i’m renting a room in a house, and my room seems to be the furthest from the central air conditioner so it barely gets any AC, and i live in tampa florida. I talked to my landlord about installing a window AC, and it’s ok with him. so what do i do? if i went and bought a window AC unit from home depot do i just put it in the window? what kind of work on my part is involved with this kind of thing?
Also, what brand should i be looking for? my price range is $200 max.
Also, my window is an up-and-down sliding window
i want to put a window air conditioner in?
26
Mar
U_Mex
March 26, 2010 at 4:06 am
It depends on the unit. It should have clear instructions as to what kind of support it needs.
Tio
March 26, 2010 at 4:45 am
you would need no more then 5000btu unit and make sure if you need to use an extension cord use a good quality one and one that is short as posible.a century building was just destroyed from someone using a cheap cord it melted and burned the place down.
stevetower
March 26, 2010 at 5:03 am
Brands are little different, price is key, the more you pay the better you’ll get. As to size, if your bedroom is not overly large, get a 120volt unit that does not draw more than about 12 amps so it doesn’t trip the breaker all the time and doesn’t need 240volt wiring.
David M
March 26, 2010 at 5:10 am
Check with the magazine Consumer reports on room air conditioners. You want to make sure you don’t have to put in a 220 line because that would require an electrician. So basically, look for one that can be plugged in and that the amperage on the service panel can handle the load so as not to cause a fire. The panel should say what circuits are for what room, but you might have to play around with it until you figure out what circuit goes to that room. Good Luck!
rhamm618
March 26, 2010 at 5:49 am
Honestly, for that price range you are looking at a size AC of 5000 BTUs.
It needs to be put “in the window’ correctly or it will leak down the wall on the inside and puddle on the floor – Trust me i know.
When installing it “in the window” there is a rail on the bottom of the unit. This rail ‘has to be’ right against the window inside frame ( against it from the outside). and the top rail against the window when it is closed.
Its really not a hard thing to put it in – you’ll see. Just make sure you put that bottom rail outside the window and butt it right against the window.
The top rail has that metal flange on it – that rest against the inside of the window when its closed so be sure after you close the window you push that upper rail against your window then you have it in the correct postion.
There are supports they sell, probably at Lowes or Home Depot. These are attached to the building to help support the weight of the AC. I do not use any since my landlord would not allow this to be attached to the building.
I mount my AC, move open those flaps and cut a board for the upper window ( height of window to frame) this applies pressure on the AC to prevent it from moving..as in sliding.
It really is easy …what about 10 minutes work at most.
Russ
March 26, 2010 at 6:43 am
check the room size, the window size and the size of the circuit you will be plugging the unit into.
the installation is not to hard you should be able to do it in about 15 minutes with basic hand tools like a couple screwdrivers
Lord Darkgoth Nitesabre
March 26, 2010 at 6:52 am
open window
lift unit and push into opening till top rail is lined up almost with window
push down window till it slides behind top rail on ac unit
push ac unit into window as far as it goes till its flush with wondow yet angle the rear(outside ) portion of the unit down so water can drain out.
secure window tight with bracket or screw and i usually drill one center hole in ac top rail and screw into window to hold all in place.
slide little slding shutters doors to close openings that are left and screw them in also
bill d
March 26, 2010 at 7:35 am
most window a/c comes with everything you need including the bracket it needs to hold it in place , i would get a 8000btu , its better to have a larger unit than having one to small, cost is less than $200 . can buy them from walmart, home depot, lowe’s sam’s club, so force. it will take you less the 30 minutes to install
luka
March 26, 2010 at 8:11 am
when you put it in the window the important thing is to secure it from falling, that means cutting two pieces of wood the height of the top window from window to frame so that the pressure will hold window down.