Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with a-c

Do I really have to shut off the ac in the car?

smersh — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 04:17:27 -0800

My girlfriend swears that you have to shut off the AC and then the fan and then the car. Otherwise, you kill the battery AND hurt the AC. Is any of this true? I'm currently living in India, driving a car that has a non-digital A/C unit. According to my girlfriend (and her father, and her mechanic (supposedly)), you have to shut off the A/C first, and then you turn off the fan BEFORE turning off the car. If you don't, the theory goes, you kill the battery and the A/C compressor (or some other A/C component).

Now, since this is an analog A/C unit (meaning you can turn the knob and press the button even when the car is off), doesn't that really mean I can turn off the car and then turn off the fan and a/c after the fact?

I've really thought the whole point was to not put extra strain on the battery when starting the car. I didn't think it had to do with anything else. But, I promised her I'd ask metafilter to get a definitive answer.

So, here's what I need to know:

1) can it hurt the car in any way to turn off the fan, a/c, and car in the "wrong" order?

2) if so, what would it hurt, and how?

3) if it doesn't hurt anything anymore, did it ever? In other words, if it doesn't exist now, is there a historical basis to this? Or is it pure superstition?

I really appreciate any insight.

endothermic or exothermic?

phritosan — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:19:35 -0800

Apartment filter: I need my apartment to be cool inside! We moved into a very nice 3rd (top) floor, west facing apartment... in March... came home in June and no exaggeration, it was 94 degrees in my living room. The AC has a 20 degree difference and runs nonstop from 4pm to 11pm and its 84 degrees in the bed room till 11pm. We’ve had the maintenance people out three times. There’s a 20 degree difference between intake and output. The filters are new. Everything on the roof looks fine. But more than 2 feet from the vent and you can’t feel it anymore.

All the ceiling fans are going 24/7. The floor fan is on whenever we're home and not asleep. The sliding glass door is covered by UV/light blocking tinting designed for RVs, venetian blinds, and a blanket. The office window has venetian blinds and a blanket. The bedroom window has venetian blinds and very thick light blocking curtains. The AC is always set on 78. We cannot make any modifications that are visible from the outside.

Do you think it’s worth another $100 to tint the other two windows? The heat has to be coming through the walls, right?

I live in the Phoenix area, opening the windows after dark will not help. Moving is not an option till March and we still like everything else about the apartment.

What else can we do?! I’m not looking for stop-gap solutions like a bucket of ice water in front of a fan. I want my apartment enjoyable. There is no reason I should have a $230 electric bill for a 980 sq ft apartment when my parents have a $380 bill for a 5 bedroom house! Our electric bill in April was $76!

Help us mefi, you're our only hope!

It's gettin' hot here in Texas

Brandon1600 — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:41:59 -0800

(AutoRepairFilter) I'm so close to fixing my Nissan Frontier's A/C. I have to replace a leaky hose... or do I? What is the cheapest way for a budding DIYer to handle this? I received some outstanding feed back from this thread a little while back. I used some UV dye and noticed leaks at both ends of the rubber A/C hose going from the compressor to the condenser. Their seems to be a couple of ways to handle this. According to this site, I could remove the hose and replace it which would require cutting the ends with a hacksaw and recrimping them, or I could try some of this handy-dandy sealant but I doubt it works. Does anyone have any experience in doing this? It seems these hoses go bad quite a bit so I assume it's a pretty routine thing to do for someone who normally works on their own car. Thanks in advance

Why does my car A/C only work around town but not on the highway?

wheat — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:58:31 -0800

The A/C on my car ('92 Honda Prelude) works great from 0-40 mph. Above 40 mph, the ratio of cool to hot air moves decidedly in favor of hot. Any ideas (besides the obvious: take it to the shop).

