Vintage Air Conditioners. The Holy Grail of vintage appliances?

[norgeway]

Re vintage AC current usage..

I still contend that even though the old ac's used more current...they were not really less efficent because the air coming out of them was so much colder than todays junk...in other words, the old air cond. would run much less than whats made today...just as a vintage dishwasher might use 12 to 15 gallons of water, but run only 35 to 45 minutes...water is still cheaper than electricity so in essence the old one is no less efficent than the new one that runs 2 hours and does nothing!...Robert and Fred, that Whirlpool is beautiful!! I guarantee you will get some ice cold air out of that!!

 

[philr]

Hans,

Among vintage units, there are some that have a poor EER, and others with a better EER. I think anything with an EER of 8 or more is fine, with less than that, it's better to either have cheap electricity rates or for occasional use. There are some older units with a surprisingly good EER. My 1974 Frigidaire pictured above has 9.6 which is almost as good as some new units. And it's built to last!

 

[lostasever]

What is this?

I bought this today and I can't figure out who made it.It looks like it was made for a car like an under the dash type deal. The box says it is a demonstration unit. It is in mint condition and works great.I was hoping someone here can shed some light on it.

 

[whirlcool]

Those were popular in the mid to late 50's. They are automotive evaporative coolers.
You put water in them and then mount them between the window and door frame and drive away. The ram air that comes in the front of the unit provides the cooled air.

These work well out west where there is little humidity. But in the deep south they don't work very well.

You usually see these things around vintge VW club meets. They are in high demand with vintage VW Bug enthusiasts.

 

[tolivac]

YES--Remember those--Dad bought one of those things to use in an old grey Hearse to haul us kids around--In New Mexico for those trips to our camp property near Pikes Peak.You had to pull a string sticking out of the unit to move the evaporator pads-as you did-you got a blast of cold water in your face.the unit cooled the front of the car well,but not the rear where us kids were.Sometimes we could sit in the front-if you sat by the unit in the window-you got to PULL THE STRING!!Funny how it says that the unit shown was made in Florida-the evaporative cooler would be USELESS there-in fact would make you even MORE miseable by adding even more humidity.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

1964 Norge

In the spring of 1964 my dad emptied the savings account to spend ~$325 on a 10,000 btu Norge window unit with a real wood detachable front. The unit performed flawlessly for over 35 years. It eventually would up as a 'loaner' to friends whose units broke and couldn't afford to replace theirs. My parents lost track of it about 10 years ago. For all I know it's still humming away in a window somewhere.

It cooled 3 upstairs bedrooms (sheet hanging at top of stairs) and kept 4 rooms downstairs 80-ish and dry.

When EER was introduced I followed the Sears catalogue instructions and got 7.5 for the Norge. That actually qualified as "High Efficiency" at the time (mid 70's?).

The only downsides were that the unit was HEAVY. It needed 2 guys to lift and a 3rd person to open/close the window, guide it into place, and prop it up with a log so it wouldn't rip the window frame out. The compressor was loud when it first kicked in but quieted down after a few minutes.

Now? I use 35lb 5,000 btu units that I can manage myself, lol.

Jim

 

[zippyjet]

Someone mentioned in this thread they had a GE or Hotpoint unit that cooled real well but the fan output was weak. Several years back, an HVAC repairman showed me a little trick to restore some cooling and operating efficiency in these units. The squirrel cage fan would accumulate dirt and gunk on each blade inside the cage. He took an old butter knife and cleaned off each blade. Then plugged the A/C unit in the outlet and turned it on. The unit put out like it was brand new increasing it's efficiency. If you want to see lots of pictures of old window a/c units go to Flickr.

http://https//www.flickr.com/photos/aircondman2

 

[philr]

Simon,

It's funny, you made a comment about my small RCA TV on Flickr just a few hours ago! 

 

Ken knows a lot about old air conditioners. 

 

You probably saw the picture of the last air conditioner I got last week. I really like it!

