On Thursday May 31, however, thunderstorms were said to be approaching, so I went out to close the doors and windows. To make up for the closures, I tried turning the Friedrich air conditioner fan on (fan only mode). I tried all 3 speeds and decided I liked the middle fan speed the best.
From the outside, I could feel air blowing out. That gave me some confidence the A/C was actually performing ventilation.
But I have been unable to verify that the Friedrich X Star (XQ06) air conditioner acutally does any ventilation. There is no obvious ventilation control or switch. I noticed that air was blowing out from the unit outside. But then I discovered that the outside compressor fan was also running, not just the inside fan. So the air apparently blowing out the back might simply be cooling the compressor coils, with air coming in from the side.
Before leaving home, I checked the workshop, and the smell level had increased to about the same level as if Friedrich fan was not running. So I decided to turn the Friedrich off, keeping the ceiling fan running.
I had an elaborate idea that the Friedrich inside fan might deliberately leak a little air into the back of the A/C chassis, which would then get blown outside. This would create a slight vacuum in the room, which would draw in air from the usual gaps. Thus, ventilation would be performed without having actual ventilation mechanism. All that would be needed would be a clever design for the interior fan shroud.
Well I have now read and re-read the Owners Manual and even the Service Manual which I found online. There is no mention of any ventilation function, and of course if there were significant ventilation it would reduce the A/C efficiency considerably.
It turns out that the inside and outside fans are powered by the same motor, so it is not surprising they were both running in fan mode. That doesn't mean the outside fan is performing any useful function in that mode. This is intended to make the system more efficient during actual A/C operation, even if, as it looks, it makes fan mode operation less efficient.
I sent a message to Friedrich asking if there is any ventilation with my model.
Interestingly, Friedrich no longer makes the X Star series. It has been replaced by the new Chill series. The Chill series puts the inside outlet on the side rather than on top, and apparently has some kind of oscillating function to distribute the cool air better. Also, it does have a ventilation control, documented in the owners manual. It is a simple lever at the bottom of the unit, but it has to be folded out in order to be used. In the default position it is off.
*****
I stopped at Lowes and checked the French Doors like mine. Indeed, they have a exterior weatherstripping piece that is held in place with a slit, just like the slit I observed in mine. The salesman said the door should have come with that, but also he pointed me toward comparable weatherstripping; I bought 3 new pieces.
I also bought a pair of 1/2 inch #8 stainless steel screws to hold the cover for the air conditioner on. I was thinking about putting the cover back on (the instructions say the filter in the cover is important and should be cleaned every two weeks) but couldn't find the screws. Fortunately the owner's manual said exactly what kind of screws are required.
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