Frigidaire Window AC

[supersurgilator]

I have a question concerning my grandparents Frigidaire AC. This unit is 2 years old, and doesn't ever blow cold air. The compressor comes on and stays on the entire time the unit is operating, but the air never gets cold. I opened the front cover and there was no icing on the coils. Is it possible that the unit is simply not getting enough electric power/amps to operate properly? I think this unit is around 8,00 BTU.

The unit that this one replaced also had issues which has lead me to believe that it is something to do with the house's electric current. The old unit was a GE, around 10 - 15 years old, and would cycle on and off all the time. The run time for the unit never exceeded a minute or 2 before it would shut off, regardless of the setting. It the unit was set to constant fan, the compressor would then have trouble kicking on, and all of the lights would dim in the house.

Any thoughts?

 

[davek]

Sounds like it's short of refrigerant. Does the coil get even a little cool?

 

[tristarcxl]

If the compressor runs at all, then it has nothing to do with the power in the building.

It's out of freon. Modern Frigidaire (Electrolux) window units should blow ICE COLD air out of the vent. I have an 8000 BTU model up in my garage and the air coming out of that vent is almost painful to keep your hand in front of.

It should still be under warranty. Call the company and make them fix it!

The reason your old unit had trouble kicking back on was due to the short cycle times. Chances are that the compressor had a bad start capacitor which would cause it to overheat while running. When it would kick off, it takes a couple minutes for the gas to lose it's head on the compressor piston. So when it would try to cycle back on, the compressor was locked up......causing your dimming lights. My old Whirlpool did that. Old units didn't have the compressor timeout like the modern ones do, so it wasn't uncommon for the compressor to lock up and trip out if it tried to cycle too fast.

 

[goatfarmer]

It's out of refrigerant, or has a restriction, or maybe a bad compressor. Either way, it still should be under warranty.

 

[volsboy1]

I have the same model.Take your water hose and spray the outside condensor coils.I leave mine on,the water wont hurt it and take the car sprayer and flush it out.There is no filter on the outside coil and it cant give up the heat so that will lead to high head pressures on your commpressor and no cooling.You will be shocked at the dirt and junk that comes out of it..This goes double if your condensor has the sun on it most of the time like mine does...

 

[toggleswitch2]

I agree. As GEs age they short-cycle and that causes all sorts of stress on the compressor.

If I had to guess, you newer frigidaire is out of / low on refrigerant, or somethigng makes me want to say the compressor is not actually compressing, even though it may be rotating.

 

[supersurgilator]

Thanks for all of your replies. That is very interesting to hear. No, the indoor coils don't get cool at all. My question is, wouldn't the compressor have burned out by now if it was out of refrigerant?

Yes I had thought the GE just needed a capacitor, but my grandparents assume that newer is better., which is why they refused to listen to me and bought a new one. At least the GE did get cold when it did run.

As a side note, this is an energy star model and I wondered if that would affect it in any way. Not sure though.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Energy Star ratings were achievd by having larger coils (more surface area) so that the coils themselves don't get as hot (condenser) or as cold (evaporator).

I dont know if this is still the case as the 5k (one room) to 10k (two rooms) BTU/h models have shrunken over the years.

 

[retro-man]

I thought all a/c units had a high and low cut off circuit to protect the compressor. If not enough coolant the compressor will not come on. If too much pressure the compressor won't come on. So if compressor is running there must be enough coolant, so maybe there is a blockage in the tubes. sorry but sounds like another Honda in the making.
Jon

 

[volsboy1]

They do have a cut off.I had a haier unit with and the temp sensor which was mechanical was broke when we pulled it out of the box.The compressor never came on and didnt try to cause you can tell when I compressor kicks in even these small rotary compressors in window units.These small window units dont use TXV on them they use cap tubes on all I have seen.The Frigidare window units are the COLDEST just as Tristar said so cold it burns.....