Uploaded May 2010 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
This is my 1988 Carrier "Round One" air conditioner and the last year of production for this style before Carrier switched to their "Tech-2000" design for 1989.
This was also the last year for Carrier's attempt at copying the spine fin coil design that GE (now American Standard/Trane) originally came up with in the 60's. While I heard that Carrier's version of spine fin coils worked nicely for straight cool units, they had some problems with water shedding which lead to poor defrosting performance on heat pump units. After a few years of production, Carrier dropped the spine fin and went back to the tube and fin condenser design which they still use today.
Although the tag says "High Efficiency", I don't think it's any higher than 9 SEER. It still works good for being 22 years old, requiring only a new contactor and some oil for the fan motor.
This is my 1988 Carrier "Round One" air conditioner and the last year of production for this style before Carrier switched to their "Tech-2000" design for 1989.
This was also the last year for Carrier's attempt at copying the spine fin coil design that GE (now American Standard/Trane) originally came up with in the 60's. While I heard that Carrier's version of spine fin coils worked nicely for straight cool units, they had some problems with water shedding which lead to poor defrosting performance on heat pump units. After a few years of production, Carrier dropped the spine fin and went back to the tube and fin condenser design which they still use today.
Although the tag says "High Efficiency", I don't think it's any higher than 9 SEER. It still works good for being 22 years old, requiring only a new contactor and some oil for the fan motor.
