LG Air Conditioner - The smell gets worse when it's not running under the cooling mode. It smells while the appliance is running in the fan mode.

■ Title

-   The smell gets worse when it's not running under the cooling mode. It smells while the appliance is running in the fan mode.

■ Problem

- odor

■ Symptom

-  Mold/musty smell

■ Possible Cause

-  The fan mode works in different mechanism compared to the cooling mode, which the users may perceive as more smelly.

■ Solution or Settings

▶  Cause of the odor

1)     During the cooling mode? (Outdoor unit   in operation)

     : When cold air is supplied to the heat exchanger, it discharges cool air.

The odor particles are included within the moisture and the air  inside the room.  The low temperature of the discharged air slows down the spread of the odor particles

 and many of the particles are discharged with the condensate water. For this reason the users cannot smell the odor.

2) During the fan mode   ? (Outdoor unit   not in operation)

   : When the cold air is not discharged(during the fan mode) , the supply of cold air into the heat exchanger stopped  and the lukewarm fan wind is discharged.

       During the fan mode, it does not form condensate and the condensate water on the heat exchanger is evaporated and discharged to the room again.

      At this time, the odor particles are not discharged out of the product with condensate, but come out with the evaporated air.

The higher the temperature, the faster the speed that the odor spreads, that is, the spread of the odor particles speeds up.

Then the odor particles flow into the room within fan wind as the room temperature increases during the fan mode.

For this reason the users will perceive it as more smelly when its under the fan mode.

▶  During the cooling mode(the compressor in operation)

→ Before turning   off the air conditioner , use  [fan mode] or [auto clean] function to dry off the indoor heat exchanger for more than 10 minutes.

▶  Clean the filter inside the air conditioner.  

For wall-mounted air conditioners, the way of removing the pre-filter differs by how the front panel is assembled.

1. Panel located on the front position (Filter located on the front)

    -  Lift up the front panel and take out the filter.

    - Clean the filter using a vacuum cleaner or soft brush. If it is badly contaminated, wash it with a neutral detergent.

     -Dry the filter under a shade of an airy place avoiding direct sunlight and reassemble it to the appliance.

* Deodorizing filter and TVF filter are applied depending on the model.

  Depending on the features of the applied filter, some filters cannot be cleaned with water and need to be replaced on a regular basis.

2. Panel located on the top position (Filter located on the top) : filter on the top air intake vent.

  - Lift up the front panel and take out the filter.

  - Clean the filter using a vacuum cleaner or soft brush. If it is badly contaminated, wash it with a neutral detergent.

  - Dry the filter under a shade of an airy place avoiding direct sunlight and reassemble it to the appliance.

* Deodorizing filter and TVF filter are applied depending on the model.

  Depending on the feature of the applied filter, some filters cannot be cleaned with water and need to be replaced on a regular basis.

▶  Clean inside the air conditioner (heat exchanger)

    Remove the filter from the appliance   and prepare the citric acid water : dilute commercially available citric acid  with water at a ratio of 1 (citric acid): 10 (water), 

    and sprinkle this water sufficiently on the indoor heat exchanger.   

    After that, run the cooling mode with the desired temperature set to 18 ℃ for 20 to 30 minutes.  

    This will reduce the odor as the o dor particles and foreign substances in the product are washed with citric acid water  and condensate to be discharged from

    the product.  

※ Avoid using commercially available air conditioner cleaners, cleaning fluids or fragrant deodorants.  

    It may damage the product or worsen the smell.

■ LG Electronics service provides disassembly and cleaning of products at a cost.

   Once a professional engineer pays a visit, he/she will inspect the product first and provide a cleaning service according to the condition of the product.

   The cost may vary depending on the cleaning area and the contamination level, such as simple filter cleaning, non-disassembly cleaning, air blowing fan

   disassembly cleaning and the complete product disassembly cleaning.

■ Summary

The fan mode works in different mechanism compared to the cooling mode, which the users may perceive as more smelly.

- Solution -  

1. Lower the desired temperature to run the cooling mode.

2. Before turning   off the air conditioner , use  [fan mode] or [auto clean] to dry off the indoor heat exchanger for more than 10 minutes.

3. Clean and replace the air filter and other functional filters on a regular basis according to the maintenance manual.

4. If the product smells bad, turn off the appliance and remove the filter. Prepare the citric acid water : dilute commercially available citric acid with water at a ratio of

    1 (citric acid): 10 (water),  and sprinkle this water sufficiently on the indoor heat exchanger.   

- The End -