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We have a 10x12 prefab building we put in the back with the intent of it housing lawn & garden stuff. But I keep the mower in the garage just because it's easier, so less than 20 sq. ft. is actually used in the building in back. So we want to turn it into a sort of arts & crafts room. But it needs A/C.

A neighbor bought a window unit last September and it worked great. Didn't need it after November, so it stayed powered off until a few weeks ago. He turned it, fired right up, but no cold air. An error F0 and the company--Chinese with a U.S. office--says he needs to ship it back on his dime for them to repair or replace under warranty; evidently the coolant leaked out. The unit was a low price, and the shipping would equal about half the cost of the unit. He is not happy. The A/C actually worked for only 8 weeks.

We don't want to spend a lot for a best-in-class type thing. We just want one that we can have reasonable confidence will run for a couple of years. With the sales tax holiday in 8 days, seems like a good time to buy.

To our knowledgeable forum members: What's a reliable brand for a window A/C unit? Thanks in advance!

you hit nail on the head.
smaller less quality brands hate to be shut off. key in my opinion is to run them at least 30 minutes every other week
the weird brand at lowes, woked for us for over ten years, i sold them both for 50 to a guy that needed small units. mine ran 11 months out of the year
but they were huge energy hogs.

we had a small medical grade freezer in our rv for 5 years, 24/7 it ran with no issues.
when we stopped using the rv as much, i emptied it and unplugged it...when we fired it back up a few months later. it was dead

I have two LG’s I bought at Home Depot at the same time 11 years ago. They haven’t missed a lick. However the one in my bedroom runs every night except for the snow this year. They both run just about every day.

I've been happy with Arctic King. The 5000btu is all manual; no remote or digital display. I bought it to use with a generator for hurricane season last year. Ended up using it nearly every night to sleep cold. The filter is prone to jam up if removed/replaced too forcefully. no big deal. I also bought an Arctic King 8000btu with remote and wifi - all digital controls - simply because it was cheaper than the manually operated one. The filter on this model has no issues. Both units are used daily and have performed flawlessly, and were inexpensive enough that I won't mind buying another if I get a couple years out of it before failing.

carlson1 wrote: ↑Fri May 21, 2021 10:14 pm I have two LG’s I bought at Home Depot at the same time 11 years ago. They haven’t missed a lick. However the one in my bedroom runs every night except for the snow this year. They both run just about every day.

I've had LG window AC's in the past that I bought at Home Depot. Was happy with them.

I had an LG in our sunroom for 10+ years. We replaced it with a mini-split heat pump.
I would say to pay a little more and get a heat pump window unit if it’s going to be a craft room. Then you can use it year round.

Many thanks, everyone! Geez; 10 years? That's longer than my central A/C lasted before I had to replace it. I hadn't even thought in those terms, especially after my neighbor's 2-month experience.

I'd never considered the run-it-periodically thing. Kinda like a car you're storing for a while? Keep the coolant circulating? My neighbor already took his Tosot Chinese model to the recycler, but he did mention that he could never see any evidence that the coolant had actually leaked out. I wonder if the coolant was still in there but just couldn't circulate after being shut off for 5 months. He said their customer service gave him no troubleshooting options, just "ship it back" as the only choice.

And LG and Arctic Air really weren't on the radar. Glad I asked.

LimaCharlie3: Manual controls would be just fine for us since the unit will only be about three steps away from the desk/bench. And looking at this article from Consumer Reports, for our baked-in-the-sun building we figured 5,000 BTU was what we'd be looking for (and I lied earlier: it isn't 10x12, it's 10x15; not a big deal for the A/C, doesn't seem, but no wonder it felt a little bigger than 120 sq ft). Even though a unit that size isn't going to be very heavy, I'm not sure I trust the structural integrity of the window where it's gonna go, so am planning on using one of those external braces to help support it against the exterior wall.

And RPBrown, I hadn't thought of looking at a heat pump, either. We'd just assumed we'd use ceramic space heaters in the winter (we bought an extra one of those with the intent of letting it keep the garage from freezing in February's icepocalypse, but then, of course, no electricity for days). The little building actually isn't bad in the typical Houston winter; it's sealed pretty well. But the aluminum shell simply bakes in the summer sun. If it's a cloudless August day, it's a sauna in there. Going to do some research on it.

lg or Frigidaire .. i like Frigidaire have 5, same remotes my buddy likes lg. mine have been reliable since 2011 ... my theory is get the highest energy rating you can because they may put more thought into those designs

Friedrich

puma guy wrote: ↑Sun May 23, 2021 3:48 pmFriedrich

Huh. How is it I'd never heard of them? Texas company, no less, founded by Ed Friedrich in San Antonio in 1883. https://www.friedrich.com/about/company-history Looks like they're sold, at least around Houston, only at specialty stores. Only two dealers showing within 35 miles of me. Research required, but the products themselves look solid. Thanks!

