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Clogged dehumidifier

6

6885P5H

Experienced Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2015
Messages
320
Location
Québec, Canada
Hello. I found a dehumidifier. I'd like to run it but it's extremely dirty, there's a thick layer of brown tobacco on the radiator. The coils in front block access, and the fins are extremely fragile, so I don't know how to clean it. I'm afraid pressurized water could bend the fins, even from simple hose nozzles. I found something called "coil cleaner" online. Would that work in my case? Picture: https://i.ibb.co/MBMpY44/DSC00018.jpg
 
I was given a free 8K BTU portable Fedders AC when I was stationed out in San Diego (similar setup as a dehumidifier). My buddy told me it was "broken" and it poured out rust colored water onto his carpet after it was on for a while.

Opened it up and saw the coils were in a shallow pan that had a small (too small by design) drain hole and tube which ran down to the collection bucket. Dust that made it by the air filter collected on the coils and dripped down to the pan and clogged the drain. Once I rinsed the coils and scrubbed the pan the unit worked as new.
I still have it and if I run it I need to do a thorough clean up of the coils every couple years or it clogs up rather easy.

I think some brushes and water is all you need. I wouldnt waste time with "cleaner" unless the tar was really resistant to warm water and soap.
 
Simple Green: Spritz it in, in full concentration, with a spray bottle. Leave it set for a spell. Rinse it out with water. Dry it with a box fan. Don't use pressurised water or air, or then you will need a fin comb. If you do get one, get one with the interchangeable heads, like lowen. Buy an extra set of heads. They wear out quickly, especially since now you'll clean all your radiators and condensers, even maybe those of neighbors and relatives.
 
About fin combs. If the fins can be straightened, why do they ship them with the fins in zigzag patterns? I wonder if the fins could bend or break since they are sort of zigzagizally-compressed into a definite space.
 
That form gives them more surface area. More surface area equals better heat transfer.
 
I was given a window heat pump a year or so ago (cools in summer, heats in winter) that had the fins completely clogged with mold. I just took it outside and doused the fins with dish soap, alternating with diluted bleach and blasting it with the fan setting on the garden hose sprayer it eventually cleared out, but it did take a dozen or so washings and unclogging the drain hole.

You can blast condenser fins with the average garden hose sprayer without damaging the them, so long as you do it straight on and not from the side.
 
6885P5H said:
About fin combs. If the fins can be straightened, why do they ship them with the fins in zigzag patterns? I wonder if the fins could bend or break since they are sort of zigzagizally-compressed into a definite space.
Click to expand...

Fin combs are meant to straighten from the back to the front, where fins have been pushed in; they're not meant to straighten out a built-in factory zig-zag.
 
I cleaned the dehumidifier with a hose nozzle on the vertical setting. It doesn't work very good, keeps freezing up. The room temperature is 20℃ so it should work, right. Maybe the de-icer does not work properly anymore but I don't think it should be freezing up in the first place. Does anyone know what causes that? It's from 1993. I never see any old dehumidifiers in people's homes so maybe they have really short lifespans? Did one or many of the solder joints break which leaked some of the refrigerant? I know nothing about these things so please help.
 
My dehumidifier I bought on amazon (Frigidaire) doesn't work/collect water when the temp gets down to 8 or 9 celcius. Frigidaire refunded me for the whole machine sans shipping so I use it in the summertime in my garage.
If yours is icing up I suspect there is still dirt and dust inside which is collecting moisture. I would take the unit apart and see if you could spray water (not high pressure but maybe tap water pressure) to clean out the dust and debris.

Other symptom would be low refrigerant which would mean a leak.
 
I have used a pressure washer in the past to clean out plugged condensers and evaporators and unless you are blasting at hard angles to the fins or not using a con/fan tip they should not really bend or fold unless they are really badly corroded. For nicotine however you should really try the foaming fin cleaners. Most are designed to break down and dissolve debris and are pretty nasty if you get on your skin or clothes but works really well.
 
Oven cleaner would probably work but I have no idea how it reacts to aluminum or copper or paints that are not baked enamel.
 
There is a such thing as a/c coil cleaner. There is even a foaming version that you can use for automobile evaporators that you don’t want to remove the dash to clean.
 
That's what I was referring to. IT foams up and is harsh enough that it lifts and forces most junk out from between the fins.
 
Yep, sorry I missed that part. When I was skimming the thread I saw where you mentioned pressure washer and then I lazily stopped reading. That will teach me to be more thorough. Maybe.

I remember at a college I worked at a maintenance guy had been kind of lazy changing a/c return filters up in the drop ceiling and left half of the fasteners out to make it easier. When a new guy got hired he was pretty angry because every single evaporator coil in the building was filthy. I saw him going around for a couple of weeks with a big sprayer of cleaner and some duct tape, cleaning coils and sealing up any leaks. I imagine that it saved the college a ton of money in electricity.
 
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