Rick - there’s basically very little difference between a window unit and a thru the wall unit. The difference is in the case or housing. The window unit goes thru a window that has a frame of maybe four inches, usually much less. So they cut vents into the side of the ac housing, which helps to dissipate the heat . Thru-the-wall units go thru at least 10 inches, often more - you have plaster, 2x4s, air space, 4" brick. So they don’t have side vents and sometimes the casing is a bit longer. You can get the window unit for the space you’re talking about.
I’m w Chris about the door tho - sliding doors have so much open space, you’re really going to have that thing cranking. It will be as if you left the door ajar. I’d get something that seals better. And you’ll also have some dripping. There’s a little drain hole at the bottom of the unit but it’s usually not thru the bottom, rather thru the back, which means you always have a bit of moisture. That’s OK when the ass is hanging out the window - it will dry out quickly. But in your house, you don’t have wind blowing and it doesn’t drain. So what I did was drilled a small hole thru the bottom of the unit in the outside corner and put a piece of string in there, hanging down to a bucket. That way the water travels down the string and doesn’t drip, drip, drip. Oh, and I mounted it ever so slightly off level, so water drips out the back - same way I do my window AC units.
Thanks Greg. I’ll look at other door solutions… it’s only a 48" opening, so that limits things a bit. If the unit runs a lot I don’t actually mind, since that will just cool the room. The critical thing would be if it was so leaky that the wine closet couldn’t stay below at least the mid-60s. But a tighter seal will be better… something to consider.
Several reasons why they cost what they do,most of the units are hand assembled in the USA. Low production and limited buying power from the manufacturers translates to significantly higher material costs. And of coarse there is way less competition and discounting as they are not a commodity item.
Most (not all) of the reliability problems are due to sizing / room construction and lack of maintenance.
I wouldn’t expect a modern refrigerator to last 30 years. One of the biggest changes to the industry came about when R12 refrigerant was replaced with R134a, the 134a systems need to use synthetic oil which when overheated causes major problems. Moral of the story…keep you condensor coils clean.
They are a PITA to repair but are field repairable, the issue is that the time and labor required often isn’t worth it. FWIW, a domestic refrigerator are even harder to work on. Truth is most modern items with hermetic compressors are meant to be disposables.
Although a through the wall A/C unit will be cheaper to purchase initially, If you ever have to fix the hole in the outside of your house because you sell it or move your wine than the cost would be equivalent to that of a cooling unit.
One of the biggest changes to the industry came about when R12 refrigerant was replaced with R134a, the 134a systems need to use synthetic oil which when overheated causes major problems. Moral of the story…keep you condensor coils clean.
That’s an interesting and a good point Chris. I’m going to clean mine today.