Ask This Old House TVSeason 12 Tom demonstrates many uses for a router. Richard replaces an air conditioning unit that freezes when it runs. And the guys ask "What Is It?" Using a RouterTom demonstrates the many uses for a wood router. Where to find it?Tom demonstrated a trim router, designed for one-hand use, and a standard router with a fixed-base and a plunge base. He also demonstrated several router bits including:• Straight-cutting bits• Flush-cutting bits• Roman-ogee bit Wood routers and accessories are available at home centers and specialty woodworking shops.Tom shows some plastic discs that are the size of a quarter, and the guys try to guess their intended use.StickNFind Stickers allow any tagged item to be located using a smartphone or tablet. Frozen Air ConditionerRichard troubleshoots an air conditioning coil that freezes up with use.Richard replaced a 4-ton air conditioner with a more appropriately sized 3-ton air conditioner. Expert assistance on this project was provided by Papalia Plumbing and Air Purchases.

Ask TOH TV PartnersIt’s a strange sight to walk outside and see your air conditioner caked in ice. If this happens, odds are you woke up and your house seemed a bit warm, and only then you noticed that your air conditioner was frozen. Regardless of the order in which you discovered your A/C unit was frozen, the fine technicians of B.R. McGinty are here to explain the possible causes of why your gift from the gods of home comfort—your air conditioner—has frozen and is no longer pumping that cooling goodness into your home.best portable ac units reviews The first possible cause could be that there is poor air circulation in your air conditioning unit. cleaning an outside air conditioning unitIf there is restricted air flow around your A/C system’s evaporator coil, this will cause the temperature in the system to drop well below freezing. split ac unit size

Combine that with the existing moisture in the air and you have a recipe for a frozen air conditioner. The restriction in air flow could be caused by a dirty air filter, clogged ducts, inefficient blower motors, and even debris built up on the all-important evaporator coil. Next on the list of possibilities is a refrigerant leak or low levels of refrigerant in the line. The decrease of air pressure in the evaporator coil will cause the humidity in the air to freeze over the coil, as opposed to a line where the refrigerant is distributed evenly throughout the system so that that the moisture in the air won’t collect over one portion of the line and freeze. Lastly, if you are running your air conditioner during these cool autumn nights which are generally around the 60°F mark, there is a strong possibility that the internal systems of your A/C could freeze up overnight. We suggest that when the temperature hits 60°F at night to avoid running the air conditioner as much as possible to avoid any freezing issues.

If your air conditioner has frozen, immediately switch off the power and let it defrost. After it has thawed out and you notice that your air conditioning system is not functioning properly, call a trusted B.R. McGinty technician to take care of your problem at 501-847-6800 or fill out this simple form.Step 1: Cutting out the partsShow All ItemsHow do I know if my air conditioner needs Freon?Some signs of this include the air conditioner being turned up to the highest setting, but barely producing any cold air, or cold air not coming out at all. Another sign is if large amounts of water are leaking from the air conditioner's air handler. An additional sign that an air conditioner may need Freon is if the unit's pipes freeze over or if the unit's outside lines frost over inside of the condenser. Freon is used to transfer heat from inside a building. After it absorbs the heat, it transfers the hot air outside to cool the air down. The cooler air is transported back inside the building, and the process repeats itself.

The Freon inside the unit continuously circles through the system, so the air conditioner does not need regular refilling. If the air conditioner is low on Freon, it is most likely caused by a leak in the unit. An air conditioner should receive an HVAC tune-up at least once a year to help prevent leaks from occurring. The best time to schedule a tune-up is in the spring before cooling companies become booked with summer orders. What are some troubleshooting tips for an AC unit? How much does installing solar panels in your home cost? What are Luxaire heat pumps? How do you locate the serial number on a Lennox heating system? Ice storage air conditioning is the process of using ice for thermal energy storage. This is practical because of water's large heat of fusion: one metric ton of water (one cubic metre) can store 334 megajoules (MJ) (317,000 BTU) of energy, equivalent to 93 kWh (26.4 ton-hours). Ice was originally obtained from mountains or cut from frozen lakes and transported to cities for use as a coolant.

