Window Air Conditioners Good and Bad

[toploader55]

I have a Friedrich Window A/C that is 3 years old.

It has gotten noisier over the past 2 years and just is rusting and falling apart.

I thought they were suppose to be the "Cadillac" of A/Cs but I found it to be a piece of crap. Supposed to have been built in the USA, it proudly displayed on the box after I got it home, "Made in China". I should have returned it then.

Then there is their line called Kuhl. I believe that one is made in Texas, but also is ridiculously priced for a window A/C.

So... I now come to the $50,000 question...

What do you think ??? Any preferences, Brands or Suggestions ?

I really would love an A/C that I could sleep with it on all night. Lately it's been chill the room down to 65, then shut it off only to wake up hot and swealtering.

 

[epixstar128]

It's a window shaker. There all throw away units. I doubt anybody makes ones to last.

 

[washman]

Yes but

"Our North American factory is only hours from our distribution center — not overseas — for fast delivery."

Remember, Mexico is considered "north america" by the NAFTA agreement. Just saying.

I seriously doubt it was made in Texas.

 

[washman]

Addendum

From their site.

"In 2006, Friedrich began production at a new, state-of-the art manufacturing facility in Monterrey, Mexico, making it the sole remaining North American manufacturer of room air conditioners.

Told ya.

 

[gusherb]

Last I looked their A/C's looked like clones of what LG puts out there, aside from the Kuhl series which is clearly their own. I'd be leery of anything that looks identical to something else out there, like LG.

Unless you're going to pony up for a Kuhl series unit or are willing to go on a hunt for something vintage you're basically SOL. GE, Frigidaire, Soleus, etc are all the same thing made in China either by Electrolux or for them not sure but they all come from the same place. Last I was in the market for a window shaker LG was the best thing I could find, not sure if they still are.

Samsung made a good windowshaker but they're out of that business now, and so is Whirlpool sadly.

Does anyone know if Carrier still makes window units?

 

[washman]

Carrier makes a ductless

but I did not see any window units on their site.

 

[petek]

our local Habitat 4 Humanity store had a couple of dozen sitting for months if not a year on the shelves. Old, newer. Pretty much $50 each.  It was warm last week and when I went in most of them were gone. They do get some decent ones in quite regularly as people start clearing out the basements of their elderly parents etc. The new stuff is treated more like disposable stuff now. Just the other day I was helping our neighbor with her car in the garage not starting.. there's a fairly newish 8k unit sitting in the box by the garbage cans and I asked her if she was throwing it out,, yes, did it work, yes.  You can tell there's not much too them when you can pick one up without much grunting, not like the vintage ones.  Most people who don't have central air, which most homeowners now have, but people who live in older apartments,, they just go to Walmart and buy some $79 - $120 Danby or such without any thought as to is it too small, too big, no clue. 

 

[gusherb]

That's a shame. They made a REALLY good window unit at least up into the late 90s. One of my dad's rentals had a 13,000 BTU model. Made the mistake of putting it out in the alley when it got infested by bird mites and the motor mount sagged to where the fan was hitting the pan. Not sure if that was fixable but it probably was. Two things I loved about it were how QUIET it was and built like a tank. Those used to be a common sight in Chicago windows when I was younger.

 

[petek]

I think Lowes has Friedrich pretty much exclusively here in Canada. It's the only store I ever see them at and they're a lot pricier than everything else. 

 

[warmsecondrinse]

I've bought 3 or 4 units in the past few years. They are all becoming BOL. A $250 unit is only a small step up from a $125. My advice is to go to WalMart and spend $110 on a 5,000 btu GE window unit. Get one that has all mechanical controls. that's what I did for my mom last spring. The unit is in its 2nd year and still looks/runs like new.

Jim

 

[a440]

I have a Samsung 10,000 BTU that I bought new at Lowes for about $150.  Has a remote.  It is installed in a three car garage and runs the entire summer set at 74 degrees.  It has been installed for about 9 years and I do not take it out during the winter months. It never skips a beat.  Very quiet.  No rust at all.  I clean the filter about 2 times during the Summer.  Coils are very clean with no rust anywhere.  It keeps the entire garage very comfortably cool.

B

 

[askolover]

I have a

Haier 8,000 from Walmart in one of our bedrooms just so we don't have to cool the whole house down to 65 while we are sleeping. so far it does a good job, remote control, pretty quiet, and a choice of auto setting or constant fan cool. The biggest thing I've noticed is that ALL the units I looked at have ONLY a molded Styrofoam piece between the inside air and the outside heat and that allows light to seep in (I work nights and don't like that). My old 1991 Kenmore 5,000 it replaced was metal in between the inner and outer foam panels. It still runs after 24 years...MIL has it now. Wonder how long the Haier will last???

