vintage AIR CONDITIONERS

[dial-a-matic]

If anyone has any OLD a/c's post pics and explain about it

-a-

 

[coldspot66]

Calling GregM.........puleeze pick up the courtesy phone in aisle 5........you have a "fan" asking about vintage A/C's!!!

 

[58limited]

I can't get to them for a picture right now, but I have two (actually three - one is installed at a friend's house) early 1970's Friedrich 6000 BTU window units. These were custom made for a church in College Station, Texas that had the 1950's style crank open windows with the 12" square glass. They were made to exactly fit where one of the glass panes was - they are longer (deeper) than most units: about 12" square by 2' deep. The church had many class rooms and there were probably at least two dozen units made for it. My landlord was a member of the church and gave me 4 broken units (I was a po' boy and needed A/C for the hot farmhouse I rented - you know its going to be a bad summer when the second weekend in May hits 107 degrees F!). Two had wiring problems that I promptly fixed, the third had a working compressor and the fourth was good for only parts. It donated a blower fan and capacitor to the third unit. The two I have at the house are behind a lot of car parts - they were still working last summer.

 

[dial-a-matic]

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!

I want a tiny casement a/c soooooooooooooooooooo bad!

-a-

 

[58limited]

I am going to use mine in a 10X16 storage building/workshop that I want to build soon. My friend might move this year, so I'll get the other unit back if he doesn't want to take it with him. They weigh at least 60 pounds each.

 

[Cybrvanr]

I've got a 6000BTU GE fashionette in my workshop shed that is at least 30 years old. It uses R12 refrigerant, spine fin coils, and gets 38 degree duct temperatures during the summer...great running little unit! I'll hafta take a picture of it and post it sometime. The previous owners left it in the shed. It had all sorts of crud clogging the coils and wouldn't work at all when I moved in. After disassembling it and cleaning out all the leaves, dirt, bugs, etc, it worked like brand new!

My Brother in law has a big 24,000 BTU Sears Coldspot window unit that's not in use anymore. It dates back to about 1958 or so as much as I can tell. The unit origionally was used to cool the rescue squad building my parents belonged to. When they installed central air in the squad building in the early 80's, they gave it to my parents. It resided in our dining room window for the next 8 years or so till Mom & Dad bought a central air system. That was also about the time my sister & brother in law got married, so it was sort of a wedding present for their new home which didn't have air conditioning. They used it for another 10 years or so till they had kids and moved into a bigger home with central air. He's keeping it to install in his garage once it's built. The unit has been around, but everyone loves it because it puts out such cold air! The thing about it is that it is HEAVY and is a real power hog!

Now, the last story involves the GE zone-lines that my grandparents put in their new (in 59) home. I think I posted that story a good while ago. Too bad the house isn't in the family anymore, but I noticed those air conditioner / heat pumps still hum away when I've been by the house. These units were nice because of their unique grille arrangement. The front was a complete metal panel that sat away from the wall about 4 inches or so. The cool air was discharged out the top, and it was drawn in at the bottom. My grandmother had wall-papered the cover to match the rest of the walls in the bedroom, and upon casually looking into the room, you wouldn't notice the air conditioner under the window! Only one had been replaced, and that was the one in the rear family room, and I imagine that was because it got the most use.

 

[dial-a-matic]

We have two zonelines

They are from 1983 and they are heat pumps. they are in the gameroom the controls are on the top so you need something to stand on to control them. They heat up really nice and cool very nice! They are on fan only 24/7/365. but the heat comes on when the temp is -65 and the a/c will come on about 73+ if you set it on a/c! because there are NO furnaces in the basement, that is why we have these!

-a-

 

[toggleswitch]

I gave away two GE Lexan (plastic)carry-cools that were from 1974. Worked perfectly.

:-(

 

[whirlcool]

A freind of ours built a nice out building behind their house to store household items (clothes, appliances, etc) when not in use. They insulated the building and had it off the ground about 2 feet. It was very nicely finished and a very tight building. They added a thru the wall A/C unit to keep it climate controlled. At the end of the summer they went out there to bring in their fall items. Of course they had not gone inside the shed for about a month and a half, and they found that everything in the place had molded! All the clothing was full of mold, it was on the ceiling and the floors, everywhere! And stink, whew! The only thing they could figure out is that the building was too tight and the A/C may have been too big for the building and didn't dehumidify properly.

 

[sudsmaster]

60's GE

There's an old wood-grain (painted woodgrain, not plastic) GE window air conditioner in my enclosed patio. It's mounted just below the high ceiling, vented through a hole in the wall. It's missing the control dials so I have to guess what the various settings are. The fan works ok but the AC blows the 30 amp circuit breaker, which also runs everything else in the patio, so I don't use it. I suppose there's a problem with the compressor motor or an internal short. The previous owners built a little awning that covers the exterior top of the unit, effectively shielding it from the sun (southern exposure).

