Hisense Dehumidifier- Look at what their Customer Service told me to do!

[Gaffer1968]

I picked up a Hisense dehumidifier a few days ago because it was the ONLY brand I could find at Lowes. I opted to use a water hose for a continual gravitational feed, as stated in their manual. After hooking up the hose, the unit still drained into the bucket and turned off after 12 hours or so. There is nothing in the manual that says to flip a switch or similar to have it drain through the hose or anything remotely close to it.

So I call up their CS line. After speaking with 2 separate people going off of their instructions- unplug/plug in, hold for 30 sec., etc., the last person told me to tilt the unit to the right so it will drain. I restated what their manual says which is- Place on a flat even surface. They disregarded what I told them and repeated to lift one side up.

Well, this unit will stay in my garage until a name brand replaces it this weekend.

I've had several of these. The problem is the lip on their condensate tray where it channels the moisture down to the reservoir (or out to the adjacent hose outlet) is just too damned small. One problem could be is that the tray isn't fitted properly to where it snaps in. Unfortunately, to find this out takes a little bit of disassembly.

 

[basstracker89]

Take it back, my Dad has one and hasn't haven't had any trouble with it. All I did was connect the hose to the back it was good to go. But that said he had it draining into a bucket, not the built in pan.

 

[spistols]

Returned it yesterday. Told them it was broken and Hisense customer service told me to do something totally contrary to their manual.

 

[Gaffer1968]

Are there any AC techs out there who have and can recharge the R410A on a dehumidifier? I've got a Toshiba 50 Pt that needs it. I'm tired of throwing these things away just because of icing up on part of the evaporator. If so, where are you and what would you charge?

 

[whiskerz]

Are there any AC techs out there who have and can recharge the R410A on a dehumidifier? I've got a Toshiba 50 Pt that needs it. I'm tired of throwing these things away just because of icing up on part of the evaporator. If so, where are you and what would you charge?

Some of them are sealed so they have to have ports added to refill the freon.

 

[Gaffer1968]

Some of them are sealed so they have to have ports added to refill the freon.

Yeah...most of them are sealed and you have to buy a bullet piercing valve to install on the compressor intake line. I've seen enough of all the recharge stuff to know I can do that - it's the availability and cost of the R410A freon top-off bottles that's disheartening... My BIL is a plumber with the right kind of license tickets and I've asked him about getting a 25lb bottle...and he said he could but he's out of the country for a month now on this cruise... Apparently, owning a plumbing company pays pretty alright... :0)

 

[BH-ATL]

Yeah...most of them are sealed and you have to buy a bullet piercing valve to install on the compressor intake line. I've seen enough of all the recharge stuff to know I can do that - it's the availability and cost of the R410A freon top-off bottles that's disheartening... My BIL is a plumber with the right kind of license tickets and I've asked him about getting a 25lb bottle...and he said he could but he's out of the country for a month now on this cruise... Apparently, owning a plumbing company pays pretty alright... :0)

Not sure it is worth it unless you get free refrigerant and a house visit by a tech. Graingers has a 25 lb tank for $428 and I suspect you only need a few ounces. My guess is that the suppliers use steel condensers, aluminum evaporators and copper tubing to connect it to the compressor which leads to leaks due to corrosion where the dissimilar metals meet.

 

[Gaffer1968]

Not sure it is worth it unless you get free refrigerant and a house visit by a tech. Graingers has a 25 lb tank for $428 and I suspect you only need a few ounces. My guess is that the suppliers use steel condensers, aluminum evaporators and copper tubing to connect it to the compressor which leads to leaks due to corrosion where the dissimilar metals meet.

That's true....the cost is unrealistically high because of licenses and all that other crap that goes with. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get what I need when my BIL gets back from is vacay... :0) I'm tired of paying $200 for POS dehumidifiers I could repair myself given the right supplies...

 

[kuduman]

And my 26 month old Fridgidaire dehumidifier just died. Two months after warranty expiration, of course. Still sucking power, just not condensing water. I guess I have to buy another one, but this time with the damn extended warrantee for three years. So 26 months from now, I'll get a free replacement.

 

[harrycalahan]

And my 26 month old Fridgidaire dehumidifier just died. Two months after warranty expiration, of course. Still sucking power, just not condensing water. I guess I have to buy another one, but this time with the damn extended warrantee for three years. So 26 months from now, I'll get a free replacement.

Does the fan come on?

I have two frigidaires that are 10 and 12 years old. Both work great but both have the same flaw. The fan relay dies after 3-4 years. So I have them both set on constant ON and control the run time with a lamp timer. Works fantastic.