General

When dealing with hot and humid weather, there’s nothing better than having an air conditioner in your room. Not only does it cool the room, but it also helps you to sleep and takes the excess water out of the air. However, there may be occasions when your air conditioner isn’t as cool as you want it to be. You may be asking yourself, “Why is my hisense portable air conditioner not cooling?”. There can be a number of reasons for this, so below we present some of the problems you can encounter and what you can do to fix them.

Blockages

One of the most common reasons for an air conditioner not cooling is a blockage in the air intake. This is where the fan sucks in the air from the room, cools it, and dehumidifies it. Sometimes the power of the fan can suck curtains or blinds towards the grill where they block the airflow. You should also make sure that there isn’t any furniture or anything else that would restrict the air from getting to the air conditioning unit.

If your unit has a mesh in front or behind the air intake grill, then this can sometimes get clogged by dust over time. You may not notice the drop in performance initially, but the unit will gradually become less efficient. If this grill is removable, then clean it as per the manufacturer’s guidelines. If it cannot be removed, then you may be able to use a vacuum cleaner with a small attachment to suck the dust out of the grill.

Cleaning the Air Filter

Most air conditioning units have a removable air filter. These need checking regularly as they can become blocked with particles in the air as well as dust. The Hisense manual will have instructions on how to clean this air filter and how often you should clean it. For those units that have a damaged or degraded air filter, you can find replacements on the manufacturer’s website or in stores that sell replacement parts.

Check the Thermostat

It might sound like an obvious thing to check, but sometimes the thermostat will be turned down too far to adequately cool the room. If the temperature is particularly high, then you need to turn up the thermostat to compensate. There are also some rare occasions when the thermostat itself can become faulty. These can be replaced, but you will need to open up the air conditioning unit to reach it.

The Size of Your Room

If you have recently bought a Hisense air conditioner or moved it to another room, then it may be you are using a unit not suitable for the size of the room. To find the right unit for the space, you need to look at the BTU rating.

Usually, 1 BTU equates to the amount of heat needed to raise the water temperature one-degree Fahrenheit. Most air conditioners with a BTU of 7,000 will cope well in a small room of approximately 18 square meters.

• 8,000 BTU – 100-150 sq feet or 9-14 sq meters
• 9,000 BTU – 150-250 sq feet or 14-23 s meters
• 10,000 BTU – 250-300 sq feet or 23-28 sq meters
• 12,000 BTU – 300-350 sq feet or 28-33 sq meters
• 14,000 BTU – 350-400 sq feet or 33-37 sq meters

For the best results, try to get a Hisense air conditioner that will cope with a room slightly larger than the one it is intended for. That way, you will be able to cool the room quicker and it will be able to cope effectively with higher temperatures.

So, the reason why your Hisense portable air conditioner is not cooling can be one of many, however, blockages, air filters, and the size of your room are the most common reasons. If you need to replace a part, it should ideally be carried out by a qualified repair HVAC technician.

Portable air conditioners are a lifeline during the hot summer months, as they keep us cool and leave us feeling refreshed. But what happens when they start to smell, and is it a sign of something more serious taking place? The good news is that it’s not an uncommon issue, and there are multiple reasons as to why it might be smelling funky  — as well as plenty of ways to fix it. Below we answer your question, “Why does my portable air conditioner smell bad?”.

What are the Causes of Portable Air Conditioners Smelling Bad?

There are several reasons why your portable air conditioner might not smell as good as it used to. Before you panic, check the following:

• Clogged filter 
• Refrigerant leak 
• Running on “low” all the time
• Room too small for the AC 

The point about it running on low is an important one. This is because it fails to dehumidify the air as it’s not running to its full potential. This can cause a musty odor because of the stale air as well as the increased risk of mould and mildew forming. 

The smell can also be caused by a lack of upkeep and maintenance. It’s essential that you keep your air conditioner clean, empty water, and make sure things are running smoothly. Not only this, but regular cleaning can help prolong the life of your portable air conditioner. 

Mold and mildew are likely to form in your portable air conditioner if it’s not cleaned or maintained. This leads to an unpleasant and musty odour but can also be damaging to your health — especially if you have asthma or allergies. 

However, what you can see is that the primary reason for a foul odor is caused by internal components not being cared for properly. To ensure that your unit remains free from odors, you should make sure that it’s kept in the right size room and also that you clean it regularly. 

How Can You Remove the Smell?

There are some great quick fixes you can try to remove the odor and keep your portable AC running without issue. The first of these is cleaning the drain line. Cleaning out the pipe means that you remove any debris or grime that has built up to ensure it continues flowing. 

