Got a 1988 Hotpoint Porta-Cool A/C

[ken]

My niece and her boyfriend are renting a house not too far from me. The house was the landlords (who lives next door) parents. He didn't remove anything from the house before he rented it. It still had clothing in the closets and canned food in the kitchen cabinets. He said to throw out anything they didn't want. My niece boxed up a lot of kitchen stuff and put it in the basement. I went over and ended up with a few boxes of things. I also got two 1980s (Windmere & Tatung) 12" oscillating fans (more on them later) and the Hotpoint Porta-Cool which, as I understand, is a brother to the GE Carry-Cool.

It was pretty dusty but seemed to work fine. Not being that familiar with window A/C units (never had one before this one) I thought there was some kind of obstruction when I first ran it as the air was coming out only from the right side. After finding a YT video showing these spine fin units I see this is normal. I took the housing covers off and cleaned it up. Wasn't all that dirty inside. The foam filter behind the intake grille disintegrated when I touched it. Definitely smelled much better after cleaning. Its a 5200 btu. Build date is 3/88. The round Hotpoint emblem from the outer cover was missing unfortunately. All the pics are after cleaning.

 

[pulltostart]

I always thought those were pretty neat window units.  I had a roommate who bought the GE version and it did a decent job of cooling.  I think it was a 5000 BTU model and ran off 110v power.

That one looks like it cleaned up very nicely.  Congratulations!

lawrence

 

[petek]

I had a GE carry cool verion. I lent it to my nephew with the specific order that I wanted it back eventually if it broke etc.. A couple of years later when I asked , he told me it had broken and he dumped it.. Lesson: NEVER LEND YOUR STUFF TO NON VINTAGE LOVING PEOPLE EVER.

 

[ken]

Lawrence...Thanks. Did clean up well.

Pete...I don't understand why people can't remember what they're told. Especially concerning something they're borrowing from someone else. What would have been so difficult about giving the A/C back like you stated?! [this post was last edited: 8/28/2018-15:30]

 

[turquoisedude]

Very nice, Ken!   I have a soft spot in my heart for the 'Carry Cool' and 'Porta Cool' air conditioners... I have one that Phil found for me a few years ago, but I haven't ever actually used it! 

Pete, I had a similar experience happen to my with my idiot brother... I lent him a pristine 1978 Hotpoint window A/C and after 5 years using it, he calls me to say it was broken and that I could have it back. It wasn't just broken, captain A-Hole had dropped it out of a second-story window.  Sheesh!!

 

[supersuds]

Thanks for the great pictures, Ken. Looks like this model had a pretty good EER. Some of the early ones were about 5 instead of 8.7 like yours.

 

[cuffs054]

I had a PortaCool that I nursed along with a bad fan motor. I tried what sources I had to get a new motor but no go at the time. I left it in the house when we moved. It did a great job when it was working.

 

[cycla-fabric]

Good Job...

Hey Ken, Good job with the Porta-Cool unit, they were good units and did a good job on cooling. I have rescued quite a few of these units , cleaned them up and gave them to my son up in Maine. I have 2 one a GE and the other a Hotpoint, took them apart and cleaned them up. They come in handy too, when the central AC unit goes on the blink as it did this year(don't get a Goodman AC, they stink). Again good job, the unit will last forever with proper care.

Doug

 

[ken]

Paul...You should give yours a test run before cold weather sets in.

Doug...Thanks. One nice thing about them is the all plastic housing. Never have to worry about any rusting.

 

[DADoES]

 
Wow, I've not before seen one of those disassembled so I don't have a comparison for condition for it looks like new to me.  The plastic construction is a plus if it holds up to UV exposure on the long-term.

 

[ken]

If I had to venture a guess Id say it probably wasn't used much judging by the light amount of dirt it had inside. Wanted to mention Ive seen two others like this on YT that were equipped with the flat blade fan both inside and outside like the black one shown on the condenser side above. Funny thing though one was older and the other newer than mine but both used the flat blade fan in both locations. Maybe the curved blade design was used because it moved more air?

 

[wayupnorth]

I still have an old Carry Cool from the mid 70's in the attic. Used to cool great but now fan runs and it just cycles the compressor on and off. I am thinking it is out of refrigerant as I have had auto a/c's do the same thing. But my 30 year old Frigidaire is turning the bedroom into meat locker temperature. At 7:30 pm, it is still in the high 80's and dew point of 70 here, and its already dark outside.

 

[cfz2882]

fan design

I think the higher capacity porta-cools use the radial evap. fan,while lower cap use propeller fan indoors.All 5 of mine,3x1977,1980,1987 all have prop fans of clearish plastic except the 1987 is black.Inner structure on these is molded fiberglass,while outer is polypropylene.Newest porta-cool I have seen was from 1991.