A look inside a desiccant dehumidifier.
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- A look inside a Meaco DD8L desiccant dehumidifier. (Which is actually a rebadged You Long YL-208A)
These dehumidifiers are much quieter than traditional compressor based ones. They work by rotating a drum of honeycombed desiccant material (zeolite) through an airflow from the area to be dehumidified, then through a heated section that drives the collected moisture out into a condensing panel.
I managed to fluff twice and suggest that these units are sensitive to being moved. They aren't. Traditional compressor dehumidifiers are sensitive to being moved during or just before use, since the refrigerant liquid can get into the compressor and stall it. These units can be dragged out the boot of a car and plugged straight in without a settling time.
The desiccant units are very lightweight since they do not contain much metal. Another advantage over the compressor versions is that these ones will operate efficiently down to near zero temperatures when there is virtually no moisture in the air anyway. Compressor units are very inefficient at low temperatures.
The reason for the air filter on the front of the unit is to prevent particulate from blocking the pores of the desiccant drum.
Although these units consume more power than an equivalent compressor unit with a low setting of typically 300W and a high setting of about 600W they don't use any more power overall since they bring the humidity down quickly and then turn off. The output is a stream of noticeably warm and very dry air.
These units are not to be confused with the absolutely useless desiccant dehumidifiers that are either a bag of silica gel or a chemical that absorbs moisture and then turns to slush in a plastic tub. The silica gel is OK for very small enclosed containers but not continuous room dehumidification.
Using a dehumidifier in a home prone to dampness like a coastal home or older style of building will solve many problems like mold and excess condensation on walls and windows. The dryer air is more comfortable and greatly reduces the need to heat the building excessively. Even at it's highest setting (about 600W) one of these units can be run continuously for a full day for considerably less than the cost of a cup of coffee from Starbucks. Most of these units have a laundry setting where wet washing can be hung indoors in the same room as the dehumidifier and it will dry it all quickly by removing the moisture from the air.
Although many of these units have quite complex electronic controls, I prefer the simpler version with just a high/low switch and a knob to set the desired humidity. Much simpler and potentially more reliable.
I actually find the sound of air compressors in dehumidifiers and small air conditioners very soothing. They can actually help me to sleep.
There are devices designed to create a low level white noise to help people sleep.
@@bigclivedotcom I prefer Bob Ross. Although I tend to doze off while watching your videos. Your voice is quite soothing.
Many thanks for making the video! I've used one to dry washing for a number of years, and always wanted to know how it worked. Fantastic machines.
Air can contain water at below zero temperatures. Very little when measured in grams, but relative humidity can still be 100% at minus 20 degrees Celsius. See Mollier diagram. You can line dry clothes outside in freezing temperatures.
Wow when you look back at your videos you can see how much you have developed, good work Clive.
Excellent review/tutorial.
I wish I'd seen this sooner - I have a refrigerant condenser dehumidifier and it blows out cold air and is likely too cold to function at optimal capacity.
I've bought a desiccant model and am looking forward to a massive improvement.
Thanks for the review.
I've been using this unit for 6 month through out the winter living in a wooden boat. 10.5x3 m/some 40m³ living space being effectively ventilated.
Without additional heating temperature is often below zero..
The noise level are acceptable, got used to it.
It is on automatic and hasn't been switched off. Ofte leaving it running unattended for several days.
- I'm really satisfied and find it very useful keeping moisture level below critical level. The low amount of heating is also helpful..
Thanks for that video, was great to see inside and hear an informed first hand account of them.
The compressor sounds like the sinister suspense music in horror movies! Don't think I'd want to live with that.
😂
The are very useful units, their operation is extremely well explained here. I'd love to see a new teardown with better video, though. Maybe do a remake of this sometime, Clive? 👍
I would like to see the unit being opened up. I am struggling to find all the screws. My unit does
does not work, the warning light flashes after a running a few moments and it shuts down with the light still flashing. Any ideas? Great video Clive as always. many thanks
Thank you for this video! After watching it I understood which components were what and was able to fix my own desiccant dehumidifier!
Great review of how they work and because of you I got the ecoair DD122 "Simple" instead of a compressor type which I have had a number of before. I have to say its very good indeed but I am worried about how reliable it will be over time as the old fridge compressors just go on and on. I suspect the life span of the desiccant unit will not be as good but we will see. Great review and very informative. Thanks for that.
Best regards Peter
Can I suggest you run it on its lower setting as all these style of desiccant dehumidifiers will last a LOT longer when used on their low setting. I've been using mine in regular use for a couple of years and so far no problems.
bigclivedotcom Thanks for your prompt reply. I do use the unit on its low setting in the bedroom and to be honest we don't notice it at all. During the summer when its hot our tower fan which we use to cool the bedroom down is noisier. I am glad to hear yours has been OK as some people have reported problems but the Ecoair unit came with a 2 year guarantee which was the final conviction for me to try this type of dehumidifier. Your review went a long way to convince me to try it and is far more informative than the usual manufacturers rubbish that tells you very little. Again thanks for the review and I have subscribed. Regards Peter
Peter Bruce do you have an update? The dessicant should last more or less forever. The ptc heater should be easy and cheap to replace, as should the motors if they ever fail.
you eliminate mysteries, it's good to know the truth, you must have a huge amount of knowledge, it's a bit like a picture puzzle, the more you know, the simpler it becomes. the more I learn, the more I relise there is no end to learning, but we will not live for ever, I will not know when I'm dead.. thanks.
I'm a long time subscriber, I just bought one of these for a 5er today and took it apart because it was absolutely filthy with dust inside and out. I accidentally snapped the fan when putting the fan bolt back on because I overtightened it, woops, luckily a bit of superglue sorted that. I did vacuum the drum to try get the dust out of it, I think compressed air would have worked better but i dont have access to a compressor. Mine does go into fault mode when on low fan settings which implies its overheating, not sure why as I've cleaned it very thoroughly. But its working a treat on high fan speeds. I had no idea desiccant drum dehumidifiers existed 24hrs ago. Very cool tech.
Anyway to see this dehumidifier on your youtube was a great coincidence and relief. I probably should have watched this video first before taking mine apart, it would have saved me searching for the screws under the buttons.
Also from my brief research from today, and from reading the manufactures manual, its VERY important to keep the filter clean (to stop the drum and other internals getting clogged with dust) and to let the device run its cool down timer (not just turning it off at the plug) as the fan needs to cool the heater element, otherwise the residual heat can melt nearby plastics. As well as your sound advice of running it on low to keep the heat down.
The filters on these, in my opinion, is way too coarse. It should be finer. As dust easily flies through the coarse filters these come with. But finer filters would restrict airflow = overheating. I suppose its a balancing act.
The ones I have here are the simpler units with just a mechanical humidistat. They don't do a cool down cycle. They just shut off.
@@bigclivedotcom Clive, on my other account here. I had strange dust flying out the fan of mine, which turned out to be some sort of buildup, almost like calcium or salt, on the heating element coils. Any idea what it could've been? I can only assume the zeolite coating was somehow perspiring from the drum and then reforming on the coils? Would you care to look at my video? Skip to 11:32
@@rattech I've not seen that effect on the heating element. I wonder if it's something from the ambient air that is precipitating out. Are you near the sea?
