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how about letting window a/c condenser pan drain?

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Posted: Wed Aug 4th, 2010 05:23 pm

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astro46
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for a frigidaire FAM156R1A, window unit. makes these loud pinging noises. really annoying. i pulled it out and traced to sloppy engineering: the condenser fan slinger throws water up at the top of the fan/condenser cover, where it gathering and drips down. drips hitting the fan blades make the pinging sound.

i've tried slanting the cover a bit so the water rolls off rather than falls off, but can't slant it enough. the amount of slant is limited by getting the unit back into the housing.

so>>> how terrible would it be to drill a hole and let the water out?
will this damage the unit or shorten its life in some way?
how much efficiency is lost by eliminating the water ?
leave the cover off and let water get slung wherever it goes?

thanks

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Posted: Wed Aug 4th, 2010 05:58 pm

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appl.tech.29501
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There should already be places for the water to drain, but you can drill another...won't hurt anything but MAKE SURE you know where your drilling. If you drill into the condersor coil it ....bye bye birdie

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Posted: Wed Aug 4th, 2010 06:16 pm

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astro46
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yeah, the pan is divided in two sections. the front part, catching water from the evaporator coil, drains out the existing hole . the rear of the pan is designed to retain about 1/2" of water so that the slinger can catch it and has no drain hole.

so, you say no negative effects from letting rear of pan drain?

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Posted: Wed Aug 4th, 2010 06:29 pm

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appl.tech.29501
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Just make the hole small so all the water doesn't drain while its running....like 1/8" diameter....it needs to sling a little water

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Posted: Wed Aug 4th, 2010 07:13 pm

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astro46
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appl.tech.29501 wrote: Just make the hole small so all the water doesn't drain while its running....like 1/8" diameter....it needs to sling a little water

i don't see how this will help. if water is slung, then water drips = pinging noises .

the dripping needs stopping.

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Posted: Wed Aug 4th, 2010 09:19 pm

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RegUS_PatOff
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sometimes it's designed that way for cooling the Condenser ..

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Posted: Sun Aug 8th, 2010 08:54 pm

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applianceman18007260692
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Tilt the whole unit downward in the back a hair so that most but not all the water escapes easily.

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Posted: Tue Aug 10th, 2010 12:59 am

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astro46
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applianceman18007260692 wrote: Tilt the whole unit downward in the back a hair so that most but not all the water escapes easily.

thanks, i thought about doing this. of course it would have to be tilted enough so that the fan slinger couldn't contact the water. so then , why not let it all drain out?

also, getting it to tilt back seems like it involved repositioning case parts that fit in the window. currently it positions itself based on their placement.

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Posted: Wed Aug 11th, 2010 02:22 am

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jkirksey1889

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I would not recommend drilling any holes. For one it's made to sling some water and for 2 my neighbor just recently drilled right into the coils trying to do the same thing.

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Posted: Thu Aug 12th, 2010 09:49 pm

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jehiatt
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I had the same problem or worse and water was flowing down the inside wall. Dust/trash clogs the drain holes to the rear and someday will clog the drain holes out of the outside bottom pan. I drilled extra holes for the water to drain to the back pan side plus several more larger holes in the bottom of the outside pan.
No water is leaking down the inside wall this year.

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Posted: Thu Aug 19th, 2010 03:38 am

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applianceman18007260692
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You go drilling a hole just be sure you ain't near anythang vital to the containment of refrigerant gas. LoL. I have repaired a bunch of em. That dang thang would not drain I drilled a hole and heard a hiss. LOL

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Posted: Thu Apr 28th, 2011 07:39 pm

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ourstocks2002
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The slinger ring is used to sling water onto the condenser to increase cooling capacity and energy efficiency. Draining the water will help with the noise issue but it will also drop capacity and efficiency. But, since these units are so small you wouldn't likely notice the reduction in capacity or efficiency. A small percent of a small number is an even smaller number. With all these energy efficiency rulings, manufacturers are trying to find cheap ways to increase the energy efficiency ratings of their existing units. Putting water on the air-cooled condenser helps to reduce its life, another good benefit to manufacturers...With this said, you can put a drain hole to get ride of the water if it drives you crazy, just use common sense and be careful not to drill info the condenser.

Good luck!

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