The original definition of a "ton of cooling capacity" (heat flow) was the heat needed to melt one ton of ice in a 24-hour period. This heat flow is what one would expect in a 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) house in Boston in the summer. This definition has since been replaced by less archaic units: one ton HVAC capacity is equal to 12,000 BTU per hour. A small storage facility can hold enough ice to cool a large building from one day to one week, whether that ice is produced by anhydrous ammonia chillers or hauled in by horse-drawn carts. Ground freezing can also be utilized; this may be done in ice form where the ground is saturated. Systems will also work with pure rock. Wherever ice forms, the ice formation's heat of fusion is not used, as the ice remains solid throughout the process. The method based on ground freezing is widely used for mining and tunneling to solidify unstable ground during excavations. The ground is frozen using bore holes with concentric pipes that carry brine from a chiller at the surface.

Cold is extracted in a similar way using brine and used in the same way as for conventional ice storage, normally with a brine-to-liquid heat exchanger, to bring the working temperatures up to usable levels at higher volumes. The frozen ground can stay cold for months or longer, allowing cold storage for extended periods at negligible structure cost. Replacing existing air conditioning systems with ice storage offers a cost-effective energy storage method, enabling surplus wind energy and other such intermittent energy sources to be stored for use in chilling at a later time, possibly months later. The most widely used form of this technology can be found in campus-wide air conditioning or chilled water systems of large buildings. Air conditioning systems, especially in commercial buildings, are the biggest contributors to peak electrical loads seen on hot summer days in various countries. In this application, a standard chiller runs at night to produce an ice pile. Water then circulates through the pile during the day to produce chilled water that would normally be the chiller's daytime output.

A partial storage system minimizes capital investment by running the chillers nearly 24 hours a day. At night, they produce ice for storage and during the day they chill water for the air conditioning system. Water circulating through the melting ice augments their production. Such a system usually runs in ice-making mode for 16 to 18 hours a day and in ice-melting mode for six hours a day. Capital expenditures are minimized because the chillers can be just 40 - 50% of the size needed for a conventional design. Ice storage sufficient to store half a day's rejected heat is usually adequate. A full storage system minimizes the cost of energy to run that system by entirely shutting off the chillers during peak load hours. The capital cost is higher, as such a system requires somewhat larger chillers than those from a partial storage system, and a larger ice storage system. Ice storage systems are inexpensive enough that full storage systems are often competitive with conventional air conditioning designs.

The air conditioning chillers' efficiency is measured by their coefficient of performance (COP). In theory, thermal storage systems could make chillers more efficient because heat is discharged into colder nighttime air rather than warmer daytime air. In practice, heat loss overpowers this advantage, since it melts the ice. Air conditioning thermal storage has been shown to be somewhat beneficial in society. The fuel used at night to produce electricity is a domestic resource in most countries, so less imported fuel is used. Also, studies show that this process significantly reduces the emissions associated with producing the power for air conditioners, since in the evening, inefficient "peaker" plants are replaced by low-emission base load facilities. The plants that produce this power often work more efficiently than the gas turbines that provide peaking power during the day. As well, since the load factor on the plants is higher, fewer plants are needed to service the load.

A new twist on this technology uses ice as a condensing medium for the refrigerant. In this case, regular refrigerant is pumped to coils where it is used. Rather than needing a compressor to convert it back into a liquid, however, the low temperature of ice is used to chill the refrigerant back into a liquid. This type of system allows existing refrigerant-based HVAC equipment to be converted to Thermal Energy Storage systems, something that could not previously be easily done with chill water technology. In addition, unlike water-cooled chill water systems that do not experience a tremendous difference in efficiency from day to night, this new class of equipment typically displaces daytime operation of air-cooled condensing units. In areas where there is a significant difference between peak day time temperatures and off peak temperatures, this type of unit is typically more energy efficient than the equipment that it replaces. Thermal energy storage is also used for combustion gas turbine air inlet cooling.