OK, I tried googling this, and either my google-fu is weak, or I’m just not coming up with ‘the straight dope’ on the matter.
My apartment mainly has windows that open side-to-side, not bottom-to-top. This summer, we’re going to need air conditioning, at least for the bedrooms.
I know about ‘portable’ air conditioners, and it looks like they’d be very adaptable. Unfortunately, they’re also pretty pricey, and we’re looking at needing at least two of them, maybe three.
So, what say the Dopers on the best air conditioners for side-opening windows?
This is along the lines of what I was already thinking. And I am the landlord, so who are ‘they’ gonna bitch to? Same reason my daughter gets to keep all the pets she wants. . .
I know they do exist, and that because of lower demand (or something) they’re more expensive than the normal kind by about half. We used to live in a whole neighborhood in Austin that needed them – a WWII-era concrete-block construction duplex development – so the local Sears kept them in stock. Maybe you could call up your local home-improvement places?
FWIW, we also own a portable, and they have problems of their own even if you find one at a good price – specifically, the condensation has to go somewhere, so leaks are an issue. Also, you need a tight fit on the exhaust pipe leading outside (or you’re losing lots of your nice conditioned air), which can be difficult in a non-permanent installation.
Good idea to start looking now! I congratulate your foresight.
Heh. Unfortunately, in the tiny town I live in, there are no ‘local home-improvement places’.
This town has one (I know, I counted!) hardware store. However, other stuff I need demands that I drive into Clarksburg a couple of times a week; there, you have your choice of Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart!
I think I’ll be searching for them online; often, when I order stuff online, the shipping cost is very much offset by the gas money and time I don’t have to spend in Clarksburg!
If you are the landlord, cut a permanent hole in the wall, and install a builtin AC unit. It will work much better than the temporary window ones. And you don’t have to worry about installing and de-installing them ever year.
Actually, the apartment has a permanent AC unit, but it malfunctioned several years before we bought the property, and would cost thousands to repair. We were going to do it anyway, a couple of months ago, but then we found out that the mortgage payments we were making on the property (private sale, not to a company) didn’t include the property taxes, and the taxes hadn’t been paid in, like, three years. We were in danger of losing the property if we didn’t fork over 4K to the county.
Once we get the business account ‘healthy’ again, we will get the AC fixed, but in the meantime, I’m going to at least need a comfy room to sleep in! I cannot sleep when I’m too hot!
Yep, casement a/c unit is what you need to find and unfortunately as others have noted b/c they are low-demand/rare they are much more expensive. My former house had the same style windows and the casement unit was a couple hundred more than the equivalent in the normal style.
Gah. I hope you can recover back taxes from the seller.
I agree, hot bedroom = PITA! If you’re looking at a temporary setup until you can repair the permanent AC, I’d like to recommend doing as much as you can to shade the bedroom windows from the outside. We actually rigged up white sheets outside ours in Austin; the bedroom was in back so the setup didn’t show from the street, so it only looked tacky to our next-door neighbor. We got an extra 10 degrees of cooling this way, which, to us, was worth not being able to see out for a few months. Normal interior curtains aren’t nearly so effective, since the solar energy has to go through your window glass before being blocked by the curtain, and then it’s already inside. YMMV if your bedroom doesn’t get direct sun. If it works, you can invest in proper awnings later to save on electric bills, if you like.
Have you considered that even with a fully-functioning unit that cools the whole apartment, it might be useful/convenient/efficient to have a separate one for the bedroom permanently? In which case, you might save money overall by getting a cheaper non-casement unit and knocking that hole in the wall, though that would have its own logistics issues.
If you decide to put in a standard window unit, you can block the space above it with a sheet of plexiglass or glass instead of a sheet of plywood. That makes it much less obvious.
A “split ductless” system would be ideal, especially if you get a heat pump model. That would handle both heating and cooling. You can get a dual head system (one condenser/two head units) for under $1500 plus installation..
We used a single head unit for a major expansion of my sister’s home. Her husband is in a wheelchair, and we converted her porch into a master bedroom suite. Her existing furnace would have had to be changed at great expense, or we would have had to install a second forced-air system, which would have been a huge pain. We put in a split-ductless and they’ve been very comfortable through a Kansas City summer and winter.
i’ve done that succesfully. i made a window frame out of 2x2 wood for the plexiglass. i sized it to fit tight with ordinary weather stripping it was tight to keep bugs out, this held the AC unit in place.
Same reason my daughter gets to keep all the pets she wants. . .