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Viper and I Need Your Help!

T

TheBlondOne

Golden Member
Hello everyone! I'm having to post here since Viper is en route to PA from OR. Anyway, here is our situation:

I found us a beautiful little townhouse in PA. However, it does not have central air. And to top it off, it has casement windows (i.e. slide left to right instead of up and down). It gets damn hot here, and I'm afraid Gregg's going to die of heat exhaustion.

So we have two options: casement air conditioners or portable air conditioners. Problem is, both are SOOO expensive. I'm hard pressed to find some under $200, and those I'm worried are going to be crap and break easily.

Please help me out if you know what brands are the best (and cheapest!) and/or if you know where I can find any at a reasonable price. We might need to get 2, so if I could find decent ones for ~$100, that would be great! (I know I'm being cheap, but we're spending a lot of money on other things right now--like moving!)

Thanks for all your help!

Sarah
 
I haven't seen you post in FOREVER! Not sure if I should say hi or damn you for taking Gregg away from the West Coast. 😉 You're both coming back, right??
 
I expect _both_ of you to visit me while I'm still here in Pittsburgh.

As far as airconditioners go, GE is good, there seem to be a lot of "Friedrich" brand air conditioners around. No one seems to have problems with them. Stay away from "Gold Star" or "Haier" or brands like that.

ZV
 
I don't know that this will help but I remember when I was a kid our first house had casement windows and when my parents finally got a hold of a couple of second hand window units there was nothing special about them. I know it was harder to install them than it would have been in non casement windows but it was possible to do.
 
Damn, so it's not tall enough to fit a normal window air conditioner or something? You have to get a special "casement" air conditioner?

200$ does seem about right though.... How big is the room you're going to be cooling?
 
I'd seriously look into second-hand units, because either way it is fairly expensive. I've actually heard that portable AC units are less efficient, heavier, and just basically an eyesore. I could be wrong on that, but the argument I heard about it makes sense. What kind of budget are you on? Less than 200?
 
I've heard you can install regular ac units into casement windows, but it's not easy.

I'd like one in our living room window: 49"w x 49" h; I have no clue how big our living room is....not huge, that's for sure.

Master bedroom window: 36"w x 36" h. Master bedroom and living room are exact same size. A small air conditioner would do the trick. Nothing major is needed.

Sarah
 
I guess I'm having trouble understanding what the problem is?

When I lived out in Hillsboro, our apartment had windows that opened by sliding left-right. I just put the air conditioner in the window, closed the window on it(thereby keeping it... in the window), and cut a piece of foam to fit into the huge gap above the A/C...

Worked great.
 
Originally posted by: Eli
I guess I'm having trouble understanding what the problem is?

When I lived out in Hillsboro, our apartment had windows that opened by sliding left-right. I just put the air conditioner in the window, closed the window on it(thereby keeping it... in the window), and cut a piece of foam to fit into the huge gap above the A/C...

Worked great.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you could do that, but I'm not sure if they can or not.

I've been looking around, and I'm not seeing anything for less than 400 dollars.
 
Yeah, it's pretty expensive. So far I found this but I'm not sure if it's any good at all.

Thanks for your help everybody. Needless to say Gregg wasn't happy when he heard what kind of windows these were....and it does get so terribly hot/humid here.

Sarah

Scratch the above. As per the description, that's an "air cooler, not an air conditioner." Pretty big difference. Just a few steps up from a fan.
 
strange i did a google for virtical window AC units and the cheapest was like 250$ odd i can remember them costing alot less then that, about the same price as regular window AC units

you might be SOL and im sorry bout that, you coudl just try and get a De-Humidifier and see if that would do the trick, i beleive they are cheaper
 
Originally posted by: TheBlondOne
Yeah, it's pretty expensive. So far I found this but I'm not sure if it's any good at all.

Thanks for your help everybody. Needless to say Gregg wasn't happy when he heard what kind of windows these were....and it does get so terribly hot/humid here.

Sarah
Click to expand...

That really seems like a glorified fan/swamp cooler. The increase in humidity it brings will not be nice.

As for the heat: Move to Alabama! 😛 Then you can deal with it 340 days a year.
 
Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
I expect _both_ of you to visit me while I'm still here in Pittsburgh.
ZV
Click to expand...
We'll be up there in 2 weeks. Come go to the Van Halen concert at Post-Gazette Pavilion with us on the 29th.

BTW, I don't see why you couldn't use an A/C unit for a regular window. You might have to get some wood or something to fill the gaps, but if they are less expensive, that's the route I'd go.
 
Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
I expect _both_ of you to visit me while I'm still here in Pittsburgh.
ZV
Click to expand...
We'll be up there in 2 weeks. Come go to the Van Halen concert at Post-Gazette Pavilion with us on the 29th.

BTW, I don't see why you couldn't use an A/C unit for a regular window. You might have to get some wood or something to fill the gaps, but if they are less expensive, that's the route I'd go.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Gregg's bro is pretty handy around the house. Maybe I'll see if he can do something like that since he'll be staying w/ us for the summer.

Sarah
 
Originally posted by: Mill
Originally posted by: TheBlondOne
Yeah, it's pretty expensive. So far I found this but I'm not sure if it's any good at all.

Thanks for your help everybody. Needless to say Gregg wasn't happy when he heard what kind of windows these were....and it does get so terribly hot/humid here.

Sarah
Click to expand...

That really seems like a glorified fan/swamp cooler. The increase in humidity it brings will not be nice.

As for the heat: Move to Alabama! 😛 Then you can deal with it 340 days a year.
Click to expand...
My wife's folks are from PA and they all bitch when it's over 80 degrees. We're in NC, and the heat/humidity combo is awful. I'd save a bunch of money on my electric bill if I lived up there, since I like to keep my A/C set on "frostbite".
 
Originally posted by: TheBlondOne
Yeah, it's pretty expensive. So far I found this but I'm not sure if it's any good at all.

Thanks for your help everybody. Needless to say Gregg wasn't happy when he heard what kind of windows these were....and it does get so terribly hot/humid here.

Sarah

Scratch the above. As per the description, that's an "air cooler, not an air conditioner." Pretty big difference. Just a few steps up from a fan.
Click to expand...
What exactly is keeping you from putting a regular air conditioner into the window and filling the space above it with something?

That's generally how it's done. I can't imagine what would keep you from doing this, as you said.. your window is quite big.. as were ours.

Home Depot has some cheap Maytag units... 6,000BTU for 124$ and 8,000BTU for 159$.

I don't really know how to calculate how many BTUs an A/C is supposed to be for a given room size, but I think it's pretty important, lest you be spending more money on electricity than you saved by getting a cheap one.. because it has to run all the time to keep the room cool.
 
Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
I expect _both_ of you to visit me while I'm still here in Pittsburgh.
ZV
Click to expand...
We'll be up there in 2 weeks. Come go to the Van Halen concert at Post-Gazette Pavilion with us on the 29th.

BTW, I don't see why you couldn't use an A/C unit for a regular window. You might have to get some wood or something to fill the gaps, but if they are less expensive, that's the route I'd go.
Click to expand...

only prob with that is that you might have to turn it on its side if the window isnt wide enough, and some ACs REALLY dont like that
 
Originally posted by: Anubis
Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
I expect _both_ of you to visit me while I'm still here in Pittsburgh.
ZV
Click to expand...
We'll be up there in 2 weeks. Come go to the Van Halen concert at Post-Gazette Pavilion with us on the 29th.

BTW, I don't see why you couldn't use an A/C unit for a regular window. You might have to get some wood or something to fill the gaps, but if they are less expensive, that's the route I'd go.
Click to expand...

only prob with that is that you might have to turn it on its side if the window isnt wide enough, and some ACs REALLY dont like that
Click to expand...
She said one window is 49x49, that should be plenty..

You can't turn them on their side.. they'll just burn up AFAIK...
 
Originally posted by: Eli
Originally posted by: Anubis
Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
I expect _both_ of you to visit me while I'm still here in Pittsburgh.
ZV
Click to expand...
We'll be up there in 2 weeks. Come go to the Van Halen concert at Post-Gazette Pavilion with us on the 29th.

BTW, I don't see why you couldn't use an A/C unit for a regular window. You might have to get some wood or something to fill the gaps, but if they are less expensive, that's the route I'd go.
Click to expand...

only prob with that is that you might have to turn it on its side if the window isnt wide enough, and some ACs REALLY dont like that
Click to expand...
She said one window is 49x49, that should be plenty..

You can't turn them on their side.. they'll just burn up AFAIK...
Click to expand...

yea most die, but some work fine for some reason

i missed that its 49x49
regular one will be fine, just cover teh rest of the area with plywood or something similar, could use plexy glass if you still wanted to see out the window
 
Originally posted by: Eli

When I lived out in Hillsboro, our apartment had windows that opened by sliding left-right. I just put the air conditioner in the window, closed the window on it(thereby keeping it... in the window), and cut a piece of foam to fit into the huge gap above the A/C...

Worked great.
Click to expand...

i did that with our house in NY , i used some plexiglass and made a wooden frame , custom fit with foam to seal the edges
 
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