Air Conditioner Repair
I could almost swear that in an early version of the RepairFAQ (about 8 years ago) there was a sizeable FAQ on repair and troubleshooting of air conditioners. Such an FAQ is nowhere to be found on the current RepairFAQ site. Have eight years of time fogged up my memory, or did Sam G. pull that FAQ for some reason? Anyway, here is the problem I was hoping to get some advice on. I recently picked up an old air conditioner in someones trash (I don't have the money to buy a new one). I thought maybe I could tinker with it and get it going. When I got it home and plugged it in, the fan worked great but as soon as power was applied to the compressor motor (turn up the COOL setting), the lights would dim WAY down and I'd have to turn it off immediately (otherwise a circuit breaker would blow). Once inside the unit (where I found the mfr date of Oct. 1975!), I disconnected the fan motor so I could hear what was going on in the compressor. Sure enough, it would just hum and dim the lights. At this point I figured it was shorted and that the unit was junk, but for some reason I kept cycling the power on and off to see what would happen. After several tries, the compressor loudly roared to life and the shop lights were no longer dimming. It was obvious from the noise, that the compressor has a very hard time starting up (seizing?). And it appears that the unit is sealed, so there's no way to service it (also, I don't want to fool around with the freon). My plan of action for now is to install a separate switch for the fan, so I can leave it off and listen for the compressor to start. Obviously this would be a bit of a nuisance, but it's still preferable to sweating my brains out in the 40oC summer heat! Anything else I can try, or is this the best I can hope for?
Answer:
I could almost swear that in an early version of the RepairFAQ (about 8 years ago) there was a sizeable FAQ on repair and troubleshooting of air conditioners. Such an FAQ is nowhere to be found on the current RepairFAQ site. Have eight years of time fogged up my memory, or did Sam G. pull that FAQ for some reason? Anyway, here is the problem I was hoping to get some advice on. I recently picked up an old air conditioner in someones trash (I don't have the money to buy a new one). I thought maybe I could tinker with it and get it going. When I got it home and plugged it in, the fan worked great but as soon as power was applied to the compressor motor (turn up the COOL setting), the lights would dim WAY down and I'd have to turn it off immediately (otherwise a circuit breaker would blow). Once inside the unit (where I found the mfr date of Oct. 1975!), I disconnected the fan motor so I could hear what was going on in the compressor. Sure enough, it would just hum and dim the lights. At this point I figured it was shorted and that the unit was junk, but for some reason I kept cycling the power on and off to see what would happen. After several tries, the compressor loudly roared to life and the shop lights were no longer dimming. It was obvious from the noise, that the compressor has a very hard time starting up (seizing?). And it appears that the unit is sealed, so there's no way to service it (also, I don't want to fool around with the freon). My plan of action for now is to install a separate switch for the fan, so I can leave it off and listen for the compressor to start. Obviously this would be a bit of a nuisance, but it's still preferable to sweating my brains out in the 40oC summer heat! Anything else I can try, or is this the best I can hope for?