Strange Aircon Behavior

[Beggar]

Perhaps someone can help me. I have 2 DAIKIN aircons FL13HV1LS/R13HV1LS with Compressor RC46AV1TRT. Both aircons have not been used much. Both still have perfect very strong cooling. But one recently started to show the following behavior. After 15 to 20 minutes cooling the inside unit switches the fan to low (it is NOT set to auto) and the outside unit switches off. 

 

Cooling as long as it runs is very strong and compressor noise is normal. When I switch the aircon off and on after this it runs normally but does the same again after a while. The inside and outside unit are cleaned and nothing blocks the air. 

 

The settings are:

 

Mode is cooling
Temperature is set to 18 (I don't make the room so cold - I used this for testing). 
Fan is set to 75 percent (it is NOT set to AUTO)

 

Could you please give me an idea why it switches the fan of the inside unit to low and the outside unit off. I could understand when the compressor switches off because for instance of overheating but not why the inside unit switches the inside fan to low then. So perhaps not a compressor problem. 

[ExpatOilWorker]

Could be low voltage or is the timer function ON?

 

http://www.daikin.com/products/ac/services/troubleshooting/index.html

[Beggar]

Thanks for the link. The timer is not on. The voltage spikes - could be. What could be the reason or what else could be wrong? The confusing thing is that it is not switched off but only to very low fan speed. But yes the outside unit is switched off. But if I understand the DAIKIN explanation correctly it would switch the unit completely off. 

[rak sa_ngop]

Maybe the internal memory has been corrupted, even though you think the timer is turned off.

 

Try resetting the timer by switching off the unit at the mains breaker box and restarting. If you just switch off at the unit, the memory might still be receiving power and will not reset.

[Beggar]

I tried this already and switched the main breaker off for hours. No change. I am afraid one of the hard to solve problems. Sent an email to DAIKIN already but no response. At my other DAIKIN I had a broken run capacitor and the compressor stopped. But this didn't change the Fan speed to low.

 

 

 

[Carib]

You said there are two units with the same specs, have you tried switching remotes? It is a long shot but remotes sometimes can send erratic signals. Make sure the remote batteries are ok.

[Jdietz]

Is the external cooling fan running? If it's just the compressor it will overheat and shut off.

Repair of that is usually a new "starter" cap, couple 100 baht, or clean out the lizards.

 

[Beggar]

Yes I have switched remotes. The option that wrong signals are send by faulty remotes is not the case. I have two in the meantime almost unusable original DAIKIN remotes (shocking how they degraded) and two new ones not DAIKIN but replacing them. 

 

In respect of the external cooling fan - yes it is running and the fins have only a temperature of about 33 to 35 degrees - just little above the outside temperature. 

 

In respect of starter capacitor - there is none. Just a runtime capacitor. I measured the runtime capacitor just two months ago when the one at the other aircon failed - was okay. Cheap original capacitor M what means if I am correct a tolerance of 20 percent. But it had the exact capacity. 

 

To me the main question is what unit triggers this. Can the outside unit trigger that the inside fan switches back the fan speed or is the inside unit controlling everything? 

[Jdietz]

Inside unit controls everything, outside unit just has a on/off contactor.

 

Did you check coolant "gas" pressure? it may be low and start to freeze.

 

[Beggar]

I was thinking about a freezing problem. But I do not have the tools to check the gas pressure. But I am afraid if I ask a company to check it that I will be left with just another gas leaking unit in the future. Checking this will be the last resort. I have 3 aircons that never leaked gas ... always had perfect cooling ... and never were allowed to check the gas. Friends of mine who let them check when the aircons were cleaned are now regular customers where the cooling gets bad since the gas always gets low after some months... Didn't want to risk this. But if I have no other option I will have to do it. 

[stevkob]

May I suggest a couple of things.

Firstly measure the air off temperature from the outdoor unit, while running, compare against the other unit that you say works fine, a discrepancy in running temps may indicate a refrigerant leak.

Secondly as you have 2 identical machines and if you know an electrician you could swap either of the indoor and outdoor printed circuit boards between the 2 A/C units to see if the issue migrates to the other unit, then you can arrange to have a new board installed.

 

[Beggar]

Temperature is about the same at both units and also the sound of the compressor. Swapping the boards sounds like a good idea. But it also could be a sensor that triggers this for whatever reason. I will look next week for a company with qualification what might not be so easy to find. At the moment it just gets on my nerves ????

