The title says it all. A friend is buying a house with a wine cellar and has noticed that the compressor on the N’FINITY 4200 is always running even though the cellar is at the correct temp.
Is this expected behavior or a problem that needs to be fixed? He asked me this question and as I have no idea I’m deferring to the collected expertise of the board.
TIA!
Several possibilities come to mind. First, how large is the cellar? A quick check of the specs for the 4200 show it is designed for a maximum cellar size of 1,000 cubic feet, which is a pretty good sized cellar. But is it is undersized for the space, the compressor could struggle to fully satisfy the unit. You could also have a faulty thermostat, or one that isn’t particularly sensitive (good thermostats have a fairly small temperature differential between on and off). A good one might swing between 54 and 56 degrees when set to 55. A cheap one with a 3 degree swing would go from 52 to 58, and the unit may not be capable of drawing down to 52, so it runs forever.
One other possibility may be that the unit is running low on coolant. When this happened to mine, it would still chill down to 58 (which is where I noticed the issue), but ran continuously. That temp slowly increased to about 60 or 61, and then I was able to get it fixed. My issue ended up being a leak at the service access valve, which was an easy fix. The technicians told me that if the leak had been in the coils it would have been like “heart surgery” to find and patch.
Compressor relay could be faulty also, @James_Guthri3 and @Chuck_Miller also offer possible reasons why it won’t turn off even after reaching the desired temp.
Do these units have a defrost function that happens at certain times? Check that the coils aren’t frozen over too and that the condensate drains are free and clear.
Good luck.
Thanks!
Hi. I’m the person with the possibly faulty wine-cellar air conditioner.
I have a question about what normal operation should be. I believe that the unit should only turn on when the temperature gets too high, and then turn itself off when the room cools down. Is that what I should expect? (Right now the compressor never turns off.)
Hi. I’m the person with the possibly faulty wine-cellar air conditioner.
The cellar is small – the unit is more than enough to cool the room.
I have a question about what normal operation should be. I believe that the unit should only turn on when the temperature gets too high, and then turn itself off when the room cools down. Is that what I should expect? (Right now the compressor never turns off.)
My guess is that it is low on coolant, fill it up with some R-134a (if I remember the refrigerant correctly?). It is the PID controller that is turning on and off… it is trying to reach the desired temperature.
Welcome, Bruce. You are correct - the unit should work just like the HVAC system in your house…it should turn on when the temperature reaches a certain point and then turn off once it’s cooled sufficiently. As I noted above and Alexander seconded, it sounds like you may be low on coolant. The system is kicking on because the temperature has reached the set threshold level, but because there isn’t enough coolant to cool the cellar, the system just stays on. When I had this issue, it would cool a bit, but not all the way down to the level I had set it at. A qualified HVAC technician should be able to assist.
It is also pretty easy to do it yourself too. I looked at some YouTube tutorials when I fixed an issue a family member had. It is a good weekend project!
