" wrote in message
news:KYTji.376$Y_3.29@trnddc04...
I have a Friedrich 40 Pt. dehumidifier. It is just over 2 years old. I
believe it is made in China by LG. I only use it 6 months out of the year.
Lately it hasn't been removing much moisture from the air, even though the
compressor still runs. It used to remove half a bucket's worth a day, and
now I'm lucky if I see 1.5 inches of water on bottom of bucket per day.
This is with the unit on a timer to run continuously 1.25 hours and then
off for 45 minutes (and repeated over and over again throughout the day).
Reason I've been using a timer, is because this unit's dehumidistat kept
cycling it on and off for every two minutes due to the way they design it.

I removed the front cover and coils look clean. Filter is clean. Seems
that the bottom part of coil has tendency to freeze up if running
continuously for say an hour. This didn't seem to happen in the past.
Wondering if this unit has been leaking freon. I'm noticing that the
bottom of the inside of the bucket is turning an orange color. Is the
oil that gets mixed in with freon orange in color or is the orange
substance something else?

This unit has a 5 year warranty on just the "sealed refrigerant system"
I'm considering bringing it in for repair before the unit becomes totally
useless. The warranty covers parts and labor but not "diagnostics". If
the diagnostics are less than $75 I suppose this is worth fixing. I only
paid around $150 including tax.

It might have leaked some of its refrigerant. Your take on the economics
are good. The 5 year warranty is mostly useless, based on the initial cost
and replacement cost.