Window Air Conditioners

[Sureshot324]

Can you buy a split system to cool just one room, say the equivalent of a 5000 BTU air conditioner? How much would this cost?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Can you buy a split system to cool just one room, say the equivalent of a 5000 BTU air conditioner? How much would this cost?

The smallest split systems I've seen are 9000 btu, if you can find one that is A/C only (no heat pump) the 9k btu units are around $700 or $900 with heat. They go up from there, the sizes I have seen are 9k and 12k running on 120v, then 12k, 18k and 24k running on 230v

Most of the ones I've seen come with a precharged lineset and installation kit, and don't require a licensed installer in most areas.

 

[HumblePie]

The smallest split systems I've seen are 9000 btu, if you can find one that is A/C only (no heat pump) the 9k btu units are around $700 or $900 with heat. They go up from there, the sizes I have seen are 9k and 12k running on 120v, then 12k, 18k and 24k running on 230v

Most of the ones I've seen come with a precharged lineset and installation kit, and don't require a licensed installer in most areas.

Or for a small room you can spend $50 on a decent used window system and stay cool. Sure you use more energy and would pay a higher electric bill than a split system, but it would probably take decades before the that initial cost difference is made up.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Sold out during the last heat wave?

And the end of summer when no new stock is coming in.

DUH

 

[BurnItDwn]

Ouch, no AC and you're stuck ordering online and waiting for shipping ... fvck that!

I could swear I saw a whole bunch of them when I was at Menards last week to pick up some more joint compound...

I don't think I'd want to wait a frickin week for an AC if mine went out!!!! And I have a basement that usually stays at least 10 degrees cooler than outside...

 

[CraigRT]

Like it or not, they are being phased out. Split sytems are far superior and far quieter. There are now solar split systems on the market so this will push the end of the window rattler.

And good riddance they are noisy pieces of crap

Yuck, quiet air conditioners
I love the sound at night, totally lulls me to sleep.... I love it!

 

[Turin39789]

We have our eye out for one as well, we have a 50's cape cod and the two rooms upstairs stay hot throughout the summer. Haven't been using them much but one of them is going to become a guest room soon so we need to find something.

Will probably pick up one on craiglist or over the winter if we can get a good deal, two rooms 10x15 and 10x17 with ~7 - 7.5 ft ceilings and knee walls. Not sure what BTU to go with, there is one return up there(in floor) and two vents in wall fed by the round soft lines but they don't do much.

Blew in insulation this winter, on the flat parts of the attic space, stuck the hose under the floors beneat the second floor as well and tried to stuff fiberglass bats into the diagonal parts of the wall as best as I could. Fiberglass on the vertical walls as well, but I know that above the narrow ceiling is uninsulated. Also need to get some styrofoam insulation on the backsides of the three acess doors for the attic.

 

[HumblePie]

They have them here at bestbuy, home depot, lowes, and several other places.

 

[Rubycon]

Yuck, quiet air conditioners
I love the sound at night, totally lulls me to sleep.... I love it!

Woosh from air is OK. Hum/buzz from motor is most definitely not though.

 

[Tristicus]

Ouch, no AC and you're stuck ordering online and waiting for shipping ... fvck that!

I could swear I saw a whole bunch of them when I was at Menards last week to pick up some more joint compound...

I don't think I'd want to wait a frickin week for an AC if mine went out!!!! And I have a basement that usually stays at least 10 degrees cooler than outside...

We have central air, and it is set on 76 or so. However, my room is medium size, and compared to all the other rooms in the house, only has one vent. That, coupled with it not blowing shit, being under the attic, and having a hot ass PC, it gets pretty unbearable in the summer.

 

[BUTCH1]

Yeah guys, sorry i do sometimes forget i am in Australia (and you guys are in the us). Different climate and conditions in the US of A.

I dont believe that America has signed the Kyoto protocol? i am not going to bother to check.

But Australia has. The state government here makes laws determining the efficiency requirements of A/c units. They bumped it up last year here which has ruled out most window units. There are only a few sizes left on the market.

I dont like window units, cause they are noisy inefficient and a general pain in the arse (from a mechanics point of view.) And I generally dont fit them, cause any dope can do it and there is no money in installing them.

I appreciate your guys point of view on the matter. Gets me thinking.

Brb getting a beer.


mmm beer

someone earlier mentioned that example about the truck and the boat ramp. The problem with air conditioning is that everyone fires them up the same time of year.

So imagine that truck you use once a year to take your boat to the boat ramp. well imagine that everyone in town does the same thing. Your boat ramp will become overloaded. Now using this example back on air conditioning, when everyone fires up their a/c for those hot 8 weeks, your power grid will be over loaded.

mmm beer.


Yeah so inefficient a/c = bad.

efficient environmentally friendly air conditioning = good.

I agree but even if all window units were eliminated you would still have all those split systems firing up at once as well and it would be worse as a lot of the window units are only 5-7K BTU where any split system is much higher and would draw even MORE power off the grid. Here in FL few have window units, 90% of homes are central split systems but the climate here dictates that, it would next to impossible to sell a home without central AC..

