Why won't i cool? Fix for window AC units
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2023
- If your window unit AC unit is working hard and not dripping outside, adding a little water to the condenser pan will help cool the high-pressure liquid line that collects refrigerant and holds it until the metering device opens and turns it into a low-pressure low-temperature gas. The colder the gas in the evaporator the more heat it can absorb. If you are in a dry climate your unit may not have any humidity to help it out. The evaporator wrings out your living space air and trickles that moisture through a tiny hole in the styrofoam jacket that separates the inside air from the outside. If that hole blocks up, your fan spits water into the room and then that water can't get outside to collect at the bottom of the condenser pan. Squirting a little water on the condenser surface (don't force water into the fan!!) will cool it down and water will cover the copper line under the coil, adding efficiency. This is called sub-cooling. I've never seen a modern AC window unit low on refrigerant. They don't usually have a receiver to collect the cooled high-pressure refrigerant liquid, just a precise amount of "freon". If the condenser or evaporator is dirty or the fins are blocked, clean it and straighten the fins. It will make a difference. Then adding water to the pan outside just ensures the tiny amount of refrigerant isn't flashing into a gas after it leaves the condenser. If that is happening it won't cool well. So try the steps I have in my Playlist called "Air Conditioning" and get a little extra cooling on these 100-degree days. Thanks for watching, and reading this.
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You might want to wash that thing with a hose lol
Mine looks worse lmao
💯 wash it every summer it will work brand new again
Yes I just wash mine and it works like brand new
How do you wash it? Just rinse with the water hose?
@@thecatspajamas1442 generally yes but to hard can cause damage so be gentle and use low pressure water and if you want to go the extra step then there are products out there that do the job easier like coil clean available on Amazon and many retail outlets
Makes perfect sense... A little maintenance with these window units goes a long way. They can last years if you take care of them properly. *** Don't just buy a new one, learn to maintain it. ***
Your channel name #clappingpig is in my top five favorites, Cool!
I have a kelvinator window air conditioner that I keep clean pretty regularly theirs no dirt or leaves in it plush gets a wash every so often
@@cmintsurfer Thank you sir. God bless you and your family, and God bless America!! 🇺🇸
Hey! I suddenly remember my dad doing this when I was a kid. Thanks for the memory unlock!
A lot of people don't even know to pop out and wash the removable filter in the front, nevermind opening the face and clean out all the gunk at least once a year.
My place today 95% humidity and 40c,i clean the slim, now all OK and cooler. I now know why mosquito bites me when I sit out, locals spray white vinegar to help. Many thanks sir
Lime juice is $1 a pint here. Try spraying it on surfaces before you spend time outside. I'll try the vinegar also because I like experimenting with common solutions to control pests. Thanks!
Your awesome! Thank you so much for the helpful tip! My window unit went from green mile “I’m tired boss….” To “Have A HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS!” 😂
Hose it down it will work brand new again
Ive had an AC from whirlpool for almost 40 years, and its never need to be serviced. Why arent things made like that anymore?
Coils get dirty, inside and out from the air passing through them. In some parts of the country, the air is always dusty. The filters supplied on window units aren't able to trap that fine dust and, become mud on the evaporator coil. Once the airflow slows due to the blockage, that coil will freeze over and no air moves through. A filter that is too fine also slows the air and can cause the coil to freeze. Regular cleaning of the coils will help the unit last. On the subject of "why don't they build units to last?" I think the hope is they will sell you another unit. I prefer the time-tested switches with knobs to set fan speed and room temperature. I don't adjust either switch up or down. The circuit boards and remote controls today, are another weak link to render the unit useless. When power bumps happen during the summer, the circuit board units don't automatically come back on, but a switch with a knob will. Another reliable part, not on new units.
Do u use it everyday or hardly use it? Usage has a lot to do with it
The last thing my dad bought before.Mom kickeds him out in 1993 was a Kenmore refrigerator that refrigerator still works fine.Meanwhile, my dad is going back to Aaron's.Or home depot for a new fridge every five years at his house
@@gabrielasanchez9389 Yes, that window has one in it all year. The unit in the video is one of a pair. I wash the spare one and have it ready to go. It's so dusty here in Texas and 100-degree days are coming up. My Library also has one all year long to keep my antique books at 50% (or less) humidity. Another bonus to these 5000 BTUH units is they can run on a generator.
