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Where Can I Find ... Or Would You Attemp A Recharge

Name: diyer  City: philly pa

Question: We have first floor kitchen air cond, that came with the house in 1993 (I have no idea of its age). It is an Emerson Quiet Cool, model # 18ED4E-K, 230 v - 18k BTU unit. It has been operating at 80 F output (I had a temp probe hooked up to it). I was surprised it was that hot. So, basically it is just pushing the room air around. I thought I would see at least a 60 F or 70 F out put, but I knew it would not hit 50 F. I estimate I need a 16K BTU unit - room is 570 sq ft., Fedders says to add 4K BTU for a kitchen, and possibly 25 to 35 % BTU for a non-insulated or masonry structure, both of which I have, but that would put me around 20K to 22 K BTU's, and since an 18K BTU is in place, I wonder if that is a bad calculator. Ceilings are 8 ft. Btw, I have not gotten te unti out of the wall yet - it barely budged one inch. Anyway, there is ice on the top and bottom coils, and a few trade people have told me it needs some R22. I have a manifold gauge set for R22 and R12. I am licensed to work with mobile AC units, however, I cannot find any fittings to recharge. I am told there most likely are none and you need to put your own fittings on it. Bottom line is that the wisest choice seems to be to get a new unit - [Btw, I dont want to break the forum rules, so if anyone can tell me how easy it would be to just recharge this unit, let me know and I will send you an email or repost this under the general discussion forum]. Otherwise I have a non DIY question: I was looking at brands in the yellow pages and noticed that all the brands listed under appliances (Maytag, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, Kenmore, Jen-air, Kitchenaid, Hotpoint, Westinghouse, Amana, etc.) are entirely different from what the AC contractors list (Carrier, Trane, Bryant, York, Lennox, Heil), with the exception of one brand, GE. I would like to get something reliable, easy to maintain, efficient, durable, and of course cools great. To put it differently, I would like to avoid consumer crap, but, on the other hand I do not need anything industrial either. So, I am looking for something in between, like a commercial unit in quality but not in size. The problem s that the commercially available contractor installed brands are too large and seem to be restricted to outside units. To clarify what I term commercial, let me draw an anology with tools. I want to avoid B&D, Sears Craftsman, K-Mart, or China made products. Lets say I wanted an air impact wrench, I don't need an Ingersoll-Rand Industrial capacity 20 cfm impact wrench, or a Cooper Tools 20 cfm Dotco brand, both designed to run 24/7 for an automotive assembly plant. So, to get quality but not overkill or consumer crap, a 5 cfm Ingersoll-Rand or a Snap-on 5 cfm impact wrench would be just about right. So, the question is are there commercial AC window units ? ... please list if more than one. Would you attemp a recharge. My biggest problem as I said earlier was that I do not see any fittings for testing the psi or recharging the unit, but I also have not gotten it out of the wall yet to examine it. So, I am basing the lack of any fittings on assumptions from AC trade people. thanks, diyer