I have a large basement with rec room, bedroom, bath.
It's not air conditioned like upstairs, just has a dehumidifier.
At the end of last summer, I noticed it was icing up across the bottom third of the coil. I turned it off over the winter, it stays very dry
Sounds like the unit is low on freon, or possibly dirty condensor. As to the healing, must have had a change of ambient temp or humidity.
PFM
Maybe and just maybe if you had it clean last year results would have bean better last year, "working as it should"
Maybe. But the filter wasn't that dirty, and I didn't get that much off the coil either.
And it iced up for a good 2 - 3 weeks before it healed.
Maybe some crud in the restriction? There's a cap tube in these, right?
Yes there is, and when you said that it healed itself that is the first thing I thought of. Units that frost the lower third because of a refrigerant leak don't mysteriously heal themselves. Beware that if the "crud" fell back into the condenser it may rear its ugly head again. If it made it through to the evaporator it is probably either in the screen on the side of the accumulator if it is a rotary compressor or in the sump if it is a reciprocating compressor.
Apparently you don't realize that many dehumidifers are DESIGNED to ice up ( 'frost up' lightly, and then defrost either by off-cycle or reverse-cycle ). After all that ice is the humidity you wanted to pull out of the air.
I definitely do not realize that. I know air conditioners and heat pumps are designed to detect ice ups and defrost them, but this seems a bit unlikely to be normal operation for a residential dehumidier. Can you suggest a brand or model that works that way?
That ice is not humidity pulled out of the air - it doesn't go down the drain, but back into the air eventually. And during the time the icing was occuring, the room humidity did not drop. After the icing stopped, it did.
So I'm not saying 100% you're wrong, but I gotta say it sounds on the unlikely side to me so far.
Pretty much all of them.
What is it then, Alphalpha sprouts ? Magic beans ? Faerie dust ?
Ummm... idiot ... think about what you just said.
Are you even aware that wator vapor in the air, liquid water, and ice are all the same thing, merely in different states ?
You would be better off saying nothing. Leaves some room for doubt as to your knowledge level, you know ?
Maybe. But the filter wasn't that dirty, and I didn't get that much off the coil either.
And it iced up for a good 2 - 3 weeks before it healed.
Maybe some crud in the restriction? There's a cap tube in these, right?
Yes that is possible a specially if uses small Supco filter drier some sieve can pass through screen and partially block flow in some cases completely!
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Yeah, right.
We're just going to have to agree to disagree, then. I have this goofy idea that dehumidifiers are designed to condense water vapor into liquid water and flow it down into a collection tank or, in my case, a hose to the drain. Further, I'm such a moron I think coils icing up is bad.
You think dehumidifiers are designed to freeze that vapor into ice, then wait for an off cycle and let it sublimate back into the air, and that's a good thing. I'm sure a small amount of it drips into the drain - or maybe not. It's on the outside surface of the coil. And it prevents moist air hitting the coil for the entire time it's there.
I have only results to judge from. When my dehumidifier is icing up, the room humidity does not drop. When it is running without icing up, the room humidity goes down. That suggests to me that icing is bad, you're telling me that icing is normal. Hmmm.
Doesn't really matter now. The icing condition has reappeared, the room humidity is starting to climb. I'm going to have to buy a new dehumidifier, unless someone can suggest an easy fix. At the price of a new unit, repair seems unlikely.
Buy a new one, the Chinese need the work.
That's fine. You go ahead and disagree if you like. Someday if you feel like buying me a couple of beers, we can sit down and compare your background and knowledge base on this topic with mine.
You're not a moron for thinking that, you're a moron for refusing to get educated about it, and learn where you are wrong.
I don't 'think', I KNOW. And BTW, ask yourself WTF exactly happens during that off cycle, OTHER than sublimation ( which is a trivial influence on the energies involved ).
Do you know what the word MELTING means ? Did you know that ice sometimes MELTS when it gets warm ?
What do you get when ice MELTS ????? Oh, nevermind .....
Yes, go buy one. Goodbye.
He probably wants to argue about that, too.
you have no faith in this group, so bring the unit to a faith healer or buy a new one.
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Needs a thermostat on the evaporator. Which turns off the compressor when the coils get to 32F or so.
Might also be low on freon. Running too low a suction pressure.
Could also use more air flow.
Needs Mormon laying on of hands.
I really should tell you to go f*ck yourself, but I will give it to you the simplest way I know. How the hell do you think a humidifier or an air conditioner condenses vapor into liquid? Simple the very cold grid it passes over turns the vapor cold enough to become liquid. In the process some of it becomes frost on the grids. If it has a heater cycle ..it will melt it off that way. If not the cooling gas pressure is kept slightly above freezing. Now you may have a unit that is low on charge or you may have a heater cycle crapped out or and more likely..You are anally retentive and need some minor thing to bellyache about. Call a Service company that does Air conditioning or refrigeration repair. Whatever you do...Go away!
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Then you can have the benefit of two of them icing up. Be sure to get the same exact model.
That sounds gay to me...Just sayin"
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