LG 18000 BTU air con in apt only works when HOT outside!

You apparently have two problems. One is the AC, the other is that a substantial amount of heat must be coming into your apartment from somewhere. It's unusual for a residence to be 78 inside without heat when it's in the 50's outside, unless it was designed for passive solar or similar. So, first thing I'd do is talk to the landlord because unless your paying for fuel, he likely is and would have good reason to investigate.

The AC behavior is strange. Only thing I can think of would be that somehow the outside air temp is influencing the temp reading that the thermostat is seeing inside. In any case, since it was provided by the landlord it would seem that it's his problem to fix. If it's a new unit, it should be under warranty and can be returned/repaired.

My guess is that the heat is coming form the other side of the room from the outside wall where these mini splits are usually mounted. The fans are pretty wimpy in these units Try a box fan to move the hot air toward the unit.

trumanhw had written this in response to

: Thats a VERY interesting observation; because on cool(ish) days it is reluctant to engage the compressor, whereas on hot days, it does. Is it REALLY possible that LG stuck the temperature gauge... OUTSIDE??? OMFG. Anyway, yes, I could quible and ask my leasing office to fix it, however, its such a pain to make them do what they're supposed to that I found it EASIER to buy a new one in the first place! Yes, I could get litigious, but there are better crusades in life. Is it possible to relocate the thermostat on the unit? If so, having stated this already, LWHD1800R is the model. Where would I find a schematic showing where the thermostat is? And TRUST me, this thing has near arctic output potential.

Thanks you guys SO much for your help on this. I know its a small issue, comfort - but unfortunately I have a sleep disorder and this exacerbates it. Thanks again.

Truman

trumanhw had written this in response to

: One final question; would it be possible to have an "on" condition that was only overrode if the unit because iced over? :D

You do, of course, have the temperature set down low enough? If you want

74 degrees, you may have to set 70 to get there. All window units that I have ever had are certainly influenced by the outside temp, and you need to set them progressively lower to maintain the desired inside temperature as the outside temperature drops. Are you using it in "cool" mode or "dehumidify" or have the powere saver setting on? When dehumidifying or power saving the air ciculating fan is off and only comes on for a bit every few minutes to sample the air temp, and this can delay the unit turning on.

The thermistor is usually located right on the room side of the evaporator. Pull the air filter, it should be right there. You can unclip it and pull it through the filter cover grill so it is no longer touching the evaporator. I have done this before and it does make it more sensitive to the inside air temp without having to draw too much air over the thermistor.

Its got a bad thermostst, did you ever try a window fan to get fresh air, cheaper to run than an AC

trumanhw had written this in response to

: Good advice. I'll see if I can remove it from the inside of the unit. Also, I keep it on SIXTY! 60 degrees that is. Whereas if its hot outside, my teeth chatter when its on 68 degrees.

I keep it set to cool, power saving off, and not dehumidify. I have it on what I think the best setting is for maximal cooling.

Thanks again everyone. :D !!!!!

How many sq ft is your apt? Where are you located?

Describe the layout: outside walls, window layout, exposure

18,000 btu is a bit large for a really small space

cheers Bob

trumanhw had written this in response to

: Okay - so I found the wire leading to what I believe is the thermometer, and removed it from the front of the AC so it couldnt get a false-cold from the metal its touching.. doesn't seem to be helping. Any more suggestions please? Is there perhaps a bias control for the thermostat? SOMETHING. And yes, I've tried using a fan. Its not that great of a solution for me.. please, any suggestions of how to revise this AC ... again, it FREEZES my place if the temp outside is OVER 83, but refuses to work much below 75. :-/

I suspect there is a feature that prevents the compressor from working below a certain temperature. This may serve to protect it from freezing from outside air. Or it may protect the coils from icing up. I believe that on cars the air conditioner will not operate on defrost below a certain temperature. Have you tried contacting the manufacturer's support department.

to

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Are you thinking what I'm thinking that the unit could actually be freezing up from being too big? The mini splits can have some fairly sophisticated controls and that unit could have sensor that detects the evaporator icing up and shutting the compressor off.

TDD

Why don't you try calling LG? They may have a help line or email that you could use.

I've noticed newer air conditioners will not work when the outside temperature is below a certain point.

I think they design them this way to save electricity - probably some new law that they be this way. And the thinking is that people could open a window instead.

But this does not work if you have a lot of electronics in the room heating things up! For example some computer rooms need cooling even in the dead of winter...

Anyway look at the wiring diagram if you can find one.

trumanhw had written this in response to

: Okay, but when I did a quick search on the net I got hits for "repair manuals" which are being sold. Im going to hit LG's site and see if they have one.. for now, they've scheduled a tech to roll out. Which is good because my damned LG refrigerator (without changing the thermostat and it has an alarm on the door if open) will be so warm that I contemplate throwing food out - and at other times (still unchanged thermostat and I live alone) my lettuce will be frozen! Anyway, still going to look for a diagram.. thanks for everyones help! Truly. If anyone has a schematic of the wiring for the 1800R it'd be greatly appreciated, obviously. :D

trumanhw had written this in response to

: OKay, so LG came out. They said that because its already semi cool in my apt, ~75, that the AC registers that its cool NEAR the AC, and shuts off the compressor. However I replied, SINCE it gets cooler than this temperature on HOT days, and since temperature drops linearly (passing the temperature the room is now on its to how cold it gets), there is obviously more to it than just that. After they left, I wrapped the gauge in styrofoam 'paper', taped it on over the sensor, which presumably would keep it warmer and not transmit the temperature of the cool(ish) room, and thus demand that the compressor run longer. Same effect; compressor runs 3 minutes and shuts off. WHAT DO I DO? Im really just going to bypass all of this and hardwire the damned thing in the 'on' position here soon. Advice anyone?

I said this before. Use a box fan to move the hot air from across the room towards the A/C unit.

Remember, people want miracles, not practical solutions.

trumanhw had written this in response to

: You know what ED? Perhaps I mistook your former suggestion, but now in thinking about it, I was moving the cold air AWAY from the AC, as opposed to the warm air to it. Im going to try this. However, if this doesn't work, I have to assume that LG has some tricky shii like a gauge outside.

Thanks again. :)