Chrysler Airtemp

[toploader55]

We are having a very rare Hotspell here on Ol' Cape Cod. A friend of mine was in dire need of a good night sleep and does not have a Window A/C.
I bought this Chrysler Airtemp in 1970. I have not used it in about 9 years,so I plugged her in to see if she would still work and BINGO. She fired right up and is throwing Ice Cold Air !!!!

 

[toploader55]

Model HO7-91

Genuine Wood Grain on Steel

 

[toploader55]

6,500 BTU

This machine weighs in at about 95 lbs.

 

[toploader55]

37 Years Old

Still running and R-22 Refridgerant

 

[whitekingd]

I bought a Westinghouse Air Conditioner about 8 years ago from the St Vincent De Paul Thrift Store for $20. Heavy as hell, but it works wonderful. I use it every summer, when needed. Our summer here in the Pacific Northwest does not require it as of yet. (about 52 degrees at night,maybe 60 during the day. UUUUGGGGGHHHHH!) But they built them to last back then. Good for you for finding a great unit!!

 

[toggleswitch2]

Those are great and Q-U-I-E-T!

Unique how the front panel drops down and projects out a bit!

 

[jamiel]

My grandparents had one of these in their family room. In a sleeve through the wall. The front panel design was inspired...you could collapse the front to be virtually flush with the wall, then just pull open the louvers and the front and be ready to go.

Funny story. I was visiting them sitting one hot afternoon in that family room with that a/c blasting. They had an exhaust fan in the wall between the family room and their bedroom (to pull the cool air in). I got so distracted with that fan pinwheeling (my grandfather was napping) that I kept switching it on and off...my grandfather got so provoked. Nice memory.

 

[washerboy]

No AC? OMG!!!!

what is life like without AC? I turned my window units on sometime in mid to late april. The bigger unit in the front of the house runs almost 24/7...of course there is someone home all the time..either two legged four legged. We have so much pollen and dust down here that opening the windows and running the attic fan is a disaster. If the pollen does'nt plug up your nose; cleaning the dust and dirt that's sucked in will. There's also that issue of everyting getting stickey...furniture, hardwoods and sometimes the tile will swet.

 

[oldhouseman]

I understand there is a heatwave

in the Northeast. It was 101 here in middle georgia last Saturday. My partner keeps a window unit in his bedroom but the rest of the house has no AC. We have high ceilings and a center hall. The house stays around 73-75 degrees when it hits 100 outside. Really old houses are great for staying cool in the summer. I can wear comfortable clothes and keep the shutters closed during the day to maintain that 30 dollar electric bill. It hits around 70 to 80 dollars with that little window unit running at night in July and August.

 

[whirlcool]

I asked a few old timers down here in Houston what people did before air conditioning.
They said that you had to leave your shoes out to "air" after wearing them so they wouldn't mold in the closet. Some people had a light bulb burning continuously inside their closets to keep mildew down (the heat from the bulb was susposed to do this). When you hung clothes out to dry in the middle of summer, it took most of the day for them to dry.
A lot of houses built back as recent as the 1940's had high ceilings and ceiling fans to assist with the air circulation.

To tell you the truth, I just wouldn't be able to stand it!

Oh yes, back to this thread:
Yes those Chrysler Airtemp a/c units were excellent. Also their automotive a/c units were some of the coldest around. I seem to remember that Chrysler Airtemp was one of the leaders in air conditioner models for casement windows too.

 

[toploader55]

When I was 16

I worked for an Appliance Store that sold Chrysler Airtemp.The smaller window series was called the "Tempette". The Deluxe series was the "Imperial" line. The "Custom" series were A/C and Heat Pumps in the winter. The "Titan" series started at 18,000BTU and went as high as 33,000 BTU. Those Titans on the coldest setting could keep a house at 58 degrees when it was 95 outside. They were sooooo energy efficient back then. (Yeah,Right) LOL. They also made Casement units and Horizontal Sliding window units. I have an Old Brochure somewhere that I'll try to dig up.

 

[gansky1]

How fun to see again.

