We use the A/C very rarely. Because of all the fires and really bad air no windows can be opened so it now ran for a few hours on a 105F plus day. Suddenly it made a loud compressor noise and an evil hiss. Turned it off, looked around on the web, found nothing much about it, turned it back on. Makes cold air again, very puzzling.
The noise was almost as if an exhaust flew off a car. It that normal? Some kind of de-icing cycle for the inner coils?
-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
Where were you when you heard the "hiss"? Is it "central" or a window unit?
My recent failure manifested itself as no cold air output and ice on the return line at the compressor. I hadn't had it serviced in quite a few years. Turned out to be just low on Freon 22. Cost including service call was $199.37
Yours may have iced up also. Compressors have over-pressure protection, at least ours do, stops the compressor (also prevents "short-cycling")... might result in a hiss, I don't know... thinking about it, it would: compressor stops, temperature-delta-controlled expansion valve opens rapidly trying to maintain cooling.
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
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It\'s what you learn, after you know it all, that counts.
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In the office. It's a central 5-ton unit right outside from there.
I heard they don't sell R-22 to ordinary folks anymore. Turf protection for certain businesses?
The compressor had not stopped but it was much louder than normal during the hiss. I ran inside and turned the whole thing off. Hissing stopped. After about 1/2hr I turned it back on and it runs fine for over 1/2hr now. Thing is, what if nobody happens to hear it? Would it self-destruct?
-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
I know you're cheap, but you might get it serviced. Noisy compressor potentially sounds like moisture in the compressor... might need moisture trap replaced.
Save $3K to $5K replacement cost :-(
But I am contemplating replacing both of mine during the off-season sales and rebates. Electricity cost is bound to rise dramatically during a Democrat blood-letting :-(
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
Leftist weenie bed wetter Democrats are the scourge of the earth
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That might very well be what it was.
When I was back in college in the early 1970s in upstate New York, we could count on having a serious problem in the datacenter every summer. It would hit 90@90 (or so it felt), the mainframe room's two air handlers would struggle to keep up with the systems's waste heat plus the heat leaking in through the (inadequately-insulated) walls and ceiling, they'd run at a 100% duty cycle for an hour or so, and the coils would ice up.
Cooling efficiency would drop due to the ice, they'd continue chugging away at full compression, and the room temperature would soar. We had to turn off as many of the peripherals as we could afford to do without for a while, manually override the compressor control so that the hot room air would melt off the ice, cuss, drip sweat, wait until the coils were clear, then restart the airco and hope it could cool the room down before everything iced up again.
There was a big sign on the thermostat, "DO NOT TURN DOWN BELOW
72 DEGREES". Every summer, somebody would ignore it on a hot day, and the computer room would go to hell a couple of hours later (or so it felt).Your airco may have an ice detector, or a duty-cycle limiter, which shuts down the compressor or somehow bypasses the evaporator in order to prevent the coils from icing over too badly. The hissing might have been some sort of bypass/relief valve operating?
--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
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Modern A/C units have temperature-controlled expansion valves, so they can't ice _unless_ you're low on Freon.
On the other hand compressor noise is often a sign that moisture is inside the system... which will ultimately punch a hole in a valve or piston.
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
It\'s what you learn, after you know it all, that counts.
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Thing is, it runs fine right now, sounds just like normal. I am still puzzled what that was though.
I thought about it, too, but I just invested >$500 and some hours of sweat equity to repair the heating part of it. Which we just need as backup because we use wood heating. So that part has zero hours on it.
Many years ago the fan motor croaked. Short to GND and, of course, zilch in terms of safety shut-offs. All I heard was a hum every half hour for
10mins. Must have eaten tons of electricity. As usual the propeller would not come off so I bought that as well. Only one dealer would sell to non-contractors (well, technically I guess we both are...). I spent some time balancing that thing some more and smoothing the blades. It has never run that quiet before. Hard to throw all that away.-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
That looks like a seriously undersized installation.
From the schematic it's pretty much bare bones. If we ever run it which is very seldom it usually has to run 2-3 hours continuous duty.
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It was on a service plan until a few years ago. We almost never use it so I didn't see the point anymore. The unit had never been low on freon and their records go way back to the 90's.
