Air conditioner does not cool room enough

[RigPig]

Why is it that people ALWAYS think it is the gas? It is a sealed system, where did the gas go? Cars are a different story and have to be topped up regularly as they use rubber ¨O¨ rings for deals and they leak by nature. If your A/C needs gas it has a leak, if you don´t fix the leak you are wasting your time.

Old units can leak just a fraction of gas for whatever reason and you only notice this after a while. I had an old beer cooler that had this problem and I saw many units in hotels where the evaporator was covered with ice. In these cases the compressor never stops working, ecxept for clixon or other heat protector coming in. No cooling but high power consumption.

So unless the leak was repaired, topping up the refrigerant would have been a waste of time......

It doesn´t matter how old the unit is IT SHOULD NOT BE LOSING GAS. If it is there is your problem. Leaking for whatever reason? So they just leak? Do you think it should be doing this or that the leak should be found and repaired?

It is an easy way to keep getting repeat custom, just keep treating the symptoms and never apply a cure... Keep topping up the gas, don´t find the leak, that takes time and patience and may even involve work. Then you wont have to come around every 6 months to top it off and make a few more easy bucks.

If the clixon on the compressor was tripping out all the time I would be suss about the compressor, having being run with a leak for a long time.

Evaporators covered in ice is generally a symptom of gas problems (and therefore a leak).

I have NEVER seen a Thai A/C man use a leak detector, or vac / pressurise the unit and check for leaks. Is it holding a vaacuum? Purging and pressurising with Nitrogen for a period will also let you know if there is a leak and it has the added advantage of cleaning any ¨shale¨ from welding from the inside of the pipe ensuring there are no contaminants.

Take the time and do the job properly the first time and there are generally few problems until old age sets in (or the warranty runs out).

[RigPig]

properly needs re gassing

Do you mean it MAY have a leak that needs to be repaired?

Or a million other things......

Do you know that 9 times out of 10 it (should) not be the gas.......

It is more likely to be the thermostat (probe dirty, not in position, just broken) they operate many times in a day, the gas just goes round and round. Unless there is a leak, which there shouldn´t be !!!

[bazza40]

Part of your discomfort may be related to humidity. If you are sweating and the aircon is not removing moisture, you will be uncomfortable. Check the outlet pipe from the aircon. It should be steadily dripping water. If it is not, the aircon is not functioning correctly and moreover is costing more in power bills.

[RigPig]

We live in Mae Rim in a single family home we built; have had semiannual cleanings done for our 11 units. Three of those units are large hybrids with the distribution/blower units located in the overhead above the ceiling with ducting that pipes air into more than one room. The individual room units have all been flawless...the only issues experienced are the batteries leaking in the remotes (most of these room units are never used or sparingly used) and we've been in the home 10+ years. Two years ago, one of these 3 hybrids began acting up and stopped chilling the 2 rooms it services. Before going on the blink, those rooms were easily cooled to 21 degrees if needed. After repeated cleanings, refrigerant top-offs and other low-pressure/high-pressure system checks, the problem persisted. The culprit turned out to the lengthy (10-meter) connecting hose that runs from the compressor located outside in a shady space, up the exterior wall, over the ceiling and connecting to the distribution unit. They replaced that hose and the problem seemed to be corrected. The senior tech told us that it was possible that rats running in the overhead crawl space had chewed into the hose, damaging it and allowing the temperature in the line to rise. Everything else checked-out and thoroughly stymied the team. By the time the charge arrived at the distro unit, it was ineffective. Ergo, you might need to have that connecting line looked into as well.

This one has me intrigued.....

I take it you have ducted split systems¨ and this is what you are talking about?

A hose running between the compressor and the fan coil unit? There should be 2 copper pipes (usually with insulation over them and possibly a drain for the condensated water to escape.