 

 

 



 

http://https//www.flickr.com/search/?q=aep-8mk&w=33723086@N02

 

[retro-man]

Thanks zippy for the link to the older a/c units. Remember a lot of those units growing up. One that I saw and had never seen is the unit that's part a/c on one side and a refrigerator on the other side, and each can be run together or on their own. Very interesting concept.
Jon

 

[shannaelyse]

Vintage air conditioners for sale?

Hey everyone! I'm doing a tv so set in 1973. I was wondering if anyone wanted to sell their late sixties, early seventies wall unit air conditioners to our show? I know this is a stretch but trying to cover all my bases since they are practically impossible to find. Feel free to email me: [email protected]

 

[artcurus]

Currently using a Friedrich KStar 6000BTU from 2006. I think it was the last of the units built in the US, it also uses R22.

It works pretty well, but we wont talk about the fact that I have to run the damn thing when it's 40 degrees outside because the roommate keeps the furnace on "cremate" if it drops below about 65 outside.

 

[wayupnorth]

I have an old Fedders that was installed over the door of my local market as a kid, so its well over 60 years old. It is about 4 feet long and 12 inches square and has the big round diffuser on the front and controls on the top. I plugged it in a couple years ago and it still poured freezing air out of it. I want to clear out that attic and if anyone here on AW wants it, they can have it, as I will never use it.

 

[coolair2112]

Vintage Front Panel

Hello,

I'm looking for a 1960's style front panel for a window air conditioner. I've been looking for over a year to find one for a project I'm doing. It will be used as a prop in an old 1963 Spy Van replica. See picture of what I'm looking for, something similar would be great! If you can help, I'd appropriate it! Thanks!

 

[zhinkle87]

I have a 1988 hotpoint porta-cool

100% complete, in still working order....if interested

 

[launderess]

Since this thread was resurrected from the dead

Would some kind soul (see what I did there?) explain how that Coldspot AC with a humidistat worked?

Find the concept genius, and as one sitting through a very humid early summer (but not necessarily overly warm) find the concept of a portable AC with humidity control separate from cooling fascinating.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

I do recall Sears sold one model (late 70's - early '80's?) in at least two sizes. There was an additional knob with two positions. One offered regular cooling and dehumidification. The other reduced cooling and higher dehumidification. '10' & '6' pop up in my head so I'm guessing on the high dehumidification setting cooling power went from 10,000 to 6,000 btu's. IIRC they were labelled "High Efficiency" as their EER was above 7.5. No, that's not a typo.

I remember finding that funny as calculated my parents' '64 Norge to have an EER of 7.4.

I still think it odd that it apparently never caught on in areas like the northeast where the humidity is a much a problem as the temperature.

 

[DADoES]

 
One of the 3yo-ish Friedrichs (18K) at work has a "Dry" function which hard-sets the fan speed at low.  No humidistat.

 

[launderess]

Think got my answer:

https://imold.us/humidistat-do-you-need-it-or-not/

 

[DADoES]

 
Higher-end central A/C system may have an electronic humidistat integrated into the thermostat.  Allows the homeowner to set a target humidity level.  However, the only way to reduce humidity is by running the cooling longer which drops the room temperature below the setpoint.  Multi-speed systems can compensate to a degree (LOL) by switching to lower speeds that more closely match the heat load so the compressor keeps running to wring moisture out of the air without lowering the temperature as much.

The parents have a two-speed system with humidity control.  A set-up parameter on the thermostat specifies how far below the temperature setpoint the system is allowed to run in an attempt to reach the humidity setpoint.  Dad tends to get chilled.  Mom asked me recently why does it get down to 74°F when set on 76°F.  2°F overrun allowance, and it was set at 45%.  The humidity setting is on a submenu.  Too complicated for them to find it.  I raised the % but left the overrun at 2°F.

 

[petek]

Not quite the same, but our Mitsubishi mini split has a dehumidify setting but no ability to set the humidity level. I only tried it the once and it ran on a low fan speed and cooled the house down pretty much as if it was just set on a low cool. I didn't check further to see if it was cycling on / off.