 

[dustin92]

I have a 5000 btu Perfect Aire (99% sure it is made by the same company that produces Frigidaire units) and it is on it's 4th season with no issues. I have torn it apart and cleaned the insides (both coils, drain pans, etc, fans) a couple times, and adjusted the thermostat last summer because from the factory it was set to not cool the room past about 68 degrees on max cool. Now I can put frost on the walls if I so desire. I have it in my bedroom and sleep with it on the majority of the summer. Not terribly noisy, but not whisper quiet either. It does what it needs to do, and I think I only paid about $89 for it.

 

[iheartmaytag]

We have a 10,000 BTU Whirlpool in the upstairs bonus room. It was there when we bought the house eight years ago, though admittedly it doesn't run but when we use the room it does just fine. It got the crap beat out of it in a hail storm in 2009, but the insurance company paid to have it combed and is still working well.

Only complaint is one of the knobs broke. They want $25 for a molded plastic knob. A $5 pair of needle nose pliers works just as well.

 

[mieleforever]

Have you ever considered a split unit system?

http://www.airconditionerinstallati...loads/2012/08/LG-diagramatic-split-system.jpg

They really are very efficient and quiet.

Actually it is kinda weird that there is not more of the split units going around in the States.

Maybe you should have it checked out, should not be that more expensive.

We have two LG art cool units in the apartment that we are letting and havent had a problem ever. They are about 10 years old.

Regards

 

[whirlcool]

The split units are somewhat new to the United States. They have slowly gained popularity over the past 10 years or so here, but the window unit remains popular because of the ease of installation and removal. I have mostly seen aplits used in additions built onto a house that has existing air conditioning and the split cools the addition.

 

[countryguy]

Split units are much more expensive than window units....they can be comparable in cost to regular full house A/C. I got my unit about 9 years ago and it was about $2800 at the time. They have probably come down in price now. I like that it is very quiet as I find window A/C units very loud and bothersome.

Gary

 

[warmsecondrinse]

@ Mieleforever

Most older (125+) houses in the U.S. tend to be made of wood and were made by people who were not what (today) would be called 'professionals'. Things are not evenly spaced or sized, angles are not 90 degrees, wood & lath construction with horsehair and/or lord-alone-knows-what used as plaster. If something looked like it needed an additional brace/beam/support what ever random piece of wood that was available and fit was used. The result is that surprises are a given so there's a tendency not to disturb things unless there's no alternative. This adds to the attraction of window a/c units.

Jim

 

[whirlcool]

Window units can be noisy. We had a Fridgidaire back in the mid 60's. It shook and rattled whenever the thermostat would cycle the unit on and off. But it did throw some seriously cold air!

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Kenmore:

We had a massive Kenmore 25,000 BTU machine (240/60/1)power rating in the mobile home. This was a metal box painted dark brown with NO shade. We had it for 5 years and even on the hottest days (90-104)F, the house stayed cool @ 72-74F. It never missed a beat. The only maintenance needed was to cover it in the winter and clean the filter monthly. I believe this machine was made by LG, but whoever made it did a great job.
WK78

 

[tomturbomatic]

In 2003 or 4, I bought two American-made Friedrich window units because I had a big Friedrich in my townhouse and liked it very much. First of all, the new ones, which were 8.5 EER had terrible filters which let a lot of crap into the coils so there was a lot of cleaning until I bought better filters. When installing them, the gap between the cabinet and the slide out chassis was huge. We had to stuff that with foam. I had to seal the dampers for air exchange because they did not seal tightly. They had plastic base pans. One arrived cracked so a transplant was needed. The drainage from the inside coils to the outside was just a shallow indentation in the pan. It regularly clogged, even with suing the anti-fungal tablets so I kept a straightened coat hanger inserted through the rear grill to move back and forth to keep it unclogged. For the last years, the water did not reach the outside fan so it just sat there instead of being sprayed over the hot coils, causing a great loss of efficiency. All of the air ducting was made of Styrafoam so when the fan motor went, we would have had to used a saw to take it apart enough to replace the motor which we did not. The aluminum fins around the copper coils were as soft as what used to be used to wrap chewing gum and just as durable. I replaced the bedroom Friedrich with Sharp from Costco for about $170. This is its third season. This spring, the kitchen unit would not cool even though the compressor kicked right in. I looked at new 8K Friedrichs, but the same size unit would be $600 and I just could not see it for something hecho en Mexico so I went to Costco and bought an 11.3 EER Danby for $200 with tax. It works great and I have no illusions about it being anything but a Timex throw away. I immediately put better filters in both units to prevent the problems I had with the coils in the Friedrichs. The filters are sold at HD and are foam and something else.