You say ¨The culprit turned out to the lengthy (10-meter) connecting hose that runs from the compressor located outside in a shady space, up the exterior wall, over the ceiling and connecting to the distribution unit. They replaced that hose and the problem seemed to be corrected. The senior tech told us that it was possible that rats running in the overhead crawl space had chewed into the hose, damaging it and allowing the temperature in the line to rise¨

I would think that rats chewing through the foam insulation around the copper pipes would do almost nothing, rats wont chew through metal so I doubt if they chewed through the copper and caused a leak and any reasonable test should have shown there was a leak somewhere in any case. It is then a matter of finding it, which is the time consuming and difficult part quite often. Chewing through the drain would cause a water leak somewhere.

Sounds to me like in desperation (and I don´t blame them) they re piped and re-gassed it and it fixed the problem. The tech didn´t know where the leak was exactly or what caused it and probably considered (quite rightly) that the effort to find out was not worth it. Did you see the pipe and damage?

At least they found it and fixed it good for them, it can be an absolute nightmare especially with pipes running through ceiling spaces.

P.S. please let me know if the rats did chew through the copper pipes, that´s a a new one for me and interesting....

[Smurkster]

Lack of Freeon?

[thrilled]

Just about every hotel that I'm in in Thailand the room doesn't get cool enough.I myself clean it.Filter,lines etc.9 out of

10 times it gets cooler..

[thailandforumaddict]

Coolant should not be refiled if there is no leakage...

[RigPig]

Lack of Freeon?

And where would this freeon have gone? Does the compressor (which is just a pump) which is designed to circulate it also burn it up?

I have an idea, MAYBE THERE IS A LEAK.......

Oh well get the gas bottles out again so it looks like we know what we are doing and we can justify the charge, plus we will be back in 6 months to do it again, and if we are REALLY lucky the compressor may have died by then and we can start the whole thing all over after making even more money...

[Pib]

12K BTU A/Cs are more than big enough for your room sizes if operating properly and unless maybe you have a ton of windows with no curtains. If you have a thermometer (like one of those with an outside wire temp probe) you can stick the thermometer probe "just inside the vent outlet" (but not too far in to avoid hitting the spinning cage fan) and the A/C should put-out air temperature of approx 13C/55F (15C/60F may be OK also...but warmer than that and you A/C is not cooling as it should). Give the thermometer at least 10 minutes to do the measurement...until you are not seeing the temp drop anymore.

Be sure you have the system set to Cool vs Auto or Dry. If the vent output temp is not pretty close to above mentioned temp then your A/C needs servicing. Even in this hot weather the A/C should be able to pull down to a vent output of approx 13-15C/55-60F....mine do...they pull down to 13C/55C in this very hot weather....during cooler times of the year they pull down to approx 10C/50F....my York split A/Cs in different rooms range in size from 8K to 23K BTU.

Also ensure the air flow from the vent outlet is pretty even across the "entire length" of the vent outlet...if not your filters and/or cage fan is dirty. A dirty cage fan can really reduce air output which also reduces cooling due to reduced air flow....I have to clean my cage fans about every 6 months on the A/Cs used pretty much 24/7 otherwise uneven/reduced airflow occurs due to crude/dirt building up on the can fan which reduces/disrupts air flow....and I clean the filters about once a month.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I have Daikin units in our home.

They have a pair of user-removable, plastic air filter panels that need to be removed and washed out with water every week or so...something we can easily do ourselves in our kitchen sink, and then slide then back into the unit once they've dried.

But, here in Bangkok, the thing that really requires the units to be serviced every couple months is the spinning roller unit inside the wall-mounted unit. It has ridged edges and when those get coated with the dust and dirt in the air that gets stuck to them, the unit basically stops cooling. [That's what Pib is talking about in his post above.] The compressor will run, the fan will blow, but cold air won't blow out.

Dealing with that required the air con service guy to disassemble the wall unit, remove the ridged spinning roller piece and power wash it from the accumulated gunk. After that, the unit blows cold air like a charm again.

