Hi there, I have a Kenmore Dehumidifier that I bought about 2yrs ago. It was working fine the last two summers, but when I turned it on this year, it's been acting strangely. It turns on for about 30 - 45 seconds, and then shuts off again. I know my basement is damp, so it should continue to run. It did sound loud at one point last year, but I figured it was just from running a lot. Any suggestions before I would have to take it to the Sears repair shop? I'm not an electrician or anything (I'm a librarian), so I'm a bit limited in what I can fix myself.

I have a Westinghouse portable that I use in my unfinished basement, which means it collects a lot more crud than normal in the grill and on the condenser coils. I was just working on it, and it has two layers of coils, plus some finned tubing behind that. I can't really get anything in there to clean that stuff, and it has collected a lot of gunk that is pretty caked on. (I gently used a small screwdriver to pick at the gunk - yes, I said gently and carefully :) ) It doesn't respond at all to a sweeper, and the coils are set in a plastic cylinder as a unit, so taking the metal cover off the dehumidifer doesn't help. How can I get in there to thoroughly clean the thing, and if it involves any kind of deinstallation of the hardware inside, I'll need some fairly specific instructions. I like to know in advance where it's safe to pry. Thanks in advance.