The reason I have them is that with the insulation I put in the attic and the sunscreens I have on the windows and the French Doors, which stop something like 90% of the heat gain, two 8K window units with a Vornado fan or two to distribute cool air can keep the house at 72F in all but the hottest weather without using the central system. After a couple of days over 90F, I will run the central system for a couple of hours in the evening to help the window units, but otherwise they keep the house cool and dry. I am able to have the maximum save setting on the power saver switch from the power company on my central system which pays handsomely in the summer and I don't notice any difference in the house temperature because I don't use the central system.

 

[toploader55]

I Love the Split Units.

They're very quiet.

 

But I rent. And I've put enough of my own money into the place.

 

Just found these two on CL.  They are older but for $65.00 each, I might Gamble rather than spend $200 on something I might hate.

 

Why don't they have them plugged in the stores so you can hear them ?

 

Answer:  Because if customers hear how loud they are. the won't buy them.

http://southcoast.craigslist.org/app/4993330973.html

 

[gusherb]

That looks like a good quality Friedrich to me, love that wire coil guard on it. I'm leery of the ones that look like LG's and I'm not sure if other versions they sell (or used to sell) are crap or not. Ironically I've had good luck with LG. The last ones I bought had plastic for the fan/evaporator instead of the styrofoam that everyone was already using 8 years ago.

 

[toploader55]

That looks like good quality Friedrich...

I thought so too.  Yes the Condenser Guard is heavy stuff unlike the one I have looks like LG or other cheap brands just with the Friedrich Badge on them.

 

I guess not even Friedrich takes pride in every unit they sell. Just a shame.

 

[mieleforever]

We have bought a portable/mobile airconditioner, as the house that we once rented did not have any A/C. That was our second portable, the first one was something out of the Orient, was terrible, noisy, not very efficient. And I bought a new one Olympia Splendid PIU, they are an Italian Heating and Cooling company. They really have very nice a/c's. The machine was still more noisy than a regular split unit but given the fact that it was someone else's house I figured I could not install an ac for the owner.

We are really pleased with the machine, the condensate is dispersed via the exhaust ducting, which I might add is a bit cumbersome.

One negative thing however they are really expensive, even more than a split unit here. I wish we had more window units at the prices that you guys are talking about, but with crime ever escalating in South Africa, every house here has burglar bars in front of every window, so I guess that's why we don't see them around too much.

Cheers hope ypu find your A/C

 

[tomturbomatic]

Here, in high crime areas, it is not unusual to see window bars fashioned in such a way as to form a box around the ac unit.

 

[abcomatic]

I have a 2 year old Fridgedaire and it seems to work well so far. It's in the bedroom; the central air doesn't cool so well upstairs.
Gary

 

[foraloysius]

I wish we had window airconditioners and windows that take them. Although I have a good portable airconditioner, a window airconditioner works way and way better.

 

[blackstone]

I like Friedrich

I now have 4 Friedrich window ac units. Over the past couple of years, I bought 2 new Friedrich 8K units, and 2 used off Craigslist. All 4 work fine. They are much quieter than the units they replaced. The used Friedrich is in the living room. Now I can hear the TV without the constant background noise of air movement.

Two other positive features on the Friedrichs--slide-out chassis, and low amperage use. The slide-out chassis is a must, in my opinion. It makes yearly installation and removal safe for a one-person job (me). Also that much easier for me to carry them up to the attic. I can run all the units at the same time, without blowing any fuses. Yes, fuses--the house is approx. 125 years old, so electricity is a major consideration.

I also bought a Friedrich dehumidifier for the cellar, which uses only 2 amps.

While I'm on the subject, when will air conditioners have a significant increase in efficiency? The best available window unit is about 11.3 EER. When we sold Carriers about 30 years ago, their big selling point was their high efficiency--about 10. Is there some law of physics here that just prevents increased efficiency? Or is it cost of manufacturing and/or retail price?

 

[blackstone]

Friedrich people can't do math

When I was buying my Friedrich dehumidifier, I wanted the model with the lowest electricity use. The specs on this model are wrong. Volts x amps = watts. I tried to explain that to Friedrich customer service, and to the local retailer (P.C. Richard), but they were clueless. I see that Friedrich still has not updated their website. This model uses 2.2 amps, as labeled on the back of the unit. Oh well.