Because it's so high up it's rather difficult to set/adjust, and I've left it in place. I've been planning on replacing it at some point, but it never occured to me that there might be collector interest in old A/C units. I've held off because of the energy consumption issue, as well as the weight of the unit (it will be a challenge to remove).

 

[sudsmaster]

Here's a shot of the old GE AC

 

[sudsmaster]

GE logo

 

[sudsmaster]

Instructions

 

[dial-a-matic]

WHATS THE OUTSIDE LOOK LIKE?

Thanks for the pics. What do you mean it trips the breaker? what does it sound like?
-a-

 

[toggleswitch]

~What do you mean it trips the breaker.

Equaivalnet of "blows a fuse." Too much current draw. Perhaps as was stated; a short-circuit or a locked rotor or some other reason.

 

[dial-a-matic]

Can ya post a pic of the outside? and what does the noise sound like?

-a-

 

[sudsmaster]

It doesn't amke any unusual noise, just what you'd expect from an older AC unit.

The outside is covered up pretty well by the rain cover, the rest is painted white, and it's over a roof and not easy to access. No doubt I will have to access it at some point to pull the unit to see if I can figure out what's wrong with it. But that's not gonna happen until the weather warms up. Chances are I'll have to board up the opening.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Actually that's a 1950s GE; at least the one I used to look at was already installed by the mid 50s. They were very quiet running units. Tell us about the fuse blowing. Is it immediate like the compressor is locked? The way the poor thing is enclosed with the awning and so close to the roof under it, I wonder if it goes out on thermal overload. So the unit is not on a single outlet circuit? Is the 30 amp breaker feeding a second service panel for the porch? This is interesting. GEs were prone to locked compressors. Sometimes you could jolt a 110 unit with 220 to get the compressor going, but with a 220 unit, most people did not have anything greater to hit it with.

 

[perc-o-prince]

1950's Port-A-Temp

This is a portable table-top air conditioner. They also made these for cars with a cig lighter plug. Mine is for home use. It's about the size of a large table radio.

These work with ice. There was container that you would freeze and put into the clip inside the unit(see second picture). Mine didn't come with the containers but I use freeze packs that you use in a cooler. What it does is pull air, from the back, over the ice and out the front. It does work!! I have used it and though it isn't frigid cold it is nice and cool and fairly quiet.

Neat thread. Please keep up the great picture.

Rich

 

[perc-o-prince]

The back with one side open

There is a door on the other side for another ice container.

 

[petek]

Rich I've run across two of those in my thrift storetravels over the last month or so but neither was in as good a shape so I left them behind. They're really sharp looking.. I was gonna say cool..lol

 

[sudsmaster]

Tom,

Thanks for the info. If you say it's from the 50's, I won't argue . It was here when I bought the house in '97. As I recall, it ran ok for a while once after I moved in, providing some cooling. Then I didn't run it for a few years. When next I tried it, it tripped the breaker after a few minutes, no cooling noted. It did the same thing another time, so I've not tried to use it since.

The entire patio kitchen, minus the electric range, is on one circuit served by a 30 amp breaker. There is no sub-panel, although it's on my list of nice things to do someday. It's not my idea of the proper way to wire a room, but it was done long ago.

 

[gregm]

I have that same AC

sudsmaster/Tom, I have the same A/C and am getting rid of it, someone emailed me a while back and then I never heard from him again so its going, going gone, I am dumping about five of my larger older AC's, they are to heavy and I do not have the room.

 

[toggleswitch]

The entire patio kitchen, minus the electric range, is on one circuit served by a 30 amp breaker.

I am hoping the wire gauge is adequate to be properly protected by a 30a "fuse". Sorry to say, you patio wiring sounds like it may be a "patch" job.

AFAIK, #12 AWG (American Wire Gauge) with 20a protection is the max permissible for general use, and even that is considered technically an appliance/specialty circuit.

Please check the wire gauge. You may need to replace the current 30a circuit protection with a 20a or even a 15a breaker.

IMHO a quad (2 x 20 amps with four outlets [2 standard duplexes)] are a minimun at the kitchen counter. Then a line for the reefer and the DW is good too.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Are you talking about a 30 amp 120 volt breaker? That's almost asking for trouble because it would not protect most 120 volt appliances in case of a short or something and very little wiring for 120 volt circuits can really carry 30 amps. That breaker would be more suited to a piece of power equipment in a shop setting.