The Thai air con guy we use here in BKK, who's pretty dependable, charges 500 baht per air con unit for the filter cleaning and power washing the indoor unit, which he disassembles and then power washes the parts in our bathroom shower and the main unit on the wall using a plastic sheet to collect and drain the water.

Edited May 7, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Pib]

I now clean my A/Cs and their cage fans myself...basically just like in below youtube video. I use a bug sprayer adapter (like people use to spray around the house and what also appears to be what the guy is using in below youtube clip)...hooked some very flexible water hose to the adapter, run the water hose into the house, just use the water pump pressure which is around 35psi, and I made a plastic A/C wash bag to catch the water/dirt. Watch below short video and you see the plastic type bag at the very end....and I've also include an image of what a wash bag looks like...I just bought a large plastic sheet at Global House and made my own wash bag for about Bt50. I don't have to disassemble any of the A/C to accomplish the wash....I even wash the cooling fins. In the video this guy did some disassembly which he didn't need to do. And no, this is not me in the video...it's a good one to quickly give a person of how it done.

I cleaned one of my A/Cs I use 24/7 just last week using this method...it had been approx 4 months since the last cleaning...black dirt flowed out...cage fans can get so dirty and in a relatively short time frame....but my cage fan is now as clean as a new one and the vent air output is very even and strong along the entire length of the air vent outlet. I expect a person could also do a pretty fair job of cleaning with just using water from a bug sprayer (you know...just put water in the sprayer tank...pump it up and spray)...if you don't want to or can't go the water hose route for higher pressure.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Pib

[Pib]

Deleted...dup post.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Pib

[hugocnx]

Why is it that people ALWAYS think it is the gas? It is a sealed system, where did the gas go? Cars are a different story and have to be topped up regularly as they use rubber ¨O¨ rings for deals and they leak by nature. If your A/C needs gas it has a leak, if you don´t fix the leak you are wasting your time.

Old units can leak just a fraction of gas for whatever reason and you only notice this after a while. I had an old beer cooler that had this problem and I saw many units in hotels where the evaporator was covered with ice. In these cases the compressor never stops working, ecxept for clixon or other heat protector coming in. No cooling but high power consumption.

So unless the leak was repaired, topping up the refrigerant would have been a waste of time......

It doesn´t matter how old the unit is IT SHOULD NOT BE LOSING GAS. If it is there is your problem. Leaking for whatever reason? So they just leak? Do you think it should be doing this or that the leak should be found and repaired?

It is an easy way to keep getting repeat custom, just keep treating the symptoms and never apply a cure... Keep topping up the gas, don´t find the leak, that takes time and patience and may even involve work. Then you wont have to come around every 6 months to top it off and make a few more easy bucks.

If the clixon on the compressor was tripping out all the time I would be suss about the compressor, having being run with a leak for a long time.

Evaporators covered in ice is generally a symptom of gas problems (and therefore a leak).

I have NEVER seen a Thai A/C man use a leak detector, or vac / pressurise the unit and check for leaks. Is it holding a vaacuum? Purging and pressurising with Nitrogen for a period will also let you know if there is a leak and it has the added advantage of cleaning any ¨shale¨ from welding from the inside of the pipe ensuring there are no contaminants.

Take the time and do the job properly the first time and there are generally few problems until old age sets in (or the warranty runs out).

By writing all this it seems you prove that I am right.

[RigPig]

I now clean my A/Cs and their cage fans myself...basically just like in below youtube video. I use a bug sprayer adapter (like people use to spray around the house and what also appears to be what the guy is using in below youtube clip)...hooked some very flexible water hose to the adapter, run the water hose into the house, just use the water pump pressure which is around 35psi, and I made a plastic A/C wash bag to catch the water/dirt. Watch below short video and you see the plastic type bag at the very end....and I've also include an image of what a wash bag looks like...I just bought a large plastic sheet at Global House and made my own wash bag for about Bt50. I don't have to disassemble any of the A/C to accomplish the wash....I even wash the cooling fins. In the video this guy did some disassembly which he didn't need to do. And no, this is not me in the video...it's a good one to quickly give a person of how it done.