@@bigclivedotcom Thanks for looking. I'm not near the sea nor was the guy I bought it from. But who knows its history. I did try to dissolve it in water to remove it from the coil, but it didnt work. Which makes me think it wasnt salt. I had to pick and crush it off very carefully between two jewelers files. It was quite strong.
Thank you for all the lessons. I learned a lot
Very good explanation of how the desiccant dehumidifier works
A compressor dehumidifier will work well also above 20 C. Its limited by how much condensing heat it can move from the cooling section to the heating section. And it will actually also produce warm air unless its a bigger device where the hesting part is mounted outside AKA a air conditioner
I need to look into getting one like this now. I've been needing a dehumidifier for my Aunt's place in the country. Now that it's seeing less use, the carpets & cabinets have been getting mildewy. I was just gonna get whatever compressor based unit I could get a deal on, but this one looks like it has more potential. As long as I can set it up with a drain hose going into a sink or out of the floor (it is a plywood house on wheels essentially) I think that could do nicely.
We recently bought one of these and I was curious how it worked without resorting to tearing it down. I knew the method but was wondering how it worked in operation. Went searching Google for a teardown and wasn't surprised at all to see Big Clive had already done so.
Just got a dehumidifier recently as mildew inside one of my camera lenses (effectively knocking half of it's value off) was the final straw.
Went with desiccant as I like to keep my house at a lower than 20C temperature. Meaco are claiming that their compressor dehumidifiers (20L/day+ models) can outperform their desiccant ones on a KW/h to water scale down to 15c and get close down to 10c which I'm skeptical of.
Kind of makes me want to change my mind and get a compressor one, especially seeing the cost to fill the (2 litre?) tank. It's about £0.50 to get 350ml out of one now with the doubling in electricity prices.
Clive, thanks for your quick reply.
Yes the run capacitor was in circuit when I did the test. I think I'll cut my losses and purchase something like the EcoAir as you suggest - or perhaps another DD8L as I now have a box of spares!!
I'm afraid that dessicant dehumidifiers are still in their infancy as a technology. They will bocome more reliable over time, but the earl;ier ones seem to have had issues.
I tend to recommend running the things at their lower setting, since the highest setting results in a much shorter unit life.
Great video bigclivedotcom. With your help, I have fixed my dehumidifier with a new synchronous motor from ebay China, about £3 I got the CW / ACW motor because it was the only one I could find and I do not see why it maters which way the drum revolves. I had to cut the motor spindle down to length and grind 2 flats on the spindle with an angle grinder. Dead easy. I have since found out that my dehumidifier had a 2 year warranty, so that would have been a simpler but less satisfying route.
As I think you realise, lots of people are also interested how to get into the blasted thing. There are 4 hidden screws in the lid, and 2 of them hold the lid on. A lot of time can be wasted if you find the wrong 2 screws and leave the others in place.
I would also like to see a reassembly shown because I am left with a plastic baffle and no idea where it goes. The motor took a couple of weeks to arrive and in the meantime, I forgot where some parts went. Good stuff though, it all works great.
Keep up the good work educating us with what we are not supposed to know about! I love your videos
One of mine ground its motor shaft to death. I was trying to find a compatible motor with matching shaft flats but failed. email me a pic of the baffle and I'll try to guess where it goes. bigclive1@gmail.com
The motor direction doesn't seem to matter as this motor stopped being directional long before it failed. Which motor did you get in the end?
How is the condensing panel cooled? I've seen a few videos on dessicant dehumidifiers but this point is never covered. This video is, however, by far the most comprehensive. Thanks for the upload.
It's cooled by the airflow through the unit. The moisture laden air from the heated area is at high temperature, so even at room temperature the condenser seems cool.
bigclivedotcom That simple? Awesome! Nothing much to go wrong with that piece of the system. I've just ordered an EcoSeb, which is marketed as EcoAir in Europe, significantly influenced by your excellent video. Thanks for the response.
I have- " EcoAir DD3 Simple " desiccant dehumidifier. been using it for the last 6 years, no problem, just remember to clean the filter, not saying that they are any better or worse, than your one.I have no heating in my home, it gets down to 0 degrees celsius indoors, but the lower the humidity, the lower heat transfer is, I do not feel so cold, plus it does warm the air up a bit.
damp air is lighter, so it rises, so would it be better to suspend the dehumidifier higher up, so that it can grab the damper air, and attach a hose to the dehumidifier down to a water container
The Goldair GD330 8L model looks to be another rebranding of these. I picked up a used one after being informed and inspired by this video. :) I'm now wondering if you could modify one to work as a ducted whole-house unit, alongside a heat exchanger. Fresh intake air would be dried in the desiccant wheel, then warmed in the heat exchanger using stale exhaust air from the house. The hot, wet reactivation air from the dehumidifier could be sent into the heat exchanger as well for heat recovery (and the condenser wouldn't be needed). Sensible? (Pardon the pun!)
Very well explained Big Clive. I gave you a thumbs up! I personally own a Meaco DD8L Compact and Meaco had also send me a prototype of the Zambezi dehumidifier as well so I am very familiar with the Meaco DD8L series.. The Zambezi condenser is much more powerful than the Compact one and so the Zambezi extracts more moisture even though both units state an 8 litre extraction rate. In truth though all brands of dehumidifier vary a little in their extraction rate even though the stated rate may say 8 litres. I guess the stated extraction rate is to maintain marketing uniformity. How do you rate the Meaco DD8L series extraction rate against other 8 litre desiccant dehumidifier extraction rates?
Very interesting video, thank you for posting. I wanted to ask is it possible to open the body a part PLS Thanks
My dessicant drum eventually got clogged with fine dust and the unit kept cutting out due to overheating. Had to take it apart (like you did here) and brush hoover the drum. Works fine again but it was a bit of a bugger to get to! The exterior filter is quite coarse.
These units are still in their early days. Hopefully they will become more serviceable over time.
Warm weather get an AC in the 🏠 and winter ... Well in winter you don't really need an dehumidifier
PS I'm not 💯% but 💦 vapour can exist in air at normal pressure down to -55°C when they precipitate as ice cristals
I have an eco air dc18 a slightly more modern compressor dehumidifer, it also runs about 300 watts but will do a full tank for around 40 pence, or there abouts. But you are on the money with the temperature comments. With the house around 18- 21 degrees it will pull a full tank for around the 30p but drop it below 15 degrees and the thing is constantly having to go into defrost mode and consequently the efficiency drops out the bottom.
Incidentally the tank in yours is a 2 litre, the model I have is 3.5 litre. (just for comparisons sake)
I use compressor based dehumidifiers in summer as they are much more efficient, but in winter I keep my home cold (10C right now.) and use the desiccant ones set at their low power setting to avoid the heater burnout problems they have running at full power. By far the most reliable are the compressor units. The desiccant ones are needing to evolve.
That makes sense thanks for the clarification. I live in an old farm house with solid stone walls which means that without the dehumidifier the place loves to get damp
Very informative video. The desicant drum reminds me of the recouper in the 1960 car turbine engines for recovering energy from the exhaust. I am looking for a dehumidifier for my bedroom and the desicant type will be a better one than the traditional compressor types. Thanks
+Pritam Bissonauth That's the first thing that came to my mind too, the heat recovery system in the Chrysler Turbine Car's turbine engine.