@@JNicholsKnows Wow! I can say the same thing about my Kenmore fridge... The neighbors put it out for garbage pickup, and we claimed it. Had to clean the coils and condenser fan, but the thing runs like a champ. Coldest fridge we ever owned. Same applies to a little Kenmore window AC, it's almost 40 years old, and just needs a little cleaning now and again. Cools and runs great!
You need to clean out the system. all the dirt and dust buildup, is whats actully causing your ac unit to not run like it should.
Yeah, literally you're right. I got some vinegar sprayed the heck out of it and then got a bucket of water splashed the AC in literally it worked like it did 3 years ago😅
If your unit is properly sized for the space it should keep up no matter the temperature the problem is that you need to take it out and clean the coils.
Yes, Sir, I have a few shorts in my playlist on cleaning and fin straightening..
What product do you use to clean coils?@@cmintsurfer
Mines 5000 btu midea works great all day never do this water thing but when it gets up to 100 last couple days my room temp does rise a little bit but it’s still comfortable.
Keeping the condenser clean and unobstructed is the life of any A/C unit
I do this a few times a day in high heat. It really does help.
I live in an area where heat usually equals humidity, so I’ve never had to do this. In fact, I just had to replace a unit due to rusty parts from constantly wet weather. Very interesting that you have the opposite problem!
The summers can be very dry in this part of Texas. I bought a dehumidifier 5 years ago and used it one summer. I cleaned it, put it back in the box and haven't used it since! I had to get control of my library humidity with all these 150 year old books. A window unit does just as well year round and no buckets to empty!
@@cmintsurfer: 3 months per year, humidity is high enough in our SoCal lab to throw off precision voltage references by several 10's of microvolts (1-4ppm). DEHUMIDIFIER to the rescue. It removes ~11 pints per day to keep lab at ~45% R.H. @ 23°C. Very little to zero condensation from the A/C unit since addition of dehumidifier; before we heard the slinger spraying the coil ALL DAY.
should get a garden hose a spray water into that thing until it stops coming out brown, the dirt really hurts efficiency to.
I was having issues with some parts of the house being hot and others being cold I just cleaned mine with vinegar spray bottle and then a gallon of water all that stuff came out in my air conditioner and its working like brand new like as if it works 3 years ago just make sure that you dry it before using I put a fan on top of my air conditioner so it could dry faster
FYI, take a sprinkler or poke hole in a garden hose and run it on top 12 to 6 pm 😊
Many years ago I was on a call and I held a garden hose spraying the condenser for two hours while my Boss went to buy a fan motor. It kept the unit running and the customer thought the idea was genius 😅
When a window AC like this looses its cooling capacity it's almost always because the fins on the condenser are completely clogged. Splashing some water on it from the outside isn't going to do anything AT ALL. Turn the unit off and peer through the top or side vents looking towards the back of the unit where the condenser fan blade is. If the unit is only a year or two old you'll probably be able to see the fins on the condenser. Older units will likely have a layer of dust, cottonseed, etc obstructing the fins. The really bad ones will have a layer of crud built up such that you can't even see the condenser. In any case you must remove the unit from the window, open the case, soak the coil from the outside AND the inside past the condenser fan, then brush and hose off the crud. I have serviced countless window units this way and it blows cold every time
Works better with a hose, it’ll clean out any dust or cottonwood that’s in there. What’s the soup can on the house for?
Or hear me out. Wash the coils!
How?
@@MH-bw9zt TH-cam it
ok smarty pants where your video
@@MH-bw9zt with a water hose and a high pressure nozzle
@@JuarezDerrickhigh pressure nozzle can bend the fins, reducing airflow and cooling. There are many products to clean the aluminum fins without using high pressure hose.
You also need to take them apart an clean the inside of them periodically.
It works great, but on triple digits you gonna stay putting water on fins constantly?
This worked like a charm. Thank you sir!
Glad it helped!
Two answers. 1. If you don't have a hole on the bottom of the metal pan (the casing that all the components are fastened to) then add one. Try to drill it on an open raised area with nothing above it. This allows a only a small amount of water to collect. Connecting a hose leading outside is a good idea. The hose will need to be removed and cleaned out any place it travels horizontally because "goop" will begin to block it up. A constant pitch downward is best. 2. I suppose the porch is closed and lacks cross ventilation. A medium sized bathroom exhaust fan (200 CFM or more) mounted in a high area blowing outside and adding a fresh air inlet at a low spot (like an open doggy door) on the opposite sise of the room will give you cross vetilation. A different way is adding a roof turbin, a skylight that opens, or an exhaust above the doorway. All of those will need an outside air source as far from the outlet as possible to make a difference. Thanks for the comment, cmintsurfer AKA Russell
don't drill a hole in your AC unit that's a bad move. It has been made like that for a reason.
