Frigidaire Dehumidifier Error Codes EC and F0 (often read as \"FO\")

What EC and F0 mean

Frigidaire has published two generations of wording, and it helps to know which one your manual uses.

Current guidance (owner.frigidaire.com, applies to all models):

Older manual wording — from Frigidaire's Use & Care of your Dehumidifier (©2009 Electrolux Home Products), a general manual that names no model numbers:

If the display reads "F0", check the following operating conditions. Outlet voltage should be 115V ±10% and the surrounding temperature should be within the range of 41°F (5°C) to 90°F (32°C). Unplug the unit and plug it in again under normal operating conditions. If the "F0" code persists, contact your Authorized Frigidaire Service Center.

That manual's full code list is short: F1, F2, L1, H3, F0 and PU.

The 2019 manual (P/N 16120100A12519, reached from Frigidaire's own product page for the FFAD3533W1) does not list F0 at all — its Fault Codes section has exactly three entries. AS or ES: a sensor has failed. E4: communication between the display board and the main control board is faulty. And EC, with the same voltage check and a room "within the range of 41°F to 89°F." One degree narrower than the older manual, and that 89 is the figure Frigidaire still uses in its current error-code guide.

So: F0 on an older unit and EC on a newer one are the same fault family, Frigidaire now calls both "sealed system failure," and the only owner-level step ever published is the voltage/temperature/power-cycle check. The phrase "sensor failure" or "detect circuit fault" that you'll see attached to F0 on third-party sites is not Frigidaire's wording — Frigidaire's sensor codes are AS and ES.

Reset procedure (as the manual states it)

There is no button-sequence reset. The manual's procedure:

1. Check the outlet. A cheap plug-in voltage monitor should read roughly 104–126 V. A long, thin extension cord or a heavily loaded basement circuit can drop below that under compressor load — plug directly into the wall.
2. Check the room temperature. Frigidaire's current guidance and its 2019 manual both put the range at 41–89 °F; the older manual said 41–90 °F. Outside it, either way, the unit will fault or perform poorly.
3. Unplug the unit. Wait a few minutes. The 2009 manual gives a 30-minute wait, but only for F1, F2, L1 and H3; for F0 it states no interval at all, so give it at least that long.
4. Plug it back in under normal conditions and start it.
5. If EC or F0 returns, Frigidaire's instruction is to contact them: 1-800-944-9044. Within 30 days of purchase, the installer/retailer; after that, Frigidaire schedules service.

Step-by-step diagnosis

Everything an owner can do fits in a short list, because the fault lives in the part of the unit an owner can't open.

Is my Frigidaire dehumidifier under recall?

Possibly — and this is worth five minutes before you spend anything on a repair, because the remedy is a refund rather than a fix. Frigidaire-branded dehumidifiers were built by Gree, and CPSC has recalled them three times in what is substantially one expanding action: recall 13-283 (12 September 2013), reannounced as 14-179 (15 May 2014), and reannounced again as 17-039 (29 November 2016). By the 2016 reannouncement CPSC reported "more than 2,000 reported incidents of dehumidifiers overheating. About 450 fires have been reported, resulting in more than $19 million in property damage."

The recall is still live. CPSC issued a fresh warning on 16 August 2023 stating that "There have been reports of four deaths potentially associated with Gree dehumidifiers," and urging consumers to "immediately turn off and unplug the recalled dehumidifiers and contact Gree at (866) 853-2802 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday" for a refund.

Frigidaire models named in the recall, with date codes 01/07 through 09/08:

Check the model and date code on the rating plate. If your unit is on that list within that date range, stop using it and claim the refund — do not troubleshoot an EC or F0 code on a recalled unit.

One distinction that trips people up: the New Widetech recall (CPSC 21-174, 4 August 2021, about 2 million US units) is a separate action covering a different set of brands — AeonAir, Amana, Danby, De'Longhi, Friedrich, Haier, Honeywell, Idylis, Whirlpool, Whynter and others. Frigidaire is not among them. Several brands appear in both recalls, which is exactly why the two get conflated; brand overlap does not put Frigidaire in the New Widetech action, and Frigidaire owners want the Gree recall.

What does CO mean on a Frigidaire dehumidifier?

It is not a fault code, and Frigidaire's own documentation settles that twice over. First, CO does not appear in Frigidaire's dehumidifier error code guide, which lists AS, ES, F1, F2, L1 and F5 for sensor failures, EC and F0 for sealed-system failure, H3 and E5 for compressor overload protection, E4 and C5 for electronic control failure, and PU for a pump failing to empty the bucket in time. If CO were a fault, it would be in that list with the others.

Second, Frigidaire treats CO as a setpoint value rather than a condition. Its frost-buildup article — the same one this page cites for coil frost — instructs owners: "If the setpoint is set at 'CO' change to a different range (35 to 85)." That is CO as the position the humidity control sits in when it is set to run continuously instead of to a target relative humidity, and Frigidaire's own remedy for a unit that frosts or never stops is to move the setpoint off CO to a number.

Frigidaire says the same thing in words elsewhere: "By default the Dehumidifier is set to Continuous Mode," with the advice that raising the RH% setpoint is the fix for a unit that never stops. So a dehumidifier showing CO is not reporting a failure — it is telling you it has no humidity target. If it is running more than you want, give it one.

Parts, numbers, and consumables

This is where most sites make things up. We checked Frigidaire's parts channel and the major parts retailers for the W1 and R1 series:

Two numbers circulate online as the "fix" for F0: humidity sensor 5304447246 and control board 5304447244. Both show as "no longer available" at Frigidaire's parts store, and the board is listed only for the older FDL/FDK series — neither is a verified fit for the FFAD/FFAP units. In plain terms: no humidity sensor, control board, or compressor is listed for the current models, and a sealed-system fault on them is not a parts-and-labor repair anyone can order.

Repair or replace?

Sealed-system repair — locating the leak, brazing, evacuating, recharging — requires an EPA Section 608 certified technician and the equipment that goes with the certification, and no compressor is listed for these models. Out of warranty, a confirmed EC/F0 is a replacement. Under warranty, it's a phone call; Frigidaire will either service it or replace it. The one exception worth pursuing is a unit that faulted on low voltage and clears once it's on a proper outlet — that one isn't broken.

When you replace it, size it for the space rather than buying the biggest one — the dehumidifier sizing calculator uses the current (2019) pint ratings, which are lower than the old labels for the same physical unit.

When to call Frigidaire

Related codes and symptoms

A Frigidaire that runs and shows no code but stops collecting water is a different, and usually fixable, problem — see dehumidifier not collecting water. If the coil is iced rather than dry, that is airflow or ambient temperature, not the sealed system: dehumidifier freezing up. For continuous-drain setups, the hose is the first suspect: drain hose setup. The full Frigidaire code list lives on the brand hub as pages are added.