Dehumidifiers

My dehumidifier will last about 2-3 years. I have had 4 different brands. What are you having good luck with and can any of them be repaired? Thanks for any help. J.

Sounds like it is time for a commercial unit. Yeah they are 3 tones the price of home owner units, but should last years.

Now, can they be repaired would depend on what's wrong.

Take a look at the Frigidaire FFAD7033R1 70-Pint unit. It is rated as one of the best available. Several members of the family has this one and they are all very satisfied. We have the previous Frigidaire model as well it is still going strong after 5 years.

Look for an older humidifier, 20 to 30 years old. They were built better years ago, they cost more back then than they do now. The down side is that the older ones are not as efficient as newer machines, so they cost more to operate.

I don't even think I was getting that long from them. China made junk compressors seems to leak out the Freon and then they freeze up and then not work at all. I picked up some of the old ones and they hold up the best so far.

Mine is a Kenmore purchased around 1980. Still going.

Most dehumidifiers will have have a capacitor in their wiring. If the unit hums, or otherwise fails to start, replacing the capacitor might get it running again. Capacitors are cheap, and I have fixed several units by replacing the capacitor. Look for signs of leaking, or bulging, especially at the ends of the capacitor. The best way to test a capacitor is with a digital volt / ohm meter that can measure microfarads.

(quoted from post at 23:36:16 06/04/17) Sounds like it is time for a commercial unit. Yeah they are 3 tones the price of home owner units, but should last years.

Now, can they be repaired would depend on what's wrong.

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Boss at work had similar luck with dehumidifiers, got a nice commercial unit which btw has the same junk components it the rest do. Didn't last a year, lost the refrigerant, evaporator coil leaked, but we could never find the leak.

Best ones are free ones, I have an old Kenmore from the 1980's, just keeps going, probably not the best on energy, but if you need a space dehumidified it'll get the job done.

It's not the capacitors which fail it's the refrigerant leaks.

WGM beat me to it. Dehumidifiers are much like A/C's, only they work in reverse. The cheap units do not have a means to refill the refrigerant, just like the cheaper A/C's.

J. Schwiebert,
My experience is they don't make them like they used to. I had a made in China dehumidifier that had hundred pin hole leaks in evaporator, junk. It was 10 years old.

I hate the newer digital controls on dehumidifiers because if you have a power failure or power is off for a few seconds, you have to go to basement and turn it back on.

I went to goodwill and for $10 bought an old dehumidifier with manual controls. I plugged it in and made sure it worked. It's lasted longer than any new one I've bought. I Don't have to worry about power blips.

BTW, I worked my way through college repairing commercial furnaces and AC's. So I can repair them, but when they have multiple leaks, it's not worth repairing. Too expensive for a HVAC to repair. Too cheap to buy another one.

Visit Goodwill. The old ones are made of thicker copper.

I only use old gas furnace as an air handler for central AC. I find if I remove panel to expose blower, put a filter in front of panel. I pull 60 degree air off basement floor, the AC removes the moisture from basement and my dehumidifier doesn't have to work so hard. In summer it doesn't come on.
geo.

Hello kcm MN,

They both do the same thing, dehumidify the ambient air. Only difference is size,

Guido.

Most of the window A/C's sold now don't even try to dehumidify the air. They instead just vaporize the moisture back into the inside air! ARG!!

Ain't used a central A/C for 20 years....since leaving Texas.

Just tossed a portable (on wheels) unit (Kenmore, I think) that we got from my wife's grandmother back in the 70's. It was already pretty old back then (probably from the 50's). It still worked when we put it the garage sale over the weekend for $5. We had used it sporadically over the years. Nobody bought it so it went to the curb last night and it was gone (picked for scrap) this AM when I got up. Thing was build like a tank. Like others said, though, newer ones aren't built to last.

Biggest problem up here is, these newer window A/C's won't even kick on during our cold winter months. Yet after sitting for the winter, the seals often dry up and start leaking coolant. And, cannot refill them. Not sure if the "Disposable Generation is also the Millennials, but whoever started this throw-away junk really screwed things up for many years to come!!

Best one I had came from a garage sale 15 or 20 years ago, don't remember the brand but it still works flawlessly for 25 bucks.

I have 2 GE 50 pint units from Sam's club and they are running fine after 4 years.

Nothing is as good as the old stuff.

I'm with Bob-Mi, 2 GE 50 pint, got them @ home Depot. They seem to run a long time.