There are many things that can go wrong with older A/C units. Sometimes the terminals on the compressor burn off or corrode off. Sometimes it's just a problem in switches or other electrical components. When you try it next time, listen to see if the compressor comes on with a good, strong sound, or if it struggles then trips the breaker. Make sure that everything else on the porch is unplugged or turned off. If the fan motor is the type that needs periodic lubrication, it could be pulling so much current from lack of lubrication that when the compressor cycles on it creates an overload.

An appliance store near us closed a few weeks ago and there were many things in the stock of the place that we bought. I wanted and bought, for less than half the ticket price, one of the two Friedrich casement A/C units in boxes on the floor. They are no longer in the Friedrich product line and were just too darned neat to let go into oblivion, although I hope I never have to deal with casement windows again. John has the first design of the Carrier casement unit. It was a tall unit that filled up the whole side of the window that cranked out and was mounted mostly in the room so that when the unit was not being used, the window could be cranked shut.

I am still looking for a 1957 Westinghouse window A/C unit that was one of the most beautiful window units I have ever seen. Neighbors of ours had 3 of them.

 

[sudsmaster]

Toggle & Turbo,

Yes, I'm well aware of the problem the way the porch is wired. However, the wiring from the panel to the "distribution" box is 10 gauge, which I understand is adequate for 30 amp service. Unfortunately, there is no breaker panel at the distribution point, and from there it goes to 12 gauge for the rest. Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be any 14 gauge wiring in there. Additionally, all wiring is encased in either armored sheathing, or rigid conduit.

I could probably do well to replace the 30 amp breaker with a 20 amp breaker, in lieu of putting a sub-panel in the patio. The problem with putting in a sub-panel is that the distribution point is in an area not really suitable for such - under the china cabinet, over a counter, between the sink and the range. It's big enough for a six dual outlet wall box, though. Like I said, it was done long before I bought the property, I wouldn't have wired it this way. The electric range is served by its own 50 amp breaker, however, at one time it shared that service with an electric cooktop in the main house kitchen (since replaced with a gas unit).

 

[toggleswitch]

Ok great that you are up-to-speed!

My house was owned by a str8 macho, rugged blue collar, pretty-boy army soldier, turned marine, turned cop turned fireman. (Is someone into uniforms?). Sadly, although eye-candy, he was apparently dumber than a box of rocks when it came to home maintenance. Everything I touched I found to be done badly, cheaply and certainly not to code (and I do mean ANY JURISDICTION'S code!)

He was blonde-haired and blue eyed, chiseled angular face with a clef in the chin, and moderately tall in height. That SOB purposely worked his smile with me as if it were a factor in buying his junk-heap of a shack. Well, at least he had a very very long...................

name. Irish blood, adopted by Italians. (*LOL*)

Proving once again, as a Virgo (read: nit-picky) former accountant (read: anal-rententive),it IS ACTUALLY my mission in life to clean up and fix everyone else's mess, dirt and lack of organization and stupidity. Sometimes you just can't out-run fate *LOL*

Have fun fixing your porch. How does the song go?
"If it ain't one thing, it's another.........."

 

[bobofhollywood]

wooden grill model

Greg...do you have anything with a wooden grill?

I swear when I was 5 (1967-8) my Dad took possesion of some very old A/C's - they seemed ancient even at that time, but the one thing I remember was the nice horizontal wooden louvers where the air was discharged. I also remember that they sounded lower pitched when running that other more modern a/c's, but produced some really frigid air.

What model could I be thinking of? Philco maybe?

Bob

 

[perc-o-prince]

I was gonna say cool..lol

Pete, You can say "cool". It dates you BUT to a time that I'm more familiar with

If you happen to see those units, again, and they have the ice holders and it's reasonable, would you let me know? I would like to complete mine.

If I find a nice unit, I will keep you in mind!!

Rich

 

[thor]

Westinghouse Custom Mobilaire 5000

In 1965 my father purchased a window Custom Mobilaire 5000, made by Westinghouse. Although he purchased it in the USA (and was made in the USA of course!) it was an export unit for 220V/50 (our local power supply). I remember the case being made with aluminum, with a very nice plastic front. He made it be installed permanently fixed through a hole in the masonry wall of the dining room of our house, next to a very large window.

The unit had a rather loud high fan speed and a very quiet lower fan speed (labeled NITE) and it was used endlesly every summer, and it cooled perfectly day in, day out. I remember it was left permanently on for days and days, without being turned off until the season changed and the cooler days came back. The filter was kept clean and changed for a new one every few years.

My mother sold the house in the year 2000 and the unit was left in place, since it would have been very cumbersome to remove (she couldn't leave a hole in the masonry wall).

A couple of years later I read an article about this very same model, which said the model was a complete sucess for Westinghouse. They sold one millon units in the first couple of years the unit was manufactured!

I regret to this day not having taken out this air conditioner, I would love to have this unit now!

Emilio