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I want to secretly disable a window air conditioner. IE make it not be of
much use. Ideally I'd like to make it not cool and blow cold air anymore. Or
decrease it's effectiveness to cool air substantially.

My house mate uses the AC in his room often, thus jacking our electricity
bill up. To top it off, all of his money is blown away and he can never pay
his portion of the electric bill until the day we are to be cut off.

Aside from the obvious talking / discussing the issue, back to the main
question. How could I covertly make this window AC unit less desirable to
use and minimize it's effectiveness to cool? The ideal remedy would be one
that could be hidden and not figured out what happened, i.e. snipping wires
inside would be noticed upon inspection. I'm not sure how to drain coolant
on window ACs.

Any tips are appreciated. Thank you.

Johnny

Johnny wrote:

> I want to secretly disable a window air conditioner. IE make it not be of
> much use. Ideally I'd like to make it not cool and blow cold air anymore.
> Or decrease it's effectiveness to cool air substantially.
>
> My house mate uses the AC in his room often, thus jacking our electricity
> bill up. To top it off, all of his money is blown away and he can never
> pay his portion of the electric bill until the day we are to be cut off.
>
That countercurrents your aim. When you lower the efficiency, the thermostat
will keep it running longer and draw even more current. When you cut the
wires to the compressor, it will be like a simple fan with low power
consumption, but your mate will notice quickly. When you just "readjust"
the thermostat, he will still feel hot and change settings to achieve the
same rate of cooling (and power consumption).
You either have to _improve_ efficiency by regular maintainance (cleaning
the fins and filters) and keeping windows/door closed when the device is
working.

> Aside from the obvious talking / discussing the issue, back to the main
> question. How could I covertly make this window AC unit less desirable to
> use and minimize it's effectiveness to cool? The ideal remedy would be one
> that could be hidden and not figured out what happened, i.e. snipping
> wires inside would be noticed upon inspection. I'm not sure how to drain
> coolant on window ACs.
>
Do NOT make it leak. You may change fuses to a weaker type so they blow
every time the unit turns on, that would for sure annoy ...

Johnny wrote:

> I want to secretly disable a window air conditioner. IE make it not be of
> much use. Ideally I'd like to make it not cool and blow cold air anymore. Or
> decrease it's effectiveness to cool air substantially.
>
> My house mate uses the AC in his room often, thus jacking our electricity
> bill up. To top it off, all of his money is blown away and he can never pay
> his portion of the electric bill until the day we are to be cut off.
>
> Aside from the obvious talking / discussing the issue, back to the main
> question. How could I covertly make this window AC unit less desirable to
> use and minimize it's effectiveness to cool? The ideal remedy would be one
> that could be hidden and not figured out what happened, i.e. snipping wires
> inside would be noticed upon inspection. I'm not sure how to drain coolant
> on window ACs.

Your thinking about this has gone off track. Disabling the AC isn't
really the answer. The answer is to get the guy to cooperate willingly
or get someone else to help with expenses. Tell him you have someone
else who pays regularly that wants to rent the space and he needs to
decide if he's going to either change or get out. Tell him she's a
beautiful wahine and you'd rather have her as a roomate anyhow.

Johnny wrote:
> I want to secretly disable a window air conditioner. IE make it not
> be of much use. Ideally I'd like to make it not cool and blow cold
> air anymore. Or decrease it's effectiveness to cool air substantially.

Bad idea. Bad in concept and bad in execution.

> My house mate uses the AC in his room often, thus jacking our
> electricity bill up. To top it off, all of his money is blown away
> and he can never pay his portion of the electric bill until the day
> we are to be cut off.

You are describing your theory and evaluation of a fairness
inequity/discrepancy. Your assessment may not be correct.

> Aside from the obvious talking / discussing the issue, back to the
> main question. How could I covertly make this window AC unit less
> desirable to use and minimize it's effectiveness to cool? The ideal
> remedy would be one that could be hidden and not figured out what
> happened, i.e. snipping wires inside would be noticed upon
> inspection. I'm not sure how to drain coolant on window ACs.

You are not thinking properly, which also suggests that your earlier
assessment is more likely to be incorrect.

You aren't thinking properly as a fellow human being, you aren't
thinking properly as an AC technician, you aren't thinking properly as a
'criminal'/vandalizer, you aren't thinking properly as a lawyer.

If you were thinking better as a human being, you would seek a more
cooperative strategy. If you were thinking properly as an AC
technician, you wouldn't be trying to decrease AC efficiency to reduce
its power consumption. If you were thinking properly as a criminal
vandalizer you would realize the likelihood of your attempt at a covert
action to be discovered. If you were thinking properly as a lawyer, you
would realize the potential legal/ethical consequences of your act being
discovered.

One complicated resolution strategy which you and your roommate could
devise would be for you to think like a human being and a lawyer and an
accountant and establish an AC control cooperative.

You would determine in advance who is going to be 'in charge of' that
AC's thermostat or off/on status for all of the time periods for the
next month, say by the week. That is, week1 he is in charge, week2 you,
week3 he, week4 you, or some other division to make it completely fair.

At the conclusion of each week, the 'in charge' person has to pay an
amount equal to 1/4 of the previous month's electricity bill. This
accounting is to keep either of you from being behind on electricity
bill charges, and the AC control cooperative is so that he isn't in
total charge of it and so that you aren't in total charge.

There are other strategies which could be devised to solve some problems
with that strategy, such as the 'unfairness' of your being in charge of
the AC settings for a unit which is in someone else's room -- but the
recommended AC control cooperative would be more fair than his usurping
an unfair share of the electricity and your devising bizarre remedies.

Maybe your roommate sees your theory as to the inequities of his power
consumption compared to other inequities in the living arrangement in a
different light than you do. Maybe the whole scheme should be examined,
not just your theory of the AC power consumption.

--
Mike Easter

On Sat, 15 Sep 2007 22:42:33 -1000, "Johnny" <>
wrote:

>I want to secretly disable a window air conditioner. IE make it not be of
>much use. Ideally I'd like to make it not cool and blow cold air anymore. Or
>decrease it's effectiveness to cool air substantially.

"Secretely?" Hmmm, well, you could pull the cover off when he's not
looking and cut the coils.... that should do it.... Probably be a lot
cheaper to set his bed on fire and line his floor with a thick
grease....

>Any tips are appreciated. Thank you.
Chase him with a butcher knife... That usually gets him to move out
just as quick....

[Aragornelxii]

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][/FONT

You


You do seem to have a lot of very reasonable, ethical people on your case. I am the exception since I suffer from the constant noise of an air conditioner in the window of the next house, just feet from my window. It's operation prevents me from opening my window and makes being in my (small) room unpleasant--both because of the bothersome noise and because of the feeling of being imposed upon. If I had a way (without being caught) to destroy that air condiitoner, I would act without hesitation. I am thinking there must be something I could spray into the condensor from the back the would smell bad. I am not a bad or evil person, generally, but reasonable, responsible ways of dealing with this seem beyond me emotionally and practically.