Window based air conditioners

[Handruin]

Anyone recently found a good window based A/C unit that is quiet that they could recommend, or not recommend? I've been looking around for a unit that will fit in a 26" wide window opening and generate about between 8,00 and 12,000 BTU's. I'm not familiar enough with the different brands to know which ones to avoid. I understand the specs that each company offers, but that alone doesn't help me on amount of noise each unit generates.

I found this Frigidaire for about $244, but I don't know if they make a good A/C. It's 12,000 BTU, and a 10.8 EER.

Without any in-depth info, one site makes this claim:

Brands exist like Carrier,Hitachi,Voltas,Blue Star,LG,Whirlpool and Samsung. I would sincerly recommend the users against buying the LG,Samsung and Whirlpool Window ACs as they have been known to sell cheap but low quality versions.

Any links/reviews you guys may have kicking around that I could read up on? My room is constantly 85-89 degrees and it's starting to drive me nuts.

 

[i]

(Funny, I read this discussion as "Windows-based air conditioners". I thought to myself, "Wow, there are air conditioner units running with embedded operating systems now?")

I needed an air conditioner a few years ago. I searched around for the cheapest unit that would fit my (small) window. I wound up at Walmart, and bought a tiny Danby model. It was cheap, and it worked extremely well.

Seriously, when it comes to compressor-driven cooling devices -- whether you're looking at refrigerators, freezers, or A/C units -- my experience has always been that, if it works the first time you plug it in, it'll keep working up until the day you need to leave it behind or switch to a different model for some reason.

My opinion: come on man! It's hot outside! Just buy a cheap one and be done with it! In the unlikely event it breaks someday, just buy another one.

 

[i]

That said, I'm checking Consumer Reports website right now...

 

[i]

...and they don't have that Frigidaire FAC127P1A model listed.

But then, neither does the Frigidaire website.

And Lowes' website is even more lame than Consumer Reports' site. You're not guaranteed to be shown a given product depending on what zipcode you've entered as being your shopping region. As a result your link doesn't work for me. :-?

 

[Pradeep]

I have one of these:

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/prod...vertical=APPL&pid=04276129000&tab=spe#tablink

Works OK, reasonably quiet.

House has central air, definitely worth the cost for the convenience.

 

[i]

Alright, here are the applicable recommendations from CR given an 8000 to 12000 BTU requirement:

"Efficient, quiet, and CR Best Buys"

Frigidaire FAA087P7  (7000 - 8200 BTU/hr, $160, window width 23-36 inches, 53 lbs.)
Frigidaire FAC107P1A  (9800 to 12500 BTU/hr, $195, window width 23-36 inches, 78 lbs.)

(Both models have continuously variable fan speeds.)

Also...

"If quiet is paramount"

GE AGM06LH  (7000 to 8200 BTU/hr, $300, window width 22-36 inches, 64 lbs.)
Kenmore (Sears) 74107  (9800 to 12500 BTU/hr, $300, window width 27-39 inches, 80 lbs.)*

* allegedly discontinued, Kenmore (Sears) 75101 is suggested as a likely replacement

 

[i]

Stupid submit button. Scratch the last Kenmore entry. It won't fit your window.

 

[Handruin]

(Funny, I read this discussion as "Windows-based air conditioners". I thought to myself, "Wow, there are air conditioner units running with embedded operating systems now?")

I needed an air conditioner a few years ago. I searched around for the cheapest unit that would fit my (small) window. I wound up at Walmart, and bought a tiny Danby model. It was cheap, and it worked extremely well.

Seriously, when it comes to compressor-driven cooling devices -- whether you're looking at refrigerators, freezers, or A/C units -- my experience has always been that, if it works the first time you plug it in, it'll keep working up until the day you need to leave it behind or switch to a different model for some reason.

My opinion: come on man! It's hot outside! Just buy a cheap one and be done with it! In the unlikely event it breaks someday, just buy another one.

Hehe, I didn't really think of a "window based" A/C the way you did, but I see your point. I'd be a crazy man to want a windows based A/C. I thought about just buying anything with a reasonable price, but I also know someone else may have recently bought an A/C unit and could point me to a link or something...so I took a gamble and asked you guys. I guess something inside me says "you better look for a semi-quiet A/C unit after spending all this money to make your PC's quiet".

