We have a White Westinghouse "Mobilaire" air conditioner, installed through the dining room wall, that has finally given up the ghost. It was here when we bought the house, and we've been here 20 years. I seriously doubt that it can be fixed. Besides, it isn't as energy efficient as newer models.
Using an on-line calculator, we determined that the three rooms downstairs equate to roughly 425 square feet (the entire area is open, so it seems like one room!), so we figured that we need about 10,000 BTUs. However, I was surprised to see that this particular model (AL183H2A1) is 17,500 BTUs. Was that much power necessary 20+ years ago because they weren't as energy efficient as they are today? (It says "Cooling EER DOE 6.0 / 5.9.")
While it's been installed and used through the wall, the installation sleeve from outside has vents on the sides. This would seem to indicate that this air conditioner is a regular window model. I don't know when wall units were first manufactured (and the date on this unit is 07/84), so I guess the previous owner was just trying to save money.
I guess that my questions are: (1) Should we buy a model with greater than 10,000 BTUs? (2) Has anyone out there seen air conditioners on end-of-season sale? It seems that, with the advent of online shopping, there is no incentive for retailers (with online "stores") to place air conditioners on sale at the end of the season, since they're always available in a warehouse. (At least that's how I think they see things.)
Since the previous unit appears to be a window unit and there have been no problems with leaks, I suppose that we can still buy a window unit (being frugal), since wall units seem to be more expensive. Wall units also seem to be mostly dual cooling/heating units (the reason for greater expense), which I don't want.
We're in Pennsylvania, if it matters.
Thanks, T