I cleaned one of my A/Cs I use 24/7 just last week using this method...it had been approx 4 months since the last cleaning...black dirt flowed out...cage fans can get so dirty and in a relatively short time frame....but my cage fan is now as clean as a new one and the vent air output is very even and strong along the entire length of the air vent outlet. I expect a person could also do a pretty fair job of cleaning with just using water from a bug sprayer (you know...just put water in the sprayer tank...pump it up and spray)...if you don't want to or can't go the water hose route for higher pressure.

Capture.JPG

So you are spraying water into an A/C with a hose, and the power is on and the fan spinning?

CLEVER!!

Maybe you shouldn´t rely so much on youtube!

Make sure you pay the extra 50 Baht for the quality flip flops.......

[RigPig]

Why is it that people ALWAYS think it is the gas? It is a sealed system, where did the gas go? Cars are a different story and have to be topped up regularly as they use rubber ¨O¨ rings for deals and they leak by nature. If your A/C needs gas it has a leak, if you don´t fix the leak you are wasting your time.

Old units can leak just a fraction of gas for whatever reason and you only notice this after a while. I had an old beer cooler that had this problem and I saw many units in hotels where the evaporator was covered with ice. In these cases the compressor never stops working, ecxept for clixon or other heat protector coming in. No cooling but high power consumption.

So unless the leak was repaired, topping up the refrigerant would have been a waste of time......

It doesn´t matter how old the unit is IT SHOULD NOT BE LOSING GAS. If it is there is your problem. Leaking for whatever reason? So they just leak? Do you think it should be doing this or that the leak should be found and repaired?

It is an easy way to keep getting repeat custom, just keep treating the symptoms and never apply a cure... Keep topping up the gas, don´t find the leak, that takes time and patience and may even involve work. Then you wont have to come around every 6 months to top it off and make a few more easy bucks.

If the clixon on the compressor was tripping out all the time I would be suss about the compressor, having being run with a leak for a long time.

Evaporators covered in ice is generally a symptom of gas problems (and therefore a leak).

I have NEVER seen a Thai A/C man use a leak detector, or vac / pressurise the unit and check for leaks. Is it holding a vaacuum? Purging and pressurising with Nitrogen for a period will also let you know if there is a leak and it has the added advantage of cleaning any ¨shale¨ from welding from the inside of the pipe ensuring there are no contaminants.

Take the time and do the job properly the first time and there are generally few problems until old age sets in (or the warranty runs out).

By writing all this it seems you prove that I am right.

It´s hard to get it through though isn´t it?

I think I am just losing it because it doesn´t matter what you post they either don´t read it or have some mental block ¨It´s the gas!¨

Oh well..........

[GOLDBUGGY]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Lack of Freeon?

And where would this freeon have gone? Does the compressor (which is just a pump) which is designed to circulate it also burn it up?

I have an idea, MAYBE THERE IS A LEAK.......

Oh well get the gas bottles out again so it looks like we know what we are doing and we can justify the charge, plus we will be back in 6 months to do it again, and if we are REALLY lucky the compressor may have died by then and we can start the whole thing all over after making even more money...

If it works for 6 months than it is still cheaper than replacing the air-con unit, or compressor, in a rented condo, or trying to get the Landlord to do the same.

You may know air-con units but you may not know what renting is like here, or Landlords.

[jacko45k]

Yeah it doesn't surprise me... how hot is it outside when you are trying to cool it down to 20 degC?

I have 2 Daikin units, they are a good brand, but 12,000 BTU may not be enough during the heat of the day.

Particularly if the outside unit is in the sun, or the walls are.

Adjust the swinging parts and lock them so that they blow directly onto you.

Mine need a service about every 7 months, and I do the primary internal filters once a month... but the blades on the drum fan still get clogged and I need to call the service guys in who clean them with a hose, water and bag arrangement. You can hear the unit puffing a bit when it is due a service.