 

[Rubycon]

I agree but even if all window units were eliminated you would still have all those split systems firing up at once as well and it would be worse as a lot of the window units are only 5-7K BTU where any split system is much higher and would draw even MORE power off the grid. Here in FL few have window units, 90% of homes are central split systems but the climate here dictates that, it would next to impossible to sell a home without central AC..

Newer inverter units should avoid heavy "nearly LRA" inrush of starting larger hermetic compressors and TDRs will eliminate the problem of 100s of units drawing LRA after a power interruption during a storm when a line relays off to clear a fault. That's probably the worse case scenario as the small line wired PSC compressors don't have the torque for an instant restart against high pressure and draw LRA until their overcurrent device opens. This can easily overwhelm branch distribution lines and open primary fuses which will then require a lineman to replace the fuse which means a block or two is without power for hours or more on a hot day.

 

[BurnItDwn]

We have central air, and it is set on 76 or so. However, my room is medium size, and compared to all the other rooms in the house, only has one vent. That, coupled with it not blowing shit, being under the attic, and having a hot ass PC, it gets pretty unbearable in the summer.

Ahhh .... well, then it's not THAT intolerable, though still sounds quite uncomfortable. Reminds me a bit of my townhouse that I had before I moved. 2 story building, bedrooms upstairs, very crappy insulation between house and attic, I put my main PC in my master Bedroom upstairs, it was a big room at about 12x20, but, only 1 vent and no return ... I'd set the AC to 70, and it would be nice and comfortable downstairs, but, in the master bedroom it was like 85, southwest exposure too, so all afternoon the heat would just slam through the window.

Pretty much the only thing that helped was setting up 2 fans in the doorway, 1 blowing each way... but, that didn't really work 100% cause the doorway wasn't wide enough for 2 fans to completely fit right.

 

[BUTCH1]

Newer inverter units should avoid heavy "nearly LRA" inrush of starting larger hermetic compressors and TDRs will eliminate the problem of 100s of units drawing LRA after a power interruption during a storm when a line relays off to clear a fault. That's probably the worse case scenario as the small line wired PSC compressors don't have the torque for an instant restart against high pressure and draw LRA until their overcurrent device opens. This can easily overwhelm branch distribution lines and open primary fuses which will then require a lineman to replace the fuse which means a block or two is without power for hours or more on a hot day.

I know my newer thermostat will not start the compressor for 5 min. if it's shutdown for any reason or even if you bump it lower it still waits 5 min. to let the pressure equalize somewhat. I don't know if window shakers have this feature yet or not. We had some of those problems after the hurricanes as when power was restored everyone's hot water heater came on at once, ouch!. They were all over the news trying to tell people to click the breaker on the HW heater to avoid this although I think a heater element is a purely resistive load..

 

[Rubycon]

I know my newer thermostat will not start the compressor for 5 min. if it's shutdown for any reason or even if you bump it lower it still waits 5 min. to let the pressure equalize somewhat. I don't know if window shakers have this feature yet or not. We had some of those problems after the hurricanes as when power was restored everyone's hot water heater came on at once, ouch!. They were all over the news trying to tell people to click the breaker on the HW heater to avoid this although I think a heater element is a purely resistive load..

Yes a water heater is a resistive load but a 4.5kW load and will NOT cut out after 2-3 sec like a compressor with a locked rotor. Some utilities install switches on high loads like this to prevent just what you are discussing. It also gives them the ability to "load shed" areas where needed in times of high demand to prevent brownouts and rolling blackouts.

 

[BUTCH1]

Yes a water heater is a resistive load but a 4.5kW load and will NOT cut out after 2-3 sec like a compressor with a locked rotor. Some utilities install switches on high loads like this to prevent just what you are discussing. It also gives them the ability to "load shed" areas where needed in times of high demand to prevent brownouts and rolling blackouts.

Yea, FPL always sends us an offer to install one of those on either the AC or water heater, the water heater I don't care about but I'm not about to let them shut down my AC for an hour, mine is too old and will have a difficult time recovering from that, I've already had to replace an exploded cap this season..

 

[Sea Moose]

Yeah dont be conned into putting your ac on a load shed device. (we call them tarifs in Aus)

What Rubinator said about inverter technology is correct. They are much moar efficient than dol compressors. America is slow to adopt technogical advances in A/C because of

1) cost
2) you lot dont give a fuck about the environment.
3) You havent signed kyoto.

 

[Rubycon]

Rubinator? WTF

The USA most certainly does their part in keeping the air clean. They just have to profit off it.

Yeah dont be conned into putting your ac on a load shed device. (we call them tarifs in Aus)

What Rubinator said about inverter technology is correct. They are much moar efficient than dol compressors. America is slow to adopt technogical advances in A/C because of

1) cost
2) you lot dont give a fuck about the environment.
3) You havent signed kyoto.

 

[Tristicus]

Finally! It came. And it is a lot better than the 1970 AC I was using (looks and fit wise...performance, I'll have to see). Yay!