How To Repair A "Vintage" Air Conditioner

[dial-a-matic]

Ummm, this friedrich looks like a GoldStar they sell in WalMart

http://www.friedrich.com/current/php_prodline.php?line=Zstar

 

[dial-a-matic]

... And theese

http://www.friedrich.com/current/php_prodline.php?line=CP

 

[Cybrvanr]

I believe Carrier window air conditioners are still made here in the USA too. Probably a little hard to find, and comparatively pricier than the big-box store AC units.

Scott, you mention the brownout conditions that cause air conditioners to short-cycle. I remember having that issue in my RV. I was in a campground a few years ago on a hot 4th of July. The campground was filled to capacity and everyone had their AC units on. Voltage was low all day long, but that evening, The transformer can up on the pole started overheating because of the load. It started hissing and sparking, and oil was oozing out the side. Another visitor went over to the main power panel and hit the main breaker to cut power to the camp before it damaged anyone's AC units or the transformer exploded. The power company came out at close to midnight, and the transformer was still too hot for the linemen to touch!

After I got back in town, I noticed my RV air condtioner was still not working quite correctly after the brownout at the RV park. I climbed up on the roof and took a look at the wiring in the AC unit. The insulaton was burned off the wiring and it was getting all frayed. I completely replaced all the compressor wiring with heavy duty 10 gauge wiring and cleaned all the contacts to the compressor and other terminals. I tested it again...It worked perfect, and resolved the short-cycling issue

I am certain that brownout condition burned up all that wiring, and I'm certainly glad that I caught that before it caused a more serious condition. I guess the fuse didn't blow because the voltage was so low.

Just wanted to mention this because you guys that have experienced this issue may be dealing with cooked wiring in your air conditioner too!!!

 

[launderess]

During the brown outs last summer, just gave up and shut down my AC. Low voltage conditions lasted about two or three days, and it wasn't worth the pain my AC was going through trying to get enough power.

CR's report states most of the ACs tested did "ok" during brown out conditions, but the Sharp was "the worst", and the mid-sized LG "mediocre".

Low voltage is bad for many appliances that use motors, IIRC and will fry some things out if one is not careful.

Strange thing is how many people crank up their AC or other appliance during a brown out, thinking a higher setting will get them where they need to be. All they are doing is putting more stress on an already stressed system.

L.

 

[toggleswitch]

That is why when you buy a central system it makes sense to get one rated at 208/220 so that your voltage can go down to 190v before it balks.

Grid not happy? UPGRADE IT. We are getting to be ridiculously close to resembling a turd-world nation in this city with the repeated long-term blackouts year after year.

You can be sure those <$100 A/C's are allowing EVERYONE to have one and the grid suffers. So let's wake up and FIX IT!

Addtiioanlly: The good thing about so many new buildings in NYC using electric PTAC heat-pumps (READ hotel/motel style units) with backup reaistance electric coils, is that it will help balance the winter /summer demand by drawing more power in the winter when the grid is under-utliized in this area.

To further the goal of balancing winter / summer loads:

IIRC the middle-income housing by NY State on Roosevelt Island has straight resistance heat that IS (was?) NOT METERED TO THE TENANTS. It is directly across the river from Big Alice, Con-Edison's generators in Queens, NYC. I believe NYS buys the power in bulk, perhaps unmetered, at a HUGE discount.

(oopsie was I ranting?)

http://www.friedrich.com/ptac/index.asp

 

[toggleswitch]

In all fairness to the grid I do shut off the cental air and fire up ONE small bedroom unit when things here get precarious.

A point to remember in NYC: after three for four days and nights of 90*F heat the concrete buildings and sidewalks and roads have "stored" heat to their full ability/capacity. This is when the load on the gird is greatest. It continues even after the heat subsides in that it takes a few cool nights in succession for the concrete to give off the heat again, reducing the need for arificial cooling.

 

[volvoguy87]

Balancing heating demand.

A few years ago I spent some time in Scotland (great food, wonderful place, and really nice people, the single malt was good too). They had what they called "storage heaters." At that time, the electric rates were higher in the daytime than at night, which seemed like a good idea to me. In order to take advantage of lower night rates, and help balence the daytime and night demands for power, they ran the heat only at night. A storage heater looked like an electric resistance radiator. It contained electric resistence coils at the bottom of a tall, shallow box, and the upper part was filled with bricks. The coils would turn on and cook the bricks all night long, and in the morning the power would turn off and the bricks would radiate the heat all day, finally cooling off in the evening in time for the power to switch on again. To regulate the heat, you could adjust how long the power was on (adjustments were not instantanious this way). Another way was a shutter atop the heater which could be closed to trap heat inside, slowing the cooling of the bricks, and releasing less heat into the room. If you got too cold and the shutter was open, you would put on a sweater, a cheap, fast, and easy solution!
In the US, the most efficient heating and cooling system I have ever seen is a geothermal heat pump. They are godaweful expensive to install (nearly twice the cost of a conventional HVAC system), but the operating costs, maintainance costs, and system-longevity make it well worth every penny. In this type of system, there are pipes, which are either buried horizontally, or drilled vertically, into the ground. It relies on the ground temperature being nearly constant year-round. The system pumps coolant, or even water, through the pipes and into the "furnace" in the building. The result is a comfortable building that is also very cheap to operate. There is no ugly, noisy, AC compressor outside, just a small, quiet, and easily hidden pump. There are geothermal heat pumps that are over 50 years old, still in use and, still energy-efficient. Why can't we just use these more regularly?

Cursing my conventional AC bill,
Dave

 

[sudsmaster]

Dave,

Geothermal heat pumps are indeed very efficient. However in addition to their higher installation cost, is the near impossibility of fixing the pipes in the ground should one spring a leak. Instead, new pipes have to be installed, as I understand it. Perhaps newer plastic materials minimize the chances of breakage, but I would imagine that settlement and inadvertant digging take their toll anyway. For established residences on limited land square footage (many new homes in my town are either townhouses or built on 1/6 acre or less), obviously there is less area in which to install a geothermal system, although vertical systems might work for some homes. I have a well on my property and I suppose I could put a pipe loop into that, but I've never checked to see just how much room there is, what the usual water depth is, etc - and the well is about 100 feet from the main residence, so the connecting pipes would have to be extremely well insulated.