# Need help w/squealing screeching ac window unit



## ohiogirl (Jul 12, 2009)

Hi all, I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this and what they did about it... 

Anyhow, this air conditioner window unit is a large Comfort-Aire and it's been in this house since I lived here (3 years) and I don't know how much older than that it is. But it does have a really weird plug - like European or something - the prongs are too far apart to fit into a normal outlet and it's plugged into some sort of converter box, for what that's worth. 

Anyhow, for the past couple weeks it has gone through bouts of loud squealing and screeching in its cycle. Yesterday it was so bad that it sounded like it was going to self destruct.

When took it out of the window and set it on a flat surface, it stopped squealing and screeching completely. We sprayed some grease around the shaft where the fan & motor are, and put it back in the window. It seemed to be working fine. 

But when I tried to start it up today, it squealed and screeched so loud I turned it off right away. We took it out of the window again and it was better, but squealed and screeched mostly when turning it on, and worse as it was winding down after turning it off (on "low" fan setting). It doesn't seem to make any noises on "high" fan setting (previously I'd always used the "low" fan setting). So we put it back in the window on "high" fan setting, and for the past half hour or so it's been OK.

I'm afraid to turn it off again. I just know it's going to be bad, since we really didn't "do anything" to actually fix it. What could it possibly be? By the way, this is not a belt-driven machine. No belts. And it cools just splendidly - nothing wrong with the cooling. The compressor kicks on an off fine too. If anyone has had a similar problem, please let me know what you did to fix it! I really don't want to shell out $600 for a new one. 

Thanks in advance.


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## yuri (Nov 29, 2008)

Probably the motor bearings are worn and loose and the fan has movement(play) in it and may hit the shroud. It may have been running for a long time out of level in the window and worn the bearings in one direction. Sounds better on a level surface/table. May be a 220 volt unit as they use a larger plug. Not much you can do about it other than have a appliance repair tech look at it. May be better to invest the $$ in a new unit. Those units should be taken to a spray car wash and have the condensor coil cleaned properly . Also has the potential to overheat/smoke and burnout the motor if it gets worse. Not recommended to keep using it like that.


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