Help me before I melt

Brandon1600 — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:12:00 -0800

(AutoRepairFilter) It is hot in Texas and the A/C in my 2001 Frontier just gave out. What can a semi mechanically - inclined person do about this? The cool does not work at all and the heat works but slowly. The fan is running and the green A/C light turns on most of the time, but the performance of the cool is absent regardless to whether the light is on. I realize I will more than likely have to take this thing in and get it worked on. From what I understand it takes specific tools to work on most A/C units not to mention the danger in dealing with the chemicals. My mechanic wants to charge me $45 just to run a diagnostic. Is thier anything I can do to at least get an idea what is wrong with it before I get ripped-off?

How to resolve a leaking A/C issue in my home

rxbert — Mon, 26 May 2008 03:53:54 -0800

hi all, this is a first question for me, so here goes; I have spent this Memorial Day weekend without A/C at home (in Dallas, TX) because I have water "streaming" from somewhere at the top of the condenser unit (inside the house). to be more specific, the water is blowing out of an opening through which a cold (to the touch) copper pipe enters the "box" above the condenser unit... needless to say, the floor has been saturated and will be a second issue to resolve later. any info that would help me resolve would be appreciated. thanks in advance.

Home A/C question.

Noodles — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 21:57:08 -0800

Hi I live in Houston,Tx. August is our hottest month, and my home ac unit is acting up. It seems that the filter never gets dirty. I doubt that the ac unit is sucking return air from my house. Please help!

Dry Ice in car in place of a/c. A bad idea?

tonylord — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 19:44:09 -0800

Will using dry ice in my car as a replacement for air conditioning kill me? Or my dog? So I have no air conditioning in my car and it is bloody hot here in DC. I mean it's now 2230 and it's still 28C. Lunchtime today it was 34C, but after my car had been in the sun at lunchtime I could have sworn the steering wheel was more like 100C. I could barely touch it for the first 10 minutes.

The only cooling mechanism my car has is to open all the windows and drive quickly, as the air conditioning seems to have stopped working earlier in it's 16 year life span. Could putting a chunk of dry ice in the well of the car (ie where the passenger's feet go) cool it down sufficently?

Obviously I would need to keep the windows open, but CO2 is denser than air, right? So as long as I keep my head above the open window line, shouldn't I be ok? What about my dog, who also gets hot on long car journeys in her crate in the back (its what I would call an estate and what USians would call a wagon). How can I prevent the gas killing her?

How much would I need to use to cool the car (it's a Ford Taurus wagon)? What precautions would I need to take when buying the stuff (from Safeway I suppose: it's the only place I've ever seen it on sale).

Thanks for your help, the green.

T

How to Handle Moving Something Above Your Weight Limit?

WCityMike — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 09:29:27 -0800

Can you safely hire someone to lift something heavier than you can handle? Or are there safe means out there of moving something heavier than your ability to handle? I had previously asked my fellow Mefites about whether or not I should take out my air conditioner when the weather gets colder. Although there were good weatherproofing strategies given, a Mefite who lives a few blocks from me confided in e-mail that after having left her air conditioner in the window last winter, she found herself freezing throughout most of it, despite insulation attempts. That, coupled with other remarks, has made me lean heavily towards taking it out of my window come fall and putting it in this large bin. (I can then drape a blanket over it and just have an endtable of sorts for the winter and following spring.)

However, my primary means of getting this done may not be available, and my secondary means is altogether shot. In the past, my landlord actually required tenants to have the building's superintendent put in or take out their A/Cs, to avoid potential damage to the windows. However, the building is in the process of being sold; I'm unsure of whether my new landlord will be similarly willing to assist. My backup means would have been, had the first fallen through, to ask my best friend to assist me in taking it out of the window. However, that friendship, sadly enough, looks as if it may have dissolved altogether — leaving me doing the "lone wolf" thing for a little bit.

I know that I'm able to lift a 50-lb. box of paper from the floor, but I also know that's near my maximum limit: I'm primarily focusing on weight loss at the moment, and plan to focus on muscle-building a little later in the journey. I also strained my back muscles (trapezius, erector spinae) a few years ago, and that's made me real wary of hurting them again and more significantly. The air conditioner is a bit over ninety pounds, so I'm fairly sure it's over my limit. (I've also seen stronger men then I have difficulty with it, I presume due to its dimensions — the UPS delivery guy was able to get it up the stairs, how I don't know, but the superintendent needed help to do it himself.)