You should lift the lid and inspect the coils, checking that they are clean and free from debris. If the smell is coming from this area, you will know as soon as you lift the lid. Give the coils a quick wipe down with a damp cloth to ensure they are clean. 

Changing the air filter can also make a huge difference, as once this becomes dirty and clogged it not only causes foul odors but also stops the machine from being efficient and can even reduce its lifespan. 

Conclusion

There are several reasons why your air conditioner might be smelling a little foul, but the good news is that they are all quick and easy to fix. A lot of it comes down to proper care and maintenance, as well as ensuring the room your air conditioner is in is the right size.

You switch the air conditioner on, sit back, and enjoy the cool breeze — until it stops working. That familiar snapping sound as the breaker trips and your portable air conditioner is no longer the godsend it’s meant to be! This can be a very frustrating situation, but it also has a solution. Here are some of the answers to your question, “Why does my portable air conditioner keep tripping the breaker?”.

Pulling too Many Amps 

This is the most common reason for your portable air conditioner to trip out. If your machine uses more amps than your breaker is able to cope with, it’s going to trip the breaker. If this is the reason, the worst thing you can do is keep switching it back on as this can not only damage the AC, but can also increase the risk of fire. 

Dirty Air Filter 

This is also one of the primary causes. If the filter is clogged and mucky, the AC unit is going to have a hard time starting up and may trip out because of the extra work it needs to do in order to start running. A clean filter means that the machine doesn’t have to work so hard. 

Dirty Unit

If you have not cleaned your AC unit you will find that it has to work a lot harder and so will be pulling more amps than it should. This will trip out your breaker, but can be easily resolved by giving your unit a good cleaning — both inside and out. 

Shorted Motor

Your AC can go for days without being turned off, but there’s also a risk of the motor shorting when it does this. This is the result of overheating when the motor works too hard, and in cases like this, you will normally need to replace the motor in order to get things running again. 

Breaker Issues 

Sometimes the breaker itself is the issue, and this can be caused by loose wires or a faulty connection. It’s quite a cheap issue to fix, and it’s recommended that you use a professional for the job as only an electrician should be touching the box. 

Compressor Issues

The compressor is the heart and soul of your AC unit, so if something goes wrong here then it’s going to be noticed. If the compressor has trouble starting, this is usually down to age or damage. Sometimes it can be fixed by an AC technician and other times it needs to be replaced completely. 

If the compressor is grounded it means that an electrical winding has come loose and is hitting the side. This means the wire is igniting the oil and causing a burnout in the AC unit, causing a surge that leads to the breaker tripping. An AC technician will need to come and replace the refrigerant lines. 

To Conclude 

When the breaker trips it can be stressful, but the important thing is to remember to take a breath and check the health of both your breaker and AC unit before you try to switch it back on. The solution is often quite simple, and you will likely find that you don’t even need to call anyone out to help. Good luck!

Have you ever noticed the condenser unit of your air conditioner leaking water? Maybe you noticed a puddle of water inside your home after your air conditioner ran for an extended period. Whatever the case is, if your air conditioner leaks water, it’s important to schedule AC repair immediately.

It’s normal for your air conditioner to drop some water when it runs. But it’s also important to understand the difference between an expected amount of water and when your air conditioner is leaking too much. Your air conditioner is responsible for taking the warm outdoor air and cooling as it passes into your home. Studies have shown that warm air holds more water vapor than cool air. As the warm air passes through the evaporator coil and transforms to a cooler temperature, the air molecules begin to shed this excess water.

While it might not seem like the air can hold too much water, modern air conditioners can produce up to 20 gallons of water a day. This number depends on the volume of air your system produces, the humidity outdoors, and the temperature’s setting.

Thankfully, your air conditioner is designed to effectively drain this water and release it back outdoors. However, when it’s not properly functioning, it can cause water leaks.

So you may be asking yourself, “Why is my wall mounted air conditioner leaking water?” Water leakage is one of the many issues you might encounter from having an air conditioner. It is the most prevalent issue in air conditioners and can be the hardest one to solve.

Possible causes of your wall-mounted air conditioner leaking water

1. A clogged condensate drain can cause AC water leaks

From time to time, your condensate drain may become partially blocked or completely clogged due to a buildup of dirt, rust, algae, and other debris.

2. Disconnected drain line in your air conditioner

If your air conditioner was improperly installed, its drain line can loosen over time and cause the pipe to disconnect from its connection within your air conditioner. A disconnected drain line may cause your air conditioner to leak water.

3. Cracked condensate drain inside your AC

As time goes on, your condensate pan may rust or crack. When this happens, your drain pan is no longer sealed and could cause water leakage from your wall mounted air conditioner.

