LG LW8000ER 8200 BTU Thru-Wall/Window Air Conditioner

In hindsight this review is a bit lengthier than I had intended so I will provide a brief summary first:

In the beginning of the review I will list the positive things about this air conditioning unit. It is only fair because the unit itself works very well and is energy efficient. But be sure to read the review to the end because the installation process cannot be completed with the screws provided. You need to either buy new screws at the hardware store or have the unit professionally installed.

Now for the rest of the review:

After doing some research on ConsumerReports.org, I recently purchased an LG LW8000ER Air Conditioner. I based my decision on the fact that it is an 8,200 btu unit (so it cools a 250-550 square foot room--according to the ConsumerReports website), has a 10.9 EER (Energy Efficiency Rating), is an EnergyStar rated item, has a digital display, and a remote control.

Another nice option (which I did not realize I was getting) is that if you are using your air conditioner and there is a power outage (black out), once the power is restored, the LW8000ER will automatically turn back on and to the temperature setting you had it set at prior to the power outage. This is especially nice on a hot summer night if you're about to go to bed and you lose power. Instead of sweating all night or staying awake to switch the unit back on, once the power is restored this A/C unit will power back up on it's own.

The unit is also very quiet. My prior unit would rattle and hum when the air conditioner kicked in but this unit does not seem to do that (or at least not as loudly).

The one negative thing about this unit is that it is VERY DIFFICULT to install. I am no expert on installing Air Conditioners, but I've installed 2 other units in my house with ease in comparison to this one. The ConsumerReports website does not seem to stress this enough. They have an excellent website but I personally think they should have gone into a little more detail about this fact. All they said was "Minor drawback: Harder to Install". And this unit was listed as #1 in the 7,000 to 8,200 BTU Air Conditioning Unit category.

The installation SHOULD be relatively simple. The unit comes with a removable sleeve (the outside casing can be removed by sliding an inner tray holding the main unit out of the casing). This way you can install the sleeve/casing in the window first (which is relatively light weight), then slide the main components into the sleeve once it has been secured.

This works well with most other units but not with the LW8000ER. The first thing I noticed was that upon sliding the tray out of the casing, it seemed to get stuck about 1/3 of the way out. I tried pushing it back in and pulling it out more slowly but it still stuck. I wiggled it one way then the other, still stuck. I tried every which way to remove the unit from it's casing and almost gave up when I finally managed to pull the tray free. This was a frustrating 30 minute ordeal. Thankfully I still had my old air conditioner installed or I would have been frustrated AND soaked in sweat.

I noticed that there was some foam rubber lining inside the casing. The lining had caught on the top edge of the main component. This eventually rolled the lining over so the glue side of the lining was sticking to the major components and prevented the tray from sliding out as it should.

OK, so I finally had the unit out of the case. The rest should be pretty easy right? In theory all I needed to do was attach the curtain guide and then the curtains to the sides of the unit, then the window sill supports, then remove the old unit and install the new frame. Install the window brace, then slide the unit back into the frame and I'd be set. A lot of steps, but usually this is pretty straight forward. But NOT when the screws supplied by LG are all either too large or too small for the screw holes on the sides of the frame.

Every single screw that was supplied by LG with this unit either easily slid in and out of the screw holes on the frame with no resistance whatsoever or would not fit into the holes at all. I cannot understand what the people at LG were thinking of when they decided to supply this unit with these screws.

They supply you with 15 small screws that you are supposed to use to attach the curtain guide to the top of the unit then the curtains themselves to the sides of the unit. The screws screw tightly into the curtain guide, but the holes that are supposed to secure the guide to the frame are too large. So the curtain guide is not really attached to the unit. But if you slide the curtains into the guide it kind of loosely holds the guide into place. At least the window sash will be pressing down on the guide and holding it in place for you.

But when I went to attach the curtains to the sides of the frame I found out that the screw holes on the sides of the frame were too small. The screw tips would fit into the holes but the rest of the screw would not. I actually had to widen the holes myself in order to get the screws to fit. And then there were still gaps between the curtain and the sides of the frame (the curtain is supposed to provide a little insulation between the hot air outside and the cool air inside, while also keeping the insects from flying into your home). This can be fixed with a little duct tape though. Not very pretty but it does the job.

This was another 30 minute ordeal of trying the screws, scratching my head, re-checking the directions, trying the screws, re-re-checking the directions and parts list making sure I absolutely used the correct screws, trying them again, waving my arms about in frustration, then eventually widening the holes that could be widened, then and coming to the conclusion that I could probably use window sealant and duct tape to seal any gaps or holes left by the useless screws after the installation was completed.

OK, so the guides and curtains were in place all I needed to do now was install the window sill supports. These are two brackets with adjustable bolts that attach to the bottom of the frame and will provide your unit with a little more support so that the entire weight is not resting on the window sill and sash. Unfortunately the supplied screws do not fit into these either. And also unfortunately the brackets are made of thick stainless steel which was much more resistant to my widening of the holes. So these are laying uselessly on my desk. Perhaps if I can find smaller screws at the local hardware store, I will actually install these, but not right away.

OK so I slide the case and curtains into the window, add a 2 x 4 under the unit because it doesn't fit perfectly or at the right angle. (I've had to do this with every unit I've installed and in every house and apartment I've lived in so this is not out of the ordinary.) Secured it all in place with the proper screws (I actually used the screws from my prior Air Conditioner for this part). Then went to slide the main component back into the casing. But it would not fit.

Again the troublesome foam rubber lining was getting caught on that one corner of the unit. I tried smoothing it down but it didn't work well (it was rolled up by this time). More jiggling and wiggling ensued. Eventually after losing it and repeatedly throwing my weight against the thing (which really isn't very safe or recommended as I could have gone right out the second floor window unit and all at this point--but I was beyond reason after the hour or so of frustration) it slid the rest of the way into the casing.

Phew! Sigh of relief. All that was left was to secure the unit in it's casing with the two side screws and attach the face plate. The side screws went in easily but alas, the face plate would not. The top snapped into place, the right side snapped into place, but the left side kept popping off. OK, not a big deal there are 2 screws you need to affix in order to make sure the grill stays in place. That should fix the problem. But WAIT! This is an LG air conditioner and the evil minions at LG decided to make the screw holes too small for the supplied screws to fit. I almost forgot that. Plus the stainless steel holes were resistant to widening (I really do not have the proper tools for it). But Thank GOD for duct tape.

The unit is installed now and held together mostly by a lot of duct tape and window sealant. It works well and is energy efficient, but was nearly impossible to install. Once I find the correct size screws I may have to tear the whole thing out of the window and re-install it.

The people of LG REALLY need to do some QA (Quality Assurance) testing on their air conditioners before they send them out. If they had simply tested the installation process of their units, they could have caught onto the fact that the screws were too small and the foam rubber lining gets in way of the installation process. If they had fixed these issues this would be a near perfect unit for my uses. I would have gladly recommended it to another buyer. Instead I will never buy another LG air conditioner again. And I will recommend that if you are looking for a new Air Conditioning unit and don't want to get it professionally installed, AVOID THE LG LW8000ER.