If the airflow is good, from what I understand, the next thing to check would be the refrigerant pressures.

 

Sometimes hot humid weather causes we humans to tweet the room temp. thermostat to a cooler position . If that has happened try increasing the stat to possibly 75°F .

 

I have a dehumidifier that has started to freeze over. I've cleaned the filter, made sure the line was clear, and let it thaw. After a day or two it's frozen again.

Any ideas on what to try next?

Been there myself, tried all that same stuff. Unfortunately the next step is to purchase a new one.

 

Freon is low (assuming you checked the air filter).

 

@chooze
Get a programable timer and set it to be on for an hour, then off for an hour (to let it thaw). I've had good luck with that in the shop over winter.

 

A dehumidifier is no different than any A/C system - if it is freezing up it is either due to air flow over the coils or low on refrigerant charge which would indicate a leak.

 

A dehumidifier is no different than any A/C system - if it is freezing up it is either due to air flow over the coils or low on refrigerant charge which would indicate a leak.

That was my thinking. The coolant doesn't suddenly just "go low". There has to be a slow leak somewhere. Don't get me wrong. If you are familiar with A/C and have all the tools, gauges and coolant then by all means take a shot. But for the average home owner it is simply "get a new one" time.

 

In ambient temperatures below 65 degrees it's not unheard of to have a dehumidifier freeze up. When I had to dry buildings out professionally I found that a 60 watt light bulb directed at the coil sometimes worked. This was for 1970's vintage units with exposed coils. If you raise the temperature in and enclose the area you are drying out your freeze ups might disappear.

In my home now I use a desiccant dehumidifier. No buckets to empty and no freeze ups are possible. In fact, a desiccant dehumidifier works better the lower the ambient room temperature.

https://www.sylvane.com/ecor-pro-epd50-dryfan-50-pint-desiccant-dehumidifier.html?mkwid=&crid=81157766346609&mp_kw=&mp_mt=e&pdv=c&msclkid=06009986ce6510979185fd14287279e0&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GPL-Dehumidifiers%20(Branded)&utm_term=4584757333423613&utm_content=Ecor%20Pro

 

In ambient temperatures below 65 degrees it's not unheard of to have a dehumidifier freeze up.

It looks like we'll never know what the room temperature is . There are charts that indicate RH as the temperature decreases under certain conditions .

 

BTDT- These things are all crap. I have another dead one at my house right now. I can't seem to get more than one season out of them. I bought one at Costco and took it back for a refund after a year (but they only had the exact same model to buy to replace it, so I couldn't bring myself to buy another). I bought one at Lowe's and Hisense actually replaced one after a year. Now my replacement unit is throwing a code. I can't win.

 

BTDT- These things are all crap. I have another dead one at my house right now. I can't seem to get more than one season out of them. I bought one at Costco and took it back for a refund after a year (but they only had the exact same model to buy to replace it, so I couldn't bring myself to buy another). I bought one at Lowe's and Hisense actually replaced one after a year. Now my replacement unit is throwing a code. I can't win.

So far I've had good luck with the 70-pint Frigidaire units. They seem to last around 5-6 years. Unfortunately, they recently changed the design again and now they aren't getting very good reviews. As you say, it is very tough to find a decent one - if it even exists anymore.

 

I have one in my basement and one in my shop. The one in my basement never freezes up but it’s a higher quality one. The one in my shop does. It’s getting hot here now and as it gets warmer that keeps it from freezing up. I also set the fan speed to high which helps some. It still does freeze up though, especially when the air temp is near or below 70.

 

Mine occasionally freezes up (just happened yesterday). I just turn it off to thaw and restart it if I want to run it some more. In this case, I left it off since the humidity was 65%. It doesn’t have to run all summer. Just when the air gets soggy. The suggestion of an on/off timer makes sense. My unit is 10-15 years old and still does its job. The occasional freeze up is rare and only under certain temperature/humidity conditions.

 

Thanks for all the advice. I'll try running the fan at the higher speed. And maybe putting it on a timer.

I was thinking to myself this unit is too new to be failing but I looked trough my e-mails and it is just two weeks shy of ten years old. I might just have to bite the bullet and get a new one.

 

If it collects water when it’s not frosted over, I’d keep using It. If you need to keep dehumidifying due to excessive humidity, you should try the timer route. One poster said he bought 4 units in 5 years. Not a whole lot of incentive to replace what you have. Also, frosting over seems to happen every year around this time. The rest of the year that I run mine, that doesn’t happen and moisture extraction is good.