If the new landlord proves unwilling to move it, I'm going to need to figure out some other way of getting it out of my window. Is this a situation where I could hire someone — in essence a "professional strongman" — to move the air conditioner into the bin? And if so, what steps could I take to (a) make sure I'm not giving access to my home to a thief, and (b) make sure he doesn't hurt something (or fake a hurt) and then sue me?

If the possibility of (a) and (b) make the above idea a bad one, any other ideas for how I might safely move the unit into the bin myself without endangering my back? I really don't want to do the "slipped or ruptured disc" thing, as you might imagine ...

Advice on thru-wall AC units

alleycat01 — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 19:31:14 -0800

I am moving into an apartment with a pre-existing wall hole for a thru-wall AC. (It's a Fedders building -- but I don't need a Fedders unit, right?) Despite my best google search skills, I'm having trouble figuring out what exactly I need to make this work. Help! The pre-existing opening (about 27 x 17 x 17, I think it's the "A" chassis size) is lined/fitted with a thin metal box. Is that the same thing as the "sleeve," or is it just the way the opening was finished off when the building was constructed? The units I am looking at (which are wall/window convertible ACs -- waaay cheaper than solely thru-wall, and also with the lower BTU that's all I need for my small room) are smaller than the opening. I know that if it's not a tight fit I could stop the gap with foam, but these are considerably smaller (28 x 12 x 12) -- can I put side extenders or something onto it? What about if the height? Is it a problem if the depth of the unit doesn't extend past the depth of the opening? Advice from anyone with wall unit experience would be appreciated!

I think my air conditioner is dying. Help me not get Rheem'd.

LuckySeven~ — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 09:22:36 -0800

Last spring my husband and I noticed that a small puddle of water would form on the garage floor every time we used our central a/c for more than a few minutes. We had a local a/c guy come out and he told us the pan was leaking and needed to be replaced. He quoted us around $2,000 which I thought was extremely high considering he'd done the exact same job a year previously for our neighbor (who has the same model house and, incidentally, recommended this company) for $400. We then asked him how much it would cost to replace the central a/c entirely since the unit was over 17 years old and probably on its last legs anyway. He went out to the backyard, took one look at our trusty old Rheem and said, "$8,000." Wha-wha-what?!

We know next to nothing about air conditioners, but I immediately went to work researching a/c brands online and getting quotes from other local companies. None of the four companies who came out did any duct tests or asked any questions about problem rooms (we have two -- the master bedroom which, due to it's location, gets extremely hot in the summer and very cold in the winter and the living room which stays relatively cool in the summer and downright artic in the winter). The first guy's quote was the "cheapest" at 8K -- he said he'd basically replace the Rheem with a bigger, more current model -- and the most expensive quote was from a company that does a lot of heavy advertising in our area and claims to be number 1 in customer satisfaction: $12K for a top of the line Trane with climate control and some kind if allergy filtration system. Needless to say, we were in serious sticker shock. We survived last summer's heatwave by diligently cleaning the outside unit and crossing our fingers; the puddle in the garage got bigger, but we made it. Fast forward to now. We still have a decision to make, but I need some serious advice before proceeding.

Our house is a small 3 bed/ 2 bath (under 1300 sf), one story tract home in the Central California 'burbs. Can these quotes be right? What kinds of questions should I ask the contractors? Why do they just take a few room measurements and toss out a quote without doing any duct tests or asking us anything? Some of the guys don't even take measurements, they just look at the current unit and suggestion something bigger. I've read that buying bigger without doing the proper tests can be a mistake -- especially when dealing with problem rooms. Asking friends and neighbors hasn't worked out so far; most people we've asked do very little research and pay what they're quoted, just like that. Since this is such a huge chunk of money for us, we're trying to be very careful. Any help and/or advice would be truly appreciated. Thanks!

