Dehumidifier not collecting water (GE APEH70LWL1)

[Melmark]

Model Number

APEH70LWL1

Brand

GE

Age

1-5 years

Hello all,

Looking for advice for my GE dehumidifier model listed above. The unit is just 2 years old, used 2 summers. This year we noticed that the unit was running a lot and the humidity readout in the basement was 75 to 80 and it never seemed to go down. I unhooked the pump and let any water collected go to the bucket. After a full day of running there was zero water in the bucket. I pulled the back cover off and ran the unit and found that the compressor never got warm and none of the copper pipes ever got cold. I assume that there is something preventing the compressor from running? Any advice and testing procedures appreciated. Mark

 

[jeff1]

Hi,

found that the compressor never got warm

Was it running? Not running?
If not running, is it getting power? Is it not getting power?
Getting power but no go = bad compressor.
Not getting power and we could have a bad board, bad wire, bad overload, bad capacitor....board is most common.

LINK> Digital Multimeter

jeff.

 

[Melmark]

Thanks for the reply Jeff. The unit has been plugged in and running for months but since I have it set to pump the tank automatically I never knew if it was removing moisture until we got some humid weather. I started noticing it was very damp in the basement so I disabled the pump option and set it to collect the water in the tank. After a couple days I had zero water in the tank. I have another dehumidifier in another part of the house so I brought that one into the room and it started removing water immediately. So the fan runs on the GE unit but the compressor never kicks on. I can try to check if it is getting power to it with a meter. I'll take a look to see how I would do that. The readout on the GE unit displays that the humidity is 75% and I have the setpoint down at 45% and I have lowered it all the way to "continuous run" and the compressor still never shows any sign of getting warm...and the lines never get cool.
Mark

Hi,



Was it running? Not running?
If not running, is it getting power? Is it not getting power?
Getting power but no go = bad compressor.
Not getting power and we could have a bad board, bad wire, bad overload, bad capacitor....board is most common.

LINK> Digital Multimeter

jeff.

 

[Melmark]

Update: after removing and testing the large round capacitor and then plugging everything back in now the compressor gets warm but the condenser coils are not getting cold.....so I assume the condenser is probably bad? The large round capacitor tested good.

 

[jeff1]

the compressor gets warm

So it is now running?

but the condenser coils are not getting cold

Condenser coils should get warm, Evaporator coils should sweat/get cold.

jeff.

 

[Melmark]

I have my terminology mixed up then. The condenser is getting quite hot now, The evaporator coils are slightly cool to the touch. It ran for an hour this morning in a damp environment with the humidity setting on the driest it would go and I had one drop of water in the collection tray. I think everything is working ok but I am suspecting that I may have lost refrigerant at some point? Evap. coils are only slightly cool. Unless I am missing something it looks like I'll be buying a new unit.

 

[jeff1]

The condenser is getting quite hot now

The whole thing or just the entrance tubing?

he evaporator coils are slightly cool to the touch

It should be sweating.

jeff.

 

[Melmark]

The whole thing or just the entrance tubing?

the whole condenser is very hot. almost too hot to touch

It should be sweating.

no sweating anywhere, coils near the radiator looking thing are just slightly cool, definately not cool enough to cause sweat

 

[jeff1]

the whole condenser is very hot. almost too hot to touch

Sounds like you have refrigerant gas ok, but there is a restriction.
The cost to have an refrigeration system person claim the gas, cut the system open, flush it out and refill with refrigerant gas would cost more than a new dehumidifier would.
Happy shopping time.

If needed:

Honeywell Basement, Large Room Up to 4000 Sq. Ft, TP70AWKN Smart Wi-Fi Energy Star Dehumidifier, 70 Pint, White

jeff.