1: What would happen, aside from drainage issues, if you (or I) installed a window AC unit on its side? Would it work less efficiently? Would it die sooner? Fail to function?
2: Why the hell are casement window AC units approximately 2 - 3x the price of normal window AC units?
I am sure that it is blatantly obvious that I am hot and a cheapskate, so if you can’t answer the question, but can tell me where I can I can find a normal window A/C unit that will fit in a 15" wide window, please share.
If my premise for question number 2 is flawed, please correct me and point me at a casement window AC unit that I can get for less than $200 (even refurbished ones were running in excess of $300 where I was looking…
>> 1: What would happen, aside from drainage issues, if you (or I) installed a window AC unit on its side? Would it work less efficiently? Would it die sooner? Fail to function?
It might work but it is not a good idea. The heavy compressor is mounted on rubber supports which are designed to take the weight and vibration with the unit installed horizontally. There may be issues with the compressor itself but I am not certain about that.
>> 2: Why the hell are casement window AC units approximately 2 - 3x the price of normal window AC units?
Market and volumes. The demand and production of casement units are much smaller.
Good thinking, hadn’t considered support of heavy parts, just vertical - horizontal orientation. Thanks for the answer - unfortunately, it was the not the answer I wanted to hear. Guess I’ll be sleeping in a pool of sweat or sucking it up to get a casement window model.
The design of the bearings for the fan, the compressor and the two motors is also an issue. If the unit has been specifically designed to be mounted horizontally, chances are all four sets of bearings have been designed to handle a dominantly radial load, and hardly any axial load.
Turn the unit on its side, and the weights of the fan, compressor and motors are now pushing on inadequate thrust bearings.
One possibility, if your regular A/C unit has a drain (and if you felt like doing some extra work) try mounting it in front of the window on a shelf of some kind, make an exhaust cone and run a clear plastic tube from the drain out the window. On second thought it would be easier to just buy the stupid non-standard size…
thanks for all of the input, I had a coworker just give me a definite NO for the same freon/coolant flow problem garym mentioned. Man, you guys are all a bunch of buzzkills… ; )
Bongmaster: believe it or not, I was thinking the same thing you were, and I haven’t yet decided it is too much work (as I said, I’m a cheapskate).
I had the same problem, broke down last year and got a casement a/c unit. Had a new furnace and central a/c installed in February so now I have no use for it.
hrm, actually, too late at this point - got ‘creative’ with it. Now I got some splainin’ to do with the LL, but sometimes he hasn’t called me out on it yet and sometimes it’s easier to get forgiveness than permission… (anyway, I can always put the moulding back on when I leave, right?)