4. Your air conditioner’s air filters are dirty

A dirty air filter restricts airflow over the evaporator coils. Because of this, the coils can get too cold and freeze over. When the coils melt, excess moisture from them drips into the condensate pan and causes it to overflow.

5. The AC’s refrigerant levels are low

Similar to a dirty air filter, low refrigerant levels result in a low amount of pressure in your air conditioning unit, causing the evaporator coils to freeze over. And when the frozen evaporator coils melt, this situation can cause the drain pan to overflow and leak water.

How Much Water Should an Air Conditioner Leak?

During operation, your air conditioner will produce small amounts of condensation. However, how much water leaks from your air conditioner depends on a couple of factors, including the thermostat setting and the temperature outside.

Small amounts of condensation near your AC’s drain pipe is normal and to be expected. During the extremely hot and humid days, your air conditioner works hard, so you can expect to see more water-dropping than average.

A small puddle underneath the air conditioner’s condensing unit is most likely the result of normal operation. Call an expert air conditioning contractor to inspect your unit if you notice excess water leakage from your air conditioner.

Portable air conditioners can be a fantastic and comparatively inexpensive way to cool a home down when it doesn’t have a permanent unit installed. In fact, with the right portable air conditioner, you can benefit from a number of different features it may have such as a dehumidifier or timer.

However, they can suffer from a few common machinery problems, but luckily the majority of which can be rectified quickly, easily, and inexpensively. Here, we look at solving one of the biggest bugbears that portable air conditioner owners have with their units: The noise.

You may be wondering, “Why is my portable air conditioner so loud?”. For some, it comes down to the brand and poor design. However for others, it will be down to a solvable problem that only takes a few tweaks to resolve.

Reasons why a portable air conditioner is loud

1. Its compressor

One of the reasons a portable air conditioner can be so noisy is because it will include a compressor. A compressor has many moving parts and the friction that this causes results in sound.

2. Loose fans

On occasion, parts become loose within portable air conditioner units, particularly the fans due to their motoring. For this reason, those looser movements make for noisier units which is why they can become louder over a period of time.

3. Vibrations

All the moving parts of a portable air conditioner unit is why it makes so much noise when it’s on. The better quality units will be able to minimize those vibrations through clever design and quality manufacturing processes. Vibrations are made worse in homes with less soft furnishings around to soak up the noise. Hard surfaces will amplify the noise.

Ways to minimize portable air conditioner noise

1. Fan speeds

As mentioned above, one of the reasons why portable air conditioners can make so much noise is when they’re on a higher fan speed. Turn the fan down on your unit when you’re in the room to help minimize the noise, and turn it up when you leave so that the room is cool when you re-enter it.

2. Location

Look at where your portable air conditioner is. If the unit is in the kitchen on a hard floor, in the living room on tiles, or anywhere on a wooden base, it’s likely to be far louder than it needs to be. Try putting it on top of a rug or carpet instead and you will find that the vibrations that cause so much of its noise are quietened down. If carpets or rugs are not possible, you can try putting your portable air conditioner unit on a folded up blanket instead. The softer surface helps absorb vibrations.

3. Check before you buy

Perhaps the best cure to a noisy portable air conditioner is prevention. Do your homework before you purchase one. Some models will simply not provide the quiet experience that its packaging promises. Make use of review websites to find out just how loud it is as well as finding numbers on the decibel level of the noise produced. Anything below 55dB will be quiet enough for the biggest insomniacs to sleep at night.

Conclusion

Noise becoming louder over time is a persistent problem for any air conditioning unit — portable or permanent. Good maintenance and upkeep should help minimize any noise coming from a unit as well as good positioning. Doing so ensures that you get the most value out of your investment in a portable air conditioner to help you through the increasingly hotter and longer summers we are all experiencing thanks to climate change around the globe.

Portable air conditioners are a fantastic means to cool a room without having to go through the hassle and cost involved in installing a permanent air conditioning unit. However, they are not without their problems. Some users complain of noise, while others suffer from their unit freezing up.

One of the most common and worrying problems is when you see your portable air conditioner leaking water on the inside. We’re here to answer your question, “Why is my portable air conditioner leaking water inside?” and maybe more importantly, how you can stop it from happening again.

Reasons why a portable air conditioner leaks water

1. Broken drain pan

After a certain amount of time, you may find that your portable air conditioner unit’s drain pan starts to rust. This is particularly common with older units. Pans can also simply become damaged after a long period of wear or tear.

