Buying used air conditioners

April 24, 2013 6:08 PM

Craigslist regularly has listings for units that are almost $500 cheaper than what I would pay retail. What should I be looking out for with used air conditioners?

I'd like to buy a higher BTU air conditioner and want to take advantage of my wall sleeve this summer.

Also, I have a dedicated 230 volt outlet right next to the hole but it hasn't been used in over a decade. Should I assume that it works or is there some way to test it?

posted by laptolain to Shopping (6 answers total)

I was looking at a nice shiny air conditioner at a yard sale once which the seller assured me had never been used. But fortunately it was a bright, sunny day and I could see through the grille that the inside of it was covered in all sorts of dirt and grime. So check that, at least, once you're there looking at it in person.
posted by XMLicious at 6:46 PM on April 24, 2013

Smell it! We got a 'free' AC from neighbors once but could never use it because they had been smokers. This was evident without turning it on.
posted by Tandem Affinity at 7:02 PM on April 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Bad compressor, fried electrical board, tired fan motor, contaminated or leaking refrigerant, leaky seals, incompatible refrigerant oils... Stolen unit could be a possibility also.

Call an electrician or HVAC tech about the 'dedicated' outlet... incorrect fuse amperage rating could fry a smaller unit; or would consistently blow with a larger unit. Or worse case; burn your house down.
posted by buzzman at 9:07 PM on April 24, 2013

Home Depot / Lowes im sure have electrical testing kits, but for the price you'd pay you could probably get an electrician.

Measure your wall unit (twice) to make sure of the space you have to use, leave a little extra just in case.

Get something relatively new, my older wall unit was worn out and didn't cool very well. I'm sure apt management would have sold it for top dollar if they could!

Is it ventilated well on the outside of the sleeve? My apartment unit overheated frequently because the outside of the sleeve wasn't ventilated well. If yours also isn't ventilated well, don't expect much event from the worlds best a/c.
posted by TheAdamist at 10:34 PM on April 24, 2013

I've had excellent luck with this, i've never gotten a bum one and i've only had one new AC in my entire life. Most from craigslist, a few even from a garage sale(which was an excellent commercial kenmore model that i still have).

I wouldn't buy something i couldn't turn on and run, and i'd look for things like the compressor sounding off(loud grinding or rattling above normal compressor noise? etc)having trouble getting up to speed, and listen very closely for any bearing noise or trouble getting up to speed with the blower as well. I'd also check for how quickly the air coming out got cold, which should basically be instantaneous(like, 5-8 seconds).

There's plenty of very new ones on there too. The only new one i ever owned was a fairly high end portable, and i used it for one short seattle summer of maybe two months in an abnormally hot rental then sold it. That guy sure got a killer deal. Several i picked up had similarly low usage/hours.

I think this kind of stuff is in the zone of prime things to buy on craigslist as long as you don't get a cheap model. the price difference between the new and used markets is just so ridiculous. I would much rather have a mid-high end model that was a few years old than a brand new low-mid range model as well, for the same money or maybe even less for the former.

As a side note on the outlet, beyond testing that it actually has power you're probably golden. Newer air conditioners draw less amperage than old ones at the same rating, or even higher ratings. You'd probably struggle to find one that would fit in the sleeve that wouldn't be perfectly fine. I'd just check the breaker panel and see what the circuit is rated at, then use that as a guide when shopping. I really doubt you'll even find anything that fits that won't work though.
posted by emptythought at 11:00 PM on April 24, 2013

emptythought: "I'd also check for how quickly the air coming out got cold, which should basically be instantaneous(like, 5-8 seconds)."

Just a note on this point: If the unit isn't plugged in when you get there to test it out, it can actually take a couple minutes for it to start cooling the first time. This was true even of a brand new unit I purchased from the store two or three years ago. Afterwards, as long as it was plugged in, it would start cooling pretty much right away.

(Of course, this could be a quirk of the model I had, but I think I remember it having something to do with the compressor having to charge up maybe?)
posted by Grither at 4:46 AM on April 25, 2013