On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 23:28:55 +0200, hapless
wrote:
mm wrote in
:
On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 01:29:46 +0200, hapless
wrote:
(Doug Miller) wrote in
news
In article , hapless
wrote:
Anyone know where I can get a 220V Plug in Thermostat so I can
regulate my apartment wall air cond. and don't have utility bills
through the roof (figuratively speaking)? Searched, but no luck.
It doesn't have a temperature control on it already?
The do nothing maintenance people took the cover off so it is
difficult to determine what setting is low.
I think it wouldn't be hard to do. Lowest is at one end or the other.
Put the knob in the middle. Let it run until the compressor turns
off, wait 3 or 4 minutes because it's not good to restart an AC right
after it turns off, then turn the know CW and see if the compressor
comes back on. If it does, that direction is for greater cooling,
lower temp. If not, turn the knob CCW and see if it comes on. it
will only come on in one direction.
yeah ok, but there are two controls, one controls the temp, got that one
figured out. The other has 4-5 switch position settings that seem to
control the blower speed and/or temp. No markings.
Well, the second one doesn't control the temp because the first one
does. You have either a two-speed or three-speed fan.
The AC may also do heating, expecially if it came from a motel, where
they often have an AC do double duty as a room heater. If that is the
case, the center position is usually off, and one notch on either side
is usually low-speed fan and AC or heat. TWo notches on either side
is usually high-speed fan and AC or heat. You can tell by listening
what position runs the fan at a higher speed.
More likely is that there is no heat, but there are two speeds for
ventilation only, with no AC. That would also use a five position
switch.
They could make, if they wished, room AC's with 3 speed fans but I
don't know that anyone does.
Again, you can learn more about these controls by going to a store and
seeing what sort of controls are present on other room ACs.
If that doesn't work, go to the store adn see which direction is cold
on the AC's they sell there. I think they are all the same. Look at
several brands to find out. Look at your brand. Within one brand,
it is are almost certainly all the same.
To know what brand it is, I might have to take it outta the wall, I did
not notice any brand name plate, but I will look more closely.
There might not be one you can find. OTOH, there is often a black and
silver plate right under the cover panel that says the model number
and how many amps it uses, etc. and that probably gives the brand.
I wouldn't take the AC out of the wall to learn the brand, because
most breands do things the same way. In addition, even if somehow you
draw the wrong conclusions about how the controls work, you'll realize
it doesn't work that way eventually, and you can refine your
conclusions.
n any case the blower is on
continuously when I am gone.
Why don't you just turn the whole AC off when you are gone, and turn
if on when you get home? You can do something outside until it cooles
down.
Cuz I am trying to keep things comfortable for my cat and it's 105-110
degrees during parts of the day.
Does the blower itself use that much power
or is the main power drain due to the compressor/cooling? I would like
to be able to shut the whole damn thing off over a 10 degree spread in
temperature, but maybe your right, that this would lead to an early
demise in the entire unit.
Anyone answer the question about the power drain of fan vs fan+cooling?
Someone in mcfl must have said that. I don't agree, except maybe to a
small degree. If you have 15 more years left on the AC, you might
lose 3 months in my opinion.
I rewired my room AC so that when the compressor turned off the fan
did too, and vice versa. I did this mostly because the noise of the
fan annoyed me, especially later at night when I didn't need AC at
all, or the fan. If this was 2 in the morning, I would have had to
listen to the fan in my sleep for another 5 hours for no good reason.
Rewriing didn't require any cutting, soldering, unscrewing or
screwing. But it did require thinking. All the connections in most
of these things are made with slide on connectors, that slide on to
spade lugs. Unless things have changed recently. In other words,
things that go on both side of other things that are flat.
B C
Power Cord --- On/Off ---|-----thermostat-----compressor motor-
|
|
A |---- fan motor---
Each of these two things on the right are connected to the other side
of the power cord.
Plan this totally before starting. Make a clear drawing of how it was,
including wire colors and sketches of the connector, in case you have
to put things back the way they were.
Unplug the AC.
Pull the wire from the ON-OFF to the fan motor off at one end or the
other, B or A, probably B. Connect the end of the wire to C, so
that both the thermostat and the compressor motor are controlled by
the thermostat.
There were 3 steps when I did it, because I had to move around a wire
that had connectors on both ends.
That should do it. I slept a lot better after I did this.
Yeah, I am reluctant to do that because the unit is not mine. Still
Very good point.
looking for an answer to my original question about a 220V plug in
thermostat. Anyone?