Window unit AC's, Ducts lined with styrofoam - Is it me, or them?

[Guest guest]

While shopping for new window unit air conditioner today,

I was disturbed to see how many of the models had their

ducts lined with styrofoam.

Now, I must confess, I thought paperbacked drywall was

a pretty stupid thing. But May corrected me on that.

Well, I'm back at it again, but this time it's window unit

air conditioners. Is it just me, or does lining the duct work

of a window unit air conditioner seem like the stupidest thing

in the world to you? I mean if this stuff gets moldy, it's so porous,

I just don't see how you could ever clean it. Would it even stand

up to bleach, or ammonia? Scrubbing? I doubt it.

I've seen one unit before that had

styrofoam lined ducts like this. It was three years old, and

the foam was tinged black with mold. I just don't see how you

could ever get it out.

Have we all gone insane?

Anyway, we were able to find a Kenmore model from Sears,

which was NOT lined with foam. It is just hard plastic, and I believe the

top will come off where the squirrel cage is housed for even easier cleaning.

Too, the fan (squirrel cage) has rather large teeth for easy cleaning too.

You can get your hand down between each blade. It only has 5 or 6

blades spaced 5 to 6 inches apart, rather than many (50?) blades spaced less

than an inch apart like many other models.

The foam lined models we looked at were Frigidaire (sp?) at Lowe's.

I understand the GE models are foamed lined too, but I have not inspected

them to see for myself.

I plan to write Sears about this and maybe GE and Frigidaire too, unless Jeff

corrects me again. I wrote Whirlpool about how much I loved a refrigerator, we

bought from them. And how a refrigerator, made the wrong way,

could have a negative impact on indoor air quality. They actually called me on

the

telephone and thanked me for the letter, and said they had never thought of that

before. Like duh !

So, speaking up can make a difference. So, what say you Jeff? Is this

styrofoam

lining in the ducts of window unit AC's el stupido ! , or what?

Best,

Todd in Tenn.