Fedders Air Condititioner: Shoddy

I wish I had googled "Fedders" before buying one. I would have seen people reporting that their smaller units are shoddy. I have had one for about 9 months and yesterday the motor failed. It makes a whining sound now but no longer turns the fans. I opened up the AC and found that it was a cheap brushed motor made in China. I also saw that many of the internal supporting parts were made of styrofoam. Furthermore, the grillwork was quite shoddy and was already falling apart after less than a year of service. I called their tech support to ask them about buying a replacement motor but they said they do not sell such replacement parts and I would have to take it to a service center, which would require approximately 2 weeks turnaround. As an aquarist living in Los Angeles, I can't wait 2 weeks because my fish would die from heat without AC running - so I am off to Home Depot to see if I can find another unit.

So, if you're looking for an AC unit, I would advise you to look at other brands. A low price may end up costing you more down the line.

Reply to
Joel
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i took a new ge 5000 apart to rob the motor out of it and it was the same china motor as the fedders,and it fit in the fedders... in fact,the whole unit was 98.% the same.i got window unnits from the 70's that still work . these new ones last a year or two. lucas

Reply to
ds549

Sadly we have two components to thank for this:

Wal-mart, which has single handedly driven the US into negative inflation, and a President that seems to think someone with the title "CEO" is a good thing.

It is not.

Reply to
ng_reader

Do you think other brands are better? Drip pans and fan housings have been made from molded foam in many brands for at least 10 years. Why? they function as good as metal and are much cheaper to make compared to sheet metal. EVERY brand of small units is made to a price point and the materials are as cheap as possible.

My company used to supply some of the molded foam parts to one of the largest AC makers in the US. A two dollar difference in selling price to a Sears, Home Dept, Wal-Mart, could cost them hundreds of thousands of unit sales to the competition. They finally moved manufacturing overseas to compete. Two cents in the selling price of our parts to them would cost us huge orders also. We finally told them we would no longer supply them when they demanded a 25% price cut. The company that took the business away from us is filing for bankruptcy.

Don't just blame the manufacturers. Blame the big box stores that demand much from the suppliers and blame the consumer that will buy the $119 AC over the $129 model regardless of which one has the best components. Don't stop at air conditioners as most every appliance has been cheapened to the point of being junk.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

You can safely omit the word "black".

Reply to
ng_reader

Uhhh, your caps lock key seems to be stuck.

Reply to
ng_reader

"PRESIDENT BUSH DOESN'T CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE!!"

Reply to
Dr. Hardcrab

"PRESIDENT BUSH DOESN'T CARE ABOUT NG_READER!!"

Reply to
Dr. Hardcrab

This is Turtle.

The problem with them is the fan motor will not last the 5 years and if it breaks in the first year. You don't have any warranty in Louisiana to get here. Abouit a montrh ago I tried to get a warranty work on a customer for them and found none that would touch it and found one that would but you had to pay the cost up front and if Fedders paid up him , you would get your money back. He told me that Fedders was 4 montrh behind on paying him for warranty work and seem to him they was going under or just playing the no warranty game to save money. as of a month ago there is no company that will do any warranty work for them and the ones that are signed up are not working on any stuff for not being paid for 3 to 6 months.

Fedders is the last brand I would buy.

TURTLE

Reply to
hvacturtle

Yes, exactly. The "walmart" culture is a race to the bottom. Manufacturers have to keep cutting the quality to meet the price demands and then many finally go off shore or operate facilities that match the Walmart pay scale and everyone seems to think the only basis for comparsion when buying something is how cheaply they can buy it.

Reply to
George

no, i'm juts emphasizing like kanye west did on tv. it's a rallying cry for us brothers to WAKE UP!!!!!!

Reply to
Dr. Hardcrab

I think that racist rantings should always be in caps

Reply to
rider89

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