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.
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.
