Check freon

[JAS21]

On 20/03/2017 at 9:08 AM, johng said:

This is the fan wheel from my bedroom aircon after less than 6 months from last cleaning

 

 it was filthy and to clean to without a pressure washer was not a nice task, its extremely fiddly to take the fan out and clean it in the bathroom, I did that once and spent the rest of the day cursing the designer of the stupid thing because it was so difficult to get back in place...

( why don't they make the fan assembly sit on the top of the evaporator unit  in an easy to slot in/out fixture)

so this time I made a small cleaning implement from  small strip of perspex  wrapped in a layer of cloth both sides which could reach right into the slots + an old toothbrush 

and spent a good 2 hours cleaning the thing in situ ( there is a surprisingly large surface area to clean)

with a solution of washing up liquid and then bleach from a hand pumped squirty bottle.

this time I also used the squirty bottle to clean the evaporator radiator fins and it worked quite well.

 

for a deep clean this stuff works well but is not nice to use

  the fumes are bad it eats into  coatings on spectacle lenses and other plastic surfaces  it even stained some black ceramic tiles

and turns skin to soap   so you need to wear eye protection and rubber gloves and try not to breath in the fumes.

 

before everyone asks "why not just pay someone to clean it for you"    well because its very difficult to find a reliable,experienced,trustworthy company that will just do the clean,don't break things and not insist on "topping up the freon"

you also have to watch them like a hawk...and they mostly "forget"  to clean the sludge build up in the evaporated water discharge pipe so that in the evening after they cleaned you get a nice waterfall on the inside of your wall !

 

Those big metal can capacitors are about 300 baht at Amorn (in Pattaya)   the smaller square black plastic ones are as you say about 50 baht

That Coil Cleaner is an acid and you must be very careful as the 'coil tubes' are very thin. Much better to use something like 3M Air Foam 2 in 1 Cleaner and Freshener, or better still nothing. Available at Makro and others...

 

Don't mess about like you do for the fan. Sheet up and use a hose pipe with a spray nozzle. If the fan gets like that its more or less certain that the unit wants cleaning. According to Daikin you shouldn't let the fan rotate backwards at high speed whilst cleaning as it can effect the bearings ... not sure if this is true or not.

 

Daikin charge around 1000thb our way for a full clean and more if they strip the whole lot down , take outside and wash.

 

You really need a pressure washer with adjustable pressure to do a good job without damaging  the fins. I have a Zinsano VIP Blue ... but you would have to clean a lot of units to justify the cost if you only buy it to clean air con units. 

 

And very important to flush the drain line as mentioned earlier.

 

A little tip is ... when replacing the external 'inlet' filters after cleaning... which should of course be cleaned every few weeks. I use the 'bum gun' to clean.  I use masking tape to tape the edges down so that the air cannot bypass the filter.

 

The Start/Run Capacitor should be about 100-150thb depending where you buy

[johng]

21 minutes ago, JAS21 said:

You really need a pressure washer with adjustable pressure to do a good job without damaging  the fins

I have used the pressure washer in the past...  first time  I got water into the condenser unit fan motor  made a loud bang  with some smoke upon startup    300 baht for new motor

Second time I damaged some fins

third time  some water got into the main control panel  with another bang upon startup  2000 baht for new  board

4th time I went to use the pressure washer and it had developed a leak at the handle/trigger mechanism so took this as the omen not to use the bloody thing any more.

but still my bad luck continued with getting water into the main control board again during the fan wheel removal episode

though this time I spotted it and thought it was dry  but nope

another loud bang upon applying power and some rather bad language from me !

luckily the blown component was easy too spot and I used the

corresponding one from the old main board...now I know why the cleaning crews have their super high powered hairdryers ( blowers)

 

40 minutes ago, JAS21 said:

That Coil Cleaner is an acid and you must be very careful as the 'coil tubes' are very thin.

I think the one pictured  is Alkali  so possibly damaging to Aluminium fins  but should be fine on the actual coper tube  I've had no problems so far ( more than 4 years now)  but yes its nasty stuff to use

 

51 minutes ago, JAS21 said:

A little tip is ... when replacing the external 'inlet' filters after cleaning... which should of course be cleaned every few weeks. I use the 'bum gun' to clean.  I use masking tape to tape the edges down so that the air cannot bypass the filter.

 

Already use the bum gun    but will try the masking tape  as there are quite a few places that dust can enter without being filtered.

[JAS21]

I have used the pressure washer in the past

 

You are supposed to completely shield 'that bit' on the right side. Using  eg plastic sheeting and tape! even a TescoLotus bag will do ...also a cloth 'micro fibre' over before you apply the sheeting. And yes, use the wife's hair dryer before you switch on, but don't melt anything. Being retired and having free time allows you to do these little jobs for interest and save a little money in the process...sometimes  ... sometimes experience does not always come for free ....  

[johng]

8 minutes ago, JAS21 said:

You are supposed to

Should have , could have , would have...but I didn't 

[Pib]

I was at an Amorn Electronic store this morning to buy some micro-switches to repair my water heater and I took a look at the pricing for startup capacitors (about the size of small cola can) used to start your compressor and small run capacitors about the size of a match box to keep the fan running.  

 

Depending the size of the startup capacitor with the 25 to 50uf range being the most common size, the cost varied for Bt120 for a 25uf to Bt150 for a 45uf.   

 

For the fan run capacitors ranging from around 1 to 5uf the cost ranged Bt25 to Bt50.

 

Now the  switches I bought for my water heater did repair it....cost per switch Bt70.  The heater has two identical switches to control two separate heating elements, but only one switch had failed...actually intermittent...which would case the heater's thermal safety switch to trip.  So, I replaced both switches to have a matched pair....and figured it might not be long before the other failed.

 

In Sep 11, I had the heater's manufacturer repair service guy come out to fix the exact same problem....I watched closely what he did and what he replaced....he only replaced one switch and charged me Bt600.  I was happy at that time even with a Bt600 price just to have the heater working again....and he he did have to come over from Eastern Bangkok to my western Bangkok home, but we had to wait 10 days for he to come over.  We were told upfront when scheduling the repair there was a Bt500 minimum charge for a service visit.

 

Being a DIYer does pay off sometimes in saving you money and getting your stuff operating again much faster.    Plus, it kinda gives you a good feeling that you repaired it yourself.