A/C maintanence... (long)

A/C maintanence...

Ok, I guess this is one forum I could around in, since you guys would probably know best.

I'm not using an A/C with my comp or anything, just my room (but it will help make my w/c setup colder all the same)

We moved into our current house last summer, and It came with two radiators. I put one in my room (close to 10x15) and it worked GREAT, the windows even frosted up.

However, I am ignorant of A/C's and after a while I noticed my room was no longer staying cold even with it running on different settings..

My dad thought maybe it froze up because it couldn't drain (didn't mount it properly or something). So I took it out and that was that.

Well, this summer I chose to buy one of those newer 5k BTU's (the old one is the same) and frankly, I don't want some energy efficient POS that can only manage to cool my room a few degrees below outside temps. I did some reading up on coil temperature settings on newer units and all that, so I decided I'll take it back.


I drug out the old unit. Made sure that sucker was titled down so it could drain, but it's showing the same symptoms again. - I cleaned the air filter too - nada... I can leave my room with it running for a few hours and my room will actually be warmer (or at least more humid?) than the rest of the house.


I am guessing I need to clean this unit out thuroughly? How would I go about doing that? Is it safe to spray it with a bit of water when all's done ? (to rinse it?). I was thinking of just taking it to the gas station and blowing it out with an air compressor, and then maybe sicking my vaccum on it as well.

I was also thinking of maybe drilling some extra small holes in the bottom at the very back ( carefully) to see if it might help if it is indeed a drainage issue.

Any advice would be appreciated. I'd hate to think it finally died or something, it was really nice at keeping room cold when it worked

/edit: ok I guess that wasn't so long

Yeah your condenser may be full of dirt, I would take the cover off and examine it and clean everything out.Water is fine everything is sealed other than electrical connections, but those won't really be a problem.Just let it dry out of a bit before your turn it on.

Maaan that thing was a ***** to get apart, lol.

It was pretty damn dirty. I mean not SUPEr dirty, but the drain hole was clogged up with a bit of rust/leaves and whatnot, and a lot of it had also settled on the bottom of the unit as well. The fan on the radiator had some rust crap around it's compartment too.

Took the hose nozel and put it on high beam, got a good deal of it out, but still some rust on the actual parts =\

When I opened it there was very little (it didn't even drip when moving it outside) so I am worried that cleaning it might not do much.. Hopefully it will work a lot better.. I seperated a few bent fins on the radiator, and also gave everything a good flushing with the hose.

Just waiting for it to dry up now *crosses fingers*

Was the condenser packed with dirt?I would spray the fan down with some electric motor cleaner while you have it apart.At least if you have some already.The fan is the part you want to watch when hosing it down, becuase they aren't sealed.

lol, well I missed your post...

I hosed down the whole unit pretty much.. I let it dry for a while too. I don't have any motor cleaner or anything, and its sitting in my window now.

I should waited a bit I guess =\

The unit runs when I select fan, but when I turned it to Cool, it tripped the breaker on the socket. So right now I am letting it run on fan hopefully to help it dry out.

Hope I didn't kill it

Everything was pretty much dirty though.. as for being packed with dirt, I can't say. I just sprayed the hell out of everything, but a lot of the crap was corregated on the bottom.

I have already noticed what I think is an increased area of coverage. I can feel the air blowing farther back now than before.

You probably did not hurt the AC unit I wash them out all the time I sometime use simple green and be careful with water presser you don’t want bend the condenser and the evaporator fins

Yea it's working OK for the most part..

I'm having a bit of a fit with it now though. It gets the room nice and cold, but after a while has a relapse of the spitting out not-so-cold air.

I think maybe it's still icing up even though I have it tilted back a bit. I think it's safe to attribute that if it froze up last summer, it was because the drain plug etc was blocked up good.

However the drain plug on this is actually elevated above the floor of the unit.

say... ________-_____ that would be how the drain plug is. It rises up from the floor and drains through a hole.

So now I wonder if I shouldn't be putting this thing as level as possible

Well your evap may be freezing.Check it when it stops cooling correctly and see if the evap is frosty at all.

how menney BTU is it
it may be working to hard

It's 5000BTU.

Kicks the crap out of the newer one I tried and returned though (also 5000).

My room really hasn't been too humid at all, so I think that solves my issue with the draining, possibly. I reseated it today, took out some boards and stuff I had from the new A/C install (so I could get this unit more level in accordance to the drain )

So far it's doing a fair job on the low setting with the thermostat on the coldest setting.

I'd imagine the problems are solved for now. In the end I just turn it off for a few hours and the rooms till stays cold. I'm betting if anything it needs a recharge or something.. I think the label said it was manufactured in '89 or something

But in the end it's keeping the room anywhere from 70 - 75 F, so I am not complaining.. better than the mere 78-80F the new unit I had could do

i bet it is frosting up the evaporator. my one downsairs does it (8000 BTU). it gets frosted up, then cant get any air through the evaporator. this is bad, caus not all of the liquid can get evaporated,m and it gets back into the compressor. this can be VERY bad, slugging. make sure that the front radiator looking thing (the evaporator) isnt getting covered with frost. if it is, turn it off, and brush it off, being VERY careful as not to bend the fins.