Existing air conditioner problem

[4MyEgo]

LG air conditioner turns on and delivers cool air, then after about 5 minutes, the motor outside stops. Don't know if this is relevant but the fan doesn't spin, not even at start up.

 

Yes it's an inverter, but the outside motor stops working and doesn't kick on again, therefore no cool air coming into the house.

 

I felt the copped pipes attached to the motor, one was cool, the other not.

 

Anyone have similar problems or might know what the issue might be ?

 

Getting air con guys here is a little difficult, two haven't shown up when supposed too so thought if someone knew what the issue might be, I might be able to address it myself, that or keep trying to find someone who want to work and fix it.

[Mister T]

Probably the fan motor, it should start spinning within 5 minutes. You could change it yourself, a few screws and the elec leads going to the compressor compartment.

[KannikaP]

7 minutes ago, Mister T said:

Probably the fan motor, it should start spinning within 5 minutes. You could change it yourself, a few screws and the elec leads going to the compressor compartment.

Should the fan motor in the outside unit, start immediately, and then go on & off as the compressor gets hot. My 10 year old Mitsubishis do.

[Mister T]

Not straight away but certainly within 5 minutes. It will come on as cooling is required.

[soi3eddie]

Try LG support for an engineer in your area. Better than just trying a local "engineer". More likely to show up, have the knowhow and any parts needed.

 

[Crossy]

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

Should the fan motor in the outside unit, start immediately, and then go on & off as the compressor gets hot. My 10 year old Mitsubishis do.

 

If it's a conventional (non-inverter) type then yes, that's normal operation.

 

Inverters very the speed of the compressor as the amount of cooling varies.

[4MyEgo]

11 minutes ago, Crossy said:

If it's a conventional (non-inverter) type then yes, that's normal operation.

 

Inverters very the speed of the compressor as the amount of cooling varies.

It's an inverter as I have seen the fan stop when the room cools down, e.g. motor goes into idle mode, then the fan kicks off again when the motor starts up again.

 

Having done a little reading on this of late, I think it might have to do with the Capacitor/s, will have to look to find another air conditioning guy who will turn up.

[KannikaP]

16 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

If it's a conventional (non-inverter) type then yes, that's normal operation.

 

Inverters very the speed of the compressor as the amount of cooling varies.

From bacon to air cons in less than an hour. 555

[Crossy]

1 minute ago, 4MyEgo said:

It's an inverter as I have seen the fan stop when the room cools down, e.g. motor goes into idle mode, then the fan kicks off again when the motor starts up again.

 

That's typical non-inverter operation, inverters slow everything down rather than actually stop unless the amount of cooling required is very low.

 

Or maybe I'm misunderstanding exactly what you units are doing.

 

[KannikaP]

7 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

It's an inverter as I have seen the fan stop when the room cools down, e.g. motor goes into idle mode, then the fan kicks off again when the motor starts up again.

 

Having done a little reading on this of late, I think it might have to do with the Capacitor/s, will have to look to find another air conditioning guy who will turn up.

All getting a bit mixed up with the compressor/motor  and it's cooling fan, which should not start until the compressor is hot, contrary to what I said earlier, that the fan should start immediately. It shouldn't.

[4MyEgo]

23 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

That's typical non-inverter operation, inverters slow everything down rather than actually stop unless the amount of cooling required is very low.

 

Or maybe I'm misunderstanding exactly what you units are doing.

 

I am getting a little confused as KannikaP above has suggested.

 

From memory the unit when turned on is loud (external motor) call it vibrating on the brackets to the wall, with the internal head filtering the cold air into the room.

 

Normally, it will stop or go quiet after a while then it will start up or come on again, I call this idling as opposed to shutting down, now that could well be that it does shut down because there is no noise and it could well be a non-invertor, it's about 7 years old, I say that it could be a non invertor because I have the identical one in my bedroom, however it never stops or shuts down which is different to how the other one works.

 

Come to think of it, the air condition guy installed them at the same time, and it could well be that one is an inverter and the other not, but they have the same model number LG 410A.

[jollyhangmon]

I've got an LG conventional model meaning it either cools with compressor & it's fan running or the outside unit is totally silent while not cooling at that moment.

 

Like 8 years old that thing and still running strong on the very first coolant filling but last September after coming back from close to 3 months EU summer while it stood unused the compressor fan (outside unit) had kinda 'baked' in place,

I started the thing, it worked normally on the inside for a while but then lacked further cooling effect ... when I went out for a look the compressor was running but the fan did not, at all.

 

Shut down the whole gig and was about to take the outside unit apart when it hit me and I just nudged the fanblades a bit through the grille with the screwdriver, could hear it getting loose from wherever and then slowly turning normal ... after and since that normal function, no problems again ...

[4MyEgo]

22 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

All getting a bit mixed up with the compressor/motor  and it's cooling fan, which should not start until the compressor is hot, contrary to what I said earlier, that the fan should start immediately. It shouldn't.

Ok, so if I am reading this correctly, the cooling fan should not start spinning at start up, only when the compressor is hot ?

 

So by turning on, blowing in some cool air and then not turning off in about 5 minutes, maybe 10 means there could be a problem anyways, as It doesn't start up again.

 

As mentioned earlier, could it be the capacitors ?

[4MyEgo]

3 minutes ago, jollyhangmon said:

Shut down the whole gig and was about to take the outside unit apart when it hit me and I just nudged the fanblades a bit through the grille with the screwdriver, could hear it getting loose from wherever and then slowly turning normal ... after and since that normal function, no problems again ...

