Question:
I have a Sharp Comfor Touch 13500 BTU Air conditioner in my living room.
Last summer i plugged it in one of my outlets in my living room and it
was working perfectly. This year that outlet is a bit screwed up so I
tried putting it in the other ones which prodiced a wierd buzzing sound
and then my power went of in the kitchen and living room... I tried
every outlet in the kitchen and living room to the same
effect..buzzing. I understand that its a powerful AC but i tried every
outlet to no avail. Please help me cause i am sweting profusely.
Answer:
First take a look at your breaker box. Are you blowing 15A or 20A breakers.
If you have many 15A circuits, they may not have enough current for your AC.
Look at the service nameplate on the AC unit. It will say how many Amps it
requires. this number needs to be smaller than the number of Amps in on the
breaker.
I also assume you are not trying to plug a 220V AC into a 110V outlet since
the plug on the cord should make it obvious that won't work.
In the kitchen especially, you will be sharing that current with other stuff
like the refridgerator and toaster oven etc. The two heavy loads combined
on one circuit will usually trip a breaker so try turning some other stuff
off.
Buzzing noise. Coming from the AC unit I suspect not the walls or fuse box
(I hope). In this case, it sounds like the AC is trying to start up its
compressor or fan and it is stuck. This condition uses lots of current and
will trip a breaker most of the time if the AC doesn't kick its own thermal
breaker first. If the fan is what is stuck you can probably reach in with a
stick and give it a few turns but if the compressor is frozen (pun) then the
AC is junk. Did you store the unit properly (right side up) or on its side?
I suspect the bearing on the compressor is siezed and since this happened
during storage and not operation there is a good chance that once you get it
going it won't happen again until next year perhaps.
Frozen motors (fan or compressor) is a mechanical problem that sometimes can
be solved by banging, kicking and bashing the unit. If this does not work,
it's broken anyway and these actions will make you feel better (but not
cooler). The skill is in knowing just how to bang on things to get them
going and when to give up (This IS a legitimate troubleshooting technique)
Occasionally the motor is OK but a starter capacitor has failed, which can
be replaced at a reasonable cost if you can find someone to correctly
diagnose it. Otherwise, buy the cap and try it anyway if yours has one.
Air conditioners are not cheap and worth trying to fix in most cases. but
just like with a fridge, if the compressor or refridgerant are bad, it's
time to get a new one.
