Question:
I can hear the compressor come on but the fan does not work. Is there a reset button or something? Help!

Reply:
Depends where you live.
If you live in a part of the world where it is winter right now the A/C could be just in the start up phase where it builds up heat first before supplying the needed heat indoors…normal operation for reverse cycle (heat pump) units.
If you are in America right now you are in summer and this could indicate a problem.
If the latter, you will need specialist help. It’s no good explaining what the problem could be, just call an A/C technician to fix your machine as soon as possible, not because of danger but because at this time of year you might be on a long waiting list.

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Reply:
Portable air conditioners are useful if you want to cool a single room. They also come in handy if you are a tenant living in an apartment with no A/C.
Capacity is limited so the room would have to be small, don’t expect it to cool very much area and keep the room closed to improved performance.
They usually require you to have either a window open in such a way that a small hose or duct has access to the outside air for heat rejection — or — they require a doorway so part of the equipment can expel the heat.
One other type is a split system with flexible hose pipes between two parts of equipment, same situation here requiring outside access.
Portable A/C fill a gap in the market for flexible small capacity machines. They tend to be expensive when you see what you get (capacity) but for sheer flexibility they are ok.
Recommend DeLonghi if you have them where you live.

Question:
I have seen people put a fan in the window pointing towards the outside with the idea it pulls the hot air out.

Reply:
Quite frankly if you try this you will get minimal results.
You would be better off opening all the windows and doors in the house and blowing the fan onto you.
Buy an air conditioner if you really want some relief. It is better to be able to cool down 1 room and be comfortable than playing with fans and windows etc.

Question:
OK…..we live in AZ and it has been about 112-114 for the past week so the a/c has been running a lot to keep the house at 80. On Friday, I was sitting on the couch watching a movie with the kids and it was a comfortable 80 degrees in the house. By the time the movie was over it was up to 86 degrees. My husband looked at the a/c and said it was frozen so we waited for it to defrost and started the a/c again last night and it got down to 85 degrees and now this morning it’s back up to 87 and the coils are frozen again. Any ideas/advice/suggestions to prevent this from happening?
Additional Details:
2 days ago
Some of the time it lightly blows cold air (but not enough to cool it down any in the house) and others times no air at all.

Reply:
One of two reasons why this is probably happening.
First, the airflow across the indoor coil is low. Due to either the filter or coil being blocked, cleaning these will fix that problem. Or the indoor fan or motor is not working properly.
Secondly, you may have a freon leak in the machine. If so then there is nothing you can do to fix it, you will need specialist help.
As suggested above, in some machines, mainly the window type, if they are run continuously over extended periods of time (I mean hours and hours) without cycling off then you may get ice forming on the indoor coil. This is also an indication that the machine is undersized and overworked.
Hope this helps.

Question:
My grandma has an AC in Palm Desert, CA where it gets ridiculously hot during the summer.
She went out there and it wasn’t working so she called someone and they put some freon (I’m not sure how to spell it) and then it worked. The guy told her she would need to replace it. I want to go out there but its too hot to stay without an AC. What are the chances of the AC working.

Reply:
Without reading the report the repair A/C technician supplied it would be difficult to ascertain whether it would have a chance of working, albeit temporarily. Sometimes the gas leaks are minor and repairable but over the years the A/C unit can become more unreliable and it is advisable to replace machines that are starting to show signs of wear and tear.
There are some great bargains out there for new A/C units, A/C has changed from a luxury to a necessity these days, especially in places like Palm Desert

Question
The seller of the house had the deck builder encase the unit in a crate-like box to match the deck and hide the unit. The unit has about 6-8 inches of clearance but I am worried there may be some air restriction. Should I ditch this covering? A/C works fine but I did have to recently replace a couple of burnt out wires. Could this crate thing be the cause?

Reply:
You are correct in suspecting the operation of your air conditioner is being hindered by the restriction imposed by the covering. No air conditioner should be covered in such a way as to restrict the airflow.
You will find that by removing the cover that your unit will operate more efficiently during higher ambient temperatures, which is when you want it to.
Aesthetics is the only reason someone would do this to an air conditioner with little or no thought to the machines ability to perform it’s function.
As for the burnt wiring, The sheathing on the wire can sustain much higher temperatures than that caused by the enclosed A/C unit. It is unlikely that the box covering has caused the problem. Burnt wiring is usually the result of a ‘hot’ connection where the connection point of the wire is loose.

Question:
How do you know if a heat pump is single stage or multistage?

Reply:
Heat pump refers to the reverse cycle capability of the machine to heat the occupied space.
In the air conditioning industry ‘multi stage’ normally refers to the number of compressors or stages of capacity the unit can deliver in a sequential order i.e. 3 steps at 33% each to reach the full cooling/heating capacity of 100%. A single stage unit has 1 compressor and therefore when it runs the machine delivers 100% capacity without loading capability (this does not take into account inverter machines which vary the compressor speed).
The benefits of multi stage or inverter units are that you are able to spread your energy consumption thus giving you lower operating costs and secondly having a more accurate control of temperature fluctuations inside the conditioned space.
For the lay person the only sure way of finding out is to make note of the brand and model number of the outdoor unit and calling the manufacturer.

Question:
My compressor went out on my existing ac with heat pump. I have the opportunity to by a 5 ton ac condensing unit for $200 that is new from a buddy. Is it a straight switch? What are the complications?

Reply:
It’s not as easy as it first sounds.
The replacement condensing unit has to be the same brand and capacity to even contemplate it.
Secondly, when the original condensing unit “went out” as you say, did it burn out the compressor? If so, then the entire system needs specialist treatment with suction line burnout driers or a thorough decontamination clean out (depends on the type of machine).
In conclusion, it really is not a straight switch even due to the electrical considerations.

Question:
I have already installed Central Air into my home, but the job wasn’t finished. I need to know how to crack the lines to let the freon into the house or whatever else I might need. Any help?

Reply:
If you try to do the job yourself you will eventually have to get someone who knows what they are doing to finish off anyway.
It is usual for an installation to stop before completion, if you ran out of money and that is why you are considering doing it yourself you had better wait until the funds are available.
As previously mentioned, if you attempt to do it yourself there is a high likelihood you will either do some damage to the system or it will not work anywhere near it’s capability.
Finally, if you do not install it correctly you will invalidate any manufacturers warranty for the machine. It has to be installed by a qualified and licensed installer.