Dehumidifier.
 

We have a small 115 volt Sears 'portable' type dehumidifier in
basement. Portable! Well; it has four casters on the bottom and
probably weighs about 50lbs?

Works fine. But occasionally has frozen up solid. Right now it is off
and have a fan in front of it circulating basement air about at 60
degrees to melt the ice.

Right now, as bought, there is a humidistat that switches the whole
thing on and off. There is also a float switch that also switches
everything off when the reservoir is almost full.

Thinking of changing wiring so that the circulation fan, but not the
compressor, runs continuously as long as the unit is plugged in to aid
defrosting.

Any comments or advice please.

Dehumidifier.
 

On 22 Oct, 11:12, terry wrote:
We have a small 115 volt Sears 'portable' type dehumidifier in
basement. Portable! Well; it has four casters on the bottom and
probably weighs about 50lbs?

Works fine. But occasionally has frozen up solid. Right now it is off
and have a fan in front of it circulating basement air about at 60
degrees to melt the ice.

Right now, as bought, there is a humidistat that switches the whole
thing on and off. There is also a float switch that also switches
everything off when the reservoir is almost full.

Thinking of changing wiring so that the circulation fan, but not the
compressor, runs continuously as long as the unit is plugged in to aid
defrosting.

Any comments or advice please.

You could do that, or if a small exterior fan would be cheaper to run,
that might help also...

More info here, here, and here.

http://www.misterfixit.com/dehumid1.htm
http://www.misterfixit.com/dehumid2.htm
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question...4061909AAwLZrv

Dehumidifier.
 

On Oct 22, 10:12 am, terry wrote:
We have a small 115 volt Sears 'portable' type dehumidifier in
basement. Portable! Well; it has four casters on the bottom and
probably weighs about 50lbs?

Works fine. But occasionally has frozen up solid. Right now it is off
and have a fan in front of it circulating basement air about at 60
degrees to melt the ice.

Right now, as bought, there is a humidistat that switches the whole
thing on and off. There is also a float switch that also switches
everything off when the reservoir is almost full.

Thinking of changing wiring so that the circulation fan, but not the
compressor, runs continuously as long as the unit is plugged in to aid
defrosting.

Any comments or advice please.

Most dehumidifiers freeze up below 65f, there are new units designed
to go much lower, to 45f.

Dehumidifier.
 

On Mon, 22 Oct 2007 08:24:00 -0700, ransley
wrote:

On Oct 22, 10:12 am, terry wrote:
We have a small 115 volt Sears 'portable' type dehumidifier in
basement. Portable! Well; it has four casters on the bottom and
probably weighs about 50lbs?

Works fine. But occasionally has frozen up solid. Right now it is off
and have a fan in front of it circulating basement air about at 60
degrees to melt the ice.

Right now, as bought, there is a humidistat that switches the whole
thing on and off. There is also a float switch that also switches
everything off when the reservoir is almost full.

Thinking of changing wiring so that the circulation fan, but not the
compressor, runs continuously as long as the unit is plugged in to aid
defrosting.

Any comments or advice please.

Most dehumidifiers freeze up below 65f, there are new units designed
to go much lower, to 45f.

you should be able to attach a garden hose to the dehumidifier tank so
it can drain into a floor drain.

Put a little heat into the basement, possibly open a few furnace vents
to the basement, or add one from the furnace, something to keep the
temperature up.

samurai.

Dehumidifier.
 

On Oct 23, 10:03 am, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
What your dehum needs is a thermostat, to shut off the compressor when the
coils get too cold. I've seen "freeze stats" on dehum in the past.

--

Christopher A. Young
.
.

"terry" wrote in message

ups.com...
We have a small 115 volt Sears 'portable' type dehumidifier in
basement. Portable! Well; it has four casters on the bottom and
probably weighs about 50lbs?

Works fine. But occasionally has frozen up solid. Right now it is off
and have a fan in front of it circulating basement air about at 60
degrees to melt the ice.

Right now, as bought, there is a humidistat that switches the whole
thing on and off. There is also a float switch that also switches
everything off when the reservoir is almost full.

Thinking of changing wiring so that the circulation fan, but not the
compressor, runs continuously as long as the unit is plugged in to aid
defrosting.

Any comments or advice please.

Many thanks indeed for the comments, advice and references from the
foregoing posters. Good info.

Those posters are correct; it does freeze up when set for a too low a
humidity. Also the weather has been getting cooler recently and the
outside air more humid as a result of recent rains.. Some of that air
inevitably gets into our almost totally below ground basement, which
is unheated (house is heated by electrical baseboards) except when one
is down there using the workshop.

The purpose of the dehumidifier which has otherwise worked well for
several years is to reduce moisture which might affect tools and about
50 years of accumulated 'junk' stored down there. It's amazing how
many things one can fix/repair/restore etc.

So the basement has become the unofficial Mr Fixit store for the
neighbourhood! And woe betide throwing anything out after 14 years;
because somebody will be looking for or need it within three months,
tops! Although did have to get three bolts of a certain length off my
neighbour yesterday, to carry on fixing the snow-blower.

And oh yes; apropos another recent thread my daughter's 60 gallon hot
water tank 'let go' last night! Replacing it today hopefully.