I have a 850 sq st apartment total space, how big of an air conditioner do I need?
The 850 sq ft figure (visualize a 29 foot square of area) suggests two bedrooms w/ closets, possibly a modest den if the living room and bedrooms are not too large, and kitchen and 1 1/2 baths. A big central air unit with ceiling ducts would work, but I would hate to lug one of those around as a portable, even with wheeled transport. The ducts alone would require several people to manage! Alternatively, individual room window units offer extreme temperature flexibility for the room occupants, the option of saving energy by only cooling rooms in use, and easy removal for relocations. Regards, Larry.
A rule of thumb used to be 12,000 btus (or 1 ton) per 500 sq. ft. But these days with the cost of energy, you wouldn’t want to oversize, plus oversizing will reduce dehumidification. Just use a search engine to find “HVAC-Calc” and you can insert your parameters to get precisely the btu’s needed for each space. For instance the living room/kitchen area might need an 8.000 btu unit, while a bedroom will only require a 4,000 btu unit. If you have a 220v outlet in an apartment it’s probably only for the electric stove or dryer. So you’ll have to buy 120v A/Cs. No way should extension cords be used with window A/Cs!
