What makes dehumidifier freeze up

It measures the level of humidity in the room and cycles your humidifier. Your dehumidifier works by pulling air into its vents. This air then travels through the cold metal coils, which condense the air and turn it into water droplets. Depending on the type of dehumidifier you have, these droplets are either stored in the reservoir or get pumped through a hose. When your dehumidifier freezes up, the droplets do not reach the reservoir.

Instead, it generates a cold breeze. Eventually, once the temperature rises and the ice melts, the reservoir overflows, potentially damaging to your humidifier. This is a common occurrence in summer.

One reason why your dehumidifier is icing up may be due to the temperature of the room it is kept in. Most humidifiers work best in places where the temperature is 65 F or higher. However, your dehumidifier may freeze up in places with lower temperatures. This whole process of air condensing and turning into droplets progresses very smoothly at high temperatures. However, if the temperature is lower, the water vapors tend to freeze instead of condensing.

This obviously creates issues, as the steam freeze around the coil, airflow is interrupted, and your dehumidifier stops working. Blocked airflow is another reason why your dehumidifier might be freezing up. Airflow might be obstructed if there something is preventing the fan from functioning or if the condenser is choked up.

Regular and proper maintenance of your dehumidifier can prevent such issues from occurring. Moreover, it will also help you understand the cause of the issue sooner. So you can clean or replace the part accordingly. Tip: If you see ice formulating on your humidifier, we suggest you give it some time to defrost and stop using it for a while. Just as soon as the air passes over the cold evaporator coils it passes over the hot condenser coils. If anything, the air comes out warmer than it went in.

But when it does that, the main objective of the dehumidifier is accomplished. The air from your room hitting the very cold coils of the evaporator causes the coils to sweat.

Moisture from the air condenses on them. The sweat runs down the evaporator coils and drips in a tub in the bottom of the dehumidifier. Get rid of the humidity — without making it colder in your home.

Now, what would cause the dehumidifier to freeze up? Here are several reasons this might happen. Probably the most common reason for a frosted dehumidifier is that there is a lot of dust and dirt on the air filter. This will prevent the proper circulation of air passing over the evaporator coils and the moisture sweat that forms on them will turn to ice.

Before too long, it can become a solid mass of frosty ice. The air filter is very important to the life of your unit by filtering out dust before it gets into the internal components where it can hold onto moisture long enough for it to freeze due to the very cold internal coil.

Then, it frosts up. The air filter should be right behind the grille of your dehumidifier so that it will trap any dust that is drawn through by the fan. Pet hair will clog an air filter in a hurry. As mentioned above, the air entering your dehumidifier passes through the air filter, over the evaporator coils and then immediately over the condenser coils.

Over time, dust, dirt, hair, lint that bypassed the filter will accumulate and occupy the coils space. Air inlet or outlet blockage could also restrict airflow circulation and causes the dehumidifier to ice up. This usually happens when a dehumidifier is placed too close to the wall or there are foreign objects obstructing the ventilation.

Refrigerant leakage, burn compressor, electronic control malfunction, faulty wiring, and even a broken switch could lead to an impending ice build-up. Here are several ways you could troubleshoot a dehumidifier before sending it to the service center. Refrigerant dehumidifiers are highly effective machines that reduce indoor humidity.

Each model comes with key components such as evaporator coils, condenser coils, a fan motor, a reservoir, and a built-in humidistat.

The dehumidifier begins by pulling damp air into the ventilation and passes to the evaporator coils for condensation. Water droplets will be drained out and stored in the reservoir or pump straight out via a hose. Dry air will then passes to the hot condenser coils and release out as mist to complete the cycle.