Air Con Went Bang & Died

[Chao Lao Beach]

One of the air cons died, the others are due for a clean and re-gas anyway so I will find a new air con guy.

One died recently, at the time of failure it made a loud clunk. I know this sounds stupid, but I can not say for sure if it was inside or out side as I was in the attached room. I believe that often there is an electrical component that often fails, and the unit/compressor does not need replacing.

What is it, can I see with the eye if it is screwed?

Mitsubishi

normal (not inverter)

No rough running noises prior to dieing suddenly.

[Crossy]

Use your nose (smell of burnt electronics) and eyes (black bits).

It could be something as simple as a gecko in the works.

[lopburi3]

But a loud bang could be a blown compressor piston (liquid does not compress well).

[Chao Lao Beach]

But a loud bang could be a blown compressor piston (liquid does not compress well).

would that = a new compressor? (Not exactly music to my wallet) !!!

[lopburi3]

Yes - but often they have long guarantee so you might be lucky.

But have to admit my experience would have been on older units - today believe most are rotary compressors so not sure if subject to the same destruction as the old piston models.

[bankruatsteve]

Well, you don't know what you might need until you get someone competent to check out the problem. You can get some ideas and suggestions here but otherwise any poster would just be guessing your situation. Suggest you contact the local place that services your brand and see what they have to say. You really won't know until you do that.

[Ackybang]

I know it's probably a bit late, but I had an aircon go 'bang' quite loudly in a rented house Years ago, and it turned out one of the electrical feed wires had rubbed against the body's metal edges, through vibration over time, and its' insulation had been compromised - was shorting to the body itself. No problems or warning / sounds before it went...

Make sure you isolate the thing completely if / before you touch the body / have a look, or if you have kids, and you're waiting for the repairman.

[Chao Lao Beach]

Result, some fried Jin-Jocks (geckos)

Shorted the board, 700B for a new little "thingo" and all good. The 3 days for the new "thingo" sucked though without air at night.

Also gave them all another proper clean, the one that looked the cleanest to my eye was the filthy one when looking at the black crap that came out of it !!!

[Crossy]

It could be something as simple as a gecko in the works.

Another correct diagnosis from The Oracle

Glad you got it sorted at reasonable cost.

[Greenside]

I just had an 18 month barely used aircon die. A gecko had obviously made its home there at some point but no bang, no fried gecko, no burn marks on the components so I'm wondering if the repair shop is going to try to lay the blame on it anyway. Watch this space...

[Greenside]

So the aircon company called this morning. His diagnosis: GITW as expected. No reasonable explanation as to why no visible signs or smell of a short and no dead gecko but what can you really do when it's 38 in the shade and you've got the shell of an aircon unit stuck on the wall? Cost to fix 1800 baht - not the end of the world but irritating nonetheless.

I have had experiences (not in Thailand, though) where the retailer actually doesn't take the easy way out and goes in to bat for me as a customer. The twice that's happened with electronic items which were arguably faulty but way out of warranty, the manufacturer has made good the problem without a fuss and I really wish that traders here would get it into their heads that giving that kind of service is an investment in business. I suspect this failure was blamed on the gecko for lack of any other evidence and the company is being lazy - I have to order 5 new aircons in the next few months and although they were good in every other way I'm tempted to go elsewhere.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Greenside

[Pib]

Result, some fried Jin-Jocks (geckos)

Shorted the board, 700B for a new little "thingo" and all good. The 3 days for the new "thingo" sucked though without air at night.

Also gave them all another proper clean, the one that looked the cleanest to my eye was the filthy one when looking at the black crap that came out of it !!!

Several months ago I had a York compressor unit stop working and it tripped the circuit breaker when it stopped working. I got out my trusty ladder and climbed up to it on the house wall...took the cover off to access the compressor and electronics board...the front end of the electronics board was smoked/burnt...no sign of a gecko, bugs, ants or other critters...just a burnt/smoked board....I took some pictures with my smartphone. Called the shop that installed the unit about 5 years ago....they came out...I showed the pictures before they climbed up to the compressor unit...they did some more troubleshooting to confirm the compressor itself and the inside unit were still good...took them a few days to round up the circuit card and replace it....total cost for labor and parts was around 1800 baht....knock on wood but the unit has been working fine since which has been for several months since the repair. Maybe an electronic component on the board just gave up the ghost...maybe a gecko/critter cuased a short and was vaporized in the process...I only know the unit is still working fine and cooling me while I write this post.