So, the desiccant collects and concentrates moisture. Hot air passes thru the desiccant and leaves at high humidity and temperature. The humidity then can condense on surfaces kept near room temperature. ...I guess ?
IWe have been designing dehumidifiers for international retails for 20 years. Toyotomi branded units reset after power out as long as the plug is left in. Desiccant units described below are domestic units in general. They really were never designed to run 24/7 unattended. The product originated in Japan to keep apartments dry. If you need a 24/7 application you really should consider commercial unit like the Ecor Pro DH2500. As a safety note Toyotomi units will always rest for at least 2 hours in a 24 hour period which is unique in the market. Safety first and horses for courses..
Most of the irritating noise that comes from my compressor dehumidifier comes from the collection bucket rattling against the rest of the unit. I stuff a small bit of tissue in the gap at the top and it stops the rattle. It still has fan noise though. I like the idea of the desiccant dehumidifier. I don't have the pennies to get one. hey ho.
I also have the Ecoair Simple and it developed a whoosh, whoosh, whoosh noise, that's at 3Hz obviously, but 6 dB louder - too much. Took it to bits, looked clean, reassembled - no difference. Knee jerked, ordered a new one, came today. Re-stripped the old one and took off the water collection plate and it was full of jellylike gunk stopping flow. Have a guess what Mum's getting tomorrow?
The desiccant units are still a new thing and they have made a few mistakes in the design. The buildup of goo seems to be an issue.
Hi ! Could you upload a video or just a simple guide, how to open the dd8l humidifier? Steps to open the side panels so i could reach the wheel which is noisy a bit latelly. Thank you!
@biglivedotcom could you please , give a hint?
+Ckaramela It's a while since I opened it, but if I recall there are screw on top, some in the water compartment area and then you have to remove the base from the bottom to get to the final screws. Then the case is firmly clipped together along the sides in such a manner that I had to give mine a bear-hug to get it open. Take care to note the route the flex takes in the base to aid putting it back together again.
+bigclivedotcom Thank you!
Looks nicely made how much did it cost??
Você ganhou mais um fã 👍🏻🇧🇷🙏
Decided to have a look at your video to see how they work, very useful and informative! Just curious, does your smells funny when new? Mine have pretty strong smell so far after running 24hours still present.
The dessicant dehumidifiers seem to absorb and then release smells as part of their action. Mine makes a "dry" smell.
bigclivedotcom hmmmm mine smells like strong chemicals when running on medium and high. I’ll probably see if it continues after a week and if so maybe I’ll ask the manufacturer.
Thanks Clive. Wondering if this world work in a crawl space under a house? Have to seal off the vents and use this to extract moisture.
Might plug up with dust and how to drain the tank? Problems to work out, but seems do able.
A humidifier is only really viable for fairly sealed areas. Have you considered a simple fan to create airflow through the crawlspace to reduce buildup of humidity? Especially if it's only turned on on dry days. That would be a very cost efficient way of drying that area.
Very interesting video, thank you for posting. I wanted to ask is it possible to get (or make) a HEPA air filter for the front?
I ask for two reasons: 1) I'm an allergy sufferer 2) reports of units breakdown due to dust getting in (Meaco recommend cleaning the front cover every 2 weeks). Perhaps a HEPA filter would be more effective at keeping dust out of the unit?
Thank you
+billypigeon23 I wouldn't recommend that. these units need a high throughput of air. Use a separate air cleaner.
I found a diy rotor dessicant but it doesn't have a honeycomb structure. It's a wooden wheel, with these thin metal sheets coated with silica (dessicant). The metal sheets have some small spaces in between them. would it be possible to make a dehumidifier (that sheds off water) out of that? badly needed for our science project please... Thank you!
It looks like your whole house is a workshop lol
+TheManLab7 It is. That's the joy of being single.
+bigclivedotcom Your single? I know the struggle... Girls don't like technology as much, sadly.."
+Osumo Ben Lodan being single is not a struggle. It's a liberation. I'm single by choice and staying that way.
+bigclivedotcom Ah, in that way. Thanks for your response.
+bigclivedotcom finally someone else who gets it.
Great video Clive - Scottish Engineers the best in the world . I somehow stumbled upon this as Im trying to understand if a newly arrived dehumidifier (ironically the very desiccant model you have there) is the cause of a dramtic escalation in more frquent and more painful migraines. . I hate the smell of the chemicals that come off this unit - very "chemically" I wonder if thats half the problem. (Does it ever go away?) Ive ordered a hygrometer to see whats going on more generally. I ALSO heard that dehumidifiers can lead to additional C02 build-up - which apparently can also trigger migraines. (Co2 not CO - another story) (Whether thats because windows are opened less or not I dont know) Alas - so many questions and no-one to ask (and Google isnt much use). P.S. I replaced the motor on a Dyson DC07 the other day - saved a small fortune. (Though rather fiddly) Cant believe the price these things go for once you open them up.
The nature of desiccant dryers is that they can create a dry dusty smell which may actually be smells absorbed from the air. It does diminish with time. I'm not aware of them causing CO2 increase. They literally just absorb moisture and then condense it out again in the heated section. I tend to use a humidity meter to set my humidity at about 60% and always use the unit at its low setting for longest heater life.
very interesting. will watch your mini peltier teardown next.
excellent video!! thanks!
great video thanks.
Im struggling to take my Eco air apart!
It works fine collecting, but makes quite nasty 'grumbling/knocking noise' after about 10 mins use...
this sounds 'internal' and doesn't differ if on high or low fan setting
It is 5 months out of warrantee, and gonna cost £89.99 to collect and service.
Any ideas what It may be?
When it's making the noise shine a light through from the vent side and see if the honeycomb-style desiccant drum is rotating smoothly. It might be the motor that turns that from the edge that is stuttering if the drum is not rotating freely.
Hi Clive,
I have used the DDl8 on my boat last winter and it worked great - much more efficient that a compressor dehumidifier I used before. However, it stopped working and was just out of guarantee. As I live in Ireland it was going to cost £70 + shipping to have Meaco have a look at it, so I had a go myself, although more endowed with ambition than knowledge!
However, it seems that the fan motor will not move even though there is power on the feeds. I removed the motor for further investigation and the resistance on the windings looks fine and a little voltage is generated on each of the windings when the rotor is turned. Yet when connected directly to 240vac on each of the windings in turn, there is no movement. Do you think the motor is shot or if there is a problem with the circuit feeding the motor?
That's an odd one, it's usually the heating element that fails. The motor has a run capacitor associated with it which is in series with a run winding to give it direction, so if you're testing it, that will aso need to be in circuit.
Is the rest of the unit running apart from the fan? I will say that one of my units makes a noticeable hot-motor smell when it's been running a while. So I wonder if they've over "value engineered" the motor.
If you narrow it down to the motor then maybe Meaco would send a replacement fan assembly.
At £70 for a "service" I think I'd be tempted just to buy a brand new EcoAir Simple unit, which can be bought quite cheaply and seems pretty reliable.
Good vid, I have mine apart at the moment, this is helpful.
I have an annoying beep every 2mins 20 secs, dont know how or why, so am just trying to make sure no blockages etc.
