I turned on a room air conditioner for the first time today. It seems to be cutting in and out...compressor comes on, stops, there's a "click' (like a breaker or relay) and it comes on again for ten seconds. And on and on. It was working fine last year. Any simple answers and, if not, how much will the complicated answers cost? Thanks ds
That is referred to as "short cycling".
No.
My answer will cost you nothing. How much it will cost to repair your air conditioner will depend on the actual cause.
It could be a just defective compressor run capacitor ($30-$50+), a defective compressor overload protector ($15-$45), a defective compressor ($350+), a 'tight' compressor ($35-$45 for a hard start kit) or just bad voltage like caused by trying to run it on an extension cord ($0).
BTW. Allowing the compressor to continue to 'short cycle' will almost certainly damage the compressor (if it isn't already the cause). If that should happen it most likely will *not* be worth repairing.
Dan O.
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