As the warm weather comes on, you might be looking at your old (say 4-5 years) air conditioner and longing to buy a new one. Maybe it should be cleaned and unclogged instead. A few facts:
Rather than throw it out, get it cleaned by one of the few stores which still do it: Frenchman Radio and Television Service , which has been in business for nearly 50 years.
Frenchman sells and repairs air conditioners (along with radios and televisions), and they will visit your home for a Spring Cleaning for $65 (bottom mount) or $75 (top mount) which is all you need to keep your machine in fine shape in the early years.
They offer a Steam Cleaning ($189) for the 4th or 5th birthday, which just sounds great: the machine is picked up, taken away, disassembled and power washed with steam in a steam room. Afterwards, it is reassembled and repainted until it looks and acts as close to new as you can get.
Problems? Frenchman has no website, no computers and (seemingly) one phone, which can make them hard to get in touch with. Also, they get busy during the season (ie. now) so call early. Average turnaround time on a full clean is 2-3 weeks. MGR
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having actually resided above the Frenchman store for a while, i can totally vouch for them. If Peter the Polish guy is still there, he can fix ANYTHING... when i lived there, people would bring in all sorts of things - stereos, televisions, even an espresso/cappuchino machine!
i just want to comment on the irony of this company's name...in france, air conditionning is virtually non-existent. i live in paris and was here for the infamous heat wave last august that sapped the elderly population...oh la la! i wish i could have had even a dirty and ancient air conditionner during that time.
But you can do it yourself!
Wow! It would seem the Frenchman is an excellent place.
I had an A/C guy come in to clean my A/C one year and they did a terrible job. (I could tell by the awful odor.)
So I removed the A/C, took a vaccum cleaner to it, and then really, really cleaned everything on the inside. Now I do it every year (well...my husband does!). It's quite easy. Still, Frenchman's 5-year deep cleaning seems like a marvellous idea.
i love this, helping the lungs of yr apt.live for 20 years maybe, like some cats.
by the way, are there any acrylic or clear A/C's out there? (like the staplers, or those old see thru telephones).
instead of covering them up like some decorators, could they be as cute as possible...too loopy?
I too have used the Frenchman, for my first a/c in NYC which was a through-the-wall mount and cost a fortune. The opening was already there but apparently the a/c has to be built differently than window mounts. Still, the FM did a good job and was reliable.
Stacey, did you use the Frenchman to buy an AC or clean one? I have a thru-the-wall a/c that is likely far more than 5 years old (it came with the apt), and i'm considering buying a new one. I haven't done any research yet - is a wall-mounted a/c different than a "regular" window-mount? if it's the a/c itself that's expensive then perhaps i should just get my current one cleaned? (it still works OK) any advice, anyone?
Hey Bai,
If it's working fine, and they're expensive as Stacey wrote, sounds like you'd be a candidate for a good cleaning.
We used to live in the EV and used the frenchmen a couple of times for the cleaning and storage services over winter (hated having a/c in the window during winter)....while they were reliable, in retrospect, it would have been less expensive to just throw away my ac unit and buy a new one each year...it costs $200 ever spring and fall for them to come install it, then uninstall it in the fall, store and clean it, and then come back and reinstall it. for $400+ a year, I don't think it was worth it.
Hey Guys..
It's Oct 25th and I just called the Frenchman to have them pick up my airconditoner for the winter. They are going to pick up, clean and store it - which works great for me...b/c I have no heat in my room. In any case ...they were VERY nice on the phone and the price was only $204 for 1 unit. I have called the top 4 companines in the city and the Frenchman gave the best price. Woo hoo!
-Shari
I think the most important is that it's environment friendly!
Yes that is correct. I liked your comment. I too belong to the same profile and this was of great help.
David Jefferson
http://www.steamcleaners4u.com
ANy other recommendations other than the Frenchmen?
I arranged an appointment with The Frenchman to come to my apartment to service my A/C. They gave me a window between 9 and 1PM and never showed. no phone call. Tried calling them but no answer. They called us the next day telling us we weren't there - all they could say was they were late. It would have been professional to call us to tell us they were late or running late! Was very disappointed.
I had an A/C guy come in to clean my A/C one year and they did a terrible job. (I could tell IF YOU BUY FROM OUR COMPANY WE SELL CHEAP
So I removed the A/C, took a vaccum cleaner to it, and then really, really cleaned everything on the inside. Now I do it every year (well...my husband does!). It's quite easy. Still, Frenchman's 7-year deep cleaning seems like a marvellous idea
This used to be a good company, but they have gotten arrogant, lazy, and unprofessional by virtue of having most of Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town's business locked in. I arranged to have my air conditioners replaced - a ballet involving appointments with both the Frenchman and Stuy Town to remove the old, recut the window, re-install, if you want to only take ONE full day off work instead of several. The removal and window cut happened, but the Frenchman never showed up to install my new air conditioner - already paid for! - and they never called, or showed up, or anything. They expect you to abandon your job at their convenience and they don't have the courtesy to tell you when they're not showing up. IF YOU CAN GET YOUR AIR CONDITIONER ELSEWHERE, DO SO. These guys are no longer the professional tradesmen they once were.
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