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ac during winter problems!!!!

Midnight

Member
Veteran
midnight- so far he's just walked me threw some stuff over the phone... it seemed that there was a little bit to much freon, so i let a little out, but after 8 pm, its just so cold that the coils start freezing...

What is freezing, the indoor or outdoor coil? When it freezes have you gone outside and looked at your condenser? Is the outdoor fan running when it freezes?
 

slowride

Member
uhh unless u have a recovery cylinder and guages you now have air in your system.

When you depress a schrader valve to release refrigerant into the atmosphere you allow air to be sucked into the system and you also assit the ozone in breaking down a $15,000 fine in most places!

wow its amazing the amount of bs people spread on subjects they obviously have no real background in. A low ambient kit allows the refrigerant to reach a certain temperature where it can exchange the heat into the air and turn back into a liquid to absorb more heat. Trust me a low ambient kit that works off the head pressure to cycle the condenser fan is the right way. You can also use a ecm kit to vary the speed of your motor so the motor never turns off, just slows down when its really cold. In no way is short cycling the answer here and it is never a good thing. 5 minutes to re-fiire the compressor allows the refrigerant to even out in the system essential equalizing. You need to allow for the refrigerant to even out to allow the compressor to turn over. Its hard to turn over when the high and low side are more the 50psi difference. Some times you need to bypass the low pressure safety switch for the first minute of startup to allow cooling in super cold weather, but other than that a low ambient kit will give u 100% capacity in cold weather.

yes even -50 !!!
 

slowride

Member
midnight is right in really cold temps its best to recover and weigh how much gas in in your system

if you can tell us more of whats going on we should be able to assist you. An ac system is quite simple really. But you should never ever touch or play with the charge of gas unless you have the right tools and knowledge. You can injure yourself, kill your crop, harm environment, damage equipment. R410a is so synthetic and requires an extremely clean system. Moisture and contaminates cause nothing but problems

did you check your filter??
can you shine a light through your indoor coil??? is it clean?
is the outdoor coil clogged or is snow blocking it??

sit outside and watch the outdoor unit when the ac is running, it may take a while but does the outdoor fan spin? is there a brief moment of warm air blowing out of the outdoor unit??

if your indoor blower motor has a capacitor you should test to to ensure its working properly, use a multimeter to ensure specs on capacitor are up to spec, you can also check your outdoor unit cap as well. MAKE SURE U KILL POWER BEFORE CHECKING CAPS AND USE A WELL INSULATED SCREW DRIVER TO SHORT ACROSS BOTH CONTACTS TO DISCHARGE ANY STORED POWER!
 

Adrift

Active member
Veteran
just so you guys know, i do have the gauges, and the ac guy walked me threw what todo, so there shouldnt be any air in my lines...

again, this unit is brand new, no kinks in copper, no dirt, no grime, the unit runs great. too great actually. it cools my room down in no time at all..

the outside fan runs when it freez's, whats freezing over is the coil on the inside unit. and this only happens with nonstop use from the ac in very cold temps...

again there is a low ambient system in there, and the unit was installed professionally.

however the ac guy has never worked anywhere with this cold of a climate....

there is no snow that can even get to the compressor ,

i appreciate all your feedback.. i dont need a new sysstem, this is a very nice expensive brand new unit... i just need the ac guy to get out here and fix the problem..

so there is no need to start arguing in this thread, i only made it to discuss the topic.

you guys are giving some good input , but ill leave it to the professional when he gets here. thanks !!!



so again, no need to worry about me! im not letting freon into the ozone, i have all the right tools and gauges and this will get fixed.


later!
 

icdog

Member
It sounds like slowride knows what he is talking about. I am not an ac guy. I just know what was done to our system to make it work in the cold.

Your system can handle the cold, it just wasn't designed for it. A Mitsubishi P series mini split is designed for it as long as it has all the low ambient equipment added to it.

I disagree with one thing slowride, the low ambient kit and crankcase heater was not enough to keep my unit working in -12 degrees F let alone -50. The safeties had to be removed and now it works.
The guy at excel air said his AC would work in -30 but when my ac guy asked he was vague and indicated it would work because the room is in a constant load situation. Which is somewhat difficult to achieve.

I think a discussion about it would be a very useful thing.
 

slowride

Member
Ya i am a professional and i am trying to help and save u cash

I fix and solve problems like yours everyday and charge a pretty penny. there are alot of idiots out there charging even more money and that dont know their head from a hole in the ground. Why did you post your problem on a forum if you didnt want help?

Around here people post their opinion like its a fact

So you have a recovery tank to store the refrigerant in ? Cause if u are just blowing it out the hoses u are still sucking air in

I dont live in the artic but i setup all acs to run in cold weather -50 or -5 it makes no diff.

I disagree with one thing slowride, the low ambient kit and crankcase heater was not enough to keep my unit working in -12 degrees F let alone -50. The safeties had to be removed and now it works.

ya only some units come with the low pressure cut-off switch that is inline to the contractor (24v). I previously mentioned this as part of a low ambient kit. Also its jsut as easy as cutting the switch out for the summer and re-connecting it or getting a proper ECM bypass switch that cuts the switch out for the 1st minute of startup, again previously mentioned. The reason ur switch totally prevented your unit from working was the switch assumed ur system was low on gas, but it wansnt it just seemed that way due to exteme cold. It not like your system was working at a reduced capacity due to this switch, it just prevented your unit from firing period. Again total newbie whoever put that system in.

icdog- again it sounds like your ac guy is pretty green and unexperienced. getting an ac to run in low conditions is quite simple, if you understand what is going on. LOL

having a constant room is no control over your environment. yes it better if the compressor never has to start and stop all day long, but as long as its properly installed it will serve your for years staring and stopping all day. to load an ac so it never shuts off will lead to mass temp and humidity spikes, and is not worth going sealed for. I always over size my rooms to give users full control especially if they wish to drop 10degress F in the last 2 weeks, during lights on. Instead of struggling to maintain 78
 

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