The back coils are freezing over - Goldstar DH5010B Dehumidifier

Nothing.That's how it works. The coil gets cold. The moisture(water) in the air freezes to the coil. The coil then gets warm and the ice melts, dripping into the bucket or out the drain hose.

Coils can freeze if the room is extremely hot. Usually, though they freeze because the path for air flow is reduced. Check input and output grilles and coils for dirt and dust and clean as necessary.

The coils should not freeze up. If the fan is working, try lowering the setpoint to just below actual humidity. This will allow the dehumidifier to run and shut so water can drip off without freezing. If that works, slowly lower the setpoint over the next day or so. If the setpoint is too low, the unit runs continuously until it freezes, then never shuts down.

Gary

Hi,

The coils you see on the back of your dehumidifier are the evaporator. When the unit runs, the coils get very cold. As the fan draws the room air over the coils, the humidity in the air condenses out of the air onto the cold coils. But, if the temperature of the air the fan draws over the coils is too cool, the humidity that condenses out of the air freezes on the coils. To remedy this problem, you can try any of these: Warm up the room the dehumidifier is in. Put the dehumidifier on a sturdy table (the room air is coolest near the ground).

Turn the unit off until the room warms up.
Good luck

Hi, If you are having problems with your dehumidifier freezing up them here are a few things that you can check and also a few things that may help you.

First check the ambient temperature of the room at the level of the dehumidifier. If it is below 65 degreesand you do not have a special low temperature dehumidifier then you are asking for trouble. Most units are only designed to work in temperature 65 or higher and will freeze if they are working at lower temperatures. Some even will not work well below 68 degrees F.

Many dehumidifiers will shut off when the coil starts to freeze to let them thaw, then they will restart when the coil is warm enough again. This can take an hour or so. Some will not shut down the compressor and when the dehumidifier coil starts to freeze it reduces the air flow and only compounds the problem.

Check the air flow over the coil. If the coil becomes dirty or the fan motor stops or even slows down a bit, you will get freezing. The dehumidifier is very dependent upon the proper amount of air going over the coil to keep the coil warm enough to not freeze. Any restriction will cause problems.

The final and worst thing that can happen is for your dehumidification unit is to develop a slight leak in therefrigeration system. This will cause the coils to run even colder then they would normally and this will create the same problems. If everything else check out then you may have to have the refrigeration system checked by a professional. The problem with this is that many of these units only cost a few hundred dollars and a service call can soon add up to more then the unit is worth.

Some things that you can do to help out a dehumidifier that is freezing up are:

Raise the temperature of the room and provide a bit of heat for the room as the dehumidifier is actually a very small A/C unit.
Raise the dehumidifier up off of the floor… the air is usually warmer when you go higher up in the room, hot air rises.
Clean the coils off so that the air can flow through them easier and keep them warmer.
Make sure that the fan motor bearings are oiled and that the fan is running freely. Even a tiny bit of resistance will slow the fan enough to make a difference.


By checking all these things out and making some small changes you maybe able to make yourdehumidifier work much more effectively.

Hi,

Here is a tip that I wrote that will help you understand why and what you cando with a dehumidifier that ices up.

Dehumidifier is Freezing up and not working

heatman101

Make sure the filter is clean and plenty of air comes through, when coils freeze it is usually caused by low air flow coupled with lots of humidity and low air temperature in the space to be cooled. Clean the filter, fan and gently brush all dust and debris from the intake of the cold coil and retry it. If the basement is already cool and you are trying to dehimidify you should use a dehumidifier that features defrost controls.

Try unpluging & let it melt completely.Some light frost could be normal but if it freezes back up shortley after u turn it back on it probaly has a low freon charge/leak.

Condenser coils do not freeze, it is the evaporator coils that freeze. If it is icing up then the setting is too low for the area it is in, basically the humidistat will never be satisfied so it will run continually and end up freezing the evap coils, the coils could also freeze if the filter is dirty or there is an air flow problem.

First, make sure the rectangular filter on the back side is clean so air can flow over the coils freely. Try to place the dehumidifier on a table or something to get it off the floor. (floor level is cooler than head level) If you still have icing issues, replace sensor. (part # WK23X10011 )