Any Heat/Cool PTAC fans out there? (Warm Climate)

[bluestone]

I have rental property in the costal south with hot summers and mild winters and have had a one bedroom apartment in a duplex running an Amana Heat/Cool PTAC and my tenant has loved it for the past 18 months or so. With many hotels and resorts in my area, I have a line on good used PTAC Heat/Cool units (not heat pump). I pay less than 300 dollars a piece for units less than 4 years old.  I've been wanting to upgrade the window units. In September, I'll be having a changing of tenants (I already have the next tenants lined up!) the other until is a open concept studio/ one bedroom about 600 square feet.

I talked to a landlord in my area who has an apartment building and loves to swap them out in lieu of paying an A/C guy to come out, so he keeps a few spares.

I'm wondering if anyone has had experiences with this.

[Rural]

Love to hear more about it. We run Amana through the wall heat pump for our heating and cooling, though we'll eventually add a woodstove.

Editing to clarify ours is supplementary for heat due to passive solar heat gain.

[slugsworth]

I work on multifamily development and a while ago (in a climate that needs both heating and cooling) I asked two different property managers about their experience with PTAC's. One of the projects had 50 gas fired PTACs that we installed in 2008 and he basically said that he keeps one extra PTAC ready to use, to replace one if it breaks down. I think that this is pretty good practice. 

[bluestone]

Having a replacement unit ready to go is exactly what the appeal is to standard size wall openings. I've never seen gas fired PTACs.

[slugsworth]

FWIW, two companies make gas fired ones, Islandaire and Dynaline. . . we had some reasons to use those that don't apply to most circumstances especially ones in warm climates.

I did want to say that PTAC's are definitely considered a lower quality option than min-split or ductless units, which do cost $3k+.