more chinese dehumidifiers recalled...(fire hazard)

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cfz2882

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...made in china by Gree and sold by several brands: prone to catch fire,and this on top off the millions of chinese units recalled a few years ago... anyone have more details on this or know what is causing these to ignite?
 
This blows my mind

I have such trouble understanding how Chinese manufacturers cannot make a dehumidifier that doesn’t catch fire. After millions of recalls and probably a wealth of samples to examine, can they not enhance the construction as to not ignite?
And I am a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI). Anyone else out there from the fire community?
I had the unfortunate situation to deal with where I recently needed a dehumidifier for the basement. We had a series of torrential rains in Chicago and the humidity went too high. I wanted to buy vintage, but could not.
And so I did my research and it seems like virtually every brand was recalled over the last decade. And I personally sent two to the recycler for recalls.
In my years working for a large manufacturer, I had examined samples of both Gree and Midea equipment. We could not detect any overt design faults.
And so I bought a Pelonis brand, Made by Midea. The equipment we rebranded from Midea didn’t present much trouble, but those were room air-conditioners. Maybe I should still scour for a vintage dehumidier in the event that this unit gets recalled too.
I have to attend a conference in the next year or so. Maybe I should submit a study of this phenomenon, if my home survives it.
 
This is a result of using the absolute cheapest components China has to offer, and housing them in side a combustible plastic enclosure. These are engineered to fail in a small number of years to ensure you continue to buy more of them. One of the many down-sides to this is the unpredictable nature of electrical failures. They use lead-free solder which is famous for cracking around component leads where attached to circuit boards. This leads to bad connections and heat and arcing. Every part of these is built with the primary goal of being cheap and barely adequate to last through warranty. The result is what we are seeing.

 

I dismantled one of these a year ago (unsure if it was recalled) and noted that the compressor was grounded via a three-wire grounded power cord, and the live side of the supply went through the switch and directly to the compressor without going through the overload. The overload was in the neutral side of the supply. This can allow current to flow through a ground fault with nothing other than the mains supply circuit breaker to stop it. That can lead to a catastrophic failure of the compressor, including terminal venting with burning oil.

 

I haven't seen any technical details on the Gree units so I am not saying this is what happened. Just saying the unit I dismantled had the vulnerability for that to happen. This is a very basic design concept they were missing. Makes me wonder what else they are cutting corners on? 
 
Frigidaire - Electrolux - Midea

I had a Frigidaire FAD504DWD dehumidifier from 2013, branded Electrolux, made by Midea (confusing!) that was recalled.

Here is the URL for that recall: https://www.recallrtr.com/dehumidifier

They gave me $100 towards a new unit. Had to send them a picture with the cord cut and a statement that it was disposed of properly. I gave the thing to a Lowes delivery driver.

I now have a Frigidaire FFAD7033R10 from Electrolux, also made by Midea? So far it hasn't been recalled.
 
Paulg--I am fire "adjacent"--retired from General Motors OnStar after 15 years of providing training and support/relationship building to responders (911/fire/police/EMS) on capabilities, risks (EV training on the Volt and the Bolt), and working on 911 standards with APCO and NENA (same type organization as NFPA--we actually work in concert with them on dispatch standards).

A lovely APCO colleague passed away a couple years ago (station chief in Framingham, MA) of a virulent cancer (he was activated during 9/11 and it likely stemmed from that. Was fascinating to follow his trajectory (where if a firefighter was tobacco-free a cancer diagnosis was deemed to be career-related and permitted a medical retirement).
 
Compressor Overload

Dave (turbokinetic):
Just to verify, this is the diagram for my GE (Haier) dehumidifier. The overload for the compressor is in line with the live wire. The unit that you took apart had the overload on the neutral line?

The red oval shows where I bypassed the circuit board, so the compressor runs continuously whenever dehumidifier is plugged in.

blackstone-2023082109015103190_1.jpg
 
paulg said:
This blows my mind

I have such trouble understanding how Chinese manufacturers cannot make a dehumidifier that doesn’t catch fire. After millions of recalls and probably a wealth of samples to examine, can they not enhance the construction as to not ignite?
And I am a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI). Anyone else out there from the fire community?
I had the unfortunate situation to deal with where I recently needed a dehumidifier for the basement. We had a series of torrential rains in Chicago and the humidity went too high. I wanted to buy vintage, but could not.
And so I did my research and it seems like virtually every brand was recalled over the last decade. And I personally sent two to the recycler for recalls.
In my years working for a large manufacturer, I had examined samples of both Gree and Midea equipment. We could not detect any overt design faults.
And so I bought a Pelonis brand, Made by Midea. The equipment we rebranded from Midea didn’t present much trouble, but those were room air-conditioners. Maybe I should still scour for a vintage dehumidier in the event that this unit gets recalled too.
I have to attend a conference in the next year or so. Maybe I should submit a study of this phenomenon, if my home survives it.
Click to expand...
Stupid me. My less-than-two-year-old Midea / Pelonis crapped out with only being used about five times. Runs, does not cool / dehumidify. I should have bought a USA made unit circa 1970 or before.
Regardless…
Midea’s customer affairs line seems to work well. They want a copy of my Bill-Of-Sale, photo of the model/serial label and a short video of how the unit isn’t working properly.
Not outrageous, but my e-mail limit is 25 meg and I cannot fit any video.
Question: How do I make a video that I can send Midea without going over my 25 meg e-mail limit? Thanks for any guidance.
 
I'll ad that besides those dehumidifiers, those chinese-made space heaters are also a danger waiting to happen.
Namely, those compact plastic cased space heaters.
You're asking for a fire with those things, should their safety features ever fail to trip.
Also those cheaply made rotary switches for speed and temp overheat and start to burn the wiring.

Then they start to melt the cabinets and voila!..... you've got plenty of heat! :oops:
A friend of mine brought me one, and it showed signs of arcing and melting inside.
I told him to buy a metal cased heater.
 

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