In article ,
Harry Bloomfield writes:
Lobster brought next idea :
I have a portable dehumidifier (Wickes own brand; I think it's a compressor
model?) about 18 months old which has stopped working.

The humidistat appears to be working in that if you turn it up, it clicks in
and the dehumidifer motor starts working; however the water output container
remains bone-dry.

Any thoughts as to what might be wrong, and whether it's repairable or a bin
job?

A compressor type has a motor and you suggest a motor starts -so it is

Actually two motors - the compressor and the fan.
In mine, it's the fan which makes most noise and starts when
you turn it on. There's a 3 minute delay before the compressor
starts up (mainly to ensure that if there was a momentary power
interruption, the compressor doesn't try to start instantly
when it would most likely fail due to existing pressure
differential in the system). The compressor generates a small
amount of low frequency vibration, but very little of the noise,
and I doubt most people would notice it switching on 3 minutes
later.

It would be interesting to know which motors are running. If
either of them isn't, then it won't work.

I had something similar - the circuit which generates the 3
minute timer stopped working and the compressor never came on.
This was due to a zener diode in the simple LV dropper power
supply shorting out, which I replaced. Most consumers would
need to have it professionally repaired though.

indeed a compressor type. One more check you could do is on the cooled
matrix which should quickly become cold when the motor runs. If it is
not getting cold, then it has lost its gas. If it is only 18 months
old, then take it back and quote the Sale of Goods act to the supplier.

On big/heavy items, you'll often find a number to call to get
support, rather than carting it back to the shop.

Something else which can damage these is moving them whilst
they're running, or running them after moving them without
allowing 24 hours standing time first. If you tipped it onto
its side, then it can be quite difficult to get it working
again without wrecking it, so never do that.

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