Why not a couple window units rather than central air?


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Old 07-21-06, 06:09 PM
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Why not a couple window units rather than central air?

My parents have a smaller single story ranch house. Do you know that they were able to cool...I mean really cool!...not KINDA cool...down their ENTIRE house with a 10,800 btu window unit in their bedroom, with a box fan forcing it out into the hall? From there it made it around every corner in the house and was even cooling the far kitchen as if THAT room had the a/c in the window! Amazing.

Some of you probably think I am exaggerating and that it maybe just HELPED cool the house. No. It absolutely felt like they had central air. And it was about 95 out. And I actually felt chilly inside!

So this got me thinking. My next door neighbors had their central a/c go out. They have a leak. The contractor cannot come right away to fix it and it wil cost like $300. So what did they do, in the 90-95 weather? Went out and bought a window unit. And this got me thinking that if they had bought one more, they probably could have cooled the house. (Their house is not as insulated or something as my my parents.)

But in general...if a person has central air and you have a failure, you are SOL. And it may be an expensive SOL, at that. But if you have let's say 2 or 3 window units, if one went out, you would still have some a/c. And wouldn't 2 or even 3 window units cost a lot less than one central air set up?
 
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Old 07-22-06, 04:21 AM
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Window unit may cost a lot less up front when you buy them, but running cost is not less the central air.

I don't like the looks of a unit in the windows. Blocks the view, and eye sore from the outside. (I have to see my neighbors across the stree in his bedroom window w/ plywood in it) Also the noise of the unit if it's in your bedroom, or living room window.

You parents house may be well insulated, and shaded, so they can use a smaller sized BTU A/C, and also the unit may run non stop. With this steady run, it is able to pull the humidity out of the air.

How many sq ft is a small ranch?
 
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Old 07-22-06, 04:27 AM
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Central vs. window units

There is certainly something to be said for window units particularly with multiple units. Most people don't want to put up with the noise & the inconvenience of installing & removing each year. Then there is the security issue: A burglar can easily remove most window units to gain access to the house unless the unit is screwed to the window from inside & most people don't want screw holes in the window frame. Other downsides to window units are the potential damage to window frames & typically the lack of temperature uniformity thruout the house.
 
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Old 07-22-06, 09:51 AM
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Well the main reason is that window units are much less efficient then central air systems. Even if they cost a lot more, they still cool the house much better and make less noise.

Also, there is less work involved for maintanence (disputed) depending on how accessible the central unit is.
 
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Old 07-22-06, 12:06 PM
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Well Dave, there are your answers. Window units are ugly, noisy, provide access for burglars, are less efficient, are less likely to provide even temperatures throughout the house and because of multiple units they will require more maintenance than a central cooling system.


All that said there IS a situation where your suggestion may be preferable to a central system. I live in an area that requires cooling only about fifteen to twenty days a year. Only a relatively small proportion of the homes here have central A/C and that includes homes selling for upwards of a million dollars. This last week we have been experiencing a heat wave and yesterday (Friday) set a daily record of (if I remember correctly) 96 degrees.

In my own home (1500 square feet, one level) I have a 12,000BTU (one ton) portable cooler and with it running in the living room the indoor temperature climbed to 85, About 11 PM the outside temperature had dropped to about 80 (this is unusually high) so I put my 20 inch fan in the kitchen window blowing outward and opened the windows on the other end of the house, including my bedroom, to draw the somewhat cooler outside air through the house. Normally this procedure works quite well in keeping the house comfortable but when I went to bed about midnight the bedroom temperature was still about 78 although the outside temperature had dropped to about 74. I moved my portable A/C unit into the bedroom and within an hour or so the temperature was down to 72 degrees.

As I write this (about noon, Saturday) the outside temperature is nearing 90, I have the cooler running in the bedroom and the furnace fan circulating air throughout the house. (I had removed the window fan and closed all of the windows at 7AM.) The house is at about 76 degrees throughout. I fully expect it to get hotter but If I had another 10 to 12 k of cooling I could probably keep everything quite comfortable. Since I know I can purchase a 10k BTU window banger for less than $300. (maybe considerably less) it makes sense for me to simply use the window unit along with the portable for the ten to twenty days a year that it is really needed. I would put the window unit in sometime in June and probably remove it before September. The rest of the time it would be stored in the garage.
 
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Old 07-22-06, 04:05 PM
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Jay11J,

About 1200 square feet. No shade trees. My mom is real religious and maybe she is being blessed.
 
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Old 07-22-06, 04:08 PM
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Thanks for all your replies, guys. Read every word of every one.
 
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Old 07-22-06, 08:29 PM
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provide access for burglars
I'll argue with that. Window units ARE VERY HEAVY.Why would a burglar want to remove a window unit to get in.
 
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Old 07-22-06, 08:59 PM
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Originally Posted by lexmarks567
I'll argue with that. Window units ARE VERY HEAVY.Why would a burglar want to remove a window unit to get in.
It's not that they want to lift it out of the way, it's that most are not very secure in their mountings and a good strong pull will remove it from the window and put it on the ground. Now they have a nice big window to climb through.
 
 

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