HVAC Brands of the Past. Where are they now?

[a440]

Lennox

Does anyone else remember the huge Lennox A/C Condenser's that were installed in Schools,Churches and business? They were about 6' tall and the fan was huge! Like the size of an air-plane propeller. I can remember being fascinated with them as a kid. And they were so loud! The compressors were huge. They compressors looked like an engine from a car.
I always wondered how many tons these units were. They were hooked up to Gas Lennox Furnaces that were about 150,000 Btu's. Years ago I went by a church in New Orleans that had these units. I was surprised to see that quite a few were left. The units that were replaced had regular Trane units. I know of one church in the Atlanta area that still has them, and one Gay bar that has one. Still going strong. I can't even imagine the power these beast require.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Thne there's also "Night And Day"... (or is it "Day And Night"?)

-- Dave

 

[a440]

Dave,

Night and Day - Cole Porter

Day and Night - Line of Carrier

 

 

 

[ovrphil]

I grew up in a two family Dutch Colonial, ca. 1925. It had two gas furnaces that "talked". The valves opened and closed(?)making an alternating high/low pitch whispering sound. It was eery, being in the basement, hearing that sound as a kid. I hope to find a photo of these dual furnaces - and I can't recall the brand, despite looking at the flames and pipes so many times for so many years. They were very similar to this furnace in the photo with air/heat pipes that were round, coming out/into the units. My dad eventually replaced these monstrosities with smaller, more efficient units, but I can't remember the brand. I never saw the name Luxaire on the original units.

That's a big list - this thread might go on for a couple years. lol.

 

[a440]

Phil,

I know the exact sound you are talking about. It is a very unique sound. It is neat to imagine two furnaces side by side making the sounds.
The Williamson Temp-O-Matic gas valve made this distinct sound. It had lot's of harmonics to it when it lit the burner that you could actually hear throughout the house.

 

[philr]

Frigidaire did outsource it's window air conditioner production for the Canadian market during the 1960s. Many were made by Heat Controller.

Last summer, I was surprised to find locally a US-built Frigidaire Prestige air conditioner from 1966. They weren't sold here but apparently, the original owner studied in Boston and often purchased stuff in the US.

This one has a Frigidaire 2 cyl. compressor. Other US-built GM Frigidaire air conditioners I have either have Copeland or Tecumseh compressors.



For those who like window air conditioners who haven't already seen it, there's this interesting blog about window units, Ken posted here recently.

http://air-conditioner-man.tumblr.com/

 

[a440]

Phil,

 

I just thought that any second that GM A/C was going to start up!  That compressor looked huge for a window unit!

 

Great A/C Site also.

 

 

 

[glomain]

western auto citation a/c

who made them ? best a/c ive ever owned. it was 22,700 btu, I got it used in 1989,just died last summer. when I tore it apart it was made in 1977.it was one hell of an a/c window unit ! couldn't find any info for parts so I had to scrap it & got almost 40.00,would of liked to fix it.

 

[a440]

Greg,

Interesting about your Western Auto A/C.  My Grandparents had one that was so powerful. It was a "Citation".   To stand in front of it was brutal.  Theirs had the discharge of the air on the right of the unit.  They had this A/C for at least 30 years until they installed A/C to their Furnace. 

I heard somewhere years ago that they were built by Norge.  Some expert may know.

I just remember when this unit was running it was fun to go look at the Electric Meter run!  That booger would be spinning like a top!!!

 

 

 

[glomain]

brent

yes mine had the rightside discharge & when the compressor kicked on ya thought the wheel was going to spin out of the meter box ! it was a power house. shame no one makes anything worth a dang anymore(just toss away junk !)

 

[glomain]

brent

that makes sence it came from family in w.va. & almost all my family in the hills had norge or western auto appliances.not many stores where im from in the hills, thank ya,greg

 

[tennblondie78]

Actually, the Corvette Assembly plant in Bowling Green, KY is an old Chrysler Air Temp plant. The building actually looks like an old Chrysler plant because GM never removed the large blue trim band that runs around the top of the building. You still see a lot of old Chrysler Air-Temp units around here still chugging away. Years ago I lived in a house built in the early 70's that had a Chrysler unit in it. Worked well.

 

[glomain]

brent

I did find a picture of it.we only took it out 1 time(until it died)

 

[supersuds]

Neat info about the Corvette plant

I assumed it was all new.

When I was going to the University of Tennessee in the 1980s, many of the older buildings had Chrysler Airtemp window units. They were had the name lettered on them so large you could read it a couple of blocks away -- with teenage vision, that is.

 

[circlew]

The house my Aunt Doris lived in from '63 until '91 had the original Chrysler AirTemp central air that was installed when the house was built in '62. It kept the house cold as a freezer - as they liked it.

 

[a440]

Thanks for the picture Greg.  My Grandparents unit could have been older than yours.  The outside casing was brown and was huge!  Your unit might have been a more "energy efficient" unit. 

 

 

[a440]

Tom

Your memory of your Aunts home with the Chrysler Air-Temp is great!  I remember these units (Window and Central) having much colder air than the units of today.  Bone Chilling air!

I have been in many homes for sale in the Atlanta area that still have the original Chrysler Condensers and Furnaces still running with a clean inspection for running!   

One house that we were very interested in had an original Chrysler Gas Furnace that was paired to a Singer Condenser.  It was during July when we looked at the home.  The home was bone dry cold!  It was a great feeling! I knew before investigating the HAVC unit that it had to be vintage.  It was.

Sadly they declined our offer on the house. 

 

[a440]

Thermostats

Cleaning out files on external hard drive and found pictures I forgot about.

Here are some interesting thermostats that you may remember from your past.

 

 

 

[a440]

Thermostats 2

A Few more.

[this post was last edited: 1/31/2015-10:18]

 

[philcobendixduo]

Great thermostat pics, Brent!

Thanks for posting the many thermostat pics, Brent. There are some real classics there!
At my former church in Los Gatos, they had something that looks just like the Honeywell "TimeOStat" (but without the thermostat - just the timer) next to each of the thermostats (round classic Honeywells). The furnace would only operate if the timer was turned "on" or by using the sliding switch on the side of the timer. I imagine this was to ensure that furnace wasn't left on after morning church was over.

When I had my new HVAC system installed last May, I had them replace my old Sears 7 day programmable thermostat (which still worked great) with a new Emerson "SenSi" Wi-Fi thermostat. It works great and I can adjust the temperature or schedule any time any place using the iPhone app.