Frigidaire FRA106BU1 10,000 BTU Compact Window Air Conditioner

Full Overview

Frigidaire's FRA106BU1 10,000 BTU Compact Air Conditioner is perfect for small to medium size rooms up to 500 square feet. It features electronic controls and a full function remote control giving you the choice of controlling the temperature with the remote or at the unit. A thermostat located on the remote control precisely maintains preset room temperature so you will remain comfortable at all times. The antibacterial mesh filter cleans the air, removing harmful bacteria and allergens. The unit operates at a low voltage conserving energy and saving you money.

Technical Details

- 10,000 BTU cooling capacity
- Cools room sizes up to 500 sq. ft.
- 8-way air direction control
- Antimicrobial mesh filter; Tilt-out filter access
- Electronic controls

I picked this unit for a few different reasons; the most important to me is the fully functional remote. It has a thermostat in the remote and controls temperature from across the room. The unit has a built in Clean Air Ionizer. For people with allergy's this is a plus. Go to FRIGIDARE and download the specifications. The filter is easy to remove for cleaning. The unit was easy to install.
add:5/28/2011 Buy this one, you wont be sorry!

I installed this several weeks ago. It is cooling great in the front part of the house. The front rooms are a combined living and dining room, Probably 18 foot by 10 foot, and a hallway of 7 foot. No problems.

I received the AC and it is very good quality. I was a bit disappointed at it's cooling power, but it will cool down a 400 square ft. space in about 30 minutes, even in high humidity conditions (I thought 10,000 BTU would cool the whole apartment--but the apartment is 8-900 square ft., and it's designed for up to 500 sq. ft., plus it has been very humid in Brooklyn of late). The air filter function is also very nice for people with spring allergies (which I have). Overall, the price/quality ratio is great and the simplicity of the AC makes it a bargain. Free shipping is a bonus. Word of warning--make sure that the unit is inclined at least 15-20 degrees outwards--that way the unit won't "spit" water.

Update: After two months of use, I have had to deal with two weeks of very hot temperatures. The AC won't hold up to 100 degrees and probably because of high humidity didn't really cool any of the house. I would suggest this AC for medium-sized rooms. The 400 square ft. living room gets cooled only if the temperature is under 92-94 degrees--otherwise, not really.

I've got a big living room and it gets hot hot hot in the summer. Not to mention humid. I can open all the windows, turn on a fan, and sit there and sweat. Or I can close the windows, switch on this big baby, and within a few minutes it already feels better as it sucks out that humid air and replaces it with nice cool comfortable air. I never bother turning it down below 80 degrees, as that's plenty comfortable for me. The compressor is very quiet. The fan is a fan, no avoiding that, but you can turn it down to "Low" if you're watching TV and it's too loud for you. In addition, it comes with a handy remote so you don't even have to get up to change settings. Better still, the remote can be used as the basis for determining the room temp rather than having the unit measure the temp right next to it (which will be colder than the rest of the room). All in all this is a great air conditioner, very powerful and cools the room quickly.

I'd like to add that the first unit that shipped out was defective. Hey, it happens. I suggest you plug this in and test it before you bother installing it in the window. As always, Amazon was fantastic about handling the return. It cost me nothing to ship back the defective unit, and they shipped me a new one before I even got the old one boxed up and out the door. Amazon continues to excel in customer service. And that's why I continue to make all my major purchases through them. Thanks guys!

Between family and rent houses I put all types and sizes to the test every year in the scorching Texas sun. Here's my experience:

If you want a solid window air conditioner, it really boils down to two choices: Frigidaire and LG. The current "sweet spot" on reliability/price/economy is the 10,000 BTU unit regardless of make/manufacturer.

Recently they've been making 12,000 & 15,000 BTU 110V (normal plug) units.
-The 12000 BTU truly is 20% stronger, but you pay 50% more here on Amazon.
-The 15000 BTU is a snowball tossing beast, but it's in a larger case that may not fit your window (height-wise) and doesn't have a long history on the market so we don't know how it will do long-term

LG Pros - The 10,000 BTU LG is my "workhorse". Best value. Run them till they fail in 4 to 7 years, then swap `em out for another.

