Anyone familiar with LG portable AC units?

[methusaleh]

The room that I want to cool has windows that necessitate a portable unit. I have never owned one before, only window-mounted units or central air.

I purchased this model of LG portable AC about a month ago.

The unit worked perfectly for about two weeks. Then one day after running for about an hour, the display read error message "E4". According to the manual, that means the coils are icing over...which is odd because the room air temp was around 77 degrees, and the unit had barely started to cool it down. In the past, I had run the AC all night with the room down to 68 degrees, and it never displayed an error. I emptied the water reservoir (it had about an ounce in there) and cleaned the filter, but that did not make a difference. The unit continues to go into "E4" error mode after running for a short time.

Does anyone have any ideas on what else I can check?

 

[bullwinkle]

If it is new-I would contact LG for warranty service-it likely has a freon leak or air flow problem.

 

[LeakySeals]

Its not a model issue. Portables are prone to icing because they habitate the same air they cool. A combination of things in play here.

Too many BTU's for the room size. Constant cycling on and off results in not enough air flow, freezing.

Fan on low to keep noise down. Not enough air flow.

Setting the AC temps too low. Should not be set below 70.

Letting the bucket fill up when the AC is on. Sometimes this causes issues with cycling.

Smoking can clog the filer and the evaporative coil. Use of a no rinse evaporative foam cleaner can help here. The shell should be removed to do this.

If none of this works there could be an issue, check warranty.

 

[Falken]

Had a bad experience with portable AC.

Don't bother purchasing, get a fine toothed saw and a keyhole saw and get good at making quarter inch plywood window installation boards.

You can use plexiglass too but plywood keeps outdoor noise out better... Always found Plexiglass made it sound like a window was left open.

The portable AC I bought required regular draining into the bathtub, the hookups were loose in the window with cheesy sliding panels. Also, the heat the unit itself makes, while it is generally sent out the window, still means you have a hot AC unit where you are trying to cool.

Portable AC isn't even good in theory, maybe it was just the unit I had... Also takes up floor space! And they cost a lot more! They can fall over on a kid!

Window mounted units are the best... Just take your time and install nicely and keep the window cutout for the following year.

 

[Cooker]

I cannot speak to the issue the original poster is having but I have been very happy with the two portable AC units I own.

 

[HerrStig]

A "split unit" would solve the problem, for sure. Half the moving parts are outside on a pad, nice and quiet.

 

[methusaleh]

Thanks for the suggestions folks!

It surely *IS* too large for the room size, but was the smallest model in stock at any store in the area.

The only windows in this room are, for lack of a better way to describe (I am not well-versed on building construction), upper-hinged casement windows. That is, the hinge is horizontal along the top, and they crank out from the bottom. There is no way that I can see to remove the glass from the "arm" that cranks it outward...I attempted to remove a pin that was part of the assembly, and only succeeded in breaking off the end of the "arm" where the hole was that retained the pin.

I am far from being described as a handyman, but a friend of mine who is a general contractor will be over next weekend to visit, I may just ask his advice. At this point in time we are considering just cutting a hole in the wall and permanently installing a quality window-mount unit. That is what my father did in the first house we lived in, and it worked for years.

 

[JakeJager]

I too am having this issue. The funny thing is, I didn't start seeing the E4 code till I cleaned the air filters (they had a lot of build up). Now it goes into defrost more every 15 minutes or so and won't cool the room as well as it used too. What can be done to mitigate the defrost cycle?

 

[ironman_gq]

Check the hot side coil (condensing coil). Had a portable ice up really bad a couple years ago, found that the condensing coil was completely plugged up with dust. There was no filter on it and the only way to access it was to remove the whole side housing of the unit, no mention of the procedure in the manual. Drained about a gallon of water out as the ice melted, unit works great now that I know to clean the condensing coil once in a while.