Buying an air conditioner is concentrated . There are scads of specs that are n’t found on any other variety of product , the damn thing are heavy , so if you buy the wrong one you ’ll dread retort it even more , and if you mess up up you will regain yourself living in an unpleasant internal-combustion engine box , or a muggy misery . But do n’t worry , it ’s actually fairly easy to buy , install , and enjoy an air conditioner .
First , there are really two kind of air conditioners that most citizenry can grease one’s palms and install themselves . Window units , and portable units . Others , like full HVAC systems or the ACs install directly into the bulwark itself , will require the work of a declarer — though some of the bakshish below can give to them as well .
For most the great unwashed , a window unit will be the ideal kind of air conditioner to buy . It ’s cheap , easy to find , and does the job well enough . But it is n’t for everyone . It ’s heavy , allows in more road noise and summer breeze , and has to be set into the window at an slant , so it can properly run out condensation on a red-hot day .
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If the window is too narrow , or you live in an area with either exceptionally bad air quality ( like on the highway or near a feedlot ) or howling amount of money of outside haphazardness then you’re able to get a portable AC whole . They typically are the size of a mini - electric refrigerator and you roll them out when needed . Instead of taking up the entire windowpane they only take up about 6 - inches , so less sorry air or loud stochasticity derive in . A big hosepipe is attach to the AC and you set up it in the windowpane to exhaust all the hot airwave the air conditioner produces . However , the exhaust system is n’t perfect and thus portable ACs do n’t cool quite as effectively as a window unit — they’re also more expensive and are typically have a build - in reservoir that pull together abridgment and must be emptied by you .
Now that you have a canonical idea of the kind of air conditioner available let ’s talk about how to choose the right one for you .
Step One: Measure the window and the room
The first matter you want to do is know the sizing of the windowpane you ’ll be set up the AC into . The more sinewy an AC the with child it is , so you ca n’t hope to match a vast AC in a tiny window .
Next mensurate the space that you plan to cool . I like to valuate each room separately . You ’ll want to note how long and all-embracing the way is , as well as how grandiloquent the ceiling are .
At this point , if you ’re planning to kit out your entire life outer space with ACs , you should have a little list of each elbow room ’s dimensions . Go onward and note the kitchen , it will have a kitchen range which entail it gets hot and will involve a more muscular AC .
Also , note any rooms that get a lot of sun during the solar day . These rooms will also get a fate hotter and you ’ll require to factor out that in .
Step Two: Calculate
This is it , the worst part of choose an AC . The power of an air conditioner is see by the number of British thermal unit ( British Thermal Units ) it outputs . A minor bedroom ( cerebrate 10 feet by 10 feet with an 8 - animal foot cap ) will be fine with a sub-5,000 BTU AC . Double the size of the way and you should duplicate the number of BTUs want .
If you ’re like me and do n’t need to track down a chart that show how many BTUs are needed for certain hearty footage , then a BTU estimator is your new best friend . I care this one , but they ’re all doing the same affair : taking all those measurements and notes we recorded in footfall one and turning them into the number of BTUs you necessitate .
Step Three: Figure Out How Many Air Conditioners You Need
Okay , you ’ve done your measurements , plugged them into the calculator , and know how many BTUs you take . You might take this is where you just guide to Lowes and choose the flashy AC with the required identification number of BTU .
Do n’t do that ! Instead , you first need to see how many air conditioner you actually need . This is where a lot of citizenry mess up up and find themselves with room that are either way too muggy or way too cold .
The job is the airflow of the house . If you live in a railroad line flat and you put the jumbo AC in the kitchen , then your big bedroom at the other remainder of the quad is probably run to be way too red-hot on most day . The line warms as it moves through a home and if the airflow in the home is n’t good , then the nerveless air will just never arrive at parts of the house that need cooling . That leaves you with raging daub . The cool muggy spots come on when an AC is too sinewy for the space where it ’s installed . If the airflow in the kitchen is dreadful , then you ’ll have a hot business firm and a really gross kitchen .
If you have a heap of hallway or tall narrow suite , then consider multiple strain conditioners and set your calculations . So a 12,000 BTU unit for the sleeping room and animation room that are right next to each other , and a 7,000 BTU unit for the lowly kitchen with awful ventilation .
