Air Conditioner Problems

[quadricorrelator]

The two airconditioners in my apartment don't cool very well. They used to do a good job. My apartment management hadn't done any maintainence for 18 months. I complained and the air conditioner people came to fix it. They took it apart and cleaned it, but it didn't look like the refilled it with any Freon or anything like that. They seemed to think it was O.K. but it still doesn't work well.

Is it possible that they did the cleaning without checking the Freon level? They never took the airconditioners out of my room. I didn't see any big tanks when they were here. I am wondering if they even checked the Freon level.

I will ask again for help. What else should I ask them to check?

-q

[qualtrough]

I will defer to any AC experts, but here is my take. If the compressor is working when it is supposed to, and the unit is not clogged up with dirt and dust, the fan is working, and there is sufficient freon, the system should work. When the boys come out to service my AC units they do a thorough cleaning and check the Freon, etc. The fact that you didn't see any tanks doesn't necessarily mean there is a problem with the Freon if they checked and saw that a top-off wasn't necessary. But you never know! It is possible that there is a thermostat problem and the compressor is not kicking in as much as needed.

One other possibility is that the BTU of each unit might be inadequate to properly cool your rooms. I have seen charts that state how many BTUs are needed to cool a room according to how many sq.m. it is. You could probably Google that.

[GuestHouse]

The most likely cause is lack of refrigerant (freon as you call it, but actually some other agent these days).

One way to check if the unit needis its refrigerant recharging is to look at the two coolent pipes coming of/going into the compressor unit.

When the A/C has been running for say half an hour, one of connections to which the refridgerant line is connected should have a coating of ice on it.

If it does not, it is a sure sign of your unit refridgerant being low.

[Tywais]

If it does not, it is a sure sign of your unit refridgerant being low.

Actually it's the opposite, if it has ice on it the pressure is too low. I just went through that a few weeks ago. Lot's of ice on the line on the compressor and the fins inside and not cooling sufficiently. They cleaned it, recharged the freon and now it's good as new again

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=13577

[SabahCafeandCinima]

Clean the pipes.

Better still replace the pipes if the aircon is more than a few years old

[Naam]

"If it does not, it is a sure sign of your unit refridgerant being low.

Actually it's the opposite"

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correct!

[Naam]

Clean the pipes.

Better still replace the pipes if the aircon is more than a few years old

big joke!

[phibunmike]

Is it possible that they did the cleaning without checking the Freon level? They never took the airconditioners out of my room. I didn't see any big tanks when they were here. I am wondering if they even checked the Freon level.

You/they can check the refrigerant (Freon R134) with a pressure gauge; if it needs topping up, only a small prtable tank is required, can be a 1kg tank (for easy portability) so not very obvious.

Insufficient regrigerant sounds most likely IMHO...