1) Better warranty (but really, who cares when it breaks because you're sitting there sweating)
2) Typically last an additional 2-3 years over other brands
3) An LG rarely just stops running - it will degrade slowly over a season
4) They are more tolerant of neglect (e.g. dirty filters... can't rely on tenant to care for your stuff)
5) Better withstands being placed in harsher environments (direct sunlight, restricted airflow)
6) Lower "lemon" rate

Frigidaire Pros - For family I prefer to run 12,000 & 15,000 BTU Frigidaires. They are a little nicer, and I consider it worth it even though they always break sooner. (Value and reliability aren't as important, but I do have to compensate by keeping a new boxed spare around because they always fail at the most inopportune moments. Most people can't do this.)

1) A little nicer looking
2) Better features
3) Quieter
4) Slightly easier installation
5) Circuit surge/drain on startup seems significantly less (think lights flickering when compressor comes on)

Other parting thoughts:

1) A thing to know about newer units: To obtain the higher EER (efficiency) ratings, they use finer design on heat exchanger fins. For the non-experts, this means smaller little spaces that get jammed up with dirt/mold/whatever resulting in a clogged/filthy/poorly operating unit much-much faster than your parents' old units. Appliance repair stores can service your window unit every year (clean it of filth) that will extend life by at least 2 years and sometimes much more. Of course this costs anywhere from $50 up, and the units are cheap, so it's your call whether to service or toss it.

2) The 10,000 BTU Frigidaire here on Amazon is a good buy w/Amazon Prime shipping. For other higher BTU models, as of this writing you'll be paying more but also know that right now with the national heatwave most box stores are sold out so you may not have a choice.

3) Something this heavy is a risky ship (versus store pickup). It might be shipped wrong-side-up, or dropped, or whatever. It's a risk you'll run so do so knowingly. (I seem to have pretty good luck w/Amazon shipped items.) The risk is offset, however, by advantages of buying from Amazon (store would take forever, you'd have to load it and bring it home, have to have a vehicle large enough to carry it, etc.)

4) Clean. Your. Filter. Every. Week. It will keep your little ice machine healthy.

5) Different stores have different models from the same maker. If they are made in the same year, it doesn't seem to make a difference.

6) Tempted to go cheap like a Haier? Don't.

7) Tempted to buy a 6,000 or 8,000 BTU model? Don't. Get the stronger unit. It will cool down the room faster. It will not need to work as hard as a weaker unit and last longer. It is built with some stronger/better key components.

Good luck and happy cooling.

UPDATE (7/4/11): I wanted to add a bit about the air conditioner now that I've had to rely upon it after seeing how it performed in very warm weather. The great news is that it has done exceptionally well indeed. Even when the temperature reached the mid-nineties outside, the temperature stayed delightfully cool in my apartment. If anything, I like the air conditioner even more than I did when I first bought it. Now the rest of my original review:

In the fall of 2010 I decided that I had to do something about the two decrepit 6,000 BTU air conditioners that I had. They were doing a poor job of cooling my apartment and they were running up massive electric bills. So I threw them away, knowing that if I kept them until the summer of 2011 I would just use them again. So when June came around I decided it was time to order my new air conditioner. So I did some looking around and decided that it was worth taking a risk on this Frigidaire air conditioner. I'm delighted that I did.

Although this is a 10,000 BTU air conditioner, it is both smaller and lighter than either of my old 6,000 BTU units. It fits compactly into a fairly small window, which allows me to open the larger windows on cooler days. And although it is an energy efficient air conditioner, it does a great job of cooling my 800 sq. ft. apartment. I was on the fence as to whether to get a 10,000 or 12,000 BTU unit (I was worried about the weight difference, since the 12,000 BTU units were a good ten pounds heavier). I think now that perhaps I should have gotten the 12,000 BTU air conditioner, but except on days where it is over a hundred degrees, it appears that this unit is going to get the job done.

The unit was very easy to set up and the controls are exceptionally easy to operate. My old air conditioners were very old and predated remote controls, so I'm thoroughly enjoying being able to change the settings remotely. It is also a lot quieter than my old units.

I have no idea whether this is the best 10,000 BTU air conditioner on the market. This is likely to be the only one I know anything about over the next twenty years or so. What I can say is that it fully meets my expectations and does a great job of cooling my apartment. I can definitely recommend it.

