As I’m expanding my daily walks to include some blocks I haven’t seen in several years, and some I never walked before, I’m noticing one systematic change.
10 years ago many houses in the neighborhood had wall-mounted air conditioners. This was a bit of a fad in the ’50s, and it was necessary on the newer houses with side-sliding windows.
Now all the wall-mounts are gone, sometimes replaced by central and sometimes by window units crudely fitted into the side-sliders with a plywood panel above.
What happened? China and EPA. The older way of building ACs made the wall mount practical. The outer case could stay screwed and weatherstripped, and you could pull out the innards like a drawer for cleaning or Freon recharging. Since we abolished Freon “to” “solve” “ozone”, but really to give DuPont a high-priced monopoly on the far more toxic Halon, recharging is illegal.
More broadly, all devices are now designed to be tossed instead of repaired. Maximize China’s skills and profits, destroy our own skills and profits. So the entire AC, case and all, has to be removed and tossed when anything goes wrong.
Polistra's Mill 