Outside walls being hot, sun on windows etc.... in the afternoon heat best I can do is 25 degC, but arrange it to blow directly at the bed where I hide from it.

You may get benefit from insulating the room a bit. Draft excluder, tape around doors, ensure window seals are good, Reflective lined curtains may help.

Edited May 7, 2015 by jacko45k

[biplanebluey]

Buy a bigger one !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Pib]

So you are spraying water into an A/C with a hose, and the power is on and the fan spinning?

CLEVER!!

Maybe you shouldn´t rely so much on youtube!

Make sure you pay the extra 50 Baht for the quality flip flops.......

Power to the A/C is off. That's the force of the water spray spinning the fan. When A/C techs come to your residence to do a proper cleaning they will use this method but probably have a small pressure washer... and they will be wearing flip flops and charge a lot more than the cost of your setup...and of course the need to let the techs into your home. But if you don't want to buy a small pressure washer then make a hookup for use with your residence water supply...and using the spray adapter from a garden sprayer works great since it has a spray on-off control, adjustable spray nozzle, and is shaped a good way to spray inside the A/C. Understand and remember to turn the A/C off during the cleaning.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Mine need a service about every 7 months, and I do the primary internal filters once a month... but the blades on the drum fan still get clogged and I need to call the service guys in who clean them with a hose, water and bag arrangement. You can hear the unit puffing a bit when it is due a service.

I was trying to figure out how to describe what the Daikin units do...when the roller unit inside gets clogged up. PUFFING is a good way of describing the sound. Instead of an even, steady blowing cold air sound, you get the unsteady puffing sound.

Also, as Pib mentioned, if you run your hand across the length of the air con unit where the cool air blows out, when the unit is clogged, you'll get reduced or no cold air flow over some portions of the breadth of the unit.

Both are signs it's time to either a] call the ac service guy, or b] use Pib's home-grown approach.

Either way, if you let the units operate in that clogged, partially working manner, you're going to waste a ton of electricity and money trying to keep the room cool to the thermostat setting and having the compressor running constantly in a vain effort to bring the temperature down.

FWIW, we have a split unit Daikin in our main bedroom, which we pretty much run only overnight and into the morning. But I've found that with that use in our area of central BKK, we pretty much need to be calling the AC service guy every 3-4 months to clean out the roller bar. Wish we could get by with 6 month intervals, but never been able to do that as yet.

Edited May 8, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Pib]

Just to make sure everyone understands what I mean by a garden sprayer adapter...I mean like the pictured one below which shows an entire garden sprayer...you are only really after the spray adapter/nozzle portion which you disconnect from the spray tank. You can buy a garden sprayer cheap at any hardware store, Lotus, Big C, etc. Sometimes you can buy just the spray adapter/nozzle but I couldn't find one with a trigger off-on control....most adapters only they sold in Thai stores was a type like used in rice fields which don't have a on-off trigger control to control flow. And like mentioned earlier I guess a person might be able to get enough pressure by just filling up the garden spray tank, pumping it up....and see how that works. If you google you'll find links/pages showing such a method.

Sometimes folks just use a hand squeeze sprayer with long nozzle like pictured below...not sure that is very much pressure but still should work to do a descent cleaning if the cage fan is not big time dirty...or course you are going to be doing a lot of hand squeezing.

And remember, a key component in spray cleaning your A/C this way is having a wash catchment bag; otherwise you are going to create mess on the wall and floor as the dirty wash water flows out of the A/C...with the bag, zero mess. You can buy them online for about Bt1,000 or just make your own for a few baht...a sheet of plastic reformed into a bag is cheap....at places like Global House you can buy whatever sheet plastic length you want....kinda like buying water hose of whatever length you want...don't remember HomePro selling sheet plastic to your desired length...Global House seems more oriented towards DIYers and city slickers where HomePro seems oriented primarily towards city slickers.

