Anyone know how to bypass the temp thermistor on a basement dehumidifier?
adarryl
No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
I know this is a long shot but I have run out of ideas. I have a "Professional Series" dehumidifier branded "Collezioni" that I bought at Lowe's 3 or 4 years ago. It quit working throwing out the error code: "EC" which means the ambient air temperature around the unit is too cold (below 65 degrees) for the unit to dehumidify so it shuts itself off. Problem is my basement is cold, most basements are even in the dead of summer because of being below grade. And if your air conditioner runs, the basement amibient air temp tends to be even colder because exposed duct work radiating cold makes a naturally cooler environment even colder. Old tech dehumidifiers soldiered on under such conditions because they had only an ON/OFF switch along with a humidistat that you set to your preference (degree of humidity you wanted). This sometimes led to icing of the condenser coils hence the technology shift to using a temperature thermistor along with the humidistat. However, my thermistor won't let the dehumidifier do its job. Sheesh!! Do I have to put a space heater on it in order to fool the thermistor?! Since I can no longer buy the old school "working" dehumidifiers I either have to bypass, in some way, this thermistor or just live with basement condensation that I find unacceptable. Problem is, how does one bypass or fool the thermistor so it allows the dehumidifier to remove moisture from the air? Can anyone help or at least offer sympathy? P.S. I bought another thermistor based dehumidifier and it won't dehumidify the basement air either as it also throws out the same EC error code: ambient air temperature below expected temperature operating range.
Comments
Find the thermistor, which should just be a little copper tube/thing. Pull it out, move it away from wherever it is and wrap it in something that is warm/insulates. Maybe put it in warm water (I know water will cool) to see if this actually makes the thing run.
Do as Ryder has suggested, for a permanent heat source, go buy a work light and put an incandescent lamp in it. Once you have the thermistor exposed you can place the lamp next to or touching it so it will run.
Okay, still no joy. The thermistor on my dehumidifier is a copper probe like the one in the attached picture.
It is clipped inside a slightly larger sleeve that is attached to the refrigerant circulation manifold and I was unable to "test wrap" it using one of the suggestions received earlier because of lack of clearance. So I slid the probe out of its sleeve and attached it to one of the "warm" or supply side lines of the refrigerant manifold. As you may recall, with refrigerant lines, there is a warm, sometimes hot, side while the other end where the cooling happens is cold. So I thought I could trick the thermistor by using this heat build up to fool it into perceiving the ambient room temperature is warmer than it is, warmer than 65 degrees. Well, the thing runs including the compressor, but no condensation is forming to drain in the bucket. Essentially, it is not "dehumidifying" at the moment. I am going to check it periodically to see if the situation changes, but I am beginning to think there is more wrong than meets the eye. :/
Does this unit have a fan that runs?
How long did you let it run?
Where do you live and do you know the relative humidity in your basement?
@Ryder, yes fan runs. Ran it for nearly an hour with not a drop of condensation on any of the evaporator coils. Sorry, don't know relative humidity level exactly. However, the basement has windows and they are all sweating with moisture. Also, the plumbing drain lines for the main floor are exposed overhead in the basement and they are sweating with condensation. :/
Oh, uh, I'm in south central IL.
Ok, so you definitely have plenty of RH in the basement to remove.
The compressor either isn't running or it doesn't have any refrigerant charge.
Can you hear the compressor start? Not everyone can, I suppose, but it isn't kind of distinctive for me.
Yes, I can hear the compressor start and run. I can adjust the humidity setting control up or down to cause the compressor to kick in or kick out.
Very strange. I have reached the limit of my suggestions
Since the compressor is indeed running, could it be that the refrigerant has leaked out and therefore no condensation is forming on the evaporator coils? The EC error code is an indication of too low ambient air temperature but the operator's manual says if the ambient air temp is proper, call for service. (That is a 'Duh!' moment if there ever was one.) Maybe this gizmo has lost its juice and therefore isn't working like it should.
Damn! Some operator's manual! It doesn't list a number to call for service. I guess they don't want to hear from you after they have your money. Since this was a $200.00 dehumidifier, I am going to assume that maybe the coolant system, sprang a leak, needs to be sealed and recharged rather than just thrown away. Now the trick is to find someone who works on stuff like this that doesn't charge $200.00 (cost of replacement).