The Brand Story
Friedrich: A San Antonio Cabinetmaker's Name in America's Windows
San Antonio, 1883. The city is hot for most of the year, ice is precious, and a craftsman named Ed Friedrich is building furniture by hand: cabinets, store fixtures, even billiard tables. He has a restless, inventive streak, and the Texas heat gives him a problem worth solving. More than 140 years later, the company that carries his name is still headquartered in San Antonio, and its room air conditioners hang in apartment walls, hotel rooms and bedroom windows across the country.
Chapter 1 · 1883
Furniture, billiard tables and the problem of ice
Friedrich began as a woodworking shop. The early business made handcrafted furniture, billiard tables, store fixtures and cabinetry, the kind of fine work a growing frontier city needed. But Ed Friedrich's curiosity pulled him toward cold. He first worked on making ice a more effective coolant, then moved on to mechanical refrigeration, and the company today credits him with developing one of the early refrigeration systems.
That shift, from cabinets that hold things to cabinets that keep things cold, set the direction for everything that followed.
Chapter 2 · 1950 to 1952
From display cases to window units
By 1950 Friedrich had become a major manufacturer of commercial refrigeration equipment, and it is credited with introducing the first refrigerated display case for food retailers. Then came the turn that would define the brand. In 1952 the first 500 Friedrich window air conditioners came off the line, and the company that had cooled grocery cases began cooling rooms.
Chapter 3 · 1965 to 1991
Room air conditioners built like equipment
Over the next four decades Friedrich built a reputation for room units that were treated as serious machinery rather than appliances. In 1965 it added casement units for casement windows and the Portable, or Power Miser, its first room unit marketed as portable. In 1971 the headquarters moved to the Pan Am Expressway on San Antonio's Near East Side, on land that had once been part of Fort Sam Houston.
The QuietMaster line arrived in 1976 and ran until 2010, sold in standard, Deluxe, Programmable, TwinTemp and Heavy Duty versions. In 1990 came the Q-Star, with a slide-out chassis, and in 1991 the WallMaster thru-the-wall line, still in production and a familiar sight in apartment complexes. Friedrich also says it introduced ductless split systems to the United States.
Chapter 4 · 2006 to 2021
Monterrey, a new headquarters and new owners
The 2000s brought hard decisions. Friedrich began production in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2006, and its San Antonio plant closed in November 2007, ending U.S. assembly of Friedrich products. Engineering stayed home. In late 2010, after almost 40 years on the Pan Am Expressway, the company moved its headquarters to 10001 Reunion Place near the San Antonio airport, with a Design and Development Center next door for testing, quality control and product development.
Friedrich calls itself "the sole remaining North American manufacturer of room air conditioners."
Ownership changed several times. Corinthian Capital Group acquired the company in 2012 and Monomoy Capital Partners in 2017. In July 2021 Rheem Manufacturing announced its intent to acquire Friedrich from Monomoy, with Friedrich to run as a standalone business unit inside Rheem's Global Air group. Rheem, founded in 1925, has been owned by Paloma of Nagoya, Japan, since 1988.
Chapter 5 · 2010 to today
Kühl and the inverter years
In 2010 the Kühl series replaced QuietMaster as Friedrich's premium room air conditioner, adding Wi-Fi control and improved efficiency. A slide-out Kühl Q followed in 2012. Friedrich's first inverter room units arrived in 2023, and in 2025 the Kühl and Kühl Q lines were updated with inverter compressors on R-32 refrigerant and a soft-start feature, alongside single-speed variants. Friedrich also points to MERV 13 filtration on Kühl, which the company says no other room air conditioner offers.
The Lineup
What Friedrich builds today
Friedrich's catalog is built around single-room comfort: window and thru-the-wall air conditioners, packaged terminal air conditioners (PTACs) including the FreshAire PTAC introduced in 2018, Vert-I-Pak vertical packaged units and the VRP heat pump for hotels and multifamily buildings, Floating Air ductless splits, ZoneAire portables, dehumidifiers and Hazardgard units for hazardous locations. Here is what HVAC365 carries:
- Window air conditioners: the Kühl series from 8,000 to 35,000 BTU, many with built-in electric heat, plus a 24,000 BTU Kühl heat pump, and compact 6,000 and 8,000 BTU window units rated as high as 15.0 EER.
- Through-the-wall air conditioners: sleeve-mounted units for apartments and offices, the category Friedrich's WallMaster line has served since 1991.
- PTAC air conditioners: self-contained heating and cooling for hotel rooms, apartments and senior living, available as PTAC heat pumps and PTAC units with electric heat.
- PTACs by voltage: 208/230V PTAC units for most residential and commercial buildings and 265V PTAC units for buildings wired for 265V service.
The Next Chapter
The move to R-32
The Friedrich window units in HVAC365's current lineup run on R-32, a single-component refrigerant with a much lower global warming potential than the R-410A it replaces. R-32 carries an A2L, or mildly flammable, safety classification, so service work calls for A2L-rated tools and the manufacturer's updated procedures. For Friedrich's Kühl line, the change arrived in the same 2025 update that brought inverter compressors.
At a Glance
Friedrich by the numbers
- Founded
- 1883, San Antonio, Texas
- Founder
- Ed Friedrich
- First window units
- 1952
- Headquarters
- 10001 Reunion Place, San Antonio
- Manufacturing
- Monterrey, Mexico, since 2006
- Parent company
- Rheem Manufacturing, since 2021
- Signature lines
- Kühl, WallMaster, FreshAire PTAC, Vert-I-Pak
- Refrigerant
- R-32 on current window units
Questions
Frequently asked questions about Friedrich
Who owns Friedrich?
Rheem Manufacturing announced in July 2021 that it would acquire Friedrich from Monomoy Capital Partners, and Friedrich now operates as part of the Rheem family of brands. Rheem has been owned by Japan's Paloma since 1988.
Where are Friedrich air conditioners made?
Friedrich began production in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2006, while its headquarters and Design and Development Center remain in San Antonio, Texas. Some entry-level lines have been built by partner manufacturers in China.
When was Friedrich founded?
Ed Friedrich founded the company in San Antonio in 1883, originally building handcrafted furniture, billiard tables and store fixtures. Its first window air conditioners came off the line in 1952.
What is the Friedrich Kühl?
Kühl is Friedrich's premium smart room air conditioner series, introduced in 2010 to replace the QuietMaster line. A 2025 update brought inverter compressors and R-32 refrigerant to the series.
What is a PTAC?
A packaged terminal air conditioner is a self-contained heating and cooling unit installed through an exterior wall, common in hotels, apartments and senior living. Friedrich builds PTACs and vertical packaged units for these properties.
What refrigerant do Friedrich window air conditioners use?
The Friedrich window units HVAC365 currently lists use R-32, a lower global warming potential A2L refrigerant that replaces R-410A.