Clean it I can see all that dust coming. Off
I just don't understand this. I drill extra holes in mine so all the water will drain out. If it collects in there it gets gross. We also have really high humidity where I live so maybe we have different problems. I bought some coil cleaner and just took one apart and cleaned it yesterday. That really helps!
@@jennoq1311 Yes, cleaning is the best solution. But in my area of Texas the humidity is so low when it is 100 outside that I need to add water. With low humidity an air conditioner can dry a house out If it's insulated well. If humidity is 80-90 percent all the time the evaporator coil inside gets muddy and the dust makes a coat on the fan side of the condensor and the inside coil will freeze solid blocking airflow. Adding a cup of bleach to a gallon of water and spraying it into the pan will kill any algae growing in a pan and stop odor for about a week. I do that in between cleaning. Thanks for watching and commenting.
It is helping! I just tried it.
Clean the condenser inside behind the filter too. If that is clogged than it won't pull air in and will cause it to freeze up
That's called an evaporative coil . The outside is the condenser coil
The down side of units that hold water to help cool the condensor is that the water gets moldy and smells like swamp water.
So that’s why my ac unit smells like shrieks ass? I’m gonna try to flush that nasty ass water out of it now thank you 👍🏻
That’s why you’re supposed to install at an angle away from the house so the water drains out. Alot of people install it level and that’s why the water stays in there and molds up
@@RicardoSanchez-nb3nmdepends on the unit. You have to read the manual. Most window ACs are meant to hold some amount if water so the fan picks it up and splashes on the condenser, doing basically what hes doing withna bottke in the video. You drain them every once in a while. Some ACs have a drain, some dont. Some have a drain that has a plug meant to drain occasionally. You shoukd clean it regularly though. Most people just dont. Hell, most dont even clean them at the end of the season before they get put away lol.
@@RevDevGamingI imagine spraying bleach/water mixture will stop the growth of smelly organisms.
@@bdmenne It was more the water. It gets a stagnant smell if it hasn’t rained in a while. Once I flush the water it goes away.
More important , KEEP THE FINS AND THE FILTER CLEAN !!!
Water in the bottom pools and the fan fins slightly hit and splash water on the coils and other components. Older units dripped, modern units splash and rarely drip, but possible noticeable spray.
Yes! I learned that on my a/c I have now apparently it splashed on the condenser to cool it & make it more efficient.
A lot of units have a rubber plug on the bottom. Remove the plug on humid days and reinstall in dry climate/add the water
that water crap inside the unit dont do doodoo i drill a small 5/32 hole in the bottom corner
@@logansmokes.2762did that actually help should I try cause mine keeps freezing after a few mins bro
I wish we could have window units, only options are split units and portable ones.
Thanks for this!!!!
So, I'm just going to stay outside all day to keep it wet? That sounds like a great plan!
Might be time to professionally clean the coils on that airflow through the coils is also important
To sum up this video and the only conclusions that I can get is somewhat misleading.😂😂
The point I made is that the final stage of condensing is the bottom of the coil sitting in water collected from inside the home. If the home is dry, adding water to the pan is beneficial. Some regions like mine have low humidity on 100 degree days and that is when this helps. Thanks for the comment!
My friend I really do not think you understand refrigeration in the way that you were explaining it.
You want to make sure your drain pan has water in it especially in a window unit because it uses whats called a “Slinger Ring” which will throw water from the pan onto the condenser to help with cooling. Yes running water down the fins will help with cooling especially if they need to be cleaned, but to constantly spray water on it will cause your coils to disintegrate over time because domestic water has too many particles in it.
What causes an A/C to cool is the low pressure liquid mixed with vapor with absord the heat and boil off the liquid turning it into 100% vapor which will then go into the compressor and be compressed into a high temperature gas. The gas will then go through the condenser going through whats called a latent change which turns the gas into a liquid.
@@TehViGiLaNTe thanks for the great comment.That is a clear explanation of the cycle. Do you agree that the high pressure liquid after passing through the condenser accumulates in a final tube below the coil submerged in the water that the evaporator has extracted from inside the cooled space? That is the point I'm making. Some areas of Texas are low humidity and modern units have the need for the water in the small area under the condenser coil. Cleaning a unit is great but taking it out in the heat of 100 degrees plus day isn't popular. This does work when the cooled space is dried out and void of moisture to work with. Thanks for watching.