How did you get the casing apart as far as you have, I have undone as many screws as I can, with the top panel off, but dont want to break any plastic bits on the sides.
Thanks
If your is a Meaco then the case is clipped together on either side of the middle of the unit and the only way to part it seems to be to dig your fingers in at the sides and use "the force". On some units there are four hidden screws under the control panels label, but I'm not sure if they have to be removed to open the case. The "beep" you hear might actually be a squeak. The desiccant drum rotates very slowly and is retained by metal guides and mine also developed an occasional squeak. It may actually just go itself if you give it some time.
bigclivedotcom Meaco DD8L, looks the same as your one, have cleaned as much as I can and put it all back together and fired it up again, will soon find out if the beep/squeak continues when I turn the radio down :-)
Good call on the squeak though, maybe thats how long the dessicant drum takes to rotate one turn?
Cheers for info
delgan999 As far as I am aware, the 'squeak' has now gone (wohoo!)
Thanks for your help
delgan999 Glad you got it sorted. Mine hasn't squeaked for a long time.
Hey Clive! You may remember me from a few years ago talking about desiccant dehumidifiers with you, and the flaws of those horrid mica regeneration heaters in them! I attempted to retrofit an old ecoair element housing with a PTC element which was a success as that dehumidifier is still working.
I've now noticed a PTC manufactured one in China! If you type in "ceramic PTC element for dehumidifier" into Google, you will find it! Only problem is I cannot find any info on which model this new element has been made for!
Would be rather interesting to find out though! I've tried reaching out for a response but have received no response so far.
If you type in 'minkvon PTC dehumidifier' into Google images, it is the first result. 🙂
I'd pondered whether one of the many finned PTC heaters could be used in that application, but was concerned about the moisture. The air is very humid in that loop. Ifg they can make it water resilient it would be an ideal application. Especially with the inherent overheat protection.
Still, it is interesting to see a PTC version of the mica triangular element units making an appearance online. Someone somewhere is giving it a go.
Hi, I inherited a 2012 dd8l unit which ran perfectly for a few months. Then it had the working for approx 60secs then shutdown/fault light. I'm not sure if any heat comes from it now, but a fan still works, but it smells slightly burnt when it turns off.
Thanks to your comments and hints I managed (after a good 30mins mind!) to open the unit and see if there was anything to be done.
I have previously repaired my DeLonghi Dem10 unit by simply replacing a resistor. I really would like to see if there is something equally as simple to be done with the Maeco, as I found it to be a superior product.
When you say the Zeolite should rotate slowly, how slow do you mean? I don't think mine is rotating at all. This would be the synchronous motor right?
Also, I only managed to open the front panel if the unit. Is there a special way of removing the back, or accessing the control panel / circuit board on top? Or just brute force?
After I closed it up the unit did work better than before insofar as it ran for 5 mins on low fan and low humidity, but then switched off as if in hibernation mode....but doesn't turn on again after 30 mins like it should.
I would appreciate any help, tips or ideas from anyone!
+Tom Pegg Check that the zeolite drum isn't clogged up with fluff. It should rotate very slowly when the unit is running. There are screws on the top and under the base.
Great video Clive, nice to see the zeolite wheel. I was tempted to buy a desiccant dehumidifier but kept reading reports of the heater elements breaking down after a couple of months to a year of use, both on the Meaco and EcoAir units, and neither Meaco or EcoAir would sell me any spare heater elements in advance. So I played safe and got a couple of small compressor dehumidifiers. But I would like to try one of these to compare.
I actually bought a faulty unit off ebay to investigate the heater issue. Secretly I was just hoping that it was just a tripped thermal fuse, but it is indeed an absolutely grilled heating element. It's a mica frame with an open coil hairdryer style element zigged zagged over its surface on two layers and has a common connection and two taps for low and high. This one had clearly been on high for its entire life as the back section of the element was like new while the front was grilled and the mica support frame had splayed out (possibly with moisture) where the element passed through it. It was at this splayed out point that the element had broken. I think that if these units are used at their low/quiet setting only then they will last a lot longer. They're also slightly more efficient at the lower setting. Currently my favourite unit is the EcoAir "Simple" which doesn't have much electronics and doesn't seem to use a cool-down time either. The design of the electronic on most of the other units I have looked at suggests a lack of foresight on behalf of the designer. In every unit I've seen it's possible for the microcontroller to crash and leave the heater powered with no fans running.
bigclivedotcom Yes, I liked the look of the EcoAir Simple when I was looking last year... as you say, no fancy electronics, so it should be easy to DIY repair... plus the ones with fancy electronics don't always work with a mains timer, which is a bit rubbish if you want to take advantage of cheap rate electricity. I just didn't like EcoAir's attitude: their pickup repair warranty didn't apply to me because I'm off-mainland UK (islands), and they refused to let me buy any spare elements. I've had too many short-lived appliances and didn't want to take the risk.
Hmm, I wonder where those heater elements can be picked up? There must be some hack that can be done to put in something of the same resistance that would last longer. Maybe an idea for a future BigClive video? :-)
ForViewingOnly Living on the Isle of Man myself I'm well aware of how it affects the willingness of companies to even deliver to UK islands. I'm not really surprised they weren't too keen to provide a heating unit, since it's probably the most inaccessible bit of the machine. You have to strip the whole thing down to bits to get to it. It would really have to be changed as a complete assembly too due to it's construction. Strange you should mention heater alternatives.... I do currently have a cluster of five 47 ohm 50W resistors that I'm probably going to put into a dead units heater block. They will dissipate about 240W and hopefully the airflow will keep them from getting too cross, since they are really only rated 50W each when on a heatsink. I want to see the effect of different heater powers on efficiency. The ideal heater would pretty much be what's in the machines already, but just run at the low setting to stop it burning up.
Hello,thanks for the video. What means the red led ALARM? YL-208A
It may mean the safety circuit has tripped (thermal fuse?) or that the water container is not being detected, or has a stuck float.
The internals of this one look almost identical to the crappy Armcor AM-DD8L one that I have just done a video of fixing (again)
It looks like the quest to find a good quality one might be a hard one if they are all made out the same parts
I got rid of the calcium chloride tubs littered around the house on the back of the review you did on the Unibond 360 dehumidifier & bought a dessicant type dehumidifier on your recommendation. We bought an Ecoair DD1 Simple & so far it's been great, I was sold on the dessicant type because they work down to 1 deg. C & we have the heating on as little as possible in our house lol. It's sucked loads of moisture out of the air & it even adds a bit of background heat. However, I understand fully the bit about the dessicant absorbing the moisture, then it's heated & the moisture is then condensed out of that heated air on a condenser, but where does the water come from that's in that condenser & how is that water then cooled in turn to give up it's heat?
I'd recommend you only ever run your eco-air simple at its low setting for maximum lifespan. After you've had it for a while it's a good idea to sit it on a tray as the water collection tray can eventually get blocked with the slime found in all water collection devices. The way it works is this. As the desiccant drum passes through the main airflow it absorbs moisture from the air. It passes through a closed loop of hot air that expels the moisture and pushes the hot moist air through a plastic cooling panel that is being cooled by the main airflow. The moisture laden air is cooled enough that it condenses out on the plastic condenser panel and drips down to the drainage tray. These units are ideal for cool houses.
