Delongho Dehumidifier DX-10

[tcjeep]

About four year old keeping my shed dry. It runs for about 5 or 10 minutes and then cuts out regardless of the dryness setting. Green light stays on. The tank is not full. Any suggestions? Hoping someone, here, has has had the same problem. Any help would be appreciated.

[stj]

big clive has a video tearing down and explaining how dehumidifiers work - it may help

[tcjeep]

Thanks stj, I am a subscriber to Big Clive's channel, but missed this one. I'll look it up. Thanks again. tc

[CapLeaker]

Is the air too cold and the condenser frozen?

[tcjeep]

Thanks for the response Capt. A good and logical cause of the exact problem. But I live in New Zealand and it is our summer now so its quite hot. No icing up. Appreciate the input. tc.

[CapLeaker]

Does it actually dehumidify within these 10 minutes it runs? Does the fan keep on blowing or does it turn off too?

[tcjeep]

Yes, Capt. The compressor and fan run and some water is collected in the tank, before cutting out.

[sam_sam_sam]

One possibility is that your humidity stat is worn out but could not tell you where to get a replacement unit from I have not been able to find replacement units for them as far as I know I do not think that you can repair them and they would be reliable after that

Dehumidifier are sometimes hard to troubleshoot because of the fact that the condenser and evaporator coils are back to back to each other but what you need to determine is whether or not the compressor is running second you need to determine whether or not the evaporator is getting cool to maybe cold and is the condenser warm to hot near the condenser top tube going to the compressor

If the condenser is getting warm to hot does it continue to run or is it cycling on and off so the thermostat might be an issue
If the condenser near the compressor is room temperature or only slightly warmer than room temperature then either you have a gas leak or a cap tube restriction or a bad compressor

Now if the compressor does not run or start and stops running or just hums every so often then either you have a bad overload or a bad start relay or a bad compressor

Unless you have training on air conditioning or refrigeration system I personally do not recommend trying to repair if it is a cap tube restriction or gas leak
If it is a bad compressor not worth repairing it if it just a gas leak maybe depending on where the leak is if it is the coils might not be worth fixing it

Most of the time it is not cost effective to repair this type of equipment because the cost of a new one is less than trying to repair it and how long will it run if you are able to repair

Unfortunately window and wall air conditioner units are the same way most of the time they are not worth repairing them for the same reason

[stj]

it may not have coils and a compressor,
a lot of smaller ones use Peltier heat-pumps.

[sam_sam_sam]

it may not have coils and a compressor,
a lot of smaller ones use Peltier heat-pumps.

How does this design work because I am trying to imagine how you would build one

[tcjeep]

I have not seen designs for dehumidifiers using Peltier thermal transfer systems. I suppose they would be more reliable seeing that they have no compressor. I would like to see a DIY version.

[CapLeaker]

Never seen a dehumidifier using peltier elements. I've got a few dehumidifiers and they all have compressors and condensers. Big or small.

[tcjeep]

No, neither have I but I guess if one can freeze a plate (one half of the thermoelectric cell) then it would collect water. Not too sure about efficiency though.

[stj]

https://www.youtube.com/@bigclivedot...y=dehumidifier

[tcjeep]

Ahh, thanks for the link, I looked for it last night, after you suggested that I dig it out. I failed to find it, so you saved me another long search. Thanks mate!

[CapLeaker]

Interesting device. But this thing is so small… I think I get more drying action off my dog farting once!

[tcjeep]

Haha..Amusing comment.

[sam_sam_sam]

Interesting device. But this thing is so small… I think I get more drying action off my dog farting once!

I am with you on this one I watched that video as well and I thought what could this thing could do it can not be much

I have one that I almost forgot about and it takes two days for it to show half a tank of water which the tank might be a little bit bigger than one he took apart so it dose work just not very fast

However I have not taken this one apart yet so I do not know how well it is made

[CapLeaker]

sam_sam_sam Not really sure what to think about it. It's almost in the same category as a “useless box”. The water being collected is just about as fast as it can evaporate out of the canister. lol. I am not sure on what such a little thing is useful? Dry out stuff inside a drawer? I never had much luck with peltier elements, Always found them to be in the barely functional category.

[stj]

it's not useless if you need it in a confined area - like a cupboard under a sink.
or maybe a small shed

[redwire]

It does have a condensate tank monitoring system, as well as a 3 minute compressor retry delay.
I would expect the tank sensor needs cleaning to prevent false triggering, and the electrolytic caps on the control board are probably end of life.

Pulling 2L of water out of the air is actually a lot. I guess it just needs a cold surface below the dew point and the fan blowing over it to do that.

[tcjeep]

Yeah, thanks, Redwire. One would expect the room to be very damp to pull 2L of water out of the air and it may have to run for a long time.

[CapLeaker]

it's not useless if you need it in a confined area - like a cupboard under a sink.
or maybe a small shed

Small shed? You mean a broom closet?

[stj]

small shed would be like 5 feet by 8-10 feet,
just a place to thrown some gardening tools and a mower

[redwire]

The strangest things get dried out in a shed.

As a kid I peeked into a guys shed on an Indian reserve, and it was full of animal parts hanging there, like testicles and other parts. I asked WTF gross, and apparently he had regular buyers from china and was selling what he had from hunting. Beaver balls?

It reminds me of the 21 yr old guy caught growing psilocybin mushrooms in Connecticut. A Breaking Bad industrial-sized operation, USD $8.5M worth in bags. Just huge.
I saw a couple drum air dryers I think in the pics, as well as air filtration equipment.

[CapLeaker]

quick recap: testicles hanging in a broom closet to dry...
redwire first I read you pissed in that thing! So I had to re read your post. lol

[redwire]

It was passing through a rez somewhere in Wyoming, driving a family holiday trip to the USA. Super hot summer weather.
Deffo beaver balls and other animal parts hung up in the shed. I'd never seen what they looked like so when I asked I was pretty grossed out. I guess they have hunting/trapping rights and sell the parts. There were some other big balls there too.

So I stay out of sheds now. Never know what is being dried out in them

I vividly remember the trip- in a parking lot, the old man ran over a shopping cart and on kept driving, despite the scraping and shower of sparks. Mom and I were screaming at him to stop. Nope "this is a F150 4x4!!" he yelled and kept going...