Friedrich Wallmaster Air Conditioner: the missing manual instructions

Is your Friedrich Wallmaster manual missing instructions, or giving completely wrong instructions? It’s not up to date. But I have the missing instructions for turning off the timer, turning off the check filter alert, and taking the cover off.

The Friedrich Wallmaster manual

We purchased our Friedrich Wallmaster through-wall air conditioning unit in 2019. It came with a manual, the same manual that’s found online. The current manuals seem to be for a previous model of the Wallmaster, and they just didn’t bother to update the manuals anywhere.

I’ve scoured this manual backwards and forwards, and it is out of date for my AC unit. It refers to buttons that don’t exist, and leaves out some very important information. And in at least one case, it gives instructions that may cause you to break your AC unit.

Through a ton of Googling and even more trial and error, I’ve figured out a few things that the manual simply does not tell you, or gives you the wrong instructions for.

Which model do you have?

I don’t know what the official way is to tell whether you have an up-to-date manual or not, but if your air conditioner looks like mine, but does NOT have a “Check Filter” button, you probably have a manual that’s not current.

How to turn off the timer

The Friedrich Wallmaster has a timer function, which is handy if you want it on. If you don’t, you won’t find instructions in the manual on how to turn the timer function off.

It’s pretty simple: hold down the up and down arrow buttons at the same time, until the timer function turns off (the screen should say “Schedule Off”). If you want it back on, do the same thing.

How to turn off the “Check Filter” alert

Our screen had said “Check Filter” for a couple of years, because even though I’d been cleaning the filter about once a month, I had no idea how to turn the alert off.

The manual says to press the check filter button, but my unit doesn’t have one!

To turn off the “Check Filter” alert, hold down the “FAN” and “SPEED” buttons at the same time, for about five seconds. It may take a few tries, and you have to make sure that you’re pressing each button in the center the whole time.

How to take off the cover to clean the filter

The manual will tell you to pull the cover until it comes free. I wonder how many people have broken their covers trying to do this? Again, these instructions are not up to date.

Friedrich has made a video showing how to remove the cover of the Wallmaster, but their instructions don’t quite work for me. Here’s what they say:

I’ve found that while their instructions do work to release the top half of the cover, I have to repeat it to release the bottom half. So after I’ve pulled back on the top left corner and hit the right side with my palm, I have to pull back on the bottom left corner and hit the right side again.