Heck if you have a small size A/C buying a large size garbage bag (like 40" by 60") at Makro, Big C, etc., may be big enough for your wash/catchment bag....but it really wasn't for my A/Cs as the bag needs to be loose fitting so you can pull the front of the bag forward and up a little while spraying to ensure all the wash water goes into the bag.

For those of you who may be thinking doesn't spraying water up into the A/C cage fan assembly area or through the cooling fans cause the water to leak out a hundred different ways? Well, no it don't due to the construction/design of the A/C. Next time you go into a store which has a bunch of split A/C models on display, take a close look at the inside of those display models which are usually missing are lot of their guts (like the fins, fan, etc) which allow you to see the area "behind the cooling fins and cage fan." That area is sealed on the back and sides...spraying water into that area just results in it flowing downward out the front vent and/or the drainage channel....kinda like water flowing off a roof top. And the electronics for the inside unit are not in this sealed area....usually the electronic are off on the side in another protected area

A DIY wash of your A/C is not really hard once you get your DIY equipment setup like the wash catchment bag and a proper spray adapter which can be rounded up/made cheap. Good investment for a DIYer. Remember, power off when washing the A/C.

.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Thanks for clarifying that, Pib...

I was thinking you meant something more like this!

[Pib]

TallGuy,

Above pictured method is for cleaning the outside unit; not the inside unit. Once again, be sure the power is off.

[zlodnick]

Hi Pib,

Dont they spray some kind of chemical first to loosen up all the gunk?

[RigPig]

So you are spraying water into an A/C with a hose, and the power is on and the fan spinning?

CLEVER!!

Maybe you shouldn´t rely so much on youtube!

Make sure you pay the extra 50 Baht for the quality flip flops.......

Power to the A/C is off. That's the force of the water spray spinning the fan. When A/C techs come to your residence to do a proper cleaning they will use this method but probably have a small pressure washer... and they will be wearing flip flops and charge a lot more than the cost of your setup...and of course the need to let the techs into your home. But if you don't want to buy a small pressure washer then make a hookup for use with your residence water supply...and using the spray adapter from a garden sprayer works great since it has a spray on-off control, adjustable spray nozzle, and is shaped a good way to spray inside the A/C. Understand and remember to turn the A/C off during the cleaning.

I turn mine of (at the switchboard), spray with degreaser, water from a spray bottle then blow it out with compressed air. A mate has a dive shop so we rigged up an old spare bottle with a thin hose and I just use the valve to control it. I do have an RCD fitted which I know works.

[Pib]

Sure...you could use a cleansing agent if desired on the cage fan if like it's really, really dirty/gunked up. But I've found just water pressure does the job nicely. It's kinda like a pressure washer used on a sidewalk/wall to remove algae...it comes off easily just under the water pressure...but if only using a brush and cleaning agent in trying to scrub off the algae it can be hard work. I haven't sprayed any cleaning agent on my cage fans yet only because I haven't found a spray bottle yet with an extension of around 6 inches so I could do a good job of spray cleaning agent on the fan before hitting it with the pressurized water. I'll stumble across one eventually...sometimes it's hard to fine the simplest thing.

The gunk buildup on the fan in a home like in a living room/bedroom is generally not a greasy gunk buildup you might see on the cooling fins/filters since the filter/fins themselves catch most of that junk before they have a chance to get to the cage fan. Now if your A/C is being used where a lot of cooking occurs then I expect greasy buildup will occur on the cage fan also.

I use to clean my cage fan by using brushes....actually a brush like used to clean baby bottles and then a small diameter brush to get into the fan slots like about the size that would fit in rifle barrel. That method did a pretty fair job but took a lot longer plus the material comes off the cage fan was like dry, black snowflakes...or like black ash floating down from a brush fire. You can end up with black snow on you and in your eyes.

Basically, it was "fairly dry" gunk that came off easily...it was just being about to get to the cage fan to properly use the brushes to get the gunk off. On my York A/Cs it's not too hard due to the design of the output vent/louvers....but on other manufacturers/models depending on how the outlet vents are designed it can be harder. But by spray washing that access problem disappears and is a lot faster...and no black snow to vacuum up afterwards because the wash water went into the wash catchment bag.

