Whats the best air conditioner I can get?
I have windows that are ridiculously huge and cause a bit of pain when it comes to installing the AC in the summer. Here is the solution I came up with: Get whichever air conditioner is right for the room size and your wallet size. Don’t worry about the size of the window. When you get the AC home, put it in the window and have another person measure the distance from one side of the window to the side of the AC. Inspect where the gaps will be — probably underneath. You may also want to measure the space inside the sill. Go to Home Depot. Watch out for falling toilets. Find the cheap lumber section. You want something thick enough and something that don’t warp. I ended up going with particle board, which has lasted three summers now. Use your measurements to have it cut to your specifications. They’ll do it for you for free. You may also want to buy a two by four that will rest inside the sill, supporting the AC unit from underneath. Also have this cut to your specifications.
This is a pretty decent guide for buying an air conditioner. I’ve never paid more than $200 for an AC unit (always window units). One of the best ACs I’ve ever had was a cheap $80 unit I got at my local grocery store (about 6000BTU). It just died after 6 years. Portable units are significantly more expensive. If I can offer some advice about placement – I just moved into an apartment with east and west facing windows. Without thinking, I put the unit in the west facing window. It doesn’t get nearly as cool as it should because it spends half of the day baking in the afternoon sun (which sucks when I get home from work). I moved it to the east window, and I am much happier temp-wise!
I have windows that are ridiculously huge and cause a bit of pain when it comes to installing the AC in the summer. Here is the solution I came up with: Get whichever air conditioner is right for the room size and your wallet size. Don’t worry about the size of the window. When you get the AC home, put it in the window and have another person measure the distance from one side of the window to the side of the AC. Inspect where the gaps will be — probably underneath. You may also want to measure the space inside the sill. Go to Home Depot. Watch out for falling toilets. Find the cheap lumber section. You want something thick enough and something that don’t warp. I ended up going with particle board, which has lasted three summers now. Use your measurements to have it cut to your specifications. They’ll do it for you for free. You may also want to buy a two by four that will rest inside the sill, supporting the AC unit from underneath. Also have this cut to your specifications. Be very
