Old Window AC units is a regional thing
In less corrosive areas collecting/using an old AC window unit makes more sense:
In the deep south an AC unit can see a lot of usage and humidity compared to say a Coastal California city.
A friend in Camarillo Calif had a early 1970's window AC unit he placed in a window only for the summer time, its usage was little thus the cost of operating not so bad.
Here in the deep south in my House still being rebuilt due to Katrina; my big 5 ton AC unit needs major repairs, thus I have several 10+ EER little 5500 BTUH units to "get by". Running one "little guy" wide open drops the humidity down in major way. Running 3 wide open is not enough on a hot day. One unit running wide open probably sees more hours here than a dryer/cooler area.
As far as how long a new AC unit lasts;
(1) a post Katrina fall 2005 GE 5500BTUH unit made in China lasted 2 years before fatigue failure and low gas.
(2) a post Katrina fall 2005 Maytag 5500BTUH unit made overeseas lasted 2 years before fatigue failure and low gas.
(3) a pre Katrina Whirlpool 5400 BTUH as "spare AC" installed in the Fall of 2005 still runs well, it is made in the USA but has an LG compressor.
(4) a pre Katrina Sears/Whirlpool 5200 BTUH unit installed in 1997 lasted until 2007 before replacement. The inner bushing on the fan would lock up, to oil it required removing it from the window, taking the whole unit apart. this was livable until a reoil would only last 3 weeks, the bushing was worn. One had all these crumbling styrofoam pieces. The outside aluminum fins were 1/2 gone due to salt air. An exact fit fan motor was over 100 bucks; thus the unit got scrapped.
(5) a Zenith (rebranded LG ) AC unit was bought in 2007 to replace (4); it works well and time will tell how long it lasts.
(6) A Sears (whirlpool) 8000 BTUH 9.7 EER AC unit I got in 1994 works well in a barn I have away from this area. It sees little usage; it has no corrosion issues. It has a chance of lasting decades. Its bearings are also easy to oil
(7) a AC unit is my business's shed is only used a few times a year. It is a late 1970's window AC 6000 BTUH unit with woodgrain. Its EER is about 6. Its usage is so low that replacement has no return. It has to have its fan oiled every few years, but is old school and the motors bearings are easy to get to.
As far as repairs; nobody locally can fix a window unit with low gas and it make any sense money wise.
With my businesses one window unit used for peak times; repairing the whirlpool box that has a 18,000 to 21,000 size was tried, and one spent more cost than a new AC unit. Thus with this unit one got use to buying one every 3 to 4 years; disposables. Even if one has the older unit "fixed" after years; the fins are usually a mess and disposible.
The super thin aluminum and salt air and high humidity makes for massive corrosion. The newer units that "splash back" condensed water on the outside coil seem to corrode way faster here. It is not just the repair cost here; it is fixing a unit that is degraded with missing fin area.
In the long term running a window ac unit is expensive compared to central air; and running a degraded one is worse. The degraded units just run more; put out less cooling and draw the same power.
Running a brand new 5500 BTUH window unit here wide open in the summer will use in 2 months the same cost in electricity as the units cost. ie one burns 100 bucks of electricity in 2 months with a 100 buck ac unit. With a unit low on gas or with degraded fins that are mostly gone, you still burn through 100 bucks worth of elecricity here in two months; but get 1/2 the cooling. A brand new unit recovers its cost in 1/2 year.
Running an old window AC unit here with an EER of 6 is like driving a car that gets 6 miles per gallon, maybe ok for "crusin the coast" with an old 1950's hot rod car, less practical on a daily basis.
In many window AC units here that I have removed for cleaning, the newer ones seem to be more disposable. ie thinner aluminum fins, water splash design for higher EER, GLUED IN STYROFOAM, pressed in pieces, riveted parts, inner bearing not easy to get to at all. A typical "failure mode" is the inner bearing has water enter; the steel shaft rusts and now it has little clearance in the brass bushing. One can spend 1 hour in time to take the whole unit apart to polish the shaft. Then one has to glue the broken styrofoam pieces; bolt the ground off riveted pieces. An older unit often was built with more fan area and non spashing and thicker fins and easy access to oil the fan motor.
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