-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
Agreed. The college had spec'ed it for the original computer configuration, then installed quite a lot of additional computer hardware and not budgeted for air-plant upgrades.
They got away with it... about 340 days out of the year. Mid-August was not a fun time to be working there, though.
--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!
Sheeeesh! You don't own a wheel puller ?:-)
I was raised to fix everything myself. Of course I now pay for everything because I can't afford the time.
Only thing I've not done myself is rewind a motor. I'd always just take them to a rewind shop.
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
It\'s what you learn, after you know it all, that counts.
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| >> But I am contemplating replacing both of mine during the off-season | >> sales and rebates. Electricity cost is bound to rise dramatically | >> during a Democrat blood-letting :-( | >>
| >
| >I thought about it, too, but I just invested >$500 and some hours of | >sweat equity to repair the heating part of it. Which we just need as | >backup because we use wood heating. So that part has zero hours on it. | >
| >Many years ago the fan motor croaked. Short to GND and, of course, zilch | >in terms of safety shut-offs. All I heard was a hum every half hour for | >10mins. Must have eaten tons of electricity. As usual the propeller | >would not come off so I bought that as well. | | Sheeeesh! You don't own a wheel puller ?:-) | | I was raised to fix everything myself. Of course I now pay for | everything because I can't afford the time. | | Only thing I've not done myself is rewind a motor. I'd always just | take them to a rewind shop.
Excellent reference on the subject.... Electric Motor Repair, Rosenberg
Cheers
Definitely! They have had so many regulations on how to use refrigerants (they are supposed to recycle/store old refrigerant, not leak it to atmosphere) that they have enacted all sorts of regulations. When I just needed a fan motor for my condenser, I had to go on the internet, because none of the local firms would sell me one! (and then, I went and ordered the wrong one... :-( )
Not immediately, you might have also frozen up internally, so you got a sudden blockage in the line. Once you let it melt, it was fine.
I do, two of them. After the first one snapped and its pieces flew about I decided it wasn't worth it. The propeller wasn't that expensive compared to the motor. Or rather moteur because it came from Quebec and only with French wiring instructions. I promptly had a wire color wrong, being somewhat color blind didn't help either. Turned the wrong way and I got dust kicked into my face. Now I know that "jaune" is yellow. Never had jaundice, maybe that's why I didn't know.
So did I. Then the wrecking ball came and now there is a British Petroleum gas station :-(
[...]-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
Sounds like a serious design flaw to me. Why doesn't it detect the pressure surge and shut down instead of just venting off? And why isn't the ice-prone area in the convection stream so the cooling effect can be added to the SEER budget?
-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
That was IMHO negligent on the part of the computer manufacturer. In those days they did the installs. My father worked at IBM most of his life and when I was a kid he sometimes took me on tours. I still remember him saying that the very first thing they looked at was the cooling budget. If it couldn't be met they would not install.
-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
On Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:30:39 +0000, Charlie E. wrote: [snip]
If you can design electronics or write software you can pass the EPA test. There are several places where you can take the test online. (epatest.com is one that comes to mind). There is even a "open book" test you can take, you just have to have a 84% (I think still) correct instead of the 70%.
[snip]-- Joe Chisolm Marble Falls, TX
Why is it you can't take the hint and get your unit serviced? The hiss is _internal_, the compressor shut down suddenly probably due to icing resulting in over-pressure.
You're probably simply low on Freon, though excessive humidity caused by too much outdoor-door-opening can do that too.
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
It\'s what you learn, after you know it all, that counts.
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It sure sounded like it was venting some stuff to external. Like on steam locomotives. Still sounds like a design flaw. In my line of work we must make sure that unhealthy conditions are _detected_ and corrective action is initiated _automatically_. If we fail to do so the FDA sends the goons out. It ain't rocket science.
No doors open when it runs. AFAIK the last check was three years ago and the Freon charge was right where it always was. I'll probably have it checked but right now the chance of getting someone out is zero. A/C units are dying left and right.
-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
Yeah - the ones who promulgated the infamous "ozone hole" hoax.
Thanks, Rich
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