Air Conditioning - portable unit compressor

Hello,

In spring and summer, I use my airconditioner because my room gets too hot, even though it's only like 23 or 24C outside, however I can't opened my windows or it stinks like fish (there is a seafood shop below us).

I put my airconditioning on a reasonable thermostat (manual thermostat), however no matter which temperature I put it on the compressor goes on and off every 2 or 3 minutes. After about 4 times it did this I turned the unit off because I didn't want to do any damage to the A/C unit that is brand new.

This does not happen on hot days, so this must mean that the A/C unit brings the room to a certain temperature too quickly, then the temp goes up quickly after bringing it down.

Any tips I should use to prevent this problem, and is it okay if it goes on and off ever 2 or 3 minutes?

I dont think the compressor is damaged, as the next day was very hot and the airconditioning worked pretty well. How would I know if I've done damage to the compressor?

Thanks,

Mini

Mini,

It is really not ok to start and stop as often as you describe.
It is doing this because it is too large for the amount of heat it has to remove.
You could try running it on the slowest fan setting.
Also, if this is a small room in a house you could leave the door open.

How many btu is the a/c and how big is the room?

The room is about 15-25 square meters and the A/C is about 2.5kW.

Mini

"The room is about 15-25 square meters and the A/C is about 2.5kW."


Convert it to english, 161 to 270 sq feet. 8,530 BTU.

Kinda sounds like it's oversized.. it should be anywhere around 5,000 to 6.000 BTU (1.5 to 1.75kW)

Well that's the cheapest they had at the shops :P

But I'm moving soon anyway to a 35 square metre room, which would be shared by about 6 people -- I'm just afraid that it'll be undersized then :P, I guess it wouldn't be.

Would moving to a 35 square metre room be okay? Because, according to the online wattage calculators, the unit is properly sized for the current room (25 square metres).

Mini

Hello all,

I've moved it to a new room and it is still doing this at nights and on warmish days (ie. not over 25-26C). The room is about 42 square meters and the a/c is the same.

Maybe this is because I've added an intake for the bit where it draws the air for cooling the coils???

Please advise what I should do, and what damage this may cause to my A/C.

Mini

Not exactly sure what you mean by "I've added an intake for the bit where it draws the air for cooling the coils???"

You've really lost me here.

You better describe in detail how it is you installed this thing.
Even better, a link to some pics posted to a free site like Photobucket showing what you have.

GregH,

You know how monoblock portable a/c units draw the cooled air from the ROOM to cool the hot coils, well I made it draw that air from the OUTSIDE so that the cooling efficiency is improved.

Mini

Ok.
It sounds like you have a portable a/c unit that sits on the floor and has a single hose that connects to an adapter in the window to discharge he condenser air.
If so I thought you have a window mounted unit.

To get this straight the problem you are having is that the unit cycles on and off too rapidly.
Is this so?
You would have to first find out if the unit is cycling on the thermostat or some other control.
If cycling on the thermostat it could be defective.
Not exactly sure how thw thermostat is set up on yours but a dirty filter can sometimes cause this.
Not knowing how the controls work on yours it is hard to give advice.
Some units like yours have electronic thermostats which could be defective.

If your unit is new it might be a good idea to have it checked under warranty.

As far as making changes to the air intake you have ot be carefull when doing this.
If the unit was not designed for this you could be restricting the airflow which could cause it to overheat.

Did not catch this at first but are you in Australia?

Hello,

Yes, my unit cycles off and on too quickly. I am 99% sure that it is due to the thermostat (it's a manual thermostat and it clicks), and it never turns off on very hot days.

I know for sure that the unit is NOT overheating seeing as I have a manual thermostat and the unit works VERY WELL on very hot days without the compressor going off, so it cannot be a restriction of air.

My unit is less than a year old, so yes it is under warranty.

Yes, I am in Australia.

Thanks

So Greg, do u have any suggestions?

Thanks alot for helping me BTW.

Get a regular thermometer from the store (a pool one works fine if you have one) and leave it in your room. After the AC has been set to a temp for quite some time, compare the thermometer's temp to the tstat temp and see if they are the same. If they are, then the cycling is just trying to maintain the set temp as much as possible.

Thanks for your reply, I'll get a thermometer from the shops today and test it out.

Aslong as it is trying to maintain the temp, there shouldn't be any problems with it cycling too quickly?

Thanks

The quick cycling is hard on the compressor over time, and also takes more energy to start the compressor often.

I'll be happy to send our cold weather down your way, then you don't have to worry about running the A/C. :-)

They are forcasting lows near -15 to -20 (-26c to -29c)... Yes, below zero.

Well okay, thanks for the info Jay.

Energy actually isn't a problem for me because I don't pay for it (work :P, although they should provide us with a/c).

I'll think of something -- I'll first test the a/c (I bought a thermometer today) to see if it's a thermostat problem, as suggested before.

Thanks!

The quick cycling is hard on the compressor over time, and also takes more energy to start the compressor often.

I'll be happy to send our cold weather down your way, then you don't have to worry about running the A/C. :-)

They are forcasting lows near -15 to -20 (-26c to -29c)... Yes, below zero.

Wow, living in florida all my life, i can't even imagine below zero temps outside of a freezer. You can't even walk outside without getting frostbite, and heating costs must be insane.

Currently, it is -10 in Minnesota... while it is a warm 75 here.

It's almost 1pm now, and it's -10 outside, the temp didn't go up since this morning, forcast of -18 for tonight.

Just dress up, and you will be fine.. One lady who I helped with moved up here from Fla, she said she had enough of the heat, as she said "You can only get so naked outside to stay cool, where you can bunddle up more to stay warm.

I have an older '68 home, new 90% furnace, and on budget plan on gas of $90 a month. With out the budget plan it may get close to $300 on the coldest season.