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Why Is My Dehumidifier Not Working?

Dehumidifiers are a unique appliance. Depending on the nature of your home you may not use a dehumidifier all that often which can make problems with it frustrating. Or you may use it all the time which would make issues in its functioning very inconvenient. Few problems with a dehumidifier can be more frustrating than one that simply won't do its job.

There are a few different reasons why a dehumidifier might not be functioning. Some of these problems are simple user error and easy to knock off the suspect list but others will require a little bit more digging and potentially even the help of a professional to fully solve. Do some research and some digging to see if you can't find the problem or at least prepare yourself for a consultation with a professional.

The water tank is full

The vast majority of dehumidifiers homeowners use are portable ones that rely on a water collection tank that needs to be regularly dumped out. Because of this, many dehumidifiers have an automatic shut off function for when the tank gets too full in order to prevent overfilling and leaking. So this is the first place you should look if you've confirmed the dehumidifier is connected to power but it still won't work. Simply dump the tank and turn it back on and it should function fine.

The humidity level is set too high

Much like a thermostat set too high won't allow the AC to kick on, dehumidifiers have a similar function. The humidity setting tells the dehumidifiers a goal to work towards (this is usually somewhere around 40%). But if you've set the humidity level too high then the dehumidifier won't turn on. Take a look at your appliance make sure the humidity level isn't set above 40%. If it is, turn it down and see if the appliance kicks back on and begins working properly again.

A broken humidistat

If the humidity levels seem right then, like the thermostat in the home, the humidistat could be malfunctioning or not working at all. The humidistat itself has the job of shutting off the dehumidifier when the desired humidity level is reached so it could be having a problem relaying the shut off message, it could be registering the humidity level incorrectly, or it could be flat out not working at all. Any of this can mean the dehumidifier won't turn on at all. If this is the case you'll want to call a professional to take a look and offer advice on a repair or a replacement.

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