When I spray wash my A/C I first spray A/C cleaning foam on the cooling fins....and just let that soak in. A/C cleaning foam can be bought at Big C, Lotus, Makro, HomePro, etc. Just one can can be used to clean 3 or 6 A/Cs I estimate based on my personal expereince....costs around Bt100 to Bt200.

I then start spraying the cage fan with plain old water. After the foam has soaked into the fins I then spray those fins although it's not required with the cleaning foam as normal condensation & gravity will do the job for you.. It's just spraying it with water afters does a better cleaning job...plus it's so easy. Then I do another quick spray of the cage fan to remove any gunk from the fins that may have dropped onto the fan due to the cleaning foam activity. I then let the A/C dry for about 10 minutes before turning it back on...give it those 10 minutes for water to 100% drain out that has been sprayed into it.

I've got 7 A/Cs in my home but only 3 get used frequently. It so nice to clean them whenever I want to, cleaning them is now easy and fast, not having to let Somchai the A/C Tech into my home and hoping he don't break my A/C or create a mess, and not having to pay Somchai. And let me tell you, the more you have to disassemble an A/C the chances shoot way up something plastic is going to get broken, chipped, glued back together, etc. Spray washing can pretty greatly reduce or completely eliminate any dis-assembly need....for me I have zero disassembly required...I just need to open the filter cover, remove the filters, open the outlet vents, put the wash catchment bag in place, and start spraying.

[Pib]

I turn mine of (at the switchboard), spray with degreaser, water from a spray bottle then blow it out with compressed air. A mate has a dive shop so we rigged up an old spare bottle with a thin hose and I just use the valve to control it. I do have an RCD fitted which I know works.

I turn my circuit breaker off also. I actually start the A/C so the vents are wide open and then turn off the circuit breaker. That completely kills power to the unit and the output vent louvers stay open. That way you don't have to use your finger nails to pull open the vents so you can spray water into the vent....and possibility need to do a little vent adjustment after reapplying power...but it's is super easy to do the readjustment if needed.

Yeap, A/C cleaning is really not hard at all once you get your DIYer gear together....and after you do it once you might think it's down right easy with the right gear.

[Pib]

Another video on how to spray wash your A/C but only using a spray bottle with extension tip...and of course the wash catchment bag. If the sweet thing in this video can do it, then anyone should be able to do it. Or call Somchai the A/C Tech.

[Pib]

And if you call Somchai the A/C Tech he may come in and do some dis-assembly and they use his professional spray washer and catchment bag like in below videos....although Somchai's spray washer will probably like one you or I would buy at HomePro to clean the sidewalk or wash the car.

But seriously this is probably a good example of being able to see "inside" the A/C if the entire front cover assembly is removed for cleaning (which can be hard to do sometimes without damaging something unless you know the tricks in doing it). You really should have no need to do much, if any, dis-assembly useless maybe your A/C is absolutely filthy and hasn't been cleaned for a decade. These kind of videos are good for two things: (1) making people think only a professional should clean an A/C and disassembly is always required, and (2) teaching people what the inside of an A/C looks like.

[RigPig]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Lack of Freeon?

And where would this freeon have gone? Does the compressor (which is just a pump) which is designed to circulate it also burn it up?

I have an idea, MAYBE THERE IS A LEAK.......

Oh well get the gas bottles out again so it looks like we know what we are doing and we can justify the charge, plus we will be back in 6 months to do it again, and if we are REALLY lucky the compressor may have died by then and we can start the whole thing all over after making even more money...

If it works for 6 months than it is still cheaper than replacing the air-con unit, or compressor, in a rented condo, or trying to get the Landlord to do the same.

You may know air-con units but you may not know what renting is like here, or Landlords.

Only 10 years worth.

I pay mine every 6 months and make them fix everything before renewing (and paying) the next 6 months. It´s worked OK so far......