Air conditioner for my condo

[b_t]

We're coming up on summer, gotta get one these ASAP. Huge south facing windows on this place make it incredibly hot in the summer.. wasn't uncommon for the thermostat inside to top 30 degrees when it was only 25 outside.

Unfortunately as a renter I can't install a permanent air conditioner, and we also aren't allowed to make any changes to the exterior of the building, so window-mounted ACs are also out (as far as I know, gotta re-read the regs). I think that limits me to a floor-standing AC with the tube & panel that sits on the inside of a window.

which of these are good value? will the thing even be enough to bring the temperature down to the low 20s? what do you think it could do to my power bill?

the place is about 950ft^2 with very tall ceilings, so I doubt a portable AC could cool the whole place. if worse comes to worse I will just put it in my room, which would cut the volume it needs to cool to about 300ft^2.

[SillyChell]

I also had the same issue. Condo was 800 sq ft with high ceilings and 2 very large windows. The condo board didn't allow window mounted so I got a stand alone. It was 1900 BTU's I believe and was only good to cool my bedroom. I didn't see a large increase on the energy bill...maybe $20. When looking for a portable ac they will state sq ft it will cover. Also watch for a sale they can be pricey...Canadian Tire is a good place to consider.

[Kloubek]

Depending on how much you use it, it can *certainly* drive up the bills. And since stand alones are not as efficient, you'll have to use it a lot to get the cooldown you desire. We have a stand-alone unit which we also needed to have because our condo board would not allow window-mounted ac's either.

Now that we have a house, we bought an inexpensive window-mounted unit which works 100 times better.

Depending on how the mount works and what kind of window you are installing it in, you would be surprised how little you need to do to secure it. In our unit, I drilled two tiny holes inside the slider portion of the window frame, and that was just to ensure it was going to remain in place. The downward-sliding window actually would have been enough pressure to keep the unit in place by itself.... though all it would take is for the window to be opened for it to fall right out.

I would certainly re-read the requirements and even ask personally if a window-mounted AC would be acceptable. They are so much better it would be worth the investigation.

[b_t]

That's what I figured. The window-mounted units all offer a lot more BTUs of cooling, usually for way less money. They might make special exceptions but my unit faces the main entrance to the place, so maybe not...

What brands of AC did you guys use?

[dj_rice]

I'll post the pictures and unit when I get home but I bought a Danby Premiere one from Costco when they go on sale.


Heres my unit. Its a 13000BTU unit. My condo is 1082 SQ ft with a east facing window so sun is always in my unit. Bought it for $399 with the $100 off coupon they usually do.

Its currently setup in the east facing window, and I live on the top floor of a 6 floor building. When its literally + 25 outside, inside my condo it'll be around like +30.

I turn on my A/C when I leave for work and it runs all day or a 8 hour cycle and keeps my living room at a nice 21-22 degrees. It is a bit nosy and didn't come with any attachments for condo windows that swing open with a handle so I handle to ghetto ring a mount by getting a plastic sheet that covers/seals the whole window and drilling the hose attachment mounts to that.

[v2kai]

Not sure what you're looking to spend but for those on a budget, as a student I ghetto rigged a $120 5000BTU window mount unit with a cardboard shroud and used two large dryer vent tubes to pipe it to the window. Not the prettiest thing, but it worked great for a bedroom as long as the ducts are large enough in diameter to not restrict the exhaust flow and you keep them fairly short and close to the window where you vent the hot air. I also lined the inside of the cardboard shroud with aluminum foil to keep the heat in and put mesh on the ends of the tubes to keep any bugs/debris from getting into the tubes. Fashioned a crude window block off plate for the ducts and painted it black. Worked well enough for the bedroom and actually used it the past two years at our current place and I've never had an issue come up with the condo board as nothing is hanging out the window and creating an eyesore. if you're just looking to sleep in comfort on the cheap this would work.

If you're looking to cool the large main window and high ceilings prepare to dig deeper. Definitely recommend browsing Kijiji or as others have suggested hit up Costco when there's a sale. I picked up a literally brand new $500+ 12000BTU Delonghi A120E portable AC unit for $100 off Kijiji last summer; and there were quite a few others for a sweet deal. Dont wait for the heat wave!

Some mixed reviews on the particular model I picked up but I think it's mostly due to lack of proper maintenance and care, no issues with mine and works great and drops our front room from high 20's/low 30's to low 20's and we use the ceiling fan and one or two small other fans to help circulate the air.

I run our ghetto window unit and living room portable constantly throughout the summer and didnt notice a huge spike in bills. The new Delonghi units are apparently quite energy efficient and the design of the one I snagged evaporates much of any condensed water out with the exhaust air. Not having to empty buckets of water was a nice feature you might want to keep an eye out for.

To feel any cooling in your main front room you're going to have to cough up some serious change for some big BTUs otherwise you wont feel any change in temps unless you're sitting right in front of it. Heavy, thick curtains for the large windows might be a good investment too if you don't already have some. Keeping the heat out in the first place is much cheaper than pumping it out with an AC unit.

This breakdown might give you an idea of AC power you'd likely require

100 to 150 square feet: 5,000 BTUs
150 to 250 square feet: 6,000 BTUs
250 to 300 square feet: 7,000 BTUs
300 to 350 square feet: 8,000 BTUs
350 to 400 square feet: 9,000 BTUs
400 to 450 square feet: 10,000 BTUs
450 to 550 square feet: 12,000 BTUs
550 to 700 square feet: 14,000 BTUs
700 to 1,000 square feet: 18,000 BTUs
1,000 to 1 400 square feet: 24,000 BTUs

[b_t]

I'm not even sure how much of the heat comes from outside the building. My thermostat has been set as low as it'll go all winter and the place was pretty rock solid at 23 degrees. When it was freezing cold outside I'd leave the windows open cuz I like my room to be cold when I sleep, and it still would never drop below 17.

The ghetto rigged thing sounds intriguing right now.. I'll look into the Danby and Delonghi stuff though. Is the evaporation thing even that big of a deal in Calgary? I read a lot of reviews complaining about how fast their ACs would fill and how hard it was to dump em out, but Calgary is pretty dry so I would imagine this would be less of an issue.