Thanks for the explanation, that's made it clear. When you say the lowest setting, do you mean the fan switch or the humidistat?
The fan switch. It's not just for the fan, it also changes the heater setting from around 330W to 660W and when run at full power the heaters in the earlier desiccant units were prone to early failure. A test of power consumption versus water extracted also showed that they are slightly more efficient at the lower setting. I'd recommend a good quality humidity meter to set the manual humidistat on the machine. I aim for around 60% humidity here so the thing doesn't have to run all the time.
Thanks again, can you recommend a source for a good quality humidity meter? I do remember you stating somewhere that the humidistat hysteresis is quite wide due to it's location inside the unit.
It's tricky finding an accurate one. You can buy five and they will all read slightly differently. There is a wide hysteresis because the dehumidifier has a big drum of desiccant inside it when it stops that keeps it dry locally. The electronic ones have a feature where they occasionally sample the air by running the fan for about 30 seconds every so often. But the simple unit is fine and much more reliable.
In my bedroom where I keep the humidity at 60% the dial is set to the one-drip and two-drip marks. For the rest of the house I let the humidity go a bit higher with the dial pointing at the single drip and generally keeping humidity at around 70%.
My Eco-air dessicant dehumidifier just failed, the synchronous motor that drives the drum had stopped, the gears in it's internal gearbox had stripped. It looks like a common part but I couldn't find a replacement after hours of searching. It has a very specific gear ratio and is CW only. 99.99% of synchronous motors are CW/CCW (randomly). I have now switched to a Meaco compressor model - they have got much quieter than they used to be. Anyone buying Eco-air please note - they do not answer emails!
The drum motor grinding itself to bits seems common, but I couldn't find one with a matching shaft. I don't think the direction of rotation matters as mine ended up turning in either direction before it failed. These are the first of a new style of dehumidifier, so they have had teething issues.
Thanks, I'll keep a look out for a suitable motor, and test if the wheel direction really matters! It would be handy to have the dessicant machine for winter (more efficient in cold + useful heat output) and a compressor one for summer (more efficient above 20C + no unwanted heat)
Heat pump dehumidifiers are still better at dehumidifying as far as i know. The much more silent operation is very attractive though...
I use heat pump in summer and desiccant drum in winter. I keep a cool house so the heat is useful and the desiccant units will operate to a much lower room temperature.
Ah yes, I bet it would with how cold you guys are accustomed to in the winter xD The southern US doesn't get that cold for very long, and I am painfully freezing if it is colder than 18C in the house. I also live right off of a river, so the humidity is through the roof.
Hi Clive, thanks for excellent video. My dd8l has dead front panel, but has mains to control board and -6v and -12 v are ok, do you know what value Vdd should be? Or what can I check to get lights to control panel?
Cheers
I think the panel voltage should be around 5V. Treat all circuitry as being at mains voltage.
@@bigclivedotcom great, thanks, still dead...can you please tell what processor it uses? Can't read number through varnish.
Thank you for this informative video. my DD8L now trips power every time its switched on. any idea what causes this? you have mentioned Thermal fuses in your video. Could they be the cause? Thanks
It could be that the heating element has broken and is touching its housing if it's the main RCD breaker (with test button) that is tripping.
Yes I think you are correct. Is the heating element repairable/replaceable?
Amir Azzawi Not sure if you can buy the heater on its own. The manufacturer might suggest a service, which is so expensive that you might be better just buying a new unit. My current choice is the ecoair simple as it has minimal electronics. If used at its low setting it should last a long time.
I've just bought the Ecoair simple and am very relieved to hear that is your current choice! Will be using it on low setting as you suggest
That's funny, I never even knew that such devices existed, and had only used the chemical dehumidifier inside a boat.
Maybe that's because I live in a very dry place, what we use a lot of here are humidifier, especially in winter.
@6:43 Ach, noooooooo Clive !!! Air is a mechanical mixture of gases... in a jar of red and blue marbles, are the red marbles 'holding' the blue? Water vapor is a constituent of air and is not 'held' by anything. Hot or cold, air is largely empty space, the difference is in *energy* !!!
www.shorstmeyer.com/wxfaqs/humidity/humidity.html ← by far the best explanation of the dew point/relative humidity (hint: the latter is a useless metric) !!!
hi clive very interesting video however ,having taken all visable screws from the casing i cant open it !help! ineed to clean it as its leaking.
:/ I feel like desiccant dehumidifiers would work better, but I have never seen them around here before. Which is odd, because in Maine it is frequently too cold for standard ones to properly work. . xD
Hi
in the video you said that the honeycomb type filter is called Zeelalights is that right? I'm looking am making my own Dehumidifier. Do you have any idea where I can purchase this item ? if I have spelled it correctly lol 😉
Thanks
Roy
+Roy McGibbon Permaculture is where the heart is! Zeolite. Not easy to find in the drum form. I think it would be cheaper getting an existing unit, since the mechanism is fairly complex.
+bigclivedotcom No problem, I was thinking that but I like to tinker and make stuff, thanks mate! ;-)
+bigclivedotcom Great channel and videos mate, subscribed. ;-)
Anyone know where all the screws are in a ecoair DD122 Mk5 dehumidifier? I need to take it apart because it needs cleaning inside. The smell it gives off is whatever crap it's collected while in use in the garage.
Two screws are hidden behind the carry handle at the top. You can slide the carry handle out if you push the sides of the channel away from where the handle attaches.
Ah thanks.
The horrible rancid sour chemical smell is normal for desiccant dehumidifiers I have concluded. Its very disappointing. Its best to put the thing on low and set it for a high humidity lol. They also put out so much heat not really usable in the summertime, that is if you can stand the smell in the wintertime.
I want to have these hooked up to solar panels and collect the water from multiple points in the area. Would you share your thoughts on that?
Hi bigclivedotcom, thank you for the video.
I was wondering if you could point me to the right direction. I have a 4 year old Meaco DD8L which had problems from the day 1 - it was making squeaking noises and Meaco advised me to run it for 48hrs on the laundry mode which did not help in full as the noise was coming and going. I did not have a will and time to pursue it further with Meaco as the noise was OK to live with. Now, when the 3 year warranty has expired it suddenly stopped working. There was a burning smell , after it went from 1 to 2 fans mode and the fault light went on. It does switch on, works for about a minute 30-60 seconds and shows the fault. Cannot feel any warm air coming out, may be just not enough time to heat up before it switches off - do not know. The filter is clean. Any idea what could the problem be? Could it be the thermal fuse? Thank you
Meaco asking for £70 for the repair and I am not really keen in investing so much into this machine as it already cost as small fortune at the time of purchase and was not really used as much. Thanks for your thoughts.
This technology is still young, and has had teething problems. It's possible that the drum has been catching on the element or that the drum motor has failed physically (bearing failure). If used at the high setting the earlier units often suffered element failure. I recommend using these units at their low setting to prolong their lifespan. At the moment I'd suggest the EcoAir simple as being one of the dumber and therefore more reliable units. Or go with a traditional compressor based replacement if the area it is being used in is warm.
Thank you for your prompt response, bigclivedotcom.
