip into the
> container all the time.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

[Andrew Gabriel]

In article <Pp-dndW1jpR4aH3H...@brightview.co.uk>,

Jim K <jk98...@gmail.com> writes:
>
> Would the compressor try to start if the gas is gone?

Yes. Symptom is that the compressor casing gets hot, but
the condensor (the normally hot coil) doesn't get hot.
It can burn out the compressor because the compressor
relies on the refrigerant to carry the heat away - there
is usually a thermal trip on the compressor casing, but it
doesn't always trip before the compressor coils short out.

> If so if the OPs machine tries to compress, then the mechanism you
> describe is probably working? If nothing gets cold, no gas...
>

--