Question About My Kenmore Air Conditioner

[Ultramatic]

<span style="font-size: medium;">Since last night, my Kenmore window air conditioner compressor has began to cycle on and off  far too quickly. As a result, the room is rather warm. It does this even when I lower the temperature to 60. When the compressor runs, the air is nice and cold, but it runs only for 4 minutes, then turns off. And it stays off for like 8 minutes. It's mounted in a through the wall sleeve, with about 5 inches of space around the unit. It has been working fine for the last 8 years. The other air conditioners are running fine. Does this one need to be replaced? </span>

 

[DADoES]

 
Pull off the front grill, check if a foam or rubber gasket appears to be missing between the output section and return/filter area. If so, cold air may get pulled from behind the grill back into the evaporator area and affect the thermostat into short-cycling.

 

[vintagekitchen]

overheating

check to see if the unit is getting adequate air flow. If it is, check to see if the fins on the outer coils are clogged with dirt and such. If there is any further issue, remove the outer cover, and see if it is a slinger type, with a slinger ring on the fan to throw water on the rear coils.

My large GE unit had this same issue. A hole had rusted through the water pan, but not through the outer covering, so was totally not visible without removing the outer metal cover. The water would all run out, and the unit would overheat. It was doing just like yours, rapid cycling on and off, not cooling the room, etc. Some JB weld to fix the leaking pan, and it works perfectly again.

 

[launderess]

Also Check To See If Your Local Utility Cut/Reduced Power

ConEdison reduced power to select areas of NYC yesterday and today in order to manage demand. Some ACs are better than others in dealing with "brownout" situations. Consumer Reports tests for this and often complains many ACs are horrible at coping.

 

[launderess]

Ultramatic

Read your post in another forum (Too Darn Hot) that ConEd reduced your voltage yesterday or the day before now. If your AC was acting fine until then am guessing my previous hunch may be correct. Brown out conditions are playing havoc with your AC.

Several years ago when NYC had a really bad heat wave (the one that took out much of Astoria), ConEd reduced voltage throughout most of the City. My Friedrich Wallmaster began at once to behave oddly. Compressor would cycle on and off in a very strange pattern. Finally just shut the thing off and went to sleep.

The next day telephone Friedrich's customer service line in Texas and was told they had a flood of calls already from NYC, and yes the voltage reduction was to blame.

 

[tomturbomatic]

CU used to test window units with an Extreme Conditions test of high heat & humidity, along with reduced voltage and report on how the units performed. If your unit has not been cleaned in a few years, it might be due. In the meantime, I suggest iced drinks.

Question: Is the voltage reduced 24 hours a day during extreme conditions or mostly during heavy use periods, like when buildings have all of their lights on? I was wondering if you could do some extra cooling at night if the voltage was normal then. My place of work reduces the hall lighting to the emergency levels during high heat along with other measures like shutting off the big fountain so there is no spray of water to help shield children's eyes from Neptune's prepuce.

I am glad this heat wave is a short one. My two units have not cycled off for more than four days. I dropped the settings to like 65 degrees before the heat hit to pre-cool the house and furnishings as a "cold sink" of reserve cold. Think of the tons of furnishing and building materials that can be cooled this way. Gibson used to suggest setting their units' thermostats to constant run before a party to cool down the area before it filled up with people. So far, the house is comfortable without turning on the central system. I use Vornado fans to move the cold air around and they are very effective. This is the extreme weather that caused me to put a gas dryer outside for summer use so I am not pulling my expensive, cooled air through the dryer and sending it outside like I would if I had it in the basement.

 

[jamiel]

Neptune's prepuce, got me giggling.

 

[tomturbomatic]

enjoy!

That's why I included that detail. It is rather majestic, as would be expected, given the possessor. Giggling is allowed. Tushie burps are not.

 

[westingman123]

stop, STOP!

Tom, you make me spit my coffee out one more time, and you shall have to buy me a new keyboard! Thanks for BOTH laughs this morning. Tushie burps, indeed!

 

[Ultramatic]

Neptune's prepuce? ROFL!!!

<span style="font-size: medium;">That was a good one Tom! Well, first thank you all for you varied answers. I pulled the AC out and checked it, everything was in order. I had given it a thorough cleaning a few months back, it was still quite clean. As Laundress had suggested, it must had been the voltage. The voltage is back to normal now and it's cooling fine. It's funny, we've had voltage reductions in the past, and this was the first time the AC had trouble. The other AC's here are unaffected. Perhaps because they are far newer. I'm afraid I'm going to have to replace it then. If it's going to fail every time Consolidated Edison lowers the voltage, it serves no purpose. You think ConEd is going to pay for a new AC? Yeah right.  </span>