My grandparents had this exact unit in a bedroom upstairs. It didn't ever get used except after 9 PM to cool the room down before bed. I loved the front panel and was always impressed that it said "Chrysler" on the outside. They had a giant Norge in the living room wall that cooled the entire main floor. Air conditioning was only allowed to be turned on in the late afternoon and run through the night - if the heat and humidity warranted it. Usually the Norge was turned off at 10:30 PM. Now I know they were born before a/c and didn't have a house with electric service until they moved to Omaha during WWII, there were no air conditioned schools when I was young - and no "early out" days because of hot weather, but I don't think I could do it anymore...I'll keep my Bryant running day and night, May through October!

 

[MikeS]

Airtemp Was The Best Car A/C EVER!

Chrysler's work with Airtemp was worth it. It was true status in the 1960's to own a Chrysler-made car with the rear window sticker telling passers-by that it was Airtemp equipped. Our family's 1962 Chrysler Newport easily froze you out on a sweltering hot day, and gave you the choice of recirculated or fresh air. Ditto our '69 Newport. And of course, the push button a/c system that seemed to be a Chrysler trademark. But you had to learn a few tricks: Max a/c was recirculated air; plain a/c was conditioned fresh air; and you had to pull out the plain a/c button for power ventilation.
Those were the days when Chrysler's engineering heritage actually stood for something.

 

[toploader55]

The Fold Out Front

That's what they called it. Open

 

[toploader55]

And...

Closed. They told you in the Owner's Manual that the "Closed" Position would keep out the Winter Drafts.

 

[toggleswitch2]

It's a GE *Custom Manhattan* Model. LOL

Mom's house had a 73/74 Sears Coldspot in the wall.

23,000 BTU/h (5.75 rooms @ 4,000 BTU per room)
220 volts 30amp line, 3,833 watts. Huge plug like a U.S dryer!

6.0 EER Energy Efficiency Ratio (i.e. BTU/watt)
6 is awful
10 to 12 is average and above that is nice.

EER can be misleading. States how much heat is moved per watt fo power, but doed not tell at all about dehumidification. Less efficient EERs tend to mean smaller coils. Smaller inside coil (evaporator) means a cooler coil which means better dehumdifications. And in my climate is ALL about dehumidification.

Two GE carry cools handled the larger bedrooms. My room had one window, so NO A/C for me! IIRC it was 4 to 6k BTU/h. Noisy suckers, but it was better than heat! Nice Lexan (plastic) cabinet meant they lasted over 30 years!

Anyhoo....here is a vinatage unit or two I ran across today during the appraisal process. Enjoy!

 

[toploader55]

Hey Toggle

Is that a Webilt or a GE ? Welbilt had the same or very close design.

 

[toploader55]

Nice

Wood Grain Paneling Install. Reminds me when I was a Teenager

 

[DADoES]

It's a GE. The branding can be seen in middle of the chrome strip. Also says "Custom [something]" on the right side.

 

[toggleswitch2]

It's a GE *Custom Manhattan* Model. LOL

 

[toggleswitch2]

There seems to be a currently existing aspect ratio (length to width) of modern-day A/Cs. Anyone awar of this or know what it is?

Looks like that older GE pictured "grew" to a maximum width and then sprouted taller than today's units would have. I wonder if this was to enable instalation in a narrower window. Love those three circular air-vent directional wheels. Sorta reminds me of the Fedders brand singular wheel which directed conditioned air in any direction around, but not into the room.

Growing up the only GE brand in my parents' house was the two Carry-cool winow A/Cs..... well unless you count the Hotpoint brand fridge in coppertone.

 

[Cybrvanr]

I thought GE air conditioners all used the "spine fin" coils. That one has regular style coils in it. That looks similar to the zone-line heat pumps that were installed in my grandparents home.

Does anyone have anything on the GM-Frigidaire air conditioners?

 

[toggleswitch2]

Mildew, BTW, is simply mold on fabrics.

~They said that you had to leave your shoes out to "air" after wearing them so they wouldn't mold in the closet. Some people had a light bulb burning continuously inside their closets to keep mildew down (the heat from the bulb was susposed to do this).

It's actually also the light, IIRC.

I've also seen tiny little anti-mold/mildew fans (don't recall if they had tiny heaters as well) with a standard Edsion light-bulb screw-base intended for a closet's lamp/lighting socket.

FAN in conjunction with LIGHT + HEAT all work in unison to prevent mold and mildew.

I had never seen louver doors on a closet until I went to (hot, humid) Florida. Helps with circulation.

http://www.oznet.k-state.edu/library/hous2/mf2141.pdf

 

[toggleswitch2]

~I thought GE air conditioners all used the "spine fin" coils. That one has regular style coils in it.