I live on the gulf coast and am trying to think of how to determine how many large diy dehumidifers (and.how large) would be required for 1 acre of land to reduce humidity perceptibly. A dessicant system seems to make more sense.
Are you talking about using dehumidifiers outdoors? Because as fast as you remove moisture from the air it will be replaced. It would just be an inefficient way of collecting water.
This borderline sounds like the scheming of an bond villain.
Here's an idea, If you don't know, Turn it on.
(I'd love to see that in operation.)
I understand this uses a chemical process to condense water. Like a compressor based humidifer, can the water be carbon filtered and then drunk safely?
These can get a bit mouldy inside after a while. There are no chemicals in the water.
Thanks for this.
Hi Clive
Do you happen to know what the operating temperature of the heater is? Planing on making a fair sized one from scratch.
Thanks
I'm not 100% sure. It's a closed air loop with a heater that operates at either 300 or 600W and it does cycle on and off from time to time. I've got a dead unit where the heater has clearly been used at its highest setting and has burned and failed. The actual element is like a hairdryer style open element zig-zagged on a mica support. I'm going to try an experiment with a cluster of 50W resistors to see if I can get a result. I don't know if it requires a minimum temperature to operate efficiently. I can say from tests that it is slightly more efficient at the 300W setting. Having seen the way the other unit failed I'd say that operating these units at their lowest (300W) setting is going to make them last a LOT longer.
bigclivedotcom Hi Clive I like your video. Not sure if the heater is a PTC heater that are used for safety. In theory they should not burn out unlike resistive heaters. If it is not that is another issue.
They are a coiled resistance wire zig-zagged across a mica carrier in two layers. It's a very humid environment in the heated condensing path which doesn't help.
I love you, Big Clive! 🍄
that dehumidifier sounds like an air ship
Have one of these (the Meaco DD8L not the Junior) which appears to be dead (but not totally), I have 5v and 12v on the main board(so thermal fuses are ok) but no response to any key presses/no led's and no signs of life. I suspect the surface mounted micro underneath has given up 😞unless anyone has had this fault before??? The board is dated 2015 so a revised version of what you have here (without the glass fuse).
It's rare for the microcontrollers to fail. It might be worth checking for PCB contamination with water or bad solder connections.
hi Clive ..
just wondering if this will also assist in reducing the moisture content in strawberry jam .... a room full of 5 gallon buckets ! .... and if yes how long would it take ... any ideas ?? ... :)
Raj singh I don't really know what effect it would have on dehumidifying the jam. I would have thought that gently heating the buckets to evaporate the water would be faster.
Wow ! Thankyou Clive... for being so prompt and responsible to your beautiful and valuable sharing in the post....
In my case i was jus not wanting to subject it to heat as far as possible.... :) so i thought i might as well get your view cos obviously u have much more experience ...
if this can take away moisture from a room then if the buckets are placed open in a room and stirred occasionally, i was thinking it might do the job ! here in Singapore the weather is pretty humid !
Raj singh It might be worth trying a dehumidifier. It would certainly pull out water.
+bigclivedotcom Clive, you are so beautiful and valuable. And prompt and responsible! Can we get married?
How hot does that heater get? I’m wondering if I could rig up waste heat at 130 degrees Fahrenheit to handle that.
Excellent video thanks
Thanks for your video
Hello! My humidifier has broken - its giving the symbol thats its always full. The plastic pin in the water tank above the styrofoam magnet is broken. Do you think this is the problem? I read somewhere that it could be the magnetic reed switch. Not sure if youd be able to give a bit of advice if its an easy fix!! Thanks :) :)
If the magnetic float is not moving freely it may be that.
Hi Clive, I have a problem with my Ecoair DD122FW MK5 Desiccant Dehumidifier. The unit is now out of warranty. The problem, the unit appears to work ok all of the motors are working, no warning lights, filter clean, also warm air is being blown out of the air outlet. But the unit is not collecting water, the humidity just drops very slowly probably through the heat from the outlet. When I first had the unit it worked very efficiently, humidity dropped quickly, collecting plenty of water which could be heard when the unit was running. Any ideas please?
If you shine a bright torch into the sides while the unit is running, can you see the desiccant drum rotating slowly?
Would you tell me the name of the material of the absorbent material?
Would you think if you passed the collected water through a filter and ozone water, it would be safe to drink?
TJ A The material is called zeolite. The water is basically distilled water, but the cleanliness of the condenser unit could be an issue.
bigclivedotcom
Thank you. I read the Wikipedia article about zeolite.
Do you think it would leach into /onto the water?
Also how much heat does a compressor dehumidifier produce compared to the deccsant type?
Hi Clive, very interesting video. Could you please help me out. I am after a similar design but for higher air flow rate, and RH 90% to bring it down to RH 20 % , would you have a link to find some more performance specifications of this model, may be amount of water extracted per kg air per unit time according air humidity conditions, what is the maximum air flow rate it does. Cheers.
It sounds like you may be looking for a specific industrial dehumidifier. You do get quite big ones for drying buildings after flood damage. It might be worth talking to the manufacturers of them to see if they do one that fulfils your requirements.
TheMrCualquiera 20% is not easy to get to with a high flow rate. it sounds like a process control / "food dryer" type application and you are looking at some expensive specialised kit £10K+. If you can recirculate the air in the room then you can use a "4 hole desiccant" eg Ecor Pro DH3500. These don't give negative or positive pressure to the room (BTW this is not an advert its the best explanation of the problem.)
Hi Clive. Just wondering if you've any suggestion re an eco air dd122fw simple stopping after just s few minutes running. Cleaned, fan running , no check or full light showing it just goes straight into its cool down cycle and then stops. Blue light on side shows initially but then it switches off as the unit goes into cool down mode. Any thoughts welcomed. Thank you. I appreciate difficult not seeing the unit. Cheers Russ
May be a failed internal heater or condenser fan. Does the air get warm at all before it cuts out?
@@bigclivedotcom thanks yes the exiting air is warm and all motors running . Dessicant wheel turning steadily.
@@russellpayne6333 If it's the simple one with just the mechanical humidistat then there's not much to go wrong. I wonder if there's a thermal sensor that is tripping. The condenser unit has a small fan that circulates air in a closed loop between the heater, desiccant and condenser. Does it still do it if set to the low heat setting?
@@bigclivedotcom yes it could be anything I guess and i don't have the parts to be able to swap out sadly. I've seen on the eco air website they will do a guaranteed fix whatever is wrong for £36 which I reckon is pretty good . Thank you for your help. It's good to know the art of taking things apart trying to fix them is not completely gone !!
What percent level of humidity will this dessicant demudifier get the room down to? I live in arizona where humidity may be 30%. Can it still suck moisture out below an existing 30% RH?
I'm not sure the limit of water extraction humidity. I'll guess you're looking for an emergency source of water.
About that drum motor, took it apart completely, nothing wrong in sight, reassembled but without the output shaft and gear, turned on the dehumidifier, still the direction is random every time, cw spinning, ccw free spinning. Strangest thing.
I have some kind of memory of when I was playing with a microwave turn table motor that it would switch it's direction when stalled? So perhaps this is what's wrong, it's not stalling in the wrong direction but free spinning instead? Not, sure, been a while.