P.S. The guy who gave us our first quote of $8K claimed he would be saving us money by *not* dealing with city hall and writing the job up as a "repair" rather than a replacement whereas the "expensive 12K" guy emphasized that he *would* file all of the proper contractor's paperwork and perform the job according to the new "rules" so that we wouldn't have any trouble when if/when we decided to sell our house in a few years. Can anyone break this down for me in layperson language?

Did someone pee on my A/C?

Doctor Barnett — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 05:35:46 -0800

My window air conditioner smells like pee when it's on. There is a roof deck immediately above this window. We are on good terms with the tenants up there, but they have guests over pretty often. Last night, upon turning on the air conditioner fan to drown out the sound of a car alarm, I was assaulted with the smell of urine. (If this isn't a sign to move out of the city, I don't know what is.) It is not coming from outside or inside, and I can only smell it when the A/C fan is running.

1) Is this something guys do now, going all R. Kelly on A/C units? I'm sure it wasn't an act of revenge, but it could have been some random guest acting out while the hosts were away.

2) How do I clean this? Whether it's pee or not, the smell has got to go. I was thinking of pouring warm soapy water in through the vents on top. Any reason that wouldn't be safe? Any better ideas?

Is the A/C broken cuz it HOT in herr!

CwgrlUp — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 13:08:13 -0800

A/C filter: Is mine broken or is it just because it's 100 degrees outside? It's really hot around here. Over a hundred the past couple days. The air conditioner (central heat and air, NOT a window unit) in my house has been running constantly yet it never gets below 80 degrees, except for between, say, midnight and 5AM.

It is set on 75 during the day. My dad says it shouldn't get 5 or more degrees above what it's set to. But it is blowing out cold air, which is the first thing he had me check.

So. Should I call a repairman or just chalk it up to waaay hot days right now?

Central A/C fan running backwards?

TN_Tanuki — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 16:51:21 -0800

A/CFilter: Central A/C unit is 7 years old and ran pretty well until this year. Now it barely cools and has to run all day to do it. Have done all the homeowner checks (cleaned unit, checked filter and vents, sealed cracks and ductwork, etc.) A technician charged us $140 (having "cleaned" the unit and checked the coolant) to hold his cigarette up to the running unit and, using the smoke as his diagnostic tool, proclaimed that the fan was running...backwards. He insisted that this can happen with some units after a power surge. Did we just have sex with our clothes on? Or is he for real? Can a fan spontaneously run backwards? A different tech is coming Monday, and he confirmed that a central air fan can suddenly run backwards if there's an electrical problem...but maybe they belong to the same secret HVAC order.

Tips on mini-split air conditioning?

armchairsocialist — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 17:10:00 -0800

Does anybody have any experience buying/installing/using a mini-split air conditioner in the U.S.? [mi] I may be soon living in a windowless bedroom in Brooklyn. If I don't have air conditioning in there, I will probably actually, literally die. Unfortunately, leaving the door open is not an option, and there is no way to use a portable air conditioner given the apartment layout. So I am looking into installing a mini-split AC unit, with the compressor on the roof (it is a flat roof, and I will be on the top floor). It looks like I can get a big enough unit the keep the room arctic for about $750. But does anybody have any idea how much installation is going to run me, or how invovled the whole process is? I'm not going to try to do it myself.

In other respects, it's a great apartment, and a great deal. Otherwise I wouldn't be gearing up to spend $1000+ on an air conditioner in a rental. But, will this work? Should I just find another place?

Ductless A/C

evening — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 05:11:30 -0800

Anyone have experience with ductless A/C? We're thinking about installing some in our house. We saw some examples at a recent home show and were convinced we need it for our home office and family room (both on S-SW corner of house). They are right above each other, which should make things easier.

There are a two designs I've found while researching. The Mitsubishi Mr. Slim kind that goes in your wall, and the SpacePak design that uses little ducts to be more inconspicuous.

There are few reviews out there on these kind of systems, so I was hoping people here could give us some feedback on them.

Are they really that quiet? Are they real expensive to run? (I know they are expensive to buy/install.) Tips on placement? Thoughts on one over the other? Anything else we should know?

Thanks!