Depends. Maybe this one was before that design, or it's made by Welbilt and badged GE.

My Trane brand central air-condtioner has spine-fin style coils. Foundt hat odd, in that it is a GE "thing" (tradition). Learned that Trane is today's branding of what was American-Standard brand which was GE's central air-condtioning line.

I stumbled across why the spine-fin type of coil is supposedly superior in design and engineering, but can't find it readily now to post.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Eureka!

TRANE Spine Fin™ Coils: Innovative design offers low airflow resistance and greater heat transfer for enhanced efficiency that remains as the system ages. Spine Fin Coils also won’t corrode like standard coils.

TRANE AlumaTuff® Coils: Rust and corrosion resistant, it prevents pinhole leaks in the indoor coil, that often occur when aluminum and copper are combined.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Anyone have a pic (or details)of a Philco (Ford) A/C? Those were supremely quiet as well as the Chrysler Airtemps.

 

[gansky1]

I was trying to think if I had a picture of our Philco in the living room window but can't remember any offhand. Ours was gray metal with rounded corners (making installation in a squared window a treat) a white/cream plastic grille inside and a single thumb-wheel control. It was my grandparent's first but I don't know when it was from. In 1982, we bought a Montgomery Ward window a/c and gave the Philco to a neighbor. They dropped it out of a second-story window trying to install it and that was the end of the Philco.

My mother had the Fedders with the single wheel vent in her bedroom. It ran very well and cooled the room to what felt like near freezing. When I was about 14 or so, I brought home a small RCA Whirlpool I'd seen on someone's porch and asked for. They told me it wouldn't keep running for long, so I brought it home, cleaned it and oiled the fan. It ran perfectly after that and my bedroom was air conditioned!

 

[fa_f3_20]

I recall that where I live, in the '60s before retail moved from downtown to the shopping malls, these Airtemps were a popular choice for downtown businesses. Nearly all the retail establishments had air conditioning by this time; it was a way of attracting business since there were still a lot of homes that didn't have it. Usually smaller shops stuck them in the transom over the front door. Smarter business owners knew to attach a length of garden hose to the drain outlet on the outside and run it down the wall to the sidewalk, so that customers coming in wouldn't get dripped on. But then the condensate water running out of the hose and across the sidewalk created a slippery spot. The city wouldn't let them dig up the sidewalk to run the condensate to the curb, so unless there was a downspout nearby to plumb it into, they were stuck with that.

We had two window units at our house. The living room one was an RCA Whirlpool; I recall that it got cold and blew a lot of air, but it was noisy even on low speed. There was another unit in the den, which might have been a Coldspot; I don't remember for sure. To turn it on, you had to push one of the "fan" buttons and let the fan start up before you pushed a "cool" button; if you didn't, it would blow a fuse. It didn't move as much air but it was much quieter. My mom didn't like the noise from the Whirlpool, so it was shut off at night and the Coldspot was left on low. However, it usually froze on low, so in the morning it would have to be turned off for a while.

Unlike most of the '60s era of window units which had squirrel-cage fans, the Coldspot had a prop-type fan, right behind the intake grille. One day my dad had the grille off to clean the filter. I was sitting on the couch underneath the window that the Coldspot was in. I reached back and accidently stuck my finger in the fan. Much to everyone's surprise, including my own, it merely stalled the fan and didn't hurt my finger at all. After that, I used to dare neighborhood kids who came over to stick their fingers in the fan, whenever I could get the front off without Dad catching me.

 

[veg-o-matic]

Westinghouse

wants to "touch it".
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[toploader55]

Wow

Similar Stories.
We had the Fedders Round wheel in my parent's bedroom. We blocked off the hall with a sheet of "Masonite", and cooled 3 rooms with that A/C. It did feel like freezing.
When I was about 14 a friend of mine in Jr. High said they had a Whirlpool that the compressor wouldn't start. I got my Dad to help me bring it home, and plugged it in and it fired right up. My friends wiring couldn't give it enough to turn over. I think it was an 8,000 BTU. I put it in the Kitchen and Mom was freezing while she made dinner in July.
Oh by the way, I have to look for some Philcos. gregm sent me some pics back in March. I'll go look for them.