Yeah. By default they have no fixed direction and a mechanical reverser that often fails. The way these work I'm surprised they even had it directional at all.
Hmm, one of mine seems to have a minor fault whereby the main fan and the desiccant wheel motor won't turn off when the humidity is below the set point (they would normally turn off after a few minutes, but they just remain on). They DO turn off with the use of the timer or the normal Power button, however. The heating element definitely turns off as normal (you can hear the relay and the mains power draw decreases). Any troubleshooting tips?
It could be a failed triac that has gone short circuit.
Would the dehumidifier work at all without the heater ? Looking for reducing the energy consumption...
No. It needs the temperature differential to work. A low energy dehumidifier for rooms would save people a lot of money. I recommend using a good humidity meter to monitor levels. If you over-dry the place it uses a lot more energy to do so.
bigclivedotcom Thanks for the answer.
hi having opend the case there and blowen through the back of the zeolite with "dust off" compressed air a huge amount of dust, similar to the stuff you find under beds if not cleaned for , came shooting out. I am a bit concerned though. the part which was hidden by the heater i could not access could i use a garden vac from the front, there is access to jam the fan gentley with screw driver from the top vent to prevent rotation
michel rees I'd suggest closing the case temporarily and running the unit to move the drum round so that you can blow out the area that was in the heater zone.
The leaking is often down to the area round the small blower that circulates air through the heater. It's worth making sure all the little drain holes from that area are clear. In later models they built a little dam of foam tape around that area to try and encourage the water to go down its intended path.
Another thing I had recently was my brothers unit overflowed completely because his had a sliding polystyrene float and magnet in the water container that had gunked up and jammed.
bigclivedotcom cherrs clive i was thinking about that and have felt tiped the zeniolite eiter side of its present possition, as you would do with a timing bel,. how long would you think i will have to run the unit to get the un cleared part clear of the heater zone . bearing in mind that when we switch off the unit continues to function for a set period. as regards the sticky float problem i have cleaned the tank before ond added a drop of washing up liquid to same. ps how do you gain access tothe small blower?
again i thank you for your advise
michel rees It might be a case of starting the unit and then immediately stopping it so that it turns its heating elements off, but does the full cool down time. That way you could either let it run its course and see where the drum had stopped (you can see it through the side filter with a flashlight.) Or since it didn't heat up before starting the cool down cycle you could just turn it off after a modest time to allow the drum to move to an accessible position. The heater blower can be a bit fiddly to take off. It may be enough to clear the drainage holes from underneath where there's a small water guide.
bigclivedotcom Thanks again clive.
i ran the unit as you sugessted only to find when i opend it the area that was under the heater unit was partialy obscured, having now got to grips with what you need to remove to gain visual with zenolite disc i did so and started the unit with the back cover only removed and observed on a start stop run. rotation takes about 2 mins, however as rotating i was able to blow out the uncleaned portion from the 45 degree window to the left of the heater unit taking care dot to touch any part of the machine as there are of course live wires present.
Having then unpluged the unit i then used the compessed air again through the drain hole.
Result the unit is not leaking and moreover does now cut out when selected humidity is reached(which it didnt before).
in hindsight i would not reccomend that any one should use compressed air on a live unit as i noticed condensation forming if you over do the air volume . correct me if i am wrong! but i will not do that again!
michel rees If the compressed air was from an actual compressor then they do tend to condense moisture out of the air. Hence why inline air dryers are needed for spray painting applications and for air-tool protection. If it was a canned air duster you were using then some of them actually contain a combustible gas that can come out in its liquid form if the can is not vertical.
Clive, for comparison what is the cost for using the compressor dehumidifier to extract the same amount of water?
+Matt P The compressor units are more efficient at 20C and above, but the desiccant drum units are able to work efficiently down to much lower temperatures.
A properly working compressor unit should be effective down to at least 50 F (10 C), especially if the air flow rate is low enough. I'd speculate that if the air flow is too high, the "sensible-heat" load may prevent the air from being cooled below the dew point. I think you should at least check the evaporator temperature of your unit and try slowing down the air flow before saying compressor types don't work. I have an old one that will actually produce ice on the evaporator coils, so you can't say the technology is ineffective at low temperatures.
So now why are these styles of dehumidifier next to impossible to find in Canada?? No one can tell me that's a coincidence.
This looks almost same as eco-air dd122fw. My eco-air dd122fw is not extracting any moisture (no water in the tray) or blowing hot air when the fan is working but other electrical controls work. I read on web that these dehumidifiers are known to suffer from blowing of the heating element. Any tips on replacing /troubleshooting the heating element? Thanks.
I deliberately bought a faulty unit to check out the heating element arrangement, and it's not great. It's very hard to access and is almost destined to fail if the unit is run at its high setting all the time. The one I got had a very crispy and fragile element mounted in mica supports that had puffed up and crumbled, and the vicinity of the heating element to the rotating drum is so close that it's pretty much luck that it doesn't rub against it. I'd guess that when the companies service these units they just swap whole modules.
bigclivedotcom
Ha! same here. I thought it would be a quick DIY job. You are probably correct - almost certain that the little heating unit is only replaced as a module, but the company is asking for around £50 to do it. Someone somewhere must know how to get hold of this module and replace it or perhaps come up with a more robust DIY heating unit. Would you please upload the instructions on how to open the unit - all screws seem well hidden in eco-air unit. Thanks for the response.
ooootubeoooo To date my favourite of the desiccant units has been the eco-air simple. It's just a very basic unit with minimal electronics and seems designed to handle being turned on and off by a mechanical humidistat without the requirement for a cool-down period. If they're wanting £50 to repair yours and probably shipping too then it might be cheaper just to buy a new one.
How did you open your dd8l?
I found the screws on top under the sticker and the screws on the bottom, but the thing won't come apart.
The base comes off and when the top and bottom screws are removed you have to give it a bear-hug to get the thing apart. It's well clipped.
On mine, there are 4 screws hidden very effectively under the sticker. Took ages to work out what was going on.
They seem to work fine when they are new but over time dust gets inside which blocks the return air sensor, mine has been back to Meacco 4 times and each time it came back saying they cleaned the return air sensor. Do you know where it is and how easy is it to clean oneself.
There are two thermal sensors and two thermal fuses mounted as pairs on either side of the desiccant drum where the hot air flows through it. What was the nature of the fault when you returned it each time? Was it showing an error code or was it just dead completely.
bigclivedotcom We have our DD8L running 24/7 on the two fan speed, we have serious mould problems in a stone wall house. We follow the instructions meticulously and vacuum the filter twice a week to be safe. After a few months of running we notice that the bucket starts to take longer to fill 10hrs when new increasing to 14 hrs after 3 months. Meacco pointed out this could be because there is less moisture in the air but I put it in the shed one night and didnt get any better results.
The proof that something is a fault is when the 2fan light starts to flash. this happens every 5mins for about a minute then there is a clicking sound when it stops flashing which i think is the heater being switched back on. Also when i inspect the dessy wheel i can see ours has dust on it and is scorched in places even the chrome has black marks on yet we have always used the unit in accordance with meaccos instructions.
That's odd. I wonder if the air path through the condenser section is furring up.