Also , consider how often rooms need to be cooled . It ’s okay to close a door off to a minuscule used seating room . Or just close down the kitchen when you ’re not cook and leave it completely un - airconditioned .
Step Four: Buy that AC
Now that you know how many air conditioners you need and the British thermal unit that are necessary for each one , you ’re ready to go grease one’s palms an AC . Everyone has a different budget and different requirements and that will factor out into which one you get .
A depleted - visibility AC is not bad if you have limited windows in a room and require to allow in more sun — but it ’s also more expensive . Some breeze conditioners are better insulate for sound so they ’re much quieter . That can be great for a room where you check a lot of TV or sleep but , as with the low - profile ACs , they ’re dear too .
“ Smart ” line conditioners are still a oddity and excite a bounty . However , most air conditioners past the 6,000 BTU reach will be programmable , so you could sic them to release off for parts of the day you ’re not dwelling house , or only run when the AC unit ’s internal thermostat records a sure temperature . They ’re basically smart ACs but you just ca n’t coiffe them with your telephone set .
As for brands I ’ve chance Frigidaire to be authentic , wanton to discover , and with courteous and easy - to - read control . Haier , a Chinese company , and LG , a Korean company , have both made significant inroads in the US and make really excellent and low-cost ACs as well , however , they are typically harder to find in brick - and - mortar storehouse .
Step Five: Install That AC
Here is another place where the great unwashed run into issues . Installing an AC is actually pretty easy , but it requires brute speciality and a small forbearance . essay to check that you have a second person on hand to aid , and even more , if you ’re set up an AC in a multi - story edifice . You want the unit unassailable so it does n’t fall out .
If you ’re in an apartment , it ’s a practiced estimation to get hold of out to a first-rate , landlord , or dimension management personnel for avail . They can install outside supports for larger alternating current and they ’ve in all likelihood done enough to make certain the job gets done safely .
If you ’re on the first floor , or in a residential domicile then unbox that bad male child and oink and moan your direction to the window with it . You want to do the AC in the windowpane at an angle for drainage . That slant should always be aside from the interior of the theater . Never install an AC so that it is perfectly tied . If the compression has nowhere to go it will linger in the unit itself , multiply mold , and then leave you with an AC that spews out stale melodic phrase that smell like garbage .
Yuck .
Some masses like to expend brick to create the tilt , but a minuscule while of wood baseball swing to the same distance as the window porta can be great too . And if the AC is really large and does n’t have enough fundament within the window frame to rest on then you may buy a sustenance and instal it on the outside of the home . But this is usually only necessary for really big air conditioner . slew the window close and make trusted the AC is fix in the windowpane .
Now take hold of a piece of insulation board . This is the thaumaturgy I learned after grow up in a 100 - twelvemonth - honest-to-god farmhouse in a town that would have months of 100 - degree weather and it will separate your prissy nerveless home from your acquaintance ’s sad and hot one .
Typically , citizenry just pull open those accordion shutters on either side of the AC , bolt them to the sides of the windowpane figure and call it a day . But these shutters are terrible . They have crack that leak air and permit in hemipteron and auditory sensation . If you have the money you’re able to work up a usage frame for your melodic phrase conditioner , but the insulation board trick will be significantly less and be done in ten minute .
Insulation board can usually be found in 8- to 10 - foot sheets at any home improvement store and it should n’t be more than a few dollar . evaluate the gaps between the window and the AC and cut out that amount of insulation board . you’re able to then wedge it into the break and call it a day , but I unremarkably grab some framework that congratulate the room and wrap the control panel in that so I do n’t have to stare at ugly silver detachment panel all summertime . Not only will it keep stuff out and help insulate the elbow room , but it will muffle racket from outside too .
lastly , tally for any other gaps around the AC and close off with a composition of smaller insularity foam . Beyond that , you could put up window treatments to make out down the amount of sun get into room at the height of the Clarence Day . The Sunday will make things hotter and force the AC to turn hard , which can get expensive . So unspoilt shades or even some white curtains will help and save you money in the long run .
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