The 26" was a rough measurement. My Pella windows have the flexible strips inside, I may be able to meet the minimum 27" if I squeeze it in. I'll stop by sears and find out what their return policy is. If it is as quiet as the quote claims, it may be worth considering. I didn't realize the link at lowes was session based for my zip code. Bleh, crappy lowes.

 

[Mercutio]

I wouldn't trust consumer reports to review anything. All their reviewers are non-experts, and sometimes completely moronic product features turn a very mediocre product into a top-rated unit.

Need proof? Look at their reviews for computers sometime.

I have a Soleus portable non-Window AC that I got at Home Depot. They cost tons more but in my present apartment I'm REALLY glad I have it, since there's no place in my apartment to put a window unit. It's a 12,000BTU model and it does not require draining. I really appreciate it. I also appreciate being able to move it around if I really need to.

 

[LOST6200]

Somehow I though this thread would be about some high-tech HVAC system controlled by a Windows PC. :lol:

 

[e_dawg]

I know, eh? You can just imagine everyone's disappointment when they realized Handy was just asking about plain old room air conditioners. Way to go Handy, you duped us all!

 

[nova]

I wouldn't trust consumer reports to review anything....All their reviewers are non-experts....

Need proof? Look at their reviews for computers sometime.

I have a Soleus portable non-Window AC that I got at Home Depot. They cost tons more but in my present apartment I'm REALLY glad I have it, since there's no place in my apartment to put a window unit. It's a 12,000BTU model and it does not require draining. I really appreciate it. I also appreciate being able to move it around if I really need to.

This has not been my experience and I've been attuned to Consumer Reports and Consumers Union for several decades. (My first new car was a 1970 Toyota thanks to a CR research article, and that certainly was a prescient choice.)

The problem with using CR for pc's is that by the time they are rated, they're old. Not so with most manufactured goods.

Hope you do like your portable a/c. I considered buying one at first until doing my own research (yes, supplemented with what CR said about them). After looking at the facts, I had to rule out a portable.

"Non-experts"? You've got to be kidding.

 

[LunarMist]

Welcome to SF, but this is a little late.

 

[nova]

Better late than never. I posted because I found this forum on google in May 2007 so I figured someone else may find it too. The point of my post was to diminish a poster's comment. Consumer Reports is a valuable resource. I trust CR's judgment implicitly as an adjunct to what I know or learn elsewhere.

 

[Mercutio]

Consumer Reports has a very, very long history of doing very poor reviews. They pride themselves on their "objective" review methodology, even when their reviews do not include any meaningful basis for comparison or are based on faulty premises.

I think, sir, that you might want to investigate your own biases before you choose to "diminish" my previous statement.

 

[Clocker]

Consumer Reports is moronic, biased, unreliable & inconsistent. No wonder a large number of American's have come to rely on them almost exculsively for advice on what to buy.

Other than that, CR is OK.

 

[P5-133XL]

I see good points and bad with Consumer Reports. I think the concept is fabulous and I think it are useful in some areas in life. I find that they can be useful in filtering choices to a limited subset of the possibilities where I have absolutely no real expertice. If one reads the articles, as opposed to just using their lists/rankings, one can start to understand some of the factors one should be dealing with. When using their lists, it has been helpful to me in the past to examine the footnotes to help decide what features I would or would not want.

I think they do a reasonable job in some areas such as reporting reliability statistics especially since virtually no one out there does such. That really is a very signifigent factor in a lot of choices.

All the above positives, is tempered by reading reviews of theirs that I do have expertise, for example computers and computer components. In virtually no case would I have actually chosen what they would prefer. In many ways their articles have missed the entire point of what is important and what is not. As an average person, In general I like and agree on their car reviews. I'm sure that a person in the business might see problems with them that I don't. But then I also recognize that those people might have an agenda too.


I think it is a useful tool but definative is just plain wrong ....

 

[ddrueding]

I've had a similar experience as those above; when I actually know something about the category they are comparing, their conclusions seem to miss what is important and come to conclusions that make no sense. This makes it difficult to believe that they know what they are talking about in any other category.

 

[time]

My experiences over many years with our local CR equivalent demonstrate the same problem. It's just like computer hardware review sites; they just look for differentiating attributes and turn them into scoring criteria, regardless of their true relevance.

My favorite was scoring refrigerators on a cord anchorage test - I just luv swinging my fridge around by its cord ...