Desiccant dehumidifiers are still a young technology. I think we're the guinea pigs for the technology until it matures.
bigclivedotcom I think its the air path through the desiccant wheel, i can see with a torch that some of the cells (not many) are completely blocked. A post below mentions (Merco Dehumidifier_Service_Guide-2.pdf) where can i get this from id love to take mine to bits an clean out.
keith marsland I couldn't find the service manual for that dehumidifier, but you could always try taking it to bits. The base comes off and then the two parts are held together by screws and clips, so make note of where everything goes. Hopefully you'll find enough access to gently vacuum the front of the desiccant drum to get rid of the fluff. The inlet filter on the front unclips and is sized somewhat generously to allow good airflow, but obviously lets too much fluff in too.
I have an amcor DESD8L dehumidifier. The dessicant disc isn't moving and there is a loud noise. Do you know if I can get a replacement motor?
I had an issue with the motor too. It literally ground its bearing oval. You could try contacting Meaco, but they'll probably just want to do a "service" for a fee high enough to consider getting a new simpler unit.
One thing to check is if the drum is snagging. Sometimes the metal fins that hold the desiccant material in place snag on other metalwork.
I own this unit also and feel after 2 years it seems to have lost its efficiency. I've had it running for 15hours and it's only collected about half a tank and hasn't switched off once. I clean the filter every 2 weeks. What else can I do to make it work better?
Use a flashlight to look through the air vent in the case to see if the rotating drum inside is clogged up with fluff.
you speak much faster in your older videos/teardowns :D
Hi Clive,
Great vid, very informative.
I have a DD8L junior, the red warning light is flashing, the system is clean, vac'd and blown through with dry compressed air. When the system in the fault state the fan does not rotate but the sound coming from low down in the unit is as if it wants to start rotating, the heater works fine, I can feel the heat rise to the top. After a few minutes the system switches off, when left to cool and the unit switched back on in the lowest setting, there is the same as above where after a few minutes there is a bleep, the red light flashes then the unit switches off.
Can you please advise
Cheers
Tom.
There are three motors in the unit. A small fan that circulates the air round the condensation path, the drum motor and the main fan. It sounds like the unit is detecting that the main fan isn't running causing it to shut down. Was there any smell to indicate an unhappy motor before the fault occurred? I have noticed the DDL8 I have makes what I would regard as a hot motor smell and I suspect it is the main fan motor. It does sound as if the main fan motor or its control circuitry has failed. Does the main fan run freely when spun by hand (or air)?
bigclivedotcom Hello Clive,
Thanks very much for this video and sharing your expertise.
I have a very similar issue. The main fan motor has stopped working without any fanfare or drama. I have opened up the unit and there is no sign of scorching or any burning smells from the main fan motor itself. I was hoping it might be a generic motor that could be bought from somewhere but the label on it says "Youlong Electric Ind. Co. Ltd" which is the original manufacturer of the dehumidifier.
Last winter I took the (out of guarantee) unit apart to clean it out after Meaco said it would cost £70. After doing this I put a finer mesh over the filter and it has worked fine ever since. I wonder if there is any way to fix the motor or whether I will just have to try Meaco -- and whether they will replace the motor after I have opened it before ... or whether it's just worth pushing the boat out to buy a new one. I have had just under three years' use out of it which admittedly isn't very long for the motor to pack in. It has been used on low setting for 99.999% of the time (I think I've used the high and/or medium setting on just two occasions).
Perhaps I've answered my own question here and should contact Meaco to see what they say. Depending how much they would charge to replace the motor it might be worth just getting a new one, but I'm reluctant to chuck out something that could be repaired easily.
Nonetheless I'd very much appreciate your insight about this! I would absolutely not want to be without a functioning desiccant dehumidifier for this coming winter!
Many thanks.
frogescalator1 Given how many of these units seem to die early on when used on full setting for prolonged periods of time, it might be worth doing a search on ebay for a faulty unit as spares. The motor will probably be some standard unit in China, but might be hard to track down from here. I can't remember if there was a specific manufacturers name on it or not.
There are two other possibilities for the motor failure. It could be that the control board itself is faulty and not turning the motor on, although I think that's probably unlikely unless a wire or connector has come adrift or there's a bad solder connection on the PCB. The other possibility is the motor capacitor. It's a small rectangular box on the motor housing that causes a phase shift in one of the motors windings to give it rotation.
bigclivedotcom Thanks Clive. I think I'll see what Meaco say and whether they'll be willing to repair it. I know they charge £70 just to clean the things out, so if the repair cost is any more than that, I may have to ditch it.
In the meantime I've done a bit of looking around and have seen a German-made desiccant dehumidifier of similar capacity (Trotec TTR 55 E). On ebay.co.uk direct from the manufacturer it costs £135 inc. delivery. On the manufacturer's website, the PDF instructions include rather unusually a circuit diagram of the electronics AND and exploded diagram of all the parts! ( uk.trotec.com/fileadmin/downloads/Entfeuchtung/TTR55E/TRT-BA-TTR-55-E-TC-001-EN.pdf )
The air filter is also a removable and washable one, so presumably it would let a lot less dust through than the 1mm+ holes in the mesh of the DDL8's "filter" -- the cause of most of the breakdowns and leaks. Depending on Meaco's reply, I might say bye bye to them and try this German machine. It gets pretty good reviews on the German Amazon site.
It's unfortunate the the Meaco machines don't last, but given the comfort it provides over the winter in my single-glazed Victorian flat, I wouldn't go back to a streaming window winter without a dehumidifier!
frogescalator1 Most of these units appear to be from the same manufacturer with the only significant difference being that the control electronics are different between the "brands". The exploded view of the trotec unit looks just like the EcoAir unit I took completely to bits for fun.
My own favourite unit is still the EcoAir Simple, which has no gimmicky keypads. Just a high/low switch and a knob to set the mechanical humidistat. It also doesn't bother with a cool-down period. It just goes straight off. The only thing I miss from the more complex units is the use of occasional fan cycling to let the humidistat test the room air properly.
The EcoAir simple unit costs about £130 from Amazon.
www.amazon.co.uk/EcoAir-DD122FW-Desiccant-Simple-Dehumidifier/dp/B00474K8SY
Just bought used different brand unit with an issue, similar circuit, but the drum motor randomly starts in the wrong direction and then only hums because it's cw only. Any ideas why the circuit does not bias it's starting direction?
The motor is a synchronous motor that has no fixed direction, but there is usually a mechanism to stop it running in the wrong direction. Check that the motor hasn't ground its bearing to mince. I had one that frequently ran in the wrong direction, but the unit still worked that way.
I have the dreaded red-light problem. The red error light stays on after a period of prolonged running. I have to physically unplug the unit and then plug it back in to get it restarted. What is causing this? Filter is clean and there are no unusual noises. Expelled air is warmish, and the tray does fill up with water.
I'm not sure what causes that error condition. Does the light stay on even when the unit has been running enough to cool down again? One of the most common issues that seems to be occurring with these units is build-up of fluff on the drum preventing air flowing through it. You can check that by removing the filter and then running the unit while shining a bright torch in through the filter area. You should see a slowly rotating honeycomb drum and its holes should be clear for the passage of air.
mine is coblete dead even the led in the panel is not light i check the control board and the fuse there is ok maybe the thermal fuse is the cause for this?