making my air conditioner switch on a fan

Posted by Noon-Air on June 2, 2008, 11:05 pm

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You want attitude?, try this on for size... I have spent the last week
fixing what home owners did in the name of saving a buck, including the
simple fact that over half of them called the lowest price. and then had to
call me to straighten it out and make it right. You can try and frankenstein
anything you want, but remember that its gonna cost a lot more to get it
fixed again and again, than it is to get it fixed correctly the first time.
OTOH, maybe your here because you think you can save a buck. Just remember
that most of the legitmate contractors right now are too busy with repairing
and straightening out messes to have time to take care of their service
agreement customers maintenence.

Posted by KJPRO on June 3, 2008, 12:59 am

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No attitude, we just get tired of seeing perfectly good equipment ruined by
idiots like yourself.

Posted by Stormin Mormon on June 2, 2008, 10:28 pm

Sounds like you're going to dump the waste heat into the cellar. Bad idea.
As to the fan relay, it's fine to switch 110 VAC, as long as you run sturdy
enough wire for the job. Remember, cold air is heavier than warm air. So,
the existing fan on the window AC won't be strong enough to push the heavy
air up to the attic.
Put a current sensing relay on the neutral wire of the compressor, to switch
the blower fan. Or take a 24 VAC transformer, and put it in parallel with
the run windings of the compressor. Or, take another tap off the thermostat,
and a neutral terminal block. Use the thermostat tap to power a 24 VAC
relay, and use the relay to close the power circuit to the duct fan.
--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
I am in the process of installing an air conditioner. we are using an
attic room for a bedroom. I considered some options such as using the
window, or cutting into a wall but then decided the noise would make
it hard to sleep.
I then decided I could put the air conditioner in the basement, couple
it to a blower and force air into the existing ductwork. The air will
be then able to travel up to the attic, or into the other ductwork int
the rest of the house.
I figured I could have some control over how much goes to the attic by
restricting flow past the first Y which goes to the attic.
So I adapted a blower , and coupled it to the air conditioner. I
extended the wire on the heat sensor so it can go in the attic. I was
considering moving the whole control panel to the attic so the remote
would still work, but after lookingat how the unit is wired , it isn't
easy to separate the electronics controls because the relays for the
fan ,pump etc are on the same board which means I would have to run
the AC wiring from the control box to the unit, this wasn't feasable.
so I came up with a new plan, which is to use a remote control
extender to re-broadcast the remote control signal to the front of the
AC unit. these are commercially available. I will live without being
able to see the display, and go downstairs if I need to look at it .
The only other modification , other than extending the heat sensor ,
is that I want the blower to switch on along with the (3 speed fan) in
the AC unit. the unit has a power saving mode and it would be nice if
the blower could switch on and off along with the AC's 3 speed fan.
I don't want the load of the blower to come from the AC unit, so I was
planning to use a 110V relay powered from the same wires supplying
power to the AC unit's fan. , so the coil of the relay needs to be 110
and it just uses a bit of power to work the relay's coil. this would
be a negligible ammount of power so wouldn't load the AC's circutry.
The blower is 110V . I can run the power wire to the blower through
the contacts of the relay and that would work. The control cable
would be carrying 110 and I don't know if that would comply to code or
not.
The other option is to use a small power supply to run a second relay
at the blower, then the signal wire( through contacts of the added
relay in the AC unit ) could be 12 or 24 V. this is a bit more
complicated as I need a second relay and a 12 or 24V power source.
Which method of swithcing the blower on and off would be more
acceptable? does it matter if the control cable carries 110V? would a
relay be best or some sort of SCR?
Phil

Posted by KJPRO on June 3, 2008, 1:02 am

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Looks like he found the right guy for the job... I mean girl... Miss
Frankenstien.

Posted by philsvintageradios on June 3, 2008, 4:40 am

Thanks cristopher .
No , the plan wasn't to dump waste heat in the cellar, the ac unit
will slide outside the house, it is quite cool on that side of the
house and it is in an area that isn't closed in very tightly ( under
the front porch), but it is dry and there is shelving to support it
out of the way at almost ceiling hieght. there is a pipe straight up
to the attic right there. all I need to do to close it up for winter
is to pull the AC unit back a foot or two onto the existing shelf and
the piece I need to cut out can hinge closed. I couldn't ask for a
better place to store it when not in use.
Yes I've hear about the difficulty with pushing cold air upwards. Im
good with metal so I fabricated an adapter to pull the air from the
area where the grille is on the ac unit to a cage fan style furnace
blower. I need to modify the existing ductwork only to join in. the
rest of the house isn't well sealed up as it is a 1920's house. just
blowing fresh air up there is a benifit as the warm air wants to
collect up there . The only ouside wall to have an AC unit on in the
attic is the front of the house and that would look ugly from the
front street, and I have gone to a lot of work to bring up all the old
woodwork , and I think the plastic housing would really look like an
eyesore.
the AC in the window would need to be removed and a half window
installed in it's place each spring and fall , the old windows swing
out at the bottom so one need to be modified to even open that far.
Maybe this wouldn't be suitable for a hot area, but it is quite cool
here most of the year , only aout 2 or three days yet this year where
it would have been unbearable to sleep up there.and would need AC at
all , but I hate to have to sleep downstairs even a few days once we
start using it as our bedroom. anyway it is cost effective for me,
total cost is 169.00 for the air conditioner, the blower was free , If
I don't like this setup it is reversible. I just don't see any air
conditioners that would do this sort of thing in this price range. The
portable ones seem to be getting more popular, but even they need to
be stored somewhere and they aren't too attractive with their big
plastic housings, and they are twice the price for the same BTU's.
phil

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making my air conditioner switch on a fan - Page 2