So I recently bought a house, and one drawback is that there is no air conditioning. This is particularly upleasant in my bedroom, as it’s upstairs, heat rises, etc.
So I can think of 3 options, and I’m hoping for some good advice on each:
(1) Buy an in-window air conditioner just for my bedroom. If I go with this option, does anyone have recommendations re model and make? Due to homeowner’s assocation rules, it has to be one which mounts inside the window instead of outside, and it’s a tall sideways-sliding window, so it probably needs to mount vertically
(2) Buy a single-room air conditioner, but have it professionally installed. There’s a crawlspace above my bedroom with some venting, and I’m pretty sure that someone who knew what they were doing could install it up there, from whence it could cool my bedroom (and possibly the room next door, as the same crawspace services both) without taking up space and being unsightly
(3) Pay a bunch of money and get central air installed for the whole house.
The question I have for options 2 and 3 is… what’s a good way to find a reputable air conditioning installing guy? Is there a rating website somewhere? Can anyone recommend one in the SF Bay Area?
Thanks…
When home, my bedroom gets 90% of my time since it’s not only my bed, but office space and entertainment center, so I only needed to cool one room.
It’s on casters so I can move it easily from room to room. The only thing that goes outside is the 5" exhaust hose that fits right in the slider or casement window.
What helped to convince me is I met someone using this particular model, powering it on a solar system, which is just unheard of. On the regular cooling level, my meter shows it uses about 5 amps and goes up to 8 amps on the mega cool setting.
Besides cooling it can be used as a de-humidifier or even an ionizer if you are into that sort of thing.
It’s surprisingly quiet too, not at all like most air conditioners I’ve been around.
It all works from a handy dandy remote that you’d best not lose, because there are few if any controls on the machine itself. Even the louvers adjust with the remote.
How does this work with casement windows? Those are the windows that screw open, right? That’s what I have in my house - the windows with levers that you screw and they open outwards. I’ve been trying to find an air conditioner that works with them, but have had absolutely no luck. I’m having trouble visualizing how an exhaust hose would go out one of those types of windows without leaving it open for bugs and other ickies to get in.
Just a thought… Buy the in-window, and if you can, get Central AC installed in the fall months or even January. The demand for AC installers will likely be less and not as pricey. Then sell the window unit! SF Bay Area? I would think you would be on a waiting list for a month. But then again, it is California, and HVAC installers might be on every block.
The hose mounts to an adjustable 5" plate that goes between the frame and the window. I actually meant a sash window, but there isn’t any reason it wouldn’t work on a jalousy window as long as it fits into the height requirements listed on the page I linked to. The adaptor has a rain guard and bug screen built in.
I have casement windows, like the ones pictured on this page.
When you open them, they open like a door. I don’t understand how you can string an exhaust pipe out, unless you had something that completely replaced the screen with a small hole for the pipe. Is that how it works?
Many people have told me air conditioners for casement windows exist, but the stores around here don’t carry any, and I’ve yet to find some on the web.
Central air is the most efficient, but unless you have forced air (ducted) heat already in the house, the cost will be astronomical.
Window shakers are the least economical and most inefficient. Ditto the portables.
You could probably put in what’s called a ‘split pack’ AC, with the condenser in your attic combined with a vent fan to remove the heat it generates. These are relatively efficient air conditioners.
I just saw a commercial for one of those, this one to be specific, where one has one or two A/C units attached to an outside thing. (Sorry, I don’t know jack about HVAC so my vocab of “things” and “units” is about it.) It looked interesting but pricey.
There are also mini-splits which feature a fan/evaporator unit mounted on the inside wall up close to the ceiling, and an outside condensing unit about the size of a large suitcase. Connecting the two are the refrigerant suction and pressure lines, and a low voltage cable. Almost as quiet as central air, and can be sized for one or two rooms.
Well, my particular need for an air conditioner is gone… woke up this morning to 59 degrees, and it’s not expected to get above 80 for a week. I can always count on good ol’ UP weather to keep me from spending money frivilously!
Yeah right. You might notice in my first post that I was finally making the plunge.
We don’t often have the need for air conditioning here in North Idaho either, used to be our 100 degree heat spell would last a week at most and still cool down at night.
Probably some of it is age, maybe more of it is living in an old mobile home with little insulation, but for certain our heat spells the last few years have grown to at least several weeks and sometimes six weeks where it just is miserable.
By the time I finally capitulate and look for an air conditioner, the stores are already stocking Sorrel boots for winter. I started my quest early this year, comparing prices, types and energy efficiency, about the time I quit starting a fire every morning.
