My aircon unit has developed a mind of its own!

[rak sa_ngop]

Had my aircons cleaned last week and now one of my units is now playing up., It switched itself off 2 times last night and I woke up and I had to restart it.

 

It was off again this morning when I woke up so I left it off, but just as I was leaving my condo an hour later it started up again.

 

Basically it is switching on and off by itself. When I say switch off I mean power completely switched off and remote switched off - blank as well.

 

Any ideas you guys. The unit is a Saijo-Denki, but old.

 

Thanks

[rak sa_ngop]

Bl**dy thing! I switched it off 6 hours ago and now it has switched itself back on!

[HooHaa]

does it act up when the batteries are taken out of the remote? is there a similar remote unit in use in the house?

personally id just call a technician once exhausting these possibilities.

 

[Wirejerker]

I would try switching it off at the main switch or circuit breaker so you remove all power from the unit and leave it off for 5 minutes at least. It may have some smarts in it and needs a reboot just like windows on your computer.


Cheers

[rak sa_ngop]

Thanks for the comments. Yes, I have switched off at the 'fuse box' but still have the problem.

 

I have tried changing to my spare remote but not sure if it has made a difference.

 

Calling a technician seems like a path to more frustration, misery and expense as I will have difficulty reproducing the fault. I doubt if they will be able to fix a problem they can't see (or believe).

 

One thought is that maybe some (cleaning) water has affected the electronics? Maybe with time it will dry out?

[KittenKong]

Most air-con remotes I have seen have a hidden recessed reset button on them. It might be worth trying that.

 

But it seems too much of a coincidence that the cleaners came last week and you are having these problems so soon after.

 

Some (most? all?) air-con units have a hidden manual override switch inside the cover of the indoor part that allows the unit to be tested by bypassing the thermostat. It's possible that this switch may have been left on. Another possibility is that the cleaners connected the temperature sensor lead incorrectly, or put the sensor back in the wrong place. The condition you describe sounds like the machine may be running without shutting down and that at some point some internal safety switch is turning the whole thing off, so I would check those two things I mentioned as both could be causing that.

 

Apart from that your only real option is to get the manufacturer's own technicians out, as they will probably have seen the problem before and will recognise the symptoms.

[VocalNeal]

Put new batteries in the remote? 

Then put the remote in a drawer see if it continues as remotes do have a timer feature.

[Crossy]

2 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

remotes do have a timer feature.

This is a good thought, make sure all timer features have been reset, actually turn them on and off again.

 

If the remote has a Reset button that will (should) set all timers to off. 

[lopburi3]

As unit was just serviced expect they have shorted the control module when they replaced it into wall unit after cleaning (or have soaked it if they did not remove before power cleaning).  They should be able to dry it out with their blow dryer or re-install without it hitting other metal.

[rak sa_ngop]

I think I may have solved the problem, The clue was in the fact that 3 days in a row the unit started up by itself at about the same time.  So there must be a timer in the control unit that has been activated somehow.

 

I set the Sleep function on the remote to zero but still auto start-ups.

 

I do not have any other timer buttons on the remote so I tried removing the batteries. Still auto starting up.

 

I switched the unit off and then switched power off at the breaker box. On reconnecting power it still auto started a few times.

 

I then suspected that if powering off the unit with the remote surely there would be a memory function that would keep the timer settings stored.

 

So finally I left the unit powered on, and then disconnected power at the breaker box and then reconnected. So last night the aircon stayed on all night with no interruptions and so far it has stayed off all day after I switched it off. So this procedure looks like it has deleted or reset the timer memory.

 

I hope it does not spring into life again.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions

 

 

 

 

[TKDfella]

On 11/15/2017 at 11:55 AM, Crossy said:

This is a good thought, make sure all timer features have been reset, actually turn them on and off again.

 

If the remote has a Reset button that will (should) set all timers to off. 

Precisely, this happened to me a few years back and it was the timer. However, resetting did not solve the problem it was the remote unit, which I had to replace.

[ToddinChonburi]

Did you turn the timer on by accident ?

[Goanna]

Get a shaman and a few monks over to do some chanting. Should be okay once the spirits are driven out.

[catman20]

On 14/11/2017 at 2:35 PM, HooHaa said:

does it act up when the batteries are taken out of the remote? is there a similar remote unit in use in the house?

personally id just call a technician once exhausting these possibilities.

 

I think these technitons cause more problems.very seldom get a job done in Thailand 1 time and it's right normally need 2or3 attempts. The place is a joke for good service.

[rak sa_ngop]

8 hours ago, ToddinChonburi said:

Did you turn the timer on by accident ?

Something happened when the unit was cleaned. They pulled out all the electronics, flushed the dirt out with a jet hose and then replaced the electronics. It is always a problem to get this particular unit working again.

 

Just to repeat, the way I got to reset the memory was to turn power off to the unit at the breaker box WHILE the unit was switched on. All my attempts with the remote previously failed.

