Can't get brand new 10000btu air conditioner to cool room?

Question

My new apartment has a wall sleeve for the AC. I had an old AC that worked great but would never cool my new apt. I figured it was old and not working properly and bought a new 10000btu sharp AC. At best my apt is 5 degress cooler than outside, which sucks when it's 100 out. My room is only about 12' by 15' and i insulated the sleeve so there is definitely no outside air blowing in. My fear is that the compressor keeps shutting off before reaching the temp i set it too (which it does) because the temp in the sleeve is so hot. Maybe it has a thermal overload that keeps tripping. what the heck! how can i get this thing to work? It gets too hot in brooklyn for this thing to not work.

Answer 1

You put the a/c in a wall sleeve. Typically the wall sleeves have a cover on the outside such that in the winter warm air does not fly out into the freezing air. DID YOU REMOVE THIS COVER? When you look at the a/c from the outside can you see the unit or is it being blocked by the cover. It probably says FEDDERS on it. If you see the cover REMOVE IT. The rear surface of the a/c, the part with all the fins (condenser) should be unobstructed on the outside.
If you insulated the sleeve as you said you should only insulate around the a/c such that hot air from outside cannot infiltrate inside to your cool apt. If you insulated the sleeve (with the cover on), you will experience precisely what you are experiencing. A malfunctioning a/c in a very hot sleeve

The a/c you have is not too large for the home / apartment application as has been suggested. The a/c will be able to handle being on all summer as has also been suggested.

If any of what i have said is not the problem than you have a problem with the unit itself, and in that case, bring it back and get a working one. Do not try to figure out if the compressor is working or the thermostat has failed! You bought a new one and its broken, exchange it for one that works!

Answer 2

Goes to show how useful Yahoo Answers is.... LOTS of WRONG ANSWERS...

A window unit draws air from vents in the top and sides and exhausts it out the back for cooling the compressor. The rear fan isn't very powerful in a window unit. When a window unit is mounted in a sleeve, the top / side vents end up drawing in the same hot air that was exhausted from the back of the unit. The air gets hotter and hotter until the compressor shuts down. The compressor and thermal protection switch will become damaged after a period of time... making the air conditioner more and more useless as time goes on. A window unit that can be used "through the wall" comes with it's own sleeve that has the appropriate vents.

If the unit is pushed to the very back of the sleeve... it may work better for awhile, but will end up damaged and working poorly after a few seasons at best. Obviously, If the unit fits the sleeve too tightly... or the top / side vents are otherwise obstructed... you're going to have even more trouble...

You need a "closed sided" "back breathing" air conditioner for use in an apartment sleeve. It needs to fit the sleeve properly. The back of the unit should come very close to the back of the sleeve.

Answer 3

This may not be an answer, but I was curious about ventilation. My question also ties in with the person's answer above regarding your AC being too powerful for your space.

Some AC's have good cooling, but poor fans. Is it possible that the air immediately around and inside your AC is getting too cold? And that the temp guage inside is shutting off because it thinks things are A-Ok already? If you are closing all your windows, and there isn't any breeze, then your AC would have to cool your house by thermal gradients alone, and that's slow.

Try putting a fan to blow warm air through the AC (ie: pointed towards the intake)?

Best of luck. The heat is letting up, so lets hope for cooler Fall days!

Answer 4

Most AC units are not intended for continuous duty, especially wall/window mount units. If your room is too hot, it might take awhile for it to cool down. Basically, if you set the AC to 70 degrees but the room is 100 degrees it will take a very long time. Even worse if the unit does suffer from thermal overload. You might want to start with a setting 5 to 10 degrees below room temperature. When that is achieved, step it down a few degrees.

Most important, how cool is the air coming out of the unit? If its not pretty darn cold it could be one of two things. Either the unit is not functioning which is not likely but still possible with a new unit. Or you do not have sufficient air circulation on the "hot" side of the unit. If temperatures on the outside are too warm its harder for the AC to transfer the heat to the outside air.

Finally, last week was very hot and very humid, almost record setting dew points. When the outside air is that hot and that most, you might be lucky in some circumstances to get the indoor temperature and moisture to a level 10 degrees below outdoor temperatures. Our AC at work was working overtime, pretty much continuous duty to the point that two units pretty much started to melt down.

Answer 5

Air Conditioner Sleeve Cover

Answer 6

I am not familiar with the particular unit you have but there is a common trend to cool the hot coils outside by sucking air in from the sides of the unit outside of the window/wall and blowing it through the hot coils out of the back. By insulating the outside of the unit you may be blocking the entrance of cooling air. Check if the unit has side vents. If it does, the unit sliding into the sleeve should only be air blocked at the inside wall of the room. As to see if the AC is good, take the unit out of the wall and set it on a chair or the floor. It won't cool the room, but if it is working properly, cold air should blow out the inside part of the unit, and hot air should blow out of the outside side. Also check to see if the selector is set to cool and not just to air vent or circulate. Good Luck!

Answer 7

1. Is the outlet that the sleeve plugs into clogged? Does it pump straight out or does it pump into some interior chimney.

2. Is there cold air coming out of the AC? If it's not very cold but the sleeve is very hot, then your AC is probably very crappy and not working right.

3. IF 2 is fine (that is, cold air comes out), try using a fan to circulate the air better, so that it doesn't go back to the AC as fast. The AC might be registering that the air right by it is colder, and so it shuts off.

4. If all else fails, return it and get a better (and by better I mean better designed and more efficient, not just sheer power) AC.

Answer 8

Do you have a faulty internal thermostat? The compressor shutting off by itself can rule out quite a few causes such coolant gas leak. Is the fan in the compressor moving when the a/c is on? It could be a blockage which cause the compressor to think the desired temperature is achieved. The list of possible reason can go on and on. The best advice to give is for you to get a licensed a/c electrician to look it through. There is no point in speculating the problem.

Answer 9

You might want to put a small fan at the far end of the room, away from the a/c unit to help circulate the air. Either that, or the intake on the a/c unit is not clear, make sure the filter is unobstructed. Make sure the directional fins are all open and blowing in the right direction. Otherwise, maybe you have a faulty unit and the fan isn't blowing the way it should.

Answer 10

You have it on a drop cord and the cord is not providing the amperage the unit needs. Find the heaviest, shortest drop cord you can. I mean BIG! something with 12 gauge stranded wire. It may also be something as simple as a vent is open to the outside but your compressor kicking in and out tells me it isnt getting the current it needs. Read the manual and close it. You also need to find room darkening shades if you have a sunlit window.