Vintage Air Conditioners. The Holy Grail of vintage appliances?

[warmsecondrinse]

Yeah, there're two different things things here. The Sears units I referred to functioned differently when set to 'Lo Cool/Hi Dehumid' It would physically wring more water and remove less heat than when set to 'regular' a/c.

As far as humidistats attached to regular air conditioners, as seems to be the case in #157 and 158..... yeah, I agree. It's rather silly because the compressor kicks in according to humidity rather than temp but the same thing happens.

When my parents replaced their perfectly functioning '67/'68 Coleman furnace for no apparent reason I managed to persuade them to have a thermostat installed that allowed the fan and electronic air filter to run independently. They loved using that with the dehumidifier running in the basement... Nice and dry without running an a/c unit in addition to the dehumidifier that was running anyway. All was well in the world. For a while.....

Boring conclusion to that tale below. Feel free to skip.

Fast forward 10 years: This second furnace developed unspecified 'problems' and 'had' to be replaced for unspecified reasons. I was up there for a visit just before the third one was to be installed. I reminded them to make sure to get the kind of thermostat so they could run the fan with dehumidifier...etc....etc... as they liked doing. They looked at me as if I was crazy, told me they'd never heard of such a thing, then flipped and told me they 'didn't do that sort of thing (wtf?). Each attempt at getting clarity resulted in less coherence from them so I dropped it.' I didn't realize it at the time but that was a preview of coming attractions.

 

[launderess]

Seem to recall

Reading owners manuals for air conditioners years ago (or maybe it was CR?) where it was suggested during warm and very humid weather to set fan speed to "low", and adjust cool to a temperature that suited. Idea was that low fan speed allowed indoor air longer contact with condenser to wring out more moisture.

Can do that with my modern Friedrich (one of the last still made in Texas), but usually have it set to "Energy Saver" which cycles fan on and off with condenser. From what one has seen however this AC doesn't vary fan speed to suit indoor humidity conditions.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

Unless there's some kind of change with compressor operation, they seem to be more marketing gimmicks than anything else.

I recall mention in another thread a few years back that the fan consumes a very small portion of an a/c unit's total electrical usage. Given that when the fan turns off air circulation is reduced thereby picking up less moisture from the sweating individuals. The natural response is then to lower the temperature so the compressor and fan run more. It was suggested that turning the 'power saver' off so the fan ran constantly would allow the thermostat set to a higher temp so the compressor ran less often, thereby actually saving energy compared with use of the 'power saver'. The caveat is that this would only apply when the humidity is extremely high and is responsible for as much or more of the discomfort than the temperature.

 

[launderess]

Wait I Told A Lie

Past several days have been very damp, and noticed when turning on AC it starts high fan, then goes down to low. It will remain that way for most of time on, maybe always for all I know as stop paying attention.

So guess this Friedrich AC does have some sort of way to tell humidity when using "money saver" setting.

Going by amount of water sloshing around inside unit, does a pretty good job removing humidity.

These newer Friedrich air conditioners (according to owners manual) aren't supposed to drain condensation. But the water is slug by fan onto compressor or something to help with cooling and efficiency. One can allow condesnate to drain by punching out a hole in corner of pan at front, then attaching a plug or some sort of thing (supplied by Friedrich) to allow draining of water. This or if there is far too much condensate if unit is tilted backwards properly water will drain out anyway.

 

[yogitunes]

my Aunt had a Central HVAC system that incorporated a Dehumidify setting/function...

it allowed the A/C and the Heater to run at the same time....

this was extremely helpful on rainy days, where as the A/C would run by itself, but cause a clammy/over chilled feeling.....

now with the addition of some warm air, it kept everyone comfortable....

this same feature is available on your vehicle, which many dont realize when you select 'Defrost' for the windshield, the A/C compressor kicks in as well...again, during a rain storm, temperature and humidity are at a more comfortable level...

 

[sudsmaster]

There's a 70's era GE window AC unit high up on top of a wall in the enclosed patio here. It trips the circuit breaker for that line if I run it. If I can find the model number and post it, would there be a chance of getting manuals, schematics, etc? Not that I intend to run it much, but it would be nice to restore it to working condition. The big problem is how to get it down from there; it's about eight feet up, and I'm sure it weighs a ton.

 

 

[tomturbomatic]

Rich, if that unit is the one with the sort of imitation wood color inside with three round louvers behind the front grill, that model is from the early 1950s, before the big tall thinline units. I knew of one that was installed in a window in my town. It was there all of the years I walked past it.  It was quite a grand unit

 

[cuffs054]

Yogi, I always wondered why a/c manufacturers didn't incorporate a heat/cool function to handle humidity. Seems like a good idea.

 

[DADoES]

 
Power usage concerns when heating is resistance?

