Haier HDN455 dehumidifier fan runs continuously but not compressor

My Haier HDN455 dehumidifier runs continuously but never produces any water in the tank. Upon further inspection it appears only the fan is running most of the time, with the compressor only kicking in for a few seconds at time before clicking off again for several minutes. A quick check of the current flowing to the compressor motor indicated about 14 amps, which is nearly three times the rated current. Is that merely a spike in startup current that would drop back to about 5 amps if it kept running, or should I assume the motor and/or compressor is faulty and toss the whole thing? I'd hate to trash it if it's just a controller issue or a capacitor that needs replacement, but am not sure how to diagnose it further since it won't stay running long enough to figure out what else could be wrong.