any window air conditioners with "sleeves" still made?

[danny burstein]

Years ago I used to install Friedrich air conditioners which were built in two parts. A bunch of competitors had this option, too.

First was the sleeve, which weighed just a couple of pounds. This was easy to fasten into place - particularly helpful if placing the unit at the top of the window.

Once this was properly fastened, then I'd simply pick up the main part of the unit and slide it in.

Anyway.. while I can still find similar arrangements for through-the-wall air conditioners, I haven't located any that are built for windows.

- The window design is a bit more efficient energy wise as the outdoor "cooling air" that flows over the compressor comes in through the sides of the unit and out the back.

The "through-the-wall" ones use just the back grill for both the incoming and outgoing air (there's a baffle in between) so it doesn't flow as easily and costs a performance penalty.

Thanks muchly for any pointers

_____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key [e-mail] [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

[micky]

It doesn't work for the top of a double-hung window, but when I lived on the 5th floor and didn't want to drop my window AC on the people below, I nailed a shelf to the outside window sill, with a little leg to keep the shelf close to level. Then I could install the AC and could open the window later without it falling on the drug addicts next door. (I lived next door to Teen Challenge, and though they were drug addicts, they never caused any trouble in the 11 years I was there. Read The Cross and the Switchblade, by David Wilkerson, or watch the movie.)

[Thomas]

Definitely still make them. I bought a 'regular' AC from Wally online and came across quite a few while shopping.

[Unquestionably Confused]

Over the years I've installed a few "made for window" A/C units through the wall. Just measured the proposed units to ensure that the side venting would not be blocked by the framing studs. It's a bit more involved than those units made with the sleeve, but the principle is the same.

Problem was the units were noisy and crap and just didn't last. Cured that two years ago with a mini-split system and no looking back. Best move I even made in the HVAC department.

[danny burstein]

====== snip ======

Found one. Natch, of course after I installed a standard unit.

Anyway, for future reference this one is super duper cool. In addition to using a sleeve, it's also got a feature I've been waiting for in a window unit:

It's a Variable Output Inverter design

In other words, while a standard a/c of, say, 10,000 BTUs will have the thermostat toggle the compressor _fully on_ and _fully off_ as needed, this one will ramp up and down. So if, say, you only needed 3,500 BTU's to keep cool, the traditional ones would be on for a minute, off for two, on for one, rinse, lather, repeat.

This better design will downshift to the lower number, keeping the temperature closer, be less noisy, reduce the power demand when in "on" position, etc.

It's also about 20 percent more efficient than the older design...

Oh, and much less of a starting surge demand, which is always nice. Triply so if you're using your own power supply (backup generator, etc.)

Anyway, it looks like there are only a couple of models available in the US. More outside...

The one I found is the Lucky Goldstar ("LG") LW1517IVSM

14,000 BTU DUAL Inverter Smart wi-fi Enabled Window Air Conditioner

Annoyingly it's in the $450 range, which is about 50 pct more than a commodity unit would cost. But If I was buying a window unit now, it's the one I'd get.

Oh... the variable output also comes in handy if you turn it off for, say, the weekend, and come back to a 95 degree room. A unit spec'ed for simply maintating a 75 degree temperure (a 20 degree difference) might only be 4,000 BTU. But that would take just about forever to bring the room down to what you want.

Since this one has a 14,000 BTU capacity, it'll work at 95 pct or so of its rating for a half hour, and then throttle back.

[Ed Pawlowski]

That is actually cheap in the scheme of things. Back in 1968 i bought a

16,000 Btu AC in a sleeve. I paid $205 back then, but with inflation, today that would be $1500. That was more than I was making a week.

That price sticks with me for some reason A 6000 BTU room AC was in the $150 range then. As was a 19" B & W portable TV.

[danny burstein]

Yeah, air conditioner prices, at least for the mass market commodity ones, are dramatically lower today than a couple of decades ago.

I paid $350 for a 10,000 BTU unit back in 1975... Today I can buy one for $200. That's in "current" dollars both then and now. Adjusted for inflation, well...

(reasons for the lowerprices left as an exercise to the student)

[Ralph Mowery]

Seems that many things around the house cost about the same as they did

50 years ago. So when converted to todays dollars we have many more items such as a washer , dryer, TV set in several rooms.

The price of the cars seems to be making up for the difference. They were financed for 3 or maybe 4 years then, now 5 to 7 years seem to be the norm. I bought a new car a few months back. I could have paid cash for it by taking it out of my IRA. However as they had 0 % interist for

7 years, I decided to make the monthly payments for it. That will probabaly save me over $ 5000 or more over that period of time.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

A 19" TV used to be a big one. Now it may be the smallest stores sell.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I see a lot of older (before central A/C was common) that have 240V 20A receptacles in bedrooms. A/C units must be a lot more efficient, considering I've seen a room cooled adequately by a unit that used 120V at less than 5A.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I remember when my parents bought a new car (about 1965) and the price was a little over $2000. $3000 was for a luxury car.

[Tekkie®]

Unquestionably Confused posted for all of us...

+75 I used to have the sleeve units, any time a unit was replaced it had to be re framed. PIA. I too got a mini and as an add-on I also gives heat.

[Tekkie®]

danny burstein posted for all of us...

Is it oversized? Less humidity control...

[danny burstein]

This is the beauty of an inverter based, variable output, air conditioner. Instead of short cycling the14,000 BTUs, it throttles down to (for illustration) just 5,000... and stays on.

[trader_4]

And how much power did those old tube TVs use? The cabinet would get warm. I measured my 55" one recently, it uses 75W.