I’m trying to fix my air conditioner. I’m dying here! It’s like 120 outside. Inside is no relief! I removed this thermostat from my AC - X503171A A22-4538-057
I believe that maybe it is just not working. The AC hardly kicks on and never stays on for long. I don’t need a thermostat! All I need is for this thing to run constantly and put out cold air until it freaking dies!! Please help. I took out this thermostat and I believe that if I directly connect two of the three wires leading into it, that it will send a constant ON signal to the compressor. Am I correct? If so, which two wires??? Please tell me. I connected two of them already but I was too chicken shit or maybe too smart to flip the breaker and give power to the AC.
Please tell if there is a way to just make this thing run constantly. Safety is of minimum concern. Which two wires can I connect to make it work and not burn down my CHU?
I doubt the thermostat is the problem. IME, they either work perfectly or not at all. The compressor is probably starting up, then tripping out for some other reason.
Here’s what the unit looks like. Yes, it is a window unit. Or rather… a ‘hole-in-the-wall unit’.
Here’s a close up of the wires. I’ve marked the three I unplugged from the thermostat.
Probably. But can you at least tell me if connecting the wires from the thermostat will trip a breaker, blow a fuse, or melt wiring? If not, then I’ll go ahead and try it before I go gangsta on this unit like the printer in Office Space.
I’d assume (note the assume) that the white would be your ground wire.
Hooking the other two up would be the positive wires. However, I am not an electrician. So never do what I say. If it is wired incorrectly, and you do have a circuit breaker, it should trip the breaker before the AC unit or the wires. But, again, I am not an electrician.
But if I was in your position, I would have already tried something. 120 degrees - no thank you!
First question: Who owns it, you or Uncle $ugardaddy?
Second question: Where is this thing mounted, and how long has it been there.
First statement: Connecting the wires on the thermostat may/may not blow a fuse. Depending on the thermostat, either it’ll work non-stop or not at all. If it constantly runs, you do run the risk of burning out the compressor and any other pumps, which, ironically enough, runs the risk of making things exceedingly hot and what we in the business “on fire”.
Second statement: If it ain’t Uncle $ugardaddy’s, and you can afford it, you would prolly be best off just buying a new one. We had 'em everywhere in the desert, and when one went down, we just pulled it and replaced it–didn’t dork around with it (too expensive to deal with parts, just pull and replace).
Tripler
IMHO: ‘Windowshakers’ are best replaced as individual units.
Put the thermostat back; that’s almost certainly not the problem. One of our HVAC experts, like raindog will be along shortly, no doubt, but until then:
Short cycling is caused mainly by one of two problems: either your refrigerant gas pressure is low or your evaporator coils are too dirty (or your filter needs to be changed badly). The latter is an easy fix; either vacuum it out or blow it out with compressed air if available or change your filter if it looks like it needs it. The evaporator is the part that gets cold–if there’s too much dirt, then thermal transfer can’t take place efficiently. The compressor winds up working too hard and it cycles off to “rest”. However, if your gas is low, there’s nothing you can do except put in a service call to a qualified HVAC repairman. As noted, thermostats are electromechanical devices which generally either work 100% or fail 100%. If the unit cycles on at all, then the thermostat is working.
I got it from a guy who knows a guy… It’s not on any government book, so I can’t put a work order in to fix it. I know where there is a brand new one for $500 bucks. I’ve been debating the purchase of that one for a while.
FWIW, I went ahead and decided to just flip the switch and see what happens. I mean, there is a breaker right there in the main line (you can see it in the pic–its orange) and then there is another breaker in the other room. I’m pretty sure I should be okay.
As you can see in this pic from earlier, http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd259/bear_nenno/DSC00624.jpg, I already had the yellow and the white wires connected, but was never man enough to actually try it.
Based on the advice from the last post, I decided to disconnect that and connect the yellow and brown instead. Hit the switch and nothing. Fan came on, nothing else. But no smoke or fire or anything either, so no biggy. Figured what the hell and I turned the orange switch back off and reconnected the yellow and white. Turned it on and the compressor kicked on immediately!! Sweet, cold air!
I’ll keep an eye on it though, periodically switching it off to let it cool down. Whenever it finally just blows up, I’ll try to find another free one or just buy that brand new one from the market.
I’ll keep an eye on it. I’m betting that ALL of the above is too blame. I dont even think there is a filter in this thing. And the freon is probably low as well. The damn thing is definitely very dirty. Did you notice the pic of the dial face? The bottom right has the words “spin me” written in marker. That’s to remind me that whenever I turn it on, I need to reach my hand in and SPIN the fan to get it started. It’s too dirty and fouled up to break the static friction on its own. Ha! If I turn it on and forget to spin-start the fan, it just overheats itself and never produces any air. It just sits there and makes a lil noise.
Anyway, thanks for the help everyone. At the least, you gave me the confidence to turn the thing on and try it.
I’ll keep you posted.
Glad to hear you got it working! But as you said, and has been mentioned, I would cycle it off from time to time and would as suggest as has been mentioned to blow out the unit if you can to clear all the sh!t out of the fins.
I am an HVAC guy, and I was in general agreement with everyone else that the thermostat is generally a go/no go type device, like a light bulb. However, this is not the typical bimetal or mercury thermostat, it is a capillary bulb thermostat which has a volatile liquid in the capillary bulb. As the temperature changes, the liquid partially evaporates and exerts more or less pressure on a diaphragm that activates the switch. It is possible for this type of thermostat to get so far out of calibration that it works as Bear_Nenno describes. Sometimes the capillary develops a slow leak, other times the diaphragm changes its “stiffness”, sometimes you can’t find a reason. If, after jumpering the stat the A/C runs and cools normally, I’d say replacing the thermostat will repair the unit. Good luck.
Also, letting the unit run continuously is not a great idea, but it’s generally not the kiss of death for it, either. I’d say you could cycle it off every couple of hours and it shouldn’t hurt as long as the room is not too cold (not a likely occurrence). Be sure to keep it off for at least 3 - 5 minutes to allow pressures to equalize before re-starting.
