I'm experimenting with a 5000 BTU window air conditioner to heat a small work room in my shop. The "outside" part is in the bigger area of my shop where it was 57 degrees. I put the temperature sensor in a can of warm water to fool it into coming on. I am getting lots of heat this way and it seems to work as well as a 5000 BTU heater I normally use.
Problem is, after about 45 minutes the cold side freezes up completely. Information I read from other people said this should work well down to at least 45 degrees. Why is this thing freezing up at 57? Humidity was only at 64%. I can only assume the problem will get worse as the outside temperature drops.
This unit uses R410a and the evaporator looks smaller than what I've seen on older R22 units. Is that the problem? Would an older unit work better for this?
