I haven’t bought or installed a window AC unit in years and am confused by one detail. (We need a small booster unit for the master bedroom, which gets hot and stuffy at night because the central AC doesn’t kick on.)
We have a triple sash window, with a wide center window and two flanking narrower windows. I’d really prefer to put the unit in one of the side windows, which have openings just over 21 inches wide.
Many of the units I am looking at in the 8-10k BTU range are 17-19 inches wide by the dimension list, but insist that the minimum window width is 23 inches. Why? Is this referring exclusively to the minimum “out of the box” fit of the side curtains and their frame? If I’m prepared to dispense with the accordion curtains and their adjustable frame and make my own side seals (of 1-2 inches), does the “23 inches” matter for some other reason?
Answers from “those who’ve been there” appreciated; I can make my own intelligent guesses.
All it has to do is fit in the opening. Take the side curtains off and you are fine. I own a couple 5000 BTU bedroom units and I never use the provided side curtains. …because they leak air like a sieve, and are ugly to boot…
A properly cut piece of plywood on either side is much more efficient and looks much better when painted the house color.
Thanks. This is for very short-term use each year; there’s about six weeks when the weather combines to make the MBR hot while the rest of the house is cool; I am trying to stay with the smallest, most conveniently mounted unit I can manage. It will be mounted only when we can’t stand the differential and removed when cool weather returns. Thus things like making the side curtains look good are not terribly important, but I have done such “custom-fitted” installations in the past.
I just can’t figure out why it’s a universal to add those 5-6 inches to the minimum window size, unless makers don’t want buyers angry because the provided side flaps won’t just pop into place.
The way I have the 2 a/c’s installed with plywood side panels is to use Velcro all around the pieces. No caulk at all. As I recall I had to add some sections of L type aluminum channel in some places to make that work right and line up properly.
10 minute job to pop those pieces out and remove the a/c’s for the winter. Just as easy now to remove the a/c’s as it was with the accordion type wings. And those plastic wings not only leak air badly and look crappy,…they deteriorate pretty quickly in sunlight and are expensive to replace every 2 or 3 years.
Yes. As noted above you can just remove those accordion wings. They aren’t very useful in most windows anyway. You can get narrow profile units for that type of window, but they cost more since fewer are produced, and probably not worth it. 8-10K BTU is a pretty big, how big is your bedroom? Ours is about 250 sq. ft. with cathedral ceilings and a 4K BTU unit does just fine.
What an appropriate thread! Zyada and I just bought that same air conditioner for the very same window for the same reason, and found the same problem!
We took out one of the accordions and cut out enough pleats to make room, then glued it back together. (We were going to cut back the frame to match the shorter accordion.) We’ll probably take ombre12’s advice and use plywood instead.
True. My bedroom is about 230 sq ft., and a 5000 BTU can flat out freeze you out of there. You may be oversizing which would make for a potentially very cold but clammy room.
But depends on how much window area …north south east or west exposure, insulation, height of ceiling and other factors I can’t remember right now.
An oversized A/C is much worse comfort wise than a slightly undersized one.
Over 450 sf, about 17x30 with some irregularities - and a semi-cathedral ceiling following the roofline, I think the center horizontal surface is ten feet up. Its scale is one of the house’s worst features IMVHO, but there’s no good way to redistribute the floor space. I have to pack a lunch to get up and visit the jakes at night.
