What's wrong with my window AC?

Question

It starts up fine but then after a few minutes it hardly blows any cool air...

Answer 1

make sure filter is clean, and thermostat is set too cold.

Answer 2

either low on freon and you need to get it recharged. The worst and a good possibility is a bad a/c compressor. Just try the freon recharge first since it's cheaper and if it works great and if not you know what it is, compressor.

Answer 3

Check the filter.

Answer 4

Sounds like the freon in it has gone away.  When you have it off, the freon condenses, maybe?  And then after a while, it becomes a gas again, but it's not enough?  

Usually if this is the case, then you have a leak somewhere and the freon is mostly gone already.  Take it to a service center and have it looked at.  If it doesn't have a leak, then it's OK to recharge it.  But if it's cracked or has an unfixable leak, don't reuse it, because the freon will just go bye-bye again.  

I assume you've checked that the filter isn't all plugged up and that the fans are blowing nicely.