Just curious as to which might be more energy/cost efficient. I live in a 4 story townhouse and the central a/c is not the best. With the t-stat set at 80, the 1st floor is about 72 degrees, and the top floor (when I woke up this morning) was a nice balmy 86 degrees! I have tried to adjust the main damper, but don't want to close it too much to send air to the top floors because I was told reducing the air flow too much might freeze the coil. I don't want to put in a window unit since I just had all new vinyl windows installed last year and I don't want to drill into them and void the warranty. Plus (technically), my HOA won't allow window units, but I had it in before we replaced the windows.... So, would running the furnace fan all the time be more efficient and distribute the air better throughout the home, or should I get a portable a/c unit to cool the bedroom at night? Thanks, Neil

I'm trying to help a lady from church who has issues with her GE thru wall window AC unit, in a condo that was built in 6/1983, so I'm assuming the AC is from 1983 or pretty close. We looked everywhere, no stickers or model number indication anywhere, not on side, bottom, top, inside the controls lid, nothing. [COLOR="Red"][B]Does anyone have an idea of what model numbers were around back then? [/B][/COLOR] Then I can enter them on the GE site to bring up a manual that might be close, I want to see the spec and BTUs, etc on this unit. One of the issues is the ridiculous washable ac filters that slide down the front of her unit, have lost their stiffness, and don't like to slide all the way down anymore, so I want to try to order new parts for her. These filters are perfectly clean, but they slide vertically down the front panel of the AC (unlike newer models that slide down into the top of the AC), then the handle/top of the filter snaps into place on the front of the unit. Since they don't want to slide all the way down anymore, she's gushing air there at the 2 front slots for these filters. On top of that, there is cold air leaking all over both sides of the unit, every nook and cranny. Some places/nooks/crannies you can really feel a cool breeze gushing out. Landlord had a "professional licensed ac guy" come out who taped a few places but did such a poor job that some still leak right past the tape due to bad application of the tape. In another spot he used duct tape. In some spots, his poor taping job does not even make contact with the area he intended! [COLOR="red"][B]I was thinking of using aluminum tape to tape up the seams, does this sound right?[/B][/COLOR] Her main problem is the builder jury rigged a 10" square NON-insulated sheet metal duct out of the side of this unit, and it goes through the drywall from the living room to her bedroom, and hardly any air is making it out the bedroom vent. Granted this is an old unit, losing it's umph, but I think the problem is all the air that's leaking throughout all the seams around the unit, and maybe the power of the unit is not enough for this 1 bedroom condo. Either way, I think all the leaks are reducing air pressure to the bedroom vent. Any help would be appreciated. Throw some potential model numbers my way and I'll take a look. [COLOR="red"][I][B]Also, any advise on plugging these leaks, should I use silicon bead or just tape it?[/B][/I][/COLOR] I don't have any pictures to post yet, sorry. Jeff