Phoenix R200 . Very little heat , or cold .

[Jcribbs]

Im having trouble with my R200 running cold temps . I send them in for service they all they do is recharge them . We work out of trailers all year . Im in michigan . We keep a eden pure in them over nite but durring the day the trailer gets cold or frezze . What im geting at is can i recharge these units myself with the rite tools gage ect .

 

[John Otero]

Mr. Cribbs,
One thing to remember is that you shouldn't ever have to recharge a dehumidifier unless it leaks due to a component failure or damaged coils. Refrigerant does not disappear or degrade from use. So most likely Jeffery your issue with your R200 is most likely associated with a defrost controller or defective compressor.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Welcome to Mikey'sBoard Johnny and Jeffery.

Maintenance and bitter cold weather here seem to always come together.

 

[dgardner]

Jeff,

Whoever is recharging them should not be doing so unless they find and fix the leak. If there isn't really a leak they are just taking your money. You should be asking them why they have to recharge again if they fixed the leak last time.....

 

[dgardner]

What im geting at is can i recharge these units myself with the rite tools gage etc .

Oh yeah - to answer your question - absolutely you can do it yourself - but do you really want to? On a small hermetic system like this the only real way to insure correct charge is to recover whatever is in there and weigh in a new charge.

So - you'll need:

• Refrigerant recovery machine - $700
• R410A recovery cylinder - $180
• Vacuum pump - $400
• Refrigerant scale - $200
• Gauge/Hose set - $150 (for a cheapie)
• Refrigerant leak detector - $250
• Cylinder of R410-A refrigerant - $125
• Some training to know what the heck you're doing.

You will also need to take an short online course and pass a simple test to get your EPA certification to buy refrigerants. AND you will have recovered refrigerant to deal with, hefty fines if you get caught venting to atmosphere. R410A operates at a very high pressure by the way - results can be, ah, interesting if you don't know what you're doing.

See what I mean? It's not like topping off coolant in your radiator.....