I’ve gotten multiple e-mails about air conditioning problems and I also noticed that ours ceased to blow anything but lukewarm air sometime during the evening/night. I have e-mailed Cathy and trust she will take care of it. Please direct any further concerns to her at royal.cathy@comcast.net If I have any more news–and a chance to post it–I’ll pass it along.
I noticed that too but it seemed to be working this morning (around 8:30) after flipping the thermostats off and on again to restart the compressors.
Mine have worked intermittently all summer–the compressors shut off after about 30 seconds. I assumed a freon leak in both units, but if it’s building-wide I’ll be interested to know what the issue is. I’ve got the original climate masters in my unit–any tips on coolant leaks or compressor replacement?
Automatic compressor shutoff is caused by any number of things, and is intended to protect the compressor from damage. The fan keeps running, of course, but the heating or cooling function (depending on the season) only restarts after you completely power off the heat pump. Turning off the thermostat often does the trick, but to be 100% sure you can use the circuit breaker.
Causes I’ve experienced include:
* Insufficient air circulation through the coils–this can be from 1) misalignment of the panel vent to the new coil location after installing a new heat pump (cutting new vents can take care of this) or 2) too much dust either on the filter you should be using (vacuum the filter or replace it), or on the coils themselves (Ron uses compressed air to blow out the coils and the drains every year if you let him or you should do it yourself regularly), or 3) ice buildup on the coils caused by either aforementioned situation, in which case you need to turn everything off and let it melt completely, or 4) running things while the louvers on one or both of the outflow vents aren’t open. I’m sure there are other causes too I haven’t experienced yet but you get the idea.
* insufficient coolant (freon in older units and a different gas in newer ones): recharging systems is regulated by law and you may need to replace the whole system in case it’s a freon issue. Loss of coolant due to a leak will also require finding and correcting the leak, or, possibly replacing the unit.
* Temperature of the water in the building’s loop–either too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter. This was our recent issue, but tough to diagnose from inside your apartment. A digital readout is now visible near the ceiling next to the maintenance room in the basement, and, as mentioned elsewhere, this will be more closely monitored by Royal Management in the future. Anything in the 80’s is great, and up to lower 90’s in the summer is ok. Not sure how cool things still work for heating in the winter.
* Compressor problems. Call your favorite HVAC professional for stuff like this. I’ve had good experience with A1 Maintenance Master and would recommend them, and I know there are other good outfits as well and hopefully others can share information here too.
Heat pumps cost a ton, so be prepared for estimates in the manys of thousands in case of trouble that can’t be solved by simpler means.
This particular issue was building-wide but only occurred last night. If you were having issues prior to this, there’s likely something up with your heat pumps.
If your pumps are running for 30 seconds and turning off for 5 minutes, it’s either a freon leak, or the reversing valve needs replacement. It sounds like the compressor is fine, but if you keep running it at 30 second bursts, it won’t be for long.
I would get them serviced.
(not a tech, so don’t take my word for it, but we’ve had our share of pump issues and I’ve picked up a few things.)