Early 50s Voranado Window A/C

[combo52]

Found a really cool Voranado A/C in a house up in Queens NY while up there Saturday picking up another classic appliance, the neat thing was it was installed in a basement office and the outside of the A/C was in the utility room so it was not exposed to outside weather so it was not all rusted away.

 

They said it had not been run since the 70s but I plugged it in and it came to life and worked, Yay.

 

I will see if I can download a picture of it I took before I moved it.

 

[combo52]

Picture of A/C

And pictures of cleaning it up.

 

[combo52]

Photos Of A/C

That was actually fairly easy to load the photos, you guys may be in trouble as I may start adding pictures to my posts, LOL.

 

[gansky1]

Keep 'em coming, John!  The more pictures the better.

 

I've only seen pictures of those Vornado a/c units.  What a great find.

 

[supersuds]

Cool!

According to Ken Horan's blog, this is a 1954 model.

 

[combo52]

Vornado A/C site

Thanks for posting the neat site John, it looks like from the information on the site ours is a 52-53 model.

 

[toploader55]

Our Family Doctor in NJ had the same units in all the exam rooms. They were like a Walk in Cooler.

Look forward to more John ... Thanks

 

[a440]

Awesome Find John!
Does this have two separate motors for the outer and inner coil blowers? Is the "cold" side blower a "Squirrel cage" type blower?
Fun A/C!

 

[combo52]

Vornado Window A/C

Hi Brent, Yes and Yes, the inside fan motor has dual squirrel cage blower wheels.

 

The unit is very quiet overall and cools pretty well, but may be just a touch low on Freon-12. You can see it has never been worked on which is amazing in it self. These old Tecumseh compressors sometimes leak refrigerant around the compressor terminals, they still just had bolts going through rubber seals.

 

[a440]

Can't get over how great the shape of the unit is for it's age!

 

[turquoisedude]

Wow, John, that has to be 'THE' definitive vintage window air-conditioner for sure.  Congratulations on this outstanding find!

 

[norgeway]

Fantastic!

I bet once you service it it will be cold as ice!

 

[yogitunes]

what a unique unit....

a lot of these older units chill so well, they blow out frost!

 

[kimball455]

I remember the Vornado AC like this in Parker's TV shop in Cape May. It was one of the brands that they sold. Also, they were dealers for RCA TV and Capehart TV and other appliances.

Harry

 

[supersuds]

You're welcome for the link, John. PhilR first posted that site here. I love looking through it.

So the Tecumseh compressor was not as hermetic as they would have us believe? Maybe it isn't so surprising that Carrier kept using the belt driven "semi-hermetic" Coplematic compressor, then.

 

[sambootoo]

Love it! These old AC units fascinate me. I've seen ads for Vornado ACs but can't say that I've ever seen the real deal. Glad you got it!

 

[newvista58]

REALLY BITCHIN'

Vornado John. You have a great find there.
Good Luck.