 

Check the drain system (hose or drain hole into a bucket) to make sure the water is getting out. Then run the fan at full speed.

 

I couldn't tolerate 65% humidity . Just checked ours and read 41 percent @ . 77° . 65 RH is muggy to me and falls in the metal corrosion category .

 

My 65% is in a basement storage room under the front porch of our house. If it goes above 70% for long periods of time, things get a musty smell. As long as it’s 65% or less, the smell goes away. I could make it dryer, but there’s no need to do so.

 

My 65% is in a basement storage room under the front porch of our house. If it goes above 70% for long periods of time, things get a musty smell. As long as it 65% or less, the smell goes away. I could make it dryer, but there’s no need to do so.

Can you share some of that Wine? It looks good.

 

Don’t move to Oklahoma. 90%+ humidity is normal. I don’t notice it inside. I run my AC at about 74-76° unless my wife is home. She cranks it down down for the polar bears.

 

Your unit is too small for the volume/area you are trying to dehumidify... or the humidity in the volume/area you are using it for is too great. (Example: your house ac works great all year long, then your daughter opens up her bedroom windows on a very hot/humid day while ac is on. You find the house is hot and the ac unit's lines are covered in ice. Moral of the story: like your dad used to say, I can heat/cool the outside, shut the doors/windows.)

 

If the temp is too cold they freeze up. If the humidity is too high, you'll need to cycle it on and off until it gets to a manageable humidity then you can yet it do the auto run feature. My old basement unit ran for 8yrs and eventually couldn't manage the 50 deg temps in the basement at the new house. I picked up one of the HomeLabs 4500sqft models with a built in pump to keep the humidity in my garage down. I was experiencing 80-90% humidity at times when the doors were open. I did not enjoy watching the slab sweat and all my handtools be ice cold to the touch and sometimes have condensation forming on them. The homelabs unit has been great for the first 9mo. While I have not been using the built in pump, (manually dumping the bucket) i do have that option for the day i choose to run the small drain hose outside. I recently picked up a second one for my basement

https://www.amazon.com/hOmeLabs-Ene...-4f2a-a4da-d903111cd77f&pd_rd_i=B08MWTPS9T&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_1_ec_t

 

Hello All, Thanks for all the feed back. The timer trick worked somewhat but ultimately could not keep up with the humidity in the basement and the tarring ice was making a bit of a mess.

I ended up buying a new unit. I guess 10 years is not so bad on the old one.

 

How about using two dehumidifiers? Does that keep each one from freezing up cause there isn't as much water to remove?

 

It is not the amount of humidity,, it is the lack of BTU's in the air,
A "dehumidifier" is actually reducing the temperature of the air, to get the moisture to condense.
The dehumidifier is an air conditioner it is treating the air.

When the room is naturally too cold, the dehumidifier can not function.
Turn on a small electric space heater .. the dehumidifier will defrost.

It is simply too cold.

 

It is not the amount of humidity,, it is the lack of BTU's in the air,
A "dehumidifier" is actually reducing the temperature of the air, to get the moisture to condense.
The dehumidifier is an air conditioner it is treating the air.

Why is the air coming out of my dehumidifier hot? It even makes the room warmer. It works good though.

 

Diesel is right,, it is a complete air conditioner,,

I have a dehumidifier that still works at around 50 degrees F,,
it has a resistance heating element in it,, to heat the air,, to allow dehumidification.

I use it to dehumidify the garage that has my wife's Honda S2000 parked in it,,
It works great,,
I went through the "freeze-up" thing with a previous dehumidifier,,

I ended up putting it on a timer to give it an hour to un-freeze every so often,,
That "worked" but it did not work well,,
So, we got the one with the built in heater,

 

After years of lousy dehumidification with crappy name brand units from the big box stores, I got a ‘real’ dehumidifier from Aprilaire (Model E080). It is the ticket! Keeps my 50’x35’ basement at my 50% humidity set point during the humid Pennsylvania summers. Runs less than 1/2 the time the big box store units ran. Yup, much more expensive unit, but it does the trick.

 

'Good to hear!
My Sanidry CX100 failed yet again and this time I think the compressor went bad. I'm tired of working in it. I just ordered the E080 you recommended to handle my 1,000 square foot basement storage area. It's manufactured in the USA and has a five year warranty. Fingers crossed...