I've got an older window unit in a cabin, in my kitchen window. The backside of it leads out to a covered back porch. The back porch is heating up which is just sucking in even hotter air. And the unit is retaining too much water inside. Can I drill a hole in the bottom and stick a tube in there to help drain some of that water out so that it's not just dripping on my porch? Any way to decrease the heat on my porch other than setting a fan out there on the porch, in front of the air conditioner?
yes, drain a hole and put a bucket under it to collect the condensate. make sure you are careful when drilling a hole so you dont hit any refrigerant lines.
@@BigeSnek thank you.
I bore the bottom of the tray to let out the water that accumulated, now its not so cool again inside.
I've found some units like that where a hole was drilled to where no water can accumulate. There usually is a factory hole in the bottom pan, (outside) and it is higher by a half inch, and if the unit has a slight downward pitch, the water should collect at the bottom of the condenser coil. If you see that factory hole, plug the one you drilled with a wad of water-proof plumber's putty. If water collects and begins to smell bad, there may not be a factory hole or it is installed level. (With the unit off) I would slowly run fresh water into the pan weekly until taken out for a thorough cleaning.
sorry, the effect of that is miniscule
This helps but in long run this water buildup rusts the whole machine
Very very good tip
Not an issue in Louisiana. The humidity keep plenty of water in there. 😂
AIR COMPRESSOR WORKS MUCH BETTER CAUSE WHEN THE COILS ARE WET AND IT IS A TINY BIT IF WIND DIRT WILL STICK AND MAKE IT WORSE BUT NOW YOU KNOW🤦🤨
No it’s clogged with dust and dirt you need to remove it from the window take the shell off and gently spray down the radiators with soapy water rinse let dry put in window a air conditioner does not need water in the bottom of it simply read any manual condensation is a by product not one you add your self I’m sure you also have a problem with it freezing over
I drilled my so it drain seen no change in performance and no mold now
Need to clean your coils. And a window unit is only going to cool so much.
Not good. Pouring cold water on hot coils will cause the coils to crack due to extreme temperature difference.
Window units are required to be built with Type L or ACR standard copper. The high-pressure gas leaving a compressor is just below 200 degrees F. Tap water from a faucet on a 100-degree day is rarely freezing, and more like 75 degrees. A 125-degree sudden temperature drop is slight. Since copper melts around 1980 degrees F., and shatters below -425 degrees F., manufacturers use it for thermal flexibility. Remember the copper suction line of the 200-degree compressor is at or below freezing. That copper is brazed to steel. If it was a Cupro Nickel heating coil in a hydronic boiler with cold water on one side and fire on the other, I would be cautious of thermal shock. Adding water to the pan of a window unit to aid the cooling of the high-pressure liquid on its way to the metering device (capillary tube) is normal. Most modern units have the coil sitting in water if there is any pitch and not installed level. Thanks for commenting.
Cleaning that filthy ass coil will make a bigger difference than water alone lol. Swamp water spilling out….. oh man
not a good idea put water in there. it will collect dirt and dirty up the coil, making the problem even worse. new window air conditioners usually dont have drain holes from the factory so that the ac condensate will collect in the pan and get flung onto the condenser by the slinger wheel on the condenser fan. its supposed to "improve efficiency", but all those savings dont outweigh the cost of your unit rusting out prematurely.
what you want to do is take the ac apart and drill a drain hole to prevent water from pooling.
Now as for the cooling, NEVER set the fan speed to low when its above 80 degrees outside, it will cause the head pressure to get extremely high (which it sounds like it is in this video). Instead of adding water, turn the fan speed up to high. It will lower the subcooling and head pressure and the unit will cool fine without water.
Clean it up?
My AC is under a porch and is not dirty and has stoped cooling , & no water dripping ! ! Is it the feron or electrical from inside I can do the turbo and cut it on and off Or just unplug it for a minute then comes back on then about 20/30 minutes fine then goes back to just blowing inside air ???
First question, does your unit have a touch-screen control? If it does, It may have an economy cycle designated by the letter E on the screen. Be sure it isn't selected, because what you described sounds like the economy mode. I have more questions but check that first.
@@cmintsurfer yes it has eco and we have turned that off and still does the cold / cool air even with turbo on !