Good thing we thought about this a couple of weeks before we intended to buy. I mean, it's nowhere near the money commitment of a nice rifle, but I really don't want to have to go through the work of installing and sealing this thing in only to find it's died and needs to be removed again just a couple of months down the road.

i'll pm you Rafe

i bought the cheapest 5000btu Walmart window ac unit, a few years ago and used it when we lost power from hurricane harvey. i stored it in my garage until one month ago my ac went out, it was going to take a couple of days before getting it fix so i put the window unit into our 12x15ft room and it worked great, kept the room super cold. so yes you will get lemons sometime but they are not all trash.

I had a Friedrich in my upstairs bedroom growing up in the country. That thing was a beast! I think it was designed to cool the whole upstairs. I remember one August day, I closed my bedroom door, covered all the windows with blankets and cranked it up to high. It was over 100 outside, and my bedroom dropped down to the upper 50s. Then my parents went and had central heat/air installed and terminated the breaker for my unit. I was so disappointed. My room went from the coolest in the house, to the warmest.

My only contribution is to caution against GE or Whirlpool. I’m on my 5th one of those right now. Almost like clockwork they fail about every 3 years, mostly when summer is upon us. I need one fast in this south Texas summer, Lowe’s is right up the street and that’s what they carry, at least up to now. I keep expecting the new one to be better than the previous ones, and I’m always disappointed.

I have a large 600 sq. ft. room that was built after my central AC was ducted to the other parts of the house, and a window AC plus ceiling fans to distribute the cool air is absolutely necessary for this room.

I WILL buy another brand next time.

The Whirlpool 12k btu I’m running right now is the 2nd I bought. I had to return the 1st the first day because the compressor locked up, screeched horribly every time it tried to engage. A pain to take it out and return it to Lowe’s. I already had the window opening insulated for this model and needed it fast as I say, so grudgingly got the same model for speed and convenience.

Weldonjr2001 wrote: ↑Mon May 24, 2021 9:05 am My only contribution is to caution against GE or Whirlpool. I’m on my 5th one of those right now. Almost like clockwork they fail about every 3 years, mostly when summer is upon us. I need one fast in this south Texas summer, Lowe’s is right up the street and that’s what they carry, at least up to now. I keep expecting the new one to be better than the previous ones, and I’m always disappointed.

I have a large 600 sq. ft. room that was built after my central AC was ducted to the other parts of the house, and a window AC plus ceiling fans to distribute the cool air is absolutely necessary for this room.

I WILL buy another brand next time.

Gracias for that. Yeah; I have a Lowes less than a mile and two turns from me, but I'm tempted not to buy there. No real experience with Whirlpool, but when the house was built (Lennar, which I don't recommend, either) they used all GE appliances. The GE washing machine, dishwasher, refrigerator, and built-in microwave all died by year 9; dishwasher was the first to go after 5 years. Used to be a reliable American brand, but I stay away from it now. Shame.

Another forum member recommended Abt Electronics as a place to buy: 85-year-old company; free 3-day shipping on every window unit I've checked so far; they'll give you a code for $25 off on your 1st visit (purchase must be over $250, code good for only 1 week, but we plan to buy next Saturday no matter where so we can take advantage of the sales tax holiday); and they have free "lifetime" tech support on most everything except computers and home automation gear (that isn't warranty, just support, but it's something). Plus they seem to have easily accessible PDFs from the manufacturer for all units. Among other brands, they carry LG, Frigidaire, and Friedrich, which it looks like where we've narrowed our selection to. The same member noted that if you plan to buy two, you may want to use the initial discount on one, then wait because they'll often offer another discount on a subsequent purchase for new customers.

So this round I think we'll order online. Either Abt, Amazon, or Sam's Club. Free shipping at all three; Abt has the better selection; and with the $25 discount one of the Frigidaires that's on the list is actually the same price at all three.