The Daring Dufas wrote in
:



I would suggest getting someone to check the refrigerant charge. If
you take it to a shop with a feller who knows what he/she/it is doing
when it involves refrigeration and air conditioning, H/S/I could
probably tell by feel and thermometer measuring the differential
temperature of the evaporator and condenser without having to instal
service valves for gauges. Most small units have no service
connections on the sealed system. If the unit is old, there could be a
tiny leak caused by vibration over the years. ^_^



Thanks for the suggestion. I don't think this dehumidifier lacks
refrigerant, I thought it was having trouble shutting off when it should.

A careful reading of the instructions tells me that the unit is only meant
to operate under conditions of certain intersecting temperature/humidity
vectors. Apparently if the unit is operated outside of those vectors, it
can ice up. It seemed that the unit was icing up randomly, but now I think
the icing may actually be tied to the temp/humidity level.

I didn't touch any of the parts that have refrigerant in them. I did
disassemble the clip-on de-icer unit, which was fun; I now know exactly how
it works. I'm a techy, engineery type, and such discoveries bring a happy
glow to my troubled mind.

Everything's back together again and working fine, but it's neither warm
enough nor humid enough to make the thing start running unless I crank the
dial way up there, so I need to wait for the jungle weather to commence.


--
Tegger