@@David-jz1qh There is a sensor behind the filter that regulates the compressor off and on. To test it you need a cup of water justt warmer than you can stand (about 130) and a cup of water with an ice cube (32 degrees) . loosen the sensor fron the finned coil ( it has a small charge of gas inside that reacts to temperature changes) and alternate putting it into each cup. 1 minute in one and 1 minute out, then the other cup 1 minute in and 1 minute out. You should hear the compressor engage whenbin the warm water and stop when in the cold. Let me know if it doesn't
So having moisture in the house helps the AC Cool it off better? I was concerned I was retarding cooling by releasing so much warm water into the air of room for I have 3 open top tropical fish aquariums
I'll say yes to that question. Your aquariums are a good thing when the humidity is below 50%. Based on the modern window unit designs today, where the final pass of the high pressure gas is in the bottom of the condenser, it is designed to be resting in water. The quick temperature drop allows the gas to turn to a high pressure liquid. That design relies on some humidity from inside the house. The evaporator operates well below dew point temperature, so the air gives up its moisture and that water passes through a hole to the outside. With a slight pitch downward it collects under the condenser. A house with 50% humidity is pleasant to be in. 50% humidity helps to keep wood, cloth and paper items from drying out. Too much humidity will cause odors and possibly mold. Some window units have a fresh air damper. On high humidity days, close it. In your case, with the aquariums, I would keep the damper shut. I know humidity varies all across the US, but in Texas, It could be 90% one day and next week it's 25%. Keep the coils clean and the drain hole clear to remove the moisture. Thanks for watching.
@@cmintsurfer thank you for your help! I need to get a humidity reader. Find out what my damper is on my Midea 8000 BTU u-shaped.
Got it angled!
I live in Ohio Valley of Kentucky so with a lots of rain, greenery and water ways we know about the humidity. Not like Louisiana in August, but let’s just say it only feels like San Diego dry n clear maybe 20x a year if we are lucky.
@@bdmenneit seems that very few people have hygrometers to measure humidity in the room; I was trying to find out if anyone else with the Midea U Channel type units ever measured the amount of humidity in the room while operating. Mine didn't bring it down like regular window units do, which customer service told me was a defective unit.
Hope it was off, if not you just blew water inside...
dont have to it has self watering inside
I wold like to know what the soup can is for
LOL The store was out of foam faucet covers so I wrapped it in a sock and slipped the can over it. I have plenty of faucets. Thanks
@@cmintsurfer😂
Low refrigerant .. leaking Freon. Also is a common issue .
UNFORTUNATELY IT DIDN'T DO CRAP FOR MY WINDOW UNIT WE GET 115° TEMPERATURES HERE IN THE VALLEY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA SACRAMENTO AREA IT IS MISERABLE -- PEOPLE DIE IN THE HEAT EVERY YEAR.
I'M A DISABLED SENIOR AND I LIVE ALONE AND I REALLY NEED SOMEONE THAT WOULD AT LEAST HELP ME CLEAN MY WINDOW UNIT OUT CUZ I KNOW IT'S FILTHY AND I'M GETTING SICK FROM THIS HEAT.
Oops sorry about the caps! 😊
I had no idea the temperatures could reach that high where you live! I'd heard about how nice it is all the time. Maybe one of the thousands of people that have watched this short will comment and help you find someone in your area. We once experimented with dry ice placed around the inlets to lower the inlet temperature to the condenser fan, LOL, it evaporated way too fast! It worked but wasn't practical. It did keep the computer center's main hub cool. Saved the day😂
So the condenser outside too? Will it cool the house better too??
Yes inside will be cooler. In an ac, which is in fact a heat pump, heat is moved from inside the house, to outside the house.The outside coils called condensers get hot and dissapate the heat. Wetting them helps dissapate the heat. There are ways to make hot water or heat a swimming pool with that wasted heat.
No the purpose of the condenser is to cool the refrigerant down because gas is heated when ever it’s compressed and you would lose efficiency when you release the gas into the condenser it cools the liquid gas so that it’s more efficient when it’s released into the evaporator it doesn’t remove heat inside of the house the evaporator only cools the air inside of the house and the condenser only cools the fluid also not to overheat the compressor how would it pump hot air out lol that’s like saying ice pulls the heat out of the drink no it cools the drink and melts.
lol what? the condenser has nothing to do with cooling the compressor. most compressors are cooled by the low side refrigerant.
and the condenser does NOT only cool the refrigerant, it moves heat energy from indoors to outdoors. there is no air thats being created. the evaporator absorbs heat energy from indoors, and moves it outside through energy transfer using the refrigerant.