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Air Conditioners Selection Guide
| | Frequently asked questions regarding Air Conditioners |
|  | | The ENERGYSTAR® program was created to help consumers easily identify products, homes, and buildings that save energy and money, and help protect the environment. As the government-backed, trusted symbol for energy efficiency, the ENERGYSTAR® label identifies highly efficient products and designates superior energy performance in homes and buildings. With ENERGYSTAR®, money isn?t all you?re saving?you are also making a difference in protecting the environment. |
If your unit is a heating and cooling model used throughout the year, or if you simply prefer to not lose your window view, then you may want to consider a permanent installation in an exterior wall.
Regardless, we recommend that you choose a unit with a slide-out chassis or you?ll be in for a lot of work whenever you remove your air conditioner for maintenance or service. |
| Some consumers report their air conditioners are "louder" than an identical model in a friend or relative?s home. This may be due to where the air conditioner is installed, the method of installation, or the type of construction used on the building. Other factors could be the number of people in the house, as well as different furnishings and room arrangements. Carpeting, draperies, upholstered furniture and wall coverings help muffle air conditioner sounds, which are most noticeable in quiet surroundings. |
| National Electrical Code: The power cord & wall receptacle allowed by the National Electrical Code on A/C units is 250 volts or less. The max power cord length on A/C units for the 120-volt is 10? & for the 208/240-volt is 6?. For safety reasons, Friedrich does not recommend the use of an extension cord. An extension cord may generate too much heat trying to carry the requested electrical load for the appliance and possibly cause a fire. This type of damage would not be covered under warranty. |
- 150 Sq. Feet - Up to 5,400 BTU
- 200 Sq. Feet - 6,000 BTU
- 340 Sq. Feet - 8,000 BTU
- 400 Sq. Feet - 9,000 BTU
- 550 Sq. Feet - 10,000 BTU
- 750 Sq. Feet - 14,500 BTU
- 850 Sq. Feet - 16,000 BTU
- 1000 Sq. Feet - 18,000 BTU
- 1400 Sq. Feet - 24,000 BTU
- 1520 Sq. Feet - 28,500 BTU
- 1600 Sq. Feet - 32,000 BTU
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| Air conditioner sizes (or capacities) are rated in BTUs per hour. The abbreviation BTU stands for British Thermal Unit. It measures the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit at sea level. BTUs are the primary measurement used to match your cooling needs with an air conditioner. |
| Fedders runs different production runs through out the year. When a color is changed or a feature is added they will change the model number from A to B, C to D, etc... This helps the manufacturer determine what production run the unit comes from. |
| Swamp coolers (also called "evaporative coolers" or "Air coolers") are air conditioners used to cool buildings in dry climates. The technique they use is evaporative cooling, of which two types exist: direct evaporative cooling and indirect evaporative cooling. Evaporative cooling is especially well suited where the air is hot and humidity is low. However, in higher humidity areas, there are many proven cost effective uses for evaporative cooling that make it the preferred choice. For example, industrial plants, commercial kitchens, laundries, dry cleaners, greenhouses, spot cooling (loading docks, warehouses, factories, construction sites, athletic events, workshops, garages, and kennels) and confinement farming (poultry ranches, hog, and dairy). |
| Evaporative cooling is a very common form of industrial and residential cooling since it is relatively cheap and requires less energy than many other forms of cooling. However evaporative cooling requires an abundant water source as an evaporate, and is only efficient when the relative humidity is low, restricting its effective use to dry climates. In the US these units are colloquially referred to as swamp coolers. |
Energy Efficiency ratings measure the amount of electricity required by an air conditioning unit to provide the desired cooling level in BTUs. The higher an EER, the more energy efficient a unit is.
Federal law requires that all manufacturers display the EERs of each of their units on yellow tags so that consumers can easily compare the energy efficiency of the models they are considering. Friedrich models have some of the highest EERs in the industry. |
| A good rule of thumb is to look at the Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) of the air conditioner you are purchasing. The higher the EER, the more energy efficient the air conditioner. To look at energy efficiency another way, consider this: A portable air conditioner allows you to cool one area. If you have central air and you want just this one area cooled, you would have to lower the temperature of the entire house as well. So, if you have a home or apartment and you want to keep just a single room cool, a portable air conditioner can save a lot of energy. |
| As portable air conditioners cool the air, they also dehumidify it. The water they condense out of the air is dripped into some sort of internal reservoir or exhausted out the exhaust hose. Most portable air conditioners collect some or all of the water they condense out of the air internally. These portable air conditioners also have an option to accept a drain line for a continuously draining connection. |
| Portable air conditioners are designed to operate with a vent. If you do not vent the hot air that the machine is pumping out somewhere (other than the same room that you are trying to cool), the portable air conditioner will not be able to cool very effectively at all. If one of these machines is run in a room without a vent, the best-case scenario would be that the area immediately in front of the machine would get cooled, but the area behind the machine would get very hot, so the room would not really get cool at all. |
| The window venting kit is essentially a "filler" kit to allow the end of the exhaust hose to vent out the window without allowing hot air from the outside in around the vent hose. The window vent kits fit most windows and glass doors that slide to open (this includes sliding glass doors and windows that slide both vertically and horizontally). These units do not come with a filler kit to fit casement (crank-out) windows, but with a little ingenuity, you should be able to devise some sort of filler kit. |
| Generally, this is not recommended by the manufacturer, especially if the diameter of the vent hose is greater than the diameter of the dryer vent. A standard dryer vent is 4". Most portable air conditioners have 5" exhaust hoses. However, you should not use the external part of the dryer vent that has flaps, as the compressor is not strong enough to push these flaps open. If you need to cover that exterior opening of the vent, we recommend using a screen. |
| A portable air conditioner is an air conditioner that is mobile. Unlike window, through-the-wall, or central air conditioning units, portable air conditioners do not require permanent installation. Commonly, these units have caster wheels for easy portability and are 28" to 34" tall. |
| Portable air conditioners are great for specialized applications where central air or conventional window air conditioners are unfeasible or too expensive. If you have an area that needs cooling, but conventional air conditioners won't work for you, a portable air conditioner could be the answer you are looking for. |
- 150 - 250 square feet - 6000 BTU
- 250 - 350 square feet - 9000 BTU
- 350 - 400 square feet - 10000 BTU
- 400 - 450 square feet - 12000 BTU
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Air Conditioners Selection Guide
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