Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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172 of 172 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's not perfect but it's cheap and efficient., August 12, 2007
A large brick and mortar store sells these exclusively at very low prices, and Consumer Reports had many nice things to say about them, so I bought three of them. Oh yes, three.
I remember when air conditioners weighed, minimally, sixty pounds. These weigh about forty pounds, and that makes them much easier to carry, place on a window sill, and move while positioning for the season.
They also draw slightly less than 15 amps, and have a fuse breaker built into the plug, which may or may not slightly mitigate tripped circuits or blown fuses in your home. It also starts with the compressor off for the first three minutes, so the amperage draw isn't high enough to trip a circuit. This is particularly consumer-friendly engineering.
The remote control is very nice and actually quite helpful for the kids' rooms; I can change settings without trying to creep past them at night, in case the rooms gets too cold or hot.
The units are quiet and do a very good job of colling down a room, even a 16x10 south-facing second-floor room with three windows. There are two or three issues you need to accept.
One, the energy efficient mode is probably very efficient, but somewhat intrusive. It will cycle the fan off and be perfectly quiet, then kick back on with air or cooled air as it needs it. In theory this is not a bad idea, but if it cycles every two minutes, it might keep you awake at night with noise/quiet/noise/quiet.
Two, the condensation pan does not have outlet holes, so you will be retaining a half-inch or so of water for the summer season. I do not like this at all, and removing a unit from a window means understanding this and attempting to drain it in some clever way before bringing it indoors. There should be outlet holes, period.
Three, the screw-type air deflectors are sort of hit and miss with directional quality. In general, no air conditioner manufacturer really does this right. The directional vents should be modeled after automobile air vents, with focused airflow and very generous coverage arcs.
The units are very efficient (10.7) and inexpensive, and Frigidaire will stand behind them for five years. I liked them enough to buy three, and would probably buy them again. A final note, the 8,000 BTU version is too loud for a bedroom. I had to return it and get a 6,000 BTU unit, which was fine.
-Fred
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80 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delighted (and a little amazed): 6,000 BTU FAA067P7A, August 3, 2008
THE PROBLEM
I'm in Salt Lake City, in an unshaded 10th floor apartment with an L-shaped 366 square foot living room. The short side of the L and the adjacent kitchen face west. Until yesterday I relied on a 12,000 BTU Sharp window unit ("The Beast") facing down the long side of the L, and whose compressor sounded like a down-shifting tractor-trailer, isn't energy star compliant, and has no energy-saving features. To cool the short side of the L and the kitchen I had to run one fan to blow the cool air across the room and a second to blow from there into the kitchen. Even with that plus reflective film on the west windows that area didn't really get cool in the afternoons.
INSTALLATION
After a lot of research and with some trepidation I bought this unit (the 6,000 BTU--reviews for the 8,000 BTU DON"T APPLY to this unit!!) to cool just the western part of the living area. I didn't expect it to be quiet, just quieter than the Beast, and hoped it'd save me from running the Beast earlier in the day and in the evening. I got it from a big regional furniture and housewares store for $139, $30 off the list price.
After letting the unit sit upright for 24 hours I did my usual customization of my window sills; they've got thin metal frames and are too narrow to use the accordion wings, so I need to lay a piece of wood on the bottom to keep the unit from resting directly on the window sill and support the top of the A/C with another piece of wood. Aside from that, the installation is the same as a regular wooden-framed sash window. I upgrade the stick-on foam tape, though. The first time you install one of these it'll take some fiddling to get it cushioned, positioned & adjusted, but once you get it right it'll be easier to remove and reinstall it.
RESULTS--THE BIG SURPRISE!
So, I turn the thing on. A few minutes later the air is cold, but wait a minute, where's the compressor noise? I turned it to fan-only and the sound didn't appear to change. I turned it back to cool and finally, by listening very carefully next to the window, I noticed a very slight hum added to the fan, which is the quietest A/C fan I've ever heard. It quickly cooled that corner of the apartment, and even on low the air reaches 15 feet into the kitchen, which chills nicely too. On high, there's very normal sounding but unobtrusive fan noise; on low, it's amazingly quiet. I can talk on the phone right next to it, don't have to turn the TV up, and can hardly hear it from across the room.
The fins don't do a great job of directing the air left and right, but I've yet to meet a window A/C that does better. However they do a good job of directing air upwards when you tilt the fin assemblies. The unit doesn't project air very strongly. It's enough to reach the very hot kitchen 15 feet away but not enough to circulate air well in the room on its own. My ceiling fan does that for me; a small fan directed straight at the ceiling of your bedroom will do the same for you. Because this is a desert I don't get sloshing noises, though it can feel a little humid if the compressor cycles off for a long time and the fan is running.
I'm going to get another of these to replace the Sharp unit; that'll give me a total of 12,000 BTU's for a tiny fraction of the noise. Now that I know how incredibly quiet this thing is I'll also get one for the bedroom to replace the 8,000 BTU FAA084P7A, which is way too loud.
TIPS (YOU KNOW YOU WANT THEM!)
WAIT 24 HOURS!! Noone at the store will tell you this, and I don't even think it's in the user manual, but start off by making sure the compressor lubricant is in the bottom. Otherwise you're likely to permanently damage the compressor the minute you turn it on, which means it'll be louder and less effective. If you're absolutely, positively sure that the unit was stored and transported right side up, go ahead and put it in. If not, DON'T TURN IT ON until it's been sitting right side up for at least 24 hours.
Reduce Vibration:
All window A/C units have compressors and fans, and all compressors and fans vibrate. The trick is to minimize how much vibration is transmitted from the metal A/C housing to the window and wall, both of which can vibrate like a drum.
The unit comes with stick-on strips of open-cell foam to 1) reduce vibration and 2) seal off drafts. I always upgrade this to stick-on closed-cell foam tape like M-D Building Products Sponge Rubber Tape, 3/8-by-1/2-Inch-by-10 feet, Closed Cell, Black #06619 (you can find this stuff at any hardware store). I put it at the bottom and top of the metal A/C housing and anywhere else the housing contacts the window or wall. You'll be amazed at the difference this little improvement makes.
The Right Angle:
Make sure the unit is installed at the correct angle. Use the slots in the housing that the accordion thingies fit into; they should be exactly perpendicular. The top of the housing may tilt down a little even when the angle is right, and the plastic front is rarely vertical; that's OK, they're designed to be that way. NOT doing this can make the fan and compressor louder or cause the sloshing problem people have if the thing is tilted so that water hits the fan. I've never had a problem with this in a normal wooden sash window, but if it doesn't automatically level itself, use shims at the top or bottom to even it up.
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36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent efficient AC, but very loud without modifications, July 1, 2008
I bought one of these to replace an oversized 8000 btu/hr window unit that was almost a decade old.
What worked:
1. Much lighter and easier to install than most window ACs I've used.
2. Good cooling for the energy used.
What didn't:
1. This is not a quiet unit by any stretch.
2. As the other reviewers have mentioned, there's no drainage to the drip pan. This would probably be okay, but in mine the fan is mounted such that the tips of the fan can actually make contact with the water if the drip pan is full (and the unit is installed properly and level). This results in a constant "sloshing" sound when run on high humidity days. As a result, I ended up (carefully, you don't want to hit the coils!) drilling a small drainhole in the drip pan, carefully coating the hole edge with silicone to keep the exposed metal from rusting. The unit now runs with just fan noise.
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