2. Damaged pump

Like a drain pan, a pump can also become ineffective after a long period of time which causes your portable air conditioner to leak water. This is more common in permanent units, but it can happen in portable ones too that pump water outside. When the pump is damaged, it cannot carry the water out of the unit, so instead it leaks on the inside.

3. Air filter needs cleaning

A great deal of the leaking in portable air conditioner units is caused by dirty filters. This is because filters allow for the air to run over the part called the evaporator coil. However, with a dirty air filter, the coil simply gets too cold. It means that it eventually freezes so that when the ice around the coil starts to melt, it leaks inside the unit.

4. Clogged drain line

If your drain line gets blocked up, your portable air conditioner unit will invariably leak. Drain lines can easily get blocked with household dust and dirt as well as mould that may build up due to excess water. As a result, the water cannot leave the unit and therefore flows back into the unit.

How to stop your portable air conditioner leaking water inside

1. Replace parts

If you can identify what part it is that’s causing your portable air conditioner to leak, you can easily find parts online to replace to fix them yourselves. If you still cannot stop your unit from leaking, then you obviously need to seek advice from an HVAC professional. But in general, replacing one of the above parts that often break will resolve the issue.

2. Regular upkeep

For air conditioning units to last, they need some regular upkeep and maintenance on the part of its owners. If done regularly, it shouldn’t take long and can help you make the most of your unit over the longest period of time possible. One of the best and easiest ways to do this is to clean your air filter regularly. Many can be done simply by popping them in the dishwasher. A clogged drain line can be easily sorted by cleaning it with a vacuum hoover and drying it out every so often to prevent mould.

Key takeaways

Stopping a portable air conditioner from leaking water is critical to your unit lasting as long as possible. If it leaks persistently, it will start to mould, break down, and even become hazardous to use on occasion. Regular maintenance is the best preventative measure you can employ to stop your unit from leaking water. Learn how to identify why it’s leaking so that you can better address the problem.

Air conditioner units can be a god send when the thermometer starts to heat up outside. Having a cool place to return to after a day’s work or simply going outside can provide much needed respite for many people. Air conditioners also make it that much easier for us to get to sleep on hot, sticky summer nights.

However, not all of us live in a climate that justifies having a permanent air conditioning unit. For that reason, portable air conditioning units can be a good solution for our increasingly hotter summers. That being said, they can be prone to some common problems — much like their permanent counterparts. So if you’re asking yourself, “Why is my portable air conditioner freezing up?” then check out our article. Here we look at reasons why a portable air conditioner freezes up and how you can stop it from doing so.

Reasons why a portable air conditioner freezing up

1. Dirty Filter

Dirty filters are common causes for units freezing up. In fact, they are a good place to start if you’re trying to figure out what is wrong with your unit. Filters that are dirty don’t allow air to move around the unit as they should do which is what causes the unit to freeze up. 

2. Air blockages

At times, a portable air conditioner unit can freeze up if the vent is blocked. This stops air from flowing properly and freely around the unit causing it to back up and freeze as it cannot cross the evaporator coil and back into the unit correctly. Additionally, ensure that air can get to the air vent in the first place. Putting it flush against the wall will only cause problems down the line. 

3. Broken parts

Key parts that can break so that your portable air conditioner unit freezes up are the evaporator fan and the thermostat. Additionally, one of the coils in the unit may have a leak which can cause further problems for the unit, causing it to freeze up. When the evaporator fan is broken, it means that the air in the unit cannot leave properly causing it to freeze. Lastly, the thermostat stops units from turning on and off when the ambient required temperature has been reached. If that breaks, it may just run non stop, causing it to freeze up.

How to stop your portable air conditioner freezing up

1. Regular maintenance

Your portable air conditioner unit will benefit from a little TLC ras regularly as you can. Doing so will simply ensure that all parts are working as they should be and so you can prevent your portable air conditioner unit breaking down entirely due to a frozen coil. That’s why you should make sure you replace broken parts as soon as you can.

2. Cleaning

The main reason why portable air conditioner units freeze up is due to incorrect air flow. To get around this problem, you need to clear the vent of any blockages and also clean your air filter. Cleaning air filters does not take long and it’s not a difficult task, yet it will materially benefit your portable air conditioner unit overall. All you need to do is either put it in the dishwasher or clean it with a vacuum cleaner to remove any dust or debris from it.

Freezing portable air conditioner units – key takeaways

The evaporator coil freezing up in portable air conditioner units is very common, however, it’s a common problem that is easily circumnavigated with just regular maintenance and cleaning. In doing so, you will help lengthen the shelf life of your portable air conditioner unit no end so that you can benefit from cooling your home for many summers to come.