Tips on choosing an Air Conditioner

Also, although it can cool off the entire upstairs of our home, it still takes awhile, and in the process it has to cool off the hallway and even the stair well. In retrospect we would have been much better off if I had installed smaller window air conditioners in each upstairs bedroom. Not only would each bedroom be cooled off quicker, I wouldn’t necessarily need to cool off the hallway, bathrooms and stair well.

In addition, with the large air conditioning unit, it actually provides less cooling than if I had used a number of smaller ones. The reason for this is that the oversized air conditioner has too short of a run time and is constantly cycling on and off. Thus it never adequately removes sufficient enough moisture from all of the upstairs rooms to leave them feeling cool, except for the room that it is located in. Consequently it is wise to size the air conditioner to the specific room area. Air conditioner performance is rated on BTUs or British Thermal Units.

The higher the number of BTUs the more heat that is transferred from a room to the outdoors. The smallest window air conditioner puts out about 4,000 BTUs, however for most standard room sizes (approximately 100 to 200 square feet) a 5,000 to 6,000 BTU portable air conditioner is most appropriate.

For larger rooms, e.g. up to 600 to 800 square feet, choosing an air conditioner that supports around 12,000 BTUs is most appropriate. Regardless of what size air conditioner you choose, keep in mind that it is really meant to cool off one room. Trying to cool off an entire upstairs is simply not possible with one air conditioner, at least not from an energy or time efficiency standpoint.

Also, when installing portable window air conditioners make sure they are properly supported in the window per the air conditioner manufacturer’s recommendation and that proper insulation is placed around the air conditioner. This way you can safely and efficiently operate it to keep your home cool this summer.