Small Appliance Repair in Stittsville area: Dehumidifier

[stittsville resident]

Hello,

Does anyone know a reputable small appliance repair shop around Stittsville?

We purchased a Frigidaire 70 pint dehumidifier in Dec 2018.

We used it summer of 2018 and 2019 before it died in 2020. It turns on, but the compressor never comes on. The coils partially ice up and it takes a very little humidity out of the air.

Of course, it's out of warranty, Frigidaire and their website is zero help as the repair shops they list on their are all out of business, people repairing large appliances only etc.

Maybe it's not worth fixing, but it feels wrong to throw out this $400 appliance after barely using it for a few months.

Any help would be appreciated!

[BrianT]

I know the feeling as I'm on my fourth dehumidifer now. My second one was a Frigidaire also. I wasn't able to find any repair shops either. I'm thinking if they charge like $100 per hour, it's probably not worth it.

Getting rid of them is sort of pain also as you can't leave it with the regular garbage.

[stittsville resident]

Have you had better luck with another brand? I know they change so quickly that brand doesn't mean much these days.

I'm considering getting the cheapest one that has the ability to hook up a hose to it and run continuously. I generally only run it for a few hours a day in the summer when it's not hot enough to use the AC, so I'm not going buy something with the false hope that more money and name brand means reliable quality again!

Do they charge at the recyclable drop offs or you just have to make an appointment?

[Halton Home Inspector]

In a couple months from now and leading into the summer Canadian Tire will likely have some pretty good sale prices on dehumidifiers. With the prices on labor and parts today it's probably not worth repairing.

[BrianT]

Here are the four brands I have owned.

Kenmore (Sears) - This one lasted the longest but eventually the coils froze up.
Frigidaire (Lowes) - Would run but no water was coming out
Hisense (Lowes) - Would run for a bit but eventually it would stop with an error code. This one died the quickest, within a year, and luckily I was able to return it.
Perfect Aire (Home Depot) - My current one and only bought last year. Was still working when I shut it down last fall.

I dropped off my last dead one at MG Services Appliance Repair. It looked to be a residential house and I didn't pay anything. They just had a bunch of other small appliances on their driveway and I just added to their collection. But their website currently says no drop offs until spring.

www.mgservices.ca


Noma (Canadian Tire) - I looked into these ones but they seem to have bad reviews on their website so I didn't bother.

[stittsville resident]

Originally Posted by BrianT

Here are the four brands I have owned.

Kenmore (Sears) - This one lasted the longest but eventually the coils froze up.
Frigidaire (Lowes) - Would run but no water was coming out
Hisense (Lowes) - Would run for a bit but eventually it would stop with an error code. This one died the quickest, within a year, and luckily I was able to return it.
Perfect Aire (Home Depot) - My current one and only bought last year. Was still working when I shut it down last fall.

I dropped off my last dead one at MG Services Appliance Repair. It looked to be a residential house and I didn't pay anything. They just had a bunch of other small appliances on their driveway and I just added to their collection. But their website currently says no drop offs until spring.

www.mgservices.ca


Noma (Canadian Tire) - I looked into these ones but they seem to have bad reviews on their website so I didn't bother.

Thank you for that very helpful reply.

It looks like the Hisense and Noma are the same.

My Frigidaire exhibits the exact same behavior.

Thank you again and good luck with your current unit.

Take care!

[oakvillehomeowner]

if the coils freeze up, the compressor is running.

it's probably the fan not running. this should be easy to repair for an electrical hobbyist. you can probably get a parts diagram online if it's a common model.

[stittsville resident]

Originally Posted by oakvillehomeowner

if the coils freeze up, the compressor is running.

it's probably the fan not running. this should be easy to repair for an electrical hobbyist. you can probably get a parts diagram online if it's a common model.

The coils freeze up half the way vs the full way, but there's no jolting sound of the compressor turning off or on, I only hear the fan and it doesn't take much water at all out of the air. Not enough to affect the humidity level at all.