"Frank Watson " wrote in message
...

Seven years ago, I bought an air conditioner from Wickes (Model
KC-94)
It is the type that is designed to be mounted in a window frame.
(Like
what most private houses have in Florida!) For the past four years,
I
haven't used it, but this year, needless to say, I neeeded to use
it.
It still works fine, but I am pretty sure it is not blowing as cold
as
it used to. Do air conditioners such as these need any maintenance,
such as fluid top-up, etc? The label says it uses R22 coolant.

Thank you,

Frank

The only home maintenance is to clean the filters. Regassing may be
needed, but is not really a diy job in the uk. In America small top
up cans of r22 are sold, but not here AFAIK.

I am afraid you need to call an aircon service place, best bet is to
collar someone in an aircon van and offer cash for them to check the
pressures and regas as needed.

MrCheerful

On Tue, 12 Aug 2003 15:41:00 GMT, "MrCheerful"
wrote:


"Frank Watson " wrote in message
...

Seven years ago, I bought an air conditioner from Wickes (Model
KC-94)
It is the type that is designed to be mounted in a window frame.
(Like
what most private houses have in Florida!) For the past four years,
I
haven't used it, but this year, needless to say, I neeeded to use
it.
It still works fine, but I am pretty sure it is not blowing as cold
as
it used to. Do air conditioners such as these need any maintenance,
such as fluid top-up, etc? The label says it uses R22 coolant.

Thank you,

Frank

The only home maintenance is to clean the filters. Regassing may be
needed, but is not really a diy job in the uk. In America small top
up cans of r22 are sold, but not here AFAIK.

I am afraid you need to call an aircon service place, best bet is to
collar someone in an aircon van and offer cash for them to check the
pressures and regas as needed.

Thanks for the tip.!

Franl

"Frank Watson " wrote in message
...

Seven years ago, I bought an air conditioner from Wickes (Model KC-94)
It is the type that is designed to be mounted in a window frame. (Like
what most private houses have in Florida!) For the past four years, I
haven't used it, but this year, needless to say, I neeeded to use it.
It still works fine, but I am pretty sure it is not blowing as cold as
it used to. Do air conditioners such as these need any maintenance,
such as fluid top-up, etc? The label says it uses R22 coolant.

If the systems are similar in concept to car air conditioning then I think
your problem may that you haven't run it for four years.

I was once told that the air conditioning needed to be run regularly so that
the lubricants were circulated and these prevented the seals (and even some
of the rubber pipes) leaking.

I was told (again can't swear to the truth) that the major problems with car
air conditioning were due to people not running them in the winter then
fnding the gas had leaked away by next summer.

HTH
Dave R

Shouldn't need a top up regularly. More likely to be the fan on the
condenser (that's the the outside fan, not the one giving you the
breeze) has seized up. Most cheap units use fan motors with sleeve
bearings, so need a squirt of penetrating oil , short run, then a good
oiling with SAE30.

(Frank Watson ) wrote in message ...
Seven years ago, I bought an air conditioner from Wickes (Model KC-94)
It is the type that is designed to be mounted in a window frame. (Like
what most private houses have in Florida!) For the past four years, I
haven't used it, but this year, needless to say, I neeeded to use it.
It still works fine, but I am pretty sure it is not blowing as cold as
it used to. Do air conditioners such as these need any maintenance,
such as fluid top-up, etc? The label says it uses R22 coolant.

Thank you,

Frank

"David W.E. Roberts" wrote in message ...
"Frank Watson " wrote in message
...

Seven years ago, I bought an air conditioner from Wickes (Model KC-94)
It is the type that is designed to be mounted in a window frame. (Like
what most private houses have in Florida!) For the past four years, I
haven't used it, but this year, needless to say, I neeeded to use it.
It still works fine, but I am pretty sure it is not blowing as cold as
it used to. Do air conditioners such as these need any maintenance,
such as fluid top-up, etc? The label says it uses R22 coolant.

If the systems are similar in concept to car air conditioning then I think
your problem may that you haven't run it for four years.

I was once told that the air conditioning needed to be run regularly so that
the lubricants were circulated and these prevented the seals (and even some
of the rubber pipes) leaking.

I was told (again can't swear to the truth) that the major problems with car
air conditioning were due to people not running them in the winter then
fnding the gas had leaked away by next summer.

HTH
Dave R

Also, (I was told) the refrigerants that are used nowadays (to replace
CFCs) are corrosive so the systems are guaranteed to fail! I've so far
spent £1200 on the air-con on a VW Sharan (mostly labour). The place I
first went to was doing a roaring trade in replacing corroded
evaporators from this and similar vehicles. The latest fault was
corroded pipework.

Andrew

Andrew wrote:

Also, (I was told) the refrigerants that are used nowadays (to replace
CFCs) are corrosive so the systems are guaranteed to fail! I've so far

Another problem is the molecular weight of the new refrigerants is lower
than the old R12 refrigerant they used to use - so it tends to escape
more easily anyway.


--
Cheers,

John.

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