POFQ has new air conditioners

[nuttypretzel]

A word of caution for anyone that will be staying at POFQ in the near future, POFQ has new air conditioners. According the maintenance man the new units were installed six weeks ago. The one in our room did not work properly. It was either on or off. We could not set the temperature. Also several times during the night, the unit just shut off. I kept waking up because the room would get hot. The only way to restart it was to turn it off and then on again. The next morning I called maintenance. The maintenance man explained that the units were new and many of them did not work properly. GE has recalled the controller board so there are no replacement parts available. The only thing he could offer was that when you turn the unit on, you have to stop at each switch setting for a moment until you get to the one for AC. If you just twist it right to the setting you want, the controller board can’t handle that. By doing that, we got the unit to cycle so we could pick a temperature, but it still shut off several times a night. They have no fix until the new boards become available.

 

[Lilolvr]

A word of caution for anyone that will be staying at POFQ in the near future, POFQ has new air conditioners. According the maintenance man the new units were installed six weeks ago. The one in our room did not work properly. It was either on or off. We could not set the temperature. Also several times during the night, the unit just shut off. I kept waking up because the room would get hot. The only way to restart it was to turn it off and then on again. The next morning I called maintenance. The maintenance man explained that the units were new and many of them did not work properly. GE has recalled the controller board so there are no replacement parts available. The only thing he could offer was that when you turn the unit on, you have to stop at each switch setting for a moment until you get to the one for AC. If you just twist it right to the setting you want, the controller board can’t handle that. By doing that, we got the unit to cycle so we could pick a temperature, but it still shut off several times a night. They have no fix until the new boards become available.

That will generate a few calls for the front desk during the upcoming summer months.

 

[kaysmommie]

Are they the new Central A/C like the deluxe and CSR have? Or are they wall units still? I know the wall units used to be really noisy. Just curious.

 

[Lilolvr]

Are they the new Central A/C like the deluxe and CSR have? Or are they wall units still? I know the wall units used to be really noisy. Just curious.

Sounds like newer wall units. They would have to do a major rehab to put in central air.

 

[DisneyLady56]

Just got back from POFQ...don't know how new the a/c unit was....wasn't old though...but had no problems...we had 3 rooms total there and no problems in the 9 days there

Actually, the rooms stayed very cool...hopefully not a problem for many vacationers.

 

[catne]

I think you may have had a bad unit...we were there at the end of May, building 1, 2 rooms. Had no trouble at all with the air conditioner, controls, or noise...didn't find anything unusual about the controls (in fact, can't even remember the controls, so obviously wasn't anything remarkable about them to make them stick in my memory!)

It was extremely hot & humid for May (several days in the 90's) so we would certainly have noticed if the a/c wasn't cooling properly.

 

[nuttypretzel]

These are updated units under the window. They are sleeker looking and have air filters that were lacking in the old ones. They are also quieter, but not as quite as the wall units in CSR. I wish they had put in the ones like CSR or the All Stars, but they didn't. From the maintenace guy, changing to the other type of system would have put the rooms off line for too long. He gets 48 hours at the most or he is in trouble.
As others have said, not all the units are defective. The problem is that when they are they can not be fixed for now. On most of the units you do need to turn the switch slowly. If you don't mess with it that problem won't come up.

 

[arielfan]

DO THESE NEW UNITS STILL HAVE THE FANS IN THEM LIKE THEY HAVE AT POR?? I LIKE THE NOISE FROM IT.

 

[nuttypretzel]

Its a GE Zoneline with rotary controls. Its a self contained package unit with the fan and compressor all in one box. I can't post a link but you can google "GE Zoneline" if you want to see a picture.

 

[andrewilley]

Do you mind if I add this info to my Port Orleans web site? Did the maintenance man happen to mention how long the whole roll out would be taking, or if it's all done now? And POR too? Sorry for all the questions!

I assume you mean these units: http://www.geappliances.com/products/introductions/zoneline/ (which all seem to have digital controls, not rotary dials. Probably saved Disney a few cents)

Andre

 

[nuttypretzel]

He said the roll out was completed at POFQ. The work was done by an outside contractor and he said they finished around 6 weeks ago. The project also included CF light bulbs in all the fixtures. They are looking for energy savings. We also had what looked like a brand new toilet. I don't know if that was part of the work or if that room just needed a new one. Feel free to include the information in your guide.

 

[jellybeans0607]

ok this will sound crazy, but how noisy was it. we likethe noise. i will bring a fan from home if they arent loud enough.

 

[arielfan]

I would like to know that to. We like the noise from a fan at home. So I hope you still get that kind of noise from the wall unit.

 

[ThruTheEyesOfMyChild]

Yikes! Hope they get the kinks worked out before it toooo hot!!!

 

[undertheseas]

I agree, I like the white noise of the AC, it helps block the noise of other guests. 70 days, I cannot wait!!

 

[andrewilley]

We also had what looked like a brand new toilet.

Many thanks for the info. By the way, is the new toilet any quieter than the old jet-propelled type?

I assumed that the reason for the change would be energy efficiency. WDW are getting quite big on that and getting green credentials for all the hotels.

POR fairly recently had lovely dimmer switches fitted for the over-bed lights, I wonder if those will have to go now, all in the name of energy efficient bulbs?

Andre

 

[nuttypretzel]

The fan noise is the same as the old units. On the new unit you can hear when the compressor kicks on and off, but the compressor is much quieter than the old units.

 

[nuttypretzel]

The toilet is still a power flush model. If you don't close the lid it sprays all over the bathroom when you flush.

 

[disneylooper]

Just got back from POFQ and we had two rooms and the a/c worked great, we like it cold and it was cold in our rooms. Also the old a/c units did have filters, last year we saw them changing them in all of the rooms. They had dates on the filters.

 

[cinderellamom123]

ok this will sound crazy, but how noisy was it. we likethe noise. i will bring a fan from home if they arent loud enough.

NO Way, . . . I thought that I was the only one that did this. We fly and I will stop at walmart to buy a fan!