Is Your Dehumidifier A Recalled Fire Hazard ?

toxcrusadr

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Hey guys, I just found out about this myself and a lot of other people missed the news too.

Gree, a Chinese manufacturer of at least a DOZEN brands, has recalled millions of portable household dehumidifiers due to risk of overheating, smoke and fire.

The recall dates to 2014 but was re-announced after hundreds more fires were reported.

In Nov. 2016, the Cons. Products Safety Commission reported 450 fires and $19M in property damage from these machines.

"This recall involves select 20, 25, 30, 40, 45, 50, 65 and 70-pint dehumidifiers with brand names Danby, De'Longhi, Fedders, Fellini, Frigidaire, GE, Gree, Kenmore, Norpole, Premiere, Seabreeze, SoleusAir and SuperClima produced from 2005 to 2013."

http://greedehumidifierrecall.com/ProductEntry.aspx

IF YOU HAVE one of these recalled units, don't screw around, send off for a recall kit. They will want the label off the back and supposedly will give credit toward a replacement.

A coworker gave me a recalled Frigidaire for scrap that he had gotten credit on towards a new one. I was looking on the web to find out whether anyone knew how to fix whatever the problem was, with the idea of maybe using it. When I found out how many fires there were, I was concerned. An hour earlier, I was scrapping out one of MY machines, a small Soleus from 2010. I opened it to investigate why the compressor wasn't working and found it had overheated and melted the wiring at the compressor. Sure enough, the damn thing was on the recall list! I COULD HAVE HAD MY AUDIO/RADIO STORAGE BUILDING BURNED DOWN.

I've sent off for a recall kit for the Soleus and will be junking the Frigidaire too.
 
View attachment 988843 Here's the compressor wiring on my Soleus.

WTF?? Looks like it already caught on fire!

I had a Frigidaire dehumidifier which was affected by the recall. Had to go to the recall website, fill in some info and attach a photo of the DH with the cord cut off (so you can prove that it was disabled). They gave me the opportunity of a pro-rated refund ($90), or a new one. I called first to find out the replacement model, which they assured me would be a Frigidaire.

It took longer than expected, but I finally received my new one. It's really just a "Frigidaire" in name only, basically another model manufactured by the parent company and re-branded. After a lot of Google searching, I found out that these were manufactured specifically for the recall. So, you're not going to find any reviews on Amazon et al. Gotta say that it's performed pretty well so far though (knock on wood).

It was kind of hard in a way to destroy the old one, since it worked like a champ for 5 years. Better safe than sorry though.
 
Chinese Junk! Find one from the 80's or early 90's made here in America. They where made to last, not like this Chinese crap.
 
Yeah. I have a tan and brown one looks like 80s that a coworker was getting rid of this summer. Built pretty well but it runs and runs and doesn't condense water very fast Might need some coolant, I don't know.

The Soleus and a Kenmore KM-70 both crapped out at once, and they were both date code 2010. So it seems that's the expected ge now, about 7 years.
 
If it has not been cleaned for a long time, the condenser and the evaporator may be full of dirt. If you can get the cover off of it, clean the coils. It may work like new.
 
Got my return kit awhile back and sent me a check for about $30 more than I paid for it. Article in the paper on this very same thing, high percentage of these are ending up at the recycle centers. Most people are getting 3 years out of these.
 
Hey Tox
Thanks for the information. I do have a Danby premiere. But it's not one of the listed models. I dont know if that's a good thing or not.
Thanks again. Eric
 
I keep fixing my old brown sheet metal ones because the newer ones are all expensive junk. The last newer one I got made a better space heater than dehumidifier, before it quickly died and went to the dump.
 
I think the newer ones are more efficient (as far as water condensed per energy expended) but they sure don't last that long.
 
They want you to believe they're efficient, and they stick EnergyStar stickers on 'em, but anything that heats up a room like mine did, can't be very efficient. Try and find actual numbers on anything today.
 
I did get a refund back on mine - $169! Surprised it was that much - this one was several years old and didn't cost much more than that. Still not happy about the quality of the product but at least the rebate was generous.
 
I wonder if these issues are caused by hard water buildup on the heating element. My units aren't on the list, but I clean out my units once a month, and the amount of build up is scary.
 
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