Automobile air conditioner systems moderate the temperature by involving the heater core.  Sliding the temp lever toward the warmer end opens a baffle that diverts an increasing volume of the airflow through the heater.

Those with auto temp control usually run the compressor during heating unless an "economy" option is selected.  Mine doesn't always run the compressor depending on how cold is the outdoor temp but it can be turned on with the AC button if desired.

 

[sudsmaster]

Tom,

 

That sounds like a good description of the AC unit high on the wall of the enclosed patio.

 

Somewhere I have a photo of it. I might even have posted a photo of it here, in the past. Several computers and file systems ago, LOL.

 

 

 

[combo52]

Automatic Dehumidification Window A/Cs

Whirlpool built window A/Cs for Sears from about 1960- the early 70s that had a separate humidistat control so the user could not only adjust the temperature but also precisely adjust the humidity desired.

 

They built many different models over this time period in capacities of around 11,000 and 18,000 cooling BTUs. the lower capacity models were built in both 120 volt and 240 volt the the 18s were always 240 volts.

 

We an 11,000 BTU 120 volt model at the museum, These were really neat machines, they have a 2nd condenser behind the evaporator so they can cool and dehumidify the room air but if the room is already cool enough but the humidity is still higher than desired a reversing valve similar to what a heat-pump uses energizes and flows  into the 2nd condenser behind the evaporator and rewarms the air.

 

To my knowledge no other company ever did this, we had one of these units here in our house that I installed and my Uncle in Chevy Chase had two of them I helped install at their home that worked great, the early 70s one in a basement window is still in use and working.

 

Some central A/C units in the 50s-60s allowed you to select the humidity level in the house by running electric strip heating elements in the duct work while running the A/C compressor, this worked great but you can only imagine how expensive these systems were to run.

 

The best you can do today to better control humidity with either central or window A/C is to not oversize the cooling system, and to NEVER keep the inside fan running when the compressor shuts off. Using a lower fan speed can help a little bit as well.

 

John L.

 

[msrmg66]

Thread Number: 32202 Vintage Air Conditioners

Runs as cold today as it did in 1992. You've heard the old adage, they don't make them like they used too. This is a perfect example of "made to last."

1992 AMANA ROOM AIR CONDITIONER The full 1992 line of room air conditioner made by Amana Refrigeration, Inc. of Amana, Iowa. Models range from 5000 BTU/hr. to 24200 BTU/hr.

 

[combo52]

Nice 1992 Amana A/C

Is it a heat-pump or resistance heat model ?

 

We don't see that many A/Cs with heating capability around here.

 

John L.

 

[askolover]

I took my 20 year old Goldstar 5k unit apart to clean it before posting it on CL for sale.  That thing was FILTHY inside!  The fan had chunks of "stuff" stuck to it.  I soaked it in bleach and scrubbed it with a toothbrush.  The styrofoam was covered too, bleached it also.  The rear coil had so much fuzz and dust caked on it from the inside.  I couldn't get in there to clean it so I used my air compressor and an air gun.  It worked.  It cleaned up nicely and would make someone a good single room AC for $25.  But even in this heatwave no one has bitten yet.

 

[combo52]

5000 BTU Goldstar A/C

Hi Greg, you should raise the price to around $50 if you want to get serious buyers.

 

John 

 

[casec1232]

Vintage Kenmore?

Hi all, found this in parents old storage unit, must have been there 15 plus years unused. Anyone able to identify it? Is it worth fixing up?

 

[cfz2882]

That is a humidifier...

..probably from about 1985-not worth a lot,but likely well worth fixing up and using if you want a humidifier-it will have some evaporative cooling effect if humidity is low.Fan motor may need oiled,and evaporative pads could be crumbling and no longer avalible.

 

[lvmilkman]

Vintage Montgomery Ward Wall AC for sale

I have a vintage Montgomery Ward AC unit for sale. It does heating and cooling. Has the original grill, the original foam filter, original rubber wall gasket. I believe that Frididaire made these. I need to clean it up a bit. It's been installed in Tucson AZ since 1976 I believe. It is HEAVY. Runs on 230VAC I also have the wall outlet that it plugs in to. Also have the outside bracketry with level arms. I will take some photos and try to post by Monday. I joined this group because I had this unit. I'm also a mechanical engineer and certified to work on AC units so going to evaluate all this weekend. Thanks!
Chris
PS I have a cox email and cox changed all of their emails to Yahoo and it sometimes comes through and sometimes not so I have to log in to a web email at yahoo....what a joke.

 

[essextrader]

That thing looks like it's from the '50s. I used to work on GEs from around 1957 through the '70s and none were like that. You have a much older unit. It may just have a bad start capacitor. Lots of times, those older units had thick copper tubing with very tight sweat soldered joints and they never leaked refrigerant.