[Wirejerker]

No error codes coming up?


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[KMartinHandyman]

Are both of them inverter units ?

[Beggar]

These aircons are no inverter units and they are not able to show error codes. 

[Wirejerker]

Check your neighbour doesn’t have similar AC and you keep winding his/hers up with your remote.. [emoji2]


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[sometimewoodworker]

3 hours ago, Wirejerker said:

Check your neighbour doesn’t have similar AC and you keep winding his/hers up with your remote..


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Most ac remotes ( all of mine) are IR not RF so virtually no chance of doing that 

[Wirejerker]

Most ACs have error codes too.. talk about bad luck


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[Beggar]

It is impossible that a neighbor has a remote with the same signal. In the whole area I am the only one with DAIKIN - at least in a range for remote controls. I sent an email to DAIKIN already and they forwarded it internally. Their Thai translation of my English email was a little bit confusing but perhaps I get despite of this a hint of them. If so I will let you know. But this problem doesn't seem to be all the time. Today I let it run again full power and stopped the time until it switches off. After 40 minutes I switched off. Perhaps a moody aircon? I had this strange mood several times and so I am waiting for a response from DAIKIN. Perhaps really voltage fluctuations here sometimes? But I am afraid only DAIKIN can explain in this case the strange (at least for me) behavior of their construction. 

[Beggar]

Just want to give you an update. Perhaps somebody has the same problem. After cleaning the aircon, checking the aircon by several service people (they all did not know why it behaves like this), several unanswered emails to DAIKIN and many fruitless calls to the Daikin hotline I received after about half a year a response from DAIKIN (after a big complaint from my side). 

 

The aircon switches to anti-freeze mode because the evaporator gets to cold - even if there is no ice to see. Reasons according to them could be not enough gas, a thirty aircon, a faulty thermometer.

 

It runs for a while without a problem. But if the humidity in the room gets below 50 % the problem starts. As long as there is enough moisture the evaporator doesn't get too cold. Below 50 % it is in the minus Celsius range what I have measured and then it switches to the anti-freeze mode (outside compressor off and inside fan to the lowest speed). 

 

In my case the inside fan at the evaporator doesn't blow as strong as before anymore. Perhaps they didn't build it together correctly after cleaning or something is wrong with the motor. Asked DAIKIN to come and look. They told me they will call back. After a longer wait I called an other service company in the end and hope THEY can fix it. They will come on Friday. But at least I know now why it behaves like this and can point them to the right direction. 

[Beardog]

Talking to Daikin company is like pissing in the wind. I have to replace an entire circuit board because of 306 baht woth of 2 parts that are fried. Board has perfect paths onlya capacitor & a low energy transformer module got lunched. I used to have Amorn in Pattaya fix it for 200 baht + the cost of parts but pattaya's only technician that works on everything just quit Amorn cause they only pay him 400 baht a day.In English & in Thai Daikin states they never repair a circuit board & instead want you to pay for a complete new circuit board even though it is no necessary. I am pretty sure the rep thought it was a Toyota auto condenser instead of the circuit board. He insisted it couldn't be the circuit board but I can see burned components. He didn't even know what a capacitor was or does.. Gotta love Thailand Home of the incompetent Som Tom cooks that think they are technicians. I can get the capacitor for 3 baht in town but they have no clue how to order the transformer.

[tjo o tjim]

It is likely anti-freeze protection for the evaporator coil; it can happen if the unit is extremely oversized, if you have dust build-up on the coil, if the outside air temperature drops significantly, or a handful of other issues.

 

If you have cleaned the coil then the next step to take is to not keep the fan on full speed. 

[Beggar]

7 hours ago, tjo o tjim said:

It is likely anti-freeze protection for the evaporator coil; it can happen if the unit is extremely oversized, if you have dust build-up on the coil, if the outside air temperature drops significantly, or a handful of other issues.

 

If you have cleaned the coil then the next step to take is to not keep the fan on full speed. 

It is fixed in the meantime. The reason was that it wasn't built together correctly after the last cleaning. Because of this the airflow was not strong enough/blocked and so the evaporator got into the minus Celsius range.

 

What confused everyone was that nobody expected a feature like an anti-freeze mode at this older aircon. And since there was no visible ice/snow nobody thought that it got too cold. Now after the 3rd aircon service company it is like new again. At least I know now which companies I will never take again...