Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat product from a reliable brand
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2023
I have been using the Frigidaire FFRA051WAE air conditioner for a few weeks now. So far I would say it is a good air conditioner at a great price. It is much smaller and lighter than my previous air conditioner but still very powerful. This specific model weighs 40lbs.
I use this AC unit to cool a small bedroom and the 5000 BTUs is plenty. My room gets extremely cold in an hour running on the High Cool 7 setting.
Helpful tip - if you want your room to stay cold at night and the overnight temperature is going to dip into the 50s, run the AC for 1-2 hours on the High Cool setting before the temperature drops below 60 degrees, then shut it off for the night. If you install some cheap insulation foam on your windows and doors your room will stay cool much longer.
Never run a window AC when the temperature outside is below 60 degrees because it can freeze up the unit. I ran my previous air conditioner everyday in the summer and never knew why it kept shutting off on its own on cold nights. I thought there was a short in it. There must have been an internal chip failsafe that kept my old air conditioner from destroying itself... this is why it still works to this day.
This Frigidaire air conditioner was relatively easy to install right out of the box and fit securely in my window. The only tool I needed was a philips screwdriver. A handy person could probably install this AC unit by themself in about 10 minutes.
Two notable mentions from the installation manual... the 5/16" pitch is built in to the design of the AC unit so no need to worry about doing it yourself. Pitch is the backward tilt which causes water to exit the back of the machine and drain to the outside. In step 1 on page 2 they mention placing the unit on the floor to install the side panels but what they don't specify is that you must place the unit on its back to do so. To get the accordion panels in place lay the air conditioner on its back with buttons face up and slide each panel through the 4 holes on each side. You'll know when you've done it correctly.
I almost didn't buy this air conditioner due to the negative reviews about it not cooling and/or breaking right away. Am starting to think that people give too much weight to negative product reviews these days. Electronics are generally tested before sale and rarely fail right out of the box. Paying extra on an extended warranty is betting on your electronic to fail which is almost always a losing venture.
It's also worth noting that most people never leave positive reviews on any items they buy, they only leave a review if something is wrong with it. This behavior highly skews product reviews in a negative way.
My main complaint regarding this Frigidaire air conditioner is that there is no built in timer. But that would likely have raised the price closer to $300. My old air conditioner had a timer but was very heavy and much harder to install. There are timers online you can buy that should work with air conditioners. But as mentioned previously if you insulate your room properly you can probably get by running this AC unit for just an hour or two most nights.
My only other complaint is a minor one. I leave my air conditioner plugged in and turn the unit on and off on a daily basis. I would much rather have push buttons on an air conditioner than a knob that you turn that could eventually break off.
Final note: When I first got this Frigidaire air conditioner it did not produce super cold air immediately right out of the box. I believe it took a few hours. This is something to keep in mind. Just because an air conditioner doesn't get super cold instantly doesn't mean it's broken.