I will give that a go and see if that frees it up, although I do recall about a week ago taking the grill off and spinning the fan blade and it turned without a problem, but you never know, 2nd attempt then turn it back on and see if I win the lottery.

[KannikaP]

15 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

I will give that a go and see if that frees it up, although I do recall about a week ago taking the grill off and spinning the fan blade and it turned without a problem, but you never know, 2nd attempt then turn it back on and see if I win the lottery.

WD40 can fix anything. 555

[sandyf]

13 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

As mentioned earlier, could it be the capacitors ?

Always a possibility when a motor does not run or runs slowly. Capacitors deteriorate and over the years I have changed the capacitor in nearly all my ceiling fans, 2 of the water pumps and recently one in a submersible pump.

I have 2 LG aircons that are now 13 years old, no problem with motors, only leaks.

[KannikaP]

21 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Ok, so if I am reading this correctly, the cooling fan should not start spinning at start up, only when the compressor is hot ?

 

So by turning on, blowing in some cool air and then not turning off in about 5 minutes, maybe 10 means there could be a problem anyways, as It doesn't start up again.

 

As mentioned earlier, could it be the capacitors ?

There are capacitors to aid the starting of the compressor, not the cooling fan. Could be a faulty temperature sensor giving the cooling fan incorrect data.

Mr LG is your man.

Edited April 2, 2023 by KannikaP

[sandyf]

2 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

There are capacitors to aid the starting of the compressor, not the cooling fan.

What kind of motor is on the cooling fan?

The majority of single phase motors use a capacitor but if you know for a fact it is a shaded pole or split phase motor then you would be right.

Electrolytic capacitors are fairly obvious but smaller motors often use an encapsulated capacitor which may not be obvious.

[sandyf]

13 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

There are capacitors to aid the starting of the compressor, not the cooling fan.

Capacitors are required to shift the phase angle in the second winding of a single phase motor and can be a start or run capacitor, or both. When both are used the start capcitor is switched out when the motor gets up to speed.

[sandyf]

40 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Ok, so if I am reading this correctly, the cooling fan should not start spinning at start up, only when the compressor is hot ?

Every chance the compressor is fitted with a thermal trip so if the cooling fan does not kick in the compressor will shut down.

If you can get at the cooling fan connections you could disconnect it and put a supply direct to the motor to see if it runs. If it doesn't then a good chance there is a capacitor somewhere that has failed.

[sandyf]

49 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

As mentioned earlier, could it be the capacitors ?

CBB61 is a fairly common type used on small motors, readily avaiable on Lazada.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/cbb61-1uf15uf18uf2uf25uf3uf35uf4uf45uf5uf-450vac-i4151415159-s16294181494.html?from_gmc=1&exlaz=d_1:mm_150050845_51350205_2010350205::12:19039203577!!!!!c!!16294181494!227953178&gclid=Cj0KCQjwz6ShBhCMARIsAH9A0qXkanG0ulVt2x0kzGxhmpCS1q7ENIYcuS5gWvKNpIml-AFb0IqA5mEaAtLkEALw_wcB

[sandyf]

44 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

There are capacitors to aid the starting of the compressor, not the cooling fan. Could be a faulty temperature sensor giving the cooling fan incorrect data.

Mr LG is your man.

Looks fairly clear to me that LG use a capacitor motor for the fan motor.

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/546694842274291386/

[Madgee]

Take the old capacitor out and take it to a local hardware shop. 
Pay about 200 baht for a new one and re-fit ..... Hey presto!  
Worth trying first ... It's the most common part that goes faulty! 

[4MyEgo]

Update:

 

For those following this post, the air con guy who we called over a week ago drove past our place today and the wife rang him again asking him if he got lost.....lol, he said he was heading to a job in our and asked what was going on. The wife explained that she called him a week ago, oh sorry, I get so many calls and I don't ring them back he said ????

 

Anyways, se said air conditioner is not working, fan does spin, so he came over an hour or so later after the job in the village and pulled the cover off and found the coloured wires had been chewed on by a mouse/rat, call them what you want, you could see the bronze wires and he cut them off and reconnected them and tapped them up then asked me to turn on the A/C which I did and the fan started spinning.

 

An hours work for 400 baht, not bad....lol, some would say expensive, that said, I would have to pay at least 4,600 baht back in the old country and that doesn't include the call out fee which would be close to 2,000 baht, besides, it all depends on how much your prepared to part with to be cool and 400 baht, regardless of the time it took, is well worth it in my opinion, he can have taken the right arm too, hang on a minute, he just did ????

 

So if your fan stops working on the outside unit, it could be the wires if you live in the village as opposed to what I thought might be the fan capacitor 

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

So if your fan stops working on the outside unit, it could be the wires if you live in the village as opposed to what I thought might be the fan capacitor 

So it seems that our choice of mounting the outside units on the walls just under the eves was a good one. I think that only geckos can get to them.

[4MyEgo]

1 minute ago, sometimewoodworker said:

So it seems that our choice of mounting the outside units on the walls just under the eves was a good one. I think that only geckos can get to them.

I don't know if it was the gecko's, found a dead mouse/rat, call it what you want, not to far away, that said, there are lots of gecko's on the wall, small and large, hmmm, might just go out there now and give them a blast of some spray.....LOL