[HooHaa]

On 11/26/2017 at 10:57 AM, catman20 said:

I think these technitons cause more problems.very seldom get a job done in Thailand 1 time and it's right normally need 2or3 attempts. The place is a joke for good service.

personally, i have never had problem

[catman20]

19 hours ago, HooHaa said:

personally, i have never had problem

If you own a house here it has to be maintained. When you start getting workmen around to your house you will then see and have a problem. Trust me.

[lopburi3]

4 minutes ago, catman20 said:

If you own a house here it has to be maintained. When you start getting workmen around to your house you will then see and have a problem. Trust me.

Having had a house here in Bangkok for the last 40 years and many modifications made expect it may be the quality/experience of workers used rather than inability.  This often happens when we expect things to be done in a way that is not the common practice here.  But in general do not see more problems here than elsewhere - and the cost to fix here is almost always a fraction of that involved in home country. 

[HooHaa]

18 minutes ago, catman20 said:

If you own a house here it has to be maintained. When you start getting workmen around to your house you will then see and have a problem. Trust me.

And where do you think i have been resting my head over the last 20 years, under a bridge?.

 

2 homes, multiple ac in each, cleaned every 6 months and replaced as needed. As i said, not a pronblem, it breaks we fix it.

 

I really dont see the big deal, i have had very little problem with tradesmen or repairs or anything in thailand really, living here hasnt really been that difficult contrary to what others here my have experienced.

Edited November 28, 2017 by HooHaa

[catman20]

22 hours ago, HooHaa said:

And where do you think i have been resting my head over the last 20 years, under a bridge?.

 

2 homes, multiple ac in each, cleaned every 6 months and replaced as needed. As i said, not a pronblem, it breaks we fix it.

 

I really dont see the big deal, i have had very little problem with tradesmen or repairs or anything in thailand really, living here hasnt really been that difficult contrary to what others here my have experienced.

i dont just mean air cons, but i do think you have been very lucky then, or you live in a very small standard house with out many things that can go wrong. things ive had to have  fixed more than once........ sprinkler for garden, swim pool, waterfall ,roof, guttering, taps, air cons there is no real trades men here, as we say in the west their a bunch of cowboys.

[catman20]

22 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Having had a house here in Bangkok for the last 40 years and many modifications made expect it may be the quality/experience of workers used rather than inability.  This often happens when we expect things to be done in a way that is not the common practice here.  But in general do not see more problems here than elsewhere - and the cost to fix here is almost always a fraction of that involved in home country. 

disagree !

[HooHaa]

2 hours ago, catman20 said:

i dont just mean air cons, but i do think you have been very lucky then, or you live in a very small standard house with out many things that can go wrong. things ive had to have  fixed more than once........ sprinkler for garden, swim pool, waterfall ,roof, guttering, taps, air cons there is no real trades men here, as we say in the west their a bunch of cowboys.

It seems some struggle here more than others.

[maxpower]

On 11/28/2017 at 8:18 AM, HooHaa said:

And where do you think i have been resting my head over the last 20 years, under a bridge?.

 

2 homes, multiple ac in each, cleaned every 6 months and replaced as needed. As i said, not a pronblem, it breaks we fix it.

 

I really dont see the big deal, i have had very little problem with tradesmen or repairs or anything in thailand really, living here hasnt really been that difficult contrary to what others here my have experienced.

My old neighbor Mr Magoo lived here for 40 years and never had a problem with Thai tradesmen. He was a collector of A.C. units and had several hundred placed around his many homes.  There's such an abundance of highly qualified and skilled workers in Thailand its difficult to image anyone having problems getting stuff fixed.

[Crossy]

Our home is only 5 years old so we've had little call to "get the man in" but when we have, apart from one particular incident, they have always been just fine.

 

House rules:-

• If it's an appliance that's died, wifey calls the local brand service agent even if out of warranty.
• We do all our own electric, plumbing and building work that doesn't involve getting on the roof (ok we have some trusted local labour). The builder is still on call for high stuff such as replacing the roof tiles we lost to a direct lightning hit.

In our experience;-

• The installation chaps from the big box suppliers (HomePro and the like) are invariably professional, neat and clean up after themselves.
• The single craftsmen who arrive in a beaten up old pickup with their wife (labourer) are proud of doing a good job, the man who did our gutters for example has been recommended by us several times.
• Our only issue was the crew who "installed" our gates. Provided by a small (but more than one-man) outfit. Glossy brochure, product pretty good, installation crew minimally trained, no proper tools, no supervision.

Of course YMMV.

 

[catman20]

22 hours ago, HooHaa said:

It seems some struggle here more than others.

i thinks its down to what sort of house and toys you have,  bigger the house with lots of extras the more problems you have, bit like having 2 or 3 girlfriends.

[HooHaa]

yeah, fine.  im not about to compare houses.

 

plenty here seem to think its not that difficult to get work done.

 

your experience is apparently different.

 

good luck with that.

[catman20]

56 minutes ago, HooHaa said:

yeah, fine.  im not about to compare houses.

 

plenty here seem to think its not that difficult to get work done.

 

your experience is apparently different.

 

good luck with that.

i dont have a problem getting work done i have a problem getting work done properly most jobs i have to get done more than 1 time.