The problem comes in when you are dealing with central air conditioners. It doesn’t matter whether it is a split air conditioner or a package air conditioner. The reason for this is that they are typically not sold to the general public. It requires a licensed air conditioning professional to install a new air conditioning unit and to charge the system with R-22 Freon or the newer R-410A Puron, and it is not a one man job.  You can expect to see two or three people involved in the installation process.  In some areas an inspection is required after the installation is completed to insure that the job meet the local building code requirements.  All of this makes the process of shopping for a deal a lot more difficult because now you are not just shopping for a product, you are shopping for a product/service package deal.

I am just like you, I don’t want to pay for something and find out a week later that the Jones’ down the street got the same thing I did for half of the price. It would make me feel like I was taken advantage of. My first recommendation is to make sure that you are comparing apples to apples. Have to ever heard the saying “An astronaut doesn’t want to fly to the moon in a rocket ship that was built by the lowest bidder”? The make and model of the air conditioner may be the same, but the materials and skills used to install the unit may be entirely different, and that could mean the difference in having a unit that will last you for 7 years versus a unit that will last you for 25 years.

Here are some tips to help you feel good about the cost of the INVESTMENT you are about to make in you air conditioning unit:

• Nothing is better than ‘word or mouth’ references from satisfied customers.  Create a short-list of proposed installers and start the quoting process.
• If you don’t have that to work with, then the next best thing is to decide on the BRAND of air conditioner that you want to have installed, then visit the local distributor to see if they can recommend a handful of installers.
• Lastly, if you run across any homes that have air conditioners installed the you really like, then find out who the contractor was for the home and they can most likely tell you who installed the air conditioner for that home.

Once you feel that you have a handful of quality installers identified, then find out if they can quote you separately for the air conditioner, materials, and labor.  If you can get a breakdown then you can begin to compare apples to apples and effectively shop for the best prices.

I have not owned or worked on any Haier products before, so I did some quick research on them and found that they are an appliance manufacturer, not a manufacturer that specializes in air conditioning.  Needless to say, I don’t expect this thing to last for 20 years under heavy usage, but if I can get 10 years out of it and it works as it is supposed to, then I’ll consider it well worth the cost.

The reason that I even considered purchasing a portable air conditioner to begin with is the fact that we are empty nesters and there is just no reason to run the big central unit to cool off the entire house as much as we used to when the kids where here all of the time.  We still have it turned on so that the heat and humidity don’t ruin our stuff, be we can set it to something higher than a comfortable living temperature for the whole house, and now we can use the portable air conditioning for the bedroom so we can sleep comfortably.  If this works out, then we’ll be looking at a couple more units for the den and kitchen.

This particular model comes with separate air intake and air exhast duct ports, and a window adapter.  It can run in 3 modes: cooling, heating, and dehumidifying.  There is an LCD indicator that let you know when the condensation tank becomes full.  There are 3 an speed: low, medium and high.  There is a timer function that goes up to 24 hours that will turn the unit off automatically.  I’m not sure if and when I would ever use that, but it’s one of those “nice to know it’s there” features.  Heat pump included.  Temperature control.  Remote control included, for all of us lazy bastards that can’t get up out of the lazy boy unless it’s to get a frozen pizza or something like that.  It uses R-22 coolant which is not a good thing, but I haven’t seen an portable units that are cost effective that are using Puron yet.  The air filter easily snaps out from in front of the evaporator air intake in the rear.

That’s it.  As I get to know this guy a little better I’ll keep y’all posted.  Wish me luck!