I installed this in our bedroom to replace an older unit. This air conditioner does a great job of cooling off a room, my only complaint is the amount of noise that it produces in the process. There are three fan speed settings, the lowest of which is quite loud and quite powerful. In fact, there isn't a huge difference between the lowest setting and the highest setting. In addition to the fan being quite loud, the compressor and pump are quite loud too! The unit features an 'eco friendly' setting, which I thought would make the unit run quieter, but all it does is turn the unit off periodically to conserve energy. This may be an effective way to save energy, but it is completely impractical for bedroom usage as every time it turns off or on, it will disturb your sleep.

I do not recommend this unit for bedroom usage or anywhere that noise will be a problem.

I have this in my 30' x 30' living room / kitchen keeps the rooms cool in 90 degree day.

I am blown away with this product. First installion was a breeze. Next the way this Air Condition cools my living room is great. very comfortable

This is a super and relatively inexpensive answer to hot days. We got this 10K BTU model for a large room, right at 500 sq. ft. I don't much like having a high electric bill and so set the thermostat at 78 degrees. That sounds pretty high until you compare it to 90+ and humid outside. This unit cools the space down fast and keeps it there.

Pros:

* Strong - This unit cools down a 500 sq. ft. room with authority. The fan has three speeds; The highest, not surprisingly, cools the room down fastest, though I don't think it is appreciably louder than the lowest setting. Therefore, I keep the fan on either high or medium.

* Efficient - With an efficiency rating of 10.8 EER, this unit meets EnergyStar guidelines and is about as efficient as you can get for the price in a window unit of this size. Using it with moderation and keeping the temp. setting on the high side, this one won't hurt your pocketbook. While these window units aren't tops in aesthetics, they cheap and efficient when compared to central air. Our house is well-insulated, but who wants to cool the whole house when you really just want to keep the room you are in cool? Having a window unit going to cool just one room costs you dollars per month compared to hundreds of dollars to cool the whole house.

* Features - I honestly don't think this is the most stylish unit on the market - to me, in fact, it looks decidedly old-school - but the features are practical and completely up-to-date. This unit comes with a remote control that operates all the features. It has an Eco-function for further savings: After the unit brings the temperature down to the thermostat setting, the fan turns off. The unit then turns on the fan only every ten minutes or so until it senses the temperature rising again, at which time it also activates the compressor and cools the room down again. Nice feature, this, and I've found it works well. It also has a timer, which is nice if you have to go away for a while but want to come back to a cool room, and a sleep function that lets it rest for a period of time before coming back on. My favorite feature, though, is the remote sensing function. This tells the unit to bring the temperature down to the appropriate setting wherever the remote happens to be: As soon as the temperature around the remote reaches the setting desired, the unit shuts down and maintains that temp. within a couple of degrees. The remote itself has a little liquid-crystal readout that shows the temperature. That really comes in handy.

* Installation - Though this unit is designed to be installed in windows with a sash (the kind that slide up and down rather than side-to-side) it can also be installed in windows that open to the side. I installed mine in the latter and while it took a bit more work, installation was relatively easy. The unit comes with side baffles that adjust outward and a fair amount of two kinds of weatherstripping to seal up the cracks around the opening when you've got it all installed.

Cons:

* Appearance - This is a quibble and has zero effect on the workability of this AC. I just think the styling is fairly outdated. There are many out there that, to me, have a more contemporary look. I will say that it looks better in person than in the picture, though, so take that into account. The digital readouts, which don't show up in the picture, are crisp and clear and can be seen from across the room.

Other thoughts:

* Noise - I'm used to fans and window AC units and I don't think this one is any louder than any other I've heard. It's squirrel-cage-style fan makes a fair amount of 'whoosh' no matter whether the fan is on low, medium, or high. In fact, I was surprised that there was so little difference in perceived sound between the settings. Still, I don't think this is unusually loud for a window unit. It cools down well and fast, and that's what counts with me. Could it be quieter? Sure, that would be nice, but not if it was at the expense of efficiency or effectiveness; likewise, I probably wouldn't want to pay more for a fan just to get the decibels down, either, cheapie that I am. Other noises are typical of a window unit: The occasional hiss, gurgle, and compressor sound, all of which were reasonably muted in my opinion.

Bottom line:

I really love this window AC. It is powerful and surprisingly efficient and has proven to be utterly reliable which, on hot days, is what matters most to this reviewer. When matched properly to the size and space of your room, it cools with authority. It will take my 500 sq. ft. space from a muggy 86 to a dry 78 in about fifteen minutes. Impressive. The price seems to be pretty stable and represents strong value when compared to other units at local big box stores and discount warehouses. A cool five stars!