Common Failures Of Air Conditioning Systems

Air Conditioners came into everyday life firmly and permanently. For many people it is difficult to imagine even the possibility of living without this device providing a comfortable temperature and air regime in the room, office or in the car. In addition, in certain cases (mostly at plants, for example, in the server rooms), when to manage without an air conditioning is not difficult, but it is impossible in principle! But the technology can’t be eternal; nobody is insured from the failures of an air conditioning.

In the early 90's, the just beginning of the HVAC equipment boom, an air conditioning resource was estimated at 8-10 years, depending on the brand, capacity and operating conditions. What do we have in practice? Some users had changed the purchased equipment twice within 8 years. What's the matter?

If we exclude the few cases of factory defects and the appearance in the country frankly "bootleg" goods imported by the ubiquitous shuttle, we should admit that there are three main reasons for the rapid failure.

First - these are the mistakes of design and selection of equipment. Air conditioning power is selected proceeding from the conditions of the particular room and its purpose. We should take into account the area and orientation of the windows, number of people, and availability of the fuel equipment such as home and office equipment, as well as the size and shape of the room itself. That is why the specialist is required to visit the premises, which will be equipped with and air conditioning, and make the appropriate calculations. Besides he should come to agreement with you about the indoor and outdoor units, as well as the routes of the connecting communications. It is not recommended to estimate these "by sight". Therefore, if someone calls immediately the model and the price of your air conditioner in a phone conversation, hang him up safely – the incorrectly chosen technology will not be able to cope with their tasks and will work for wear!

The second reason for short life of the equipment is unskilled installation. Split systems do not apply to the «plug and play» goods. You have to do a pretty complex of measures requiring special skills and expensive instruments, otherwise the errors of equipment installation will cost you a lot. For example, bad soldering, or rounding joint of the pipeline will surely lead to the leakage of Freon. This is not dangerous for a human health, but the compressor of the air conditioning (it is half of its value) will burn within a few months or weeks. Approximately to the same result may bring the not-refueling the system by Freon, in this case the compressor will suffer longer, sometimes two or three years. And if the connecting tubes were sawed off with a hacksaw, it means «Memente more» for the compressor. Even a small chip which has got into the refrigerant circuit, will guaranteed kill your machine. Many problems are caused by an inappropriate handling of drainage. If we calculate gradients incorrectly, the fluid will flow not outside (or into the sewage), but on the walls, damaging interior of yours and your neighbors below. That is why a qualified installation of air conditioning can not be cheap.

We must not forget about one special feature. You can safely go to the service center with your broken TV, but the warranty for an air conditioning provides the installer-company. Therefore, it is safely to buy the equipment, installation and guarantee in companies with the well-established reputation. Generally, an abnormally low cost of the equipment and installation, and all the more if the installation is free of charge - it is a cause for a trouble, caused the guarantee is not placed into this price. This will most likely mean an offer of a short-lived firm, which will completely disappear at the end of the season.

The third reason for the rapid breakdown of the vehicles is support manning saving. Meanwhile, an air conditioning, like a car, must undergo a regular inspection at the certified firms. It is not only timely cleaning of filters that you can complete yourself. Complex of the service works includes the mandatory check up of the leaktightness of the refrigerant circuit, check up of the electrical system components. In case of need the chemical cleanup of the internal unit of the heat exchanger and refueling system with Freon is implemented. And finally, the most current procedure is the cleanup of the external unit of the heat exchanger. It is so clogged with dust and various trash that the cooler gets seriously disturbed and the overheated compressor fails. By the maintenance services, this causes a third of all premature failures!

 

Among the technical problems two main groups are assigned:
1. The power supply and electrical (electronic) circuits faults.
• The air conditioning does not go on. The operability of the inlet electric circuit and safety catches are to be checked. If everything is in order, there can be some other reasons, which have to be examined by the specialists.
• Alarm LED on the system board and the internal unit indicator signal an error. A mistuning is likely done, or the control program failed as a result of the voltage swings. If your attempt to re-adjust does not produce the desired result this can be caused by the failure of the sensors or control system components. This is the case for a specialist again.
2. Compressor unit faults.
Attention! Diagnostics and fault clearance is carried out by the specialists ONLY!
You can determine the damage of the compressor unit by the several criterions:
• the air conditioning does not go on in the presence of supplied voltage;
• the startup of the compressor is difficult;
• lack of outlet cooling (heating) air when the air conditioning is active;
• increased noise of different tones when the air conditioning is active.
There are a great many reasons for these failures starting from burnout of the motor coils ending by the leakage of the coolant and oil out of the system. The user needs to remember that it is impossible to determine the true cause without experience and appropriate equipment!

So, if you want your air conditioner to work continuously the allotted time, you should trust the selection, installation and support service to a professional company with a good reputation.