We have to buy a window unit for our house. We have Central AC but it’s not keeping up and we can’t afford to upsize it right now. So until then I’m researching which window units to buy. Any advice or anything to cut through all the marketing spam and AI copy that I have to wade thru?
Midea U was a highly regarded device until the drainage recall. Not sure how that changes things. There are ac window units you can connect directly to solar. If you already needed a shade structure, that could be a way of achieving two things at once.
Make sure you buy one with enough cooling power to cool the room it’s in. If it’s a small bedroom you’ll want 5,000-8,000 BTU and if it’s a larger area like a living room you’ll probably want 12,000-14,000 BTU.
I just put a 12,000 BTU unit in my living room because it’s open to the kitchen and it’s about 550ft².
A good rule of thumb is 20 BTU per Ft², so my 550ft² living room/kitchen area would require at least 11,000 BTU.I was in the same situation as you at my last house. Central AC was added to a 100 year old house but it was never enough. I got new windows put in, and that helped, but it still got to hot in the summer.
We got this U Shaped Midea window unit and that did the trick: https://www.midea.com/us/store/cooling-and-heating/window-air-conditioners/u-shaped-air-conditioner-ultra-quiet.MAW08U1QWT
It’s better than a standard window unit because you can close the window nearly all the way, unlike standard window units that rely on those crappy plastic accordion things.
Best of luck.
I have 3 of these and love them. Unfortunately there is a recall on them for mold (never had a problem with mold in my units) and I think because if it, they’re really hard to find now. Amazon has pulled them from sales.
can confirm. mold was growing in mine.
look inside the blower when it’s off. mine had all these little white dots of mold that looked like dust, but it was definitely mold.
I just replaced all my recalled Mideas with GE Profile ClearViews. We’ve been running them through the current northeast US heatwave and they’ve been very good. Definitely get one of the inverter driven ones (10 or 12k BTUs I think, the smaller ones aren’t).
Check farmers markets for second hand ones, usually very cheap and just need a little cleaning. Look up the units while you are there and check the room size it will cover.
It’s probably not undersized. You might have a duct leak, insulation gap, air gaps, etc.
You might have rebates in your area that pay for some of these things. One inexpensive thing you can do is run reflectrex across your roof rafters. While you’re up there air seal any gaps into the living space like can lights and hvac vents.
You can also seal your windows with plastic.
You can get a flir camera for your phone to see where the heat is coming in the most.
I know it’s a considerable cost increase and installation, but still way cheaper than upgrading your central A/C, and way more efficient, quiet, elegant than a window unit: add a mini-split to the room. I added a Mitsubishi to our hot office with tons of electronics and it’s one of the best home investments I made.
What’s your budget? There are a lot of options to narrow down. I have an amazing unit that was around 400 bucks but you can find reliable ones a quarter of that price, or 4x.
Just don’t get a portable unit. They suck and are just a waste of money most of the times.
These are portables if you’re unfamiliar.
Idk, I got one made by Midea and it’s pretty good imo. Granted, we have casement windows (the ones where the window slides to the side to open, not up/down) so the usual window units weren’t an option.
If you get an expensive one with both in and out ventilation through the window it can be good. But you’re spending a lot more than just a window AC at that point. The cheap ones actually vent your cold air outside.
I got a couple of $150 cheapo units at the big box stores to supplement our central air during heat waves, have been just fine. 5k or 6k BYUs at least.
This is correct, you need a “ closed” loop of outside air (by this I mean, the unit does not vent inside air through the condenser coils to the outside) and the two-pipe units are the only way to achieve this.
If you go that route, be aware that these usually collect the evaporator moisture and you either have to manually empty the bucket or pump it to a drain (you can connect it to a laundry machine drainpipe for example). If that isn’t possible and your indoors isn’t sealed well you might be emptying it a lot. Still, there are situations like smaller basement windows for which this is the only practical solution.
While the dual hose ones are better, I agree that these all kind of suck because you have the compressor inside and it’s always the loudest part of an AC.
Just don’t get a portable unit. They suck and are just a waste of money most of the times.
Get a dual-hose unit if you get one. There are a lot of companies selling single-hose units. Those are a lot less efficient and aren’t much cheaper. I would guess that in a situation where they get any kind of meaningful use, a dual-hose unit pays for itself quickly.
I don’t think I’d agree that they suck, but if you can use a window unit — not all rooms and windows are amenable to this — you normally want a window unit instead of a portable unit, unless you must take down the AC unit on a regular basis. Less noise inside, more energy efficiency.
Call a service tech to look at your central. If it’s not keeping up then it might be cheaper to fix the issues with it over buying a window unit and paying the electricity to run it.
Central Units are typically much more powerful and therefore need to run less, and if it’s something simple like it need to have the condenser cleaned out or the refrigerant recharged the cost to just get it done is much less than the cost of window units plus electricity plus your time to install and remove them
This isn’t actually necessarily true if you just need specific cooling.
If for instance, you just care about cooling your bedroom for sleeping, then it can be more efficient to install a window unit in just that room and let the rest of your house be warmer. A mini-split would be more efficient than a window unit for that role, but they’re also a lot more expensive and permanent.
Yeah for new installs but service for the existing unit might be like $200 for a cleaning and it’s certainly going to be cheaper to run in the long run
Window units are built to fail, are mold prone, use an excessive amount of electricity comparatively (even the newer inverter ones) and a higher risk of injuring a person or damaging the building. Also their smart features often entice people to install apps that track you to sell to advertisers. So not only are you buying an inferior product but they’re also capitalizing of spying on you.
(tl/dr: fuck Frigidaire lol)
Yeah for new installs but service for the existing unit might be like $200 for a cleaning and it’s certainly going to be cheaper to run in the long run
No, it’s not necessarily.
From an electricity usage standpoint, it’s cheaper to inefficiently cool one room than it is to efficiently cool a whole house.
Cleaning it also may solve nothing, it’s $200 on a chance of it solving the problem. If cleanliness wasn’t the issue, then you just wasted $200. On the flip side, you can find a used window AC for $200 easily, or buy a new one for $400 and then sell it when you’re done with it and get $200 back, and it is guaranteed to solve your problem assuming you’re concerned with a specific room.
I didn’t say cleaning would solve it. I said that a service tech should look at it and it was possibly a simple fix.
Also window units will have to fight against the rest of the house being warm. Interior walls are seldom insulated, warm air drafts in around the unit and around doors. A window unit in one room could cost as much as a dedicated unit for the whole house, as it has to work harder to maintain the desired cooling.
You said servicing the central AC will certainly be cheaper in the long run. That’s wrong.
It might be, but it depends on a lot of other factors.
You seem to be biased against window ACs for some reason, and seem hell bent on misinforming people about them.
Decent modern window ACs will have a higher baseline efficiency than older full house units, and cool just the room you want. Conduction losses through the wall are minimal compared to trying to to cool literally 10x as much space. They are incredibly easy to DIY, and cost $500 up front, but you’ll get half that back when you sell it when you’re done with it. Literally the same price as the AC tech who’s gonna come out and say that you need to install more return ducts, insulation, or another unit to keep up with the increased average outdoor temperature.
Like literally everything else, some are built cheaply, some are built well. Look up reviews before you buy.
If you install a window unit, your window will obviously be open and there will be a gap between the two panels of your window in which air can pass through. I got these little rubber flappy gasket things with adhesive strips that cover the gap and visually kinda blend in and aren’t noticeable. If you search for “door draft stopper” or “window gasket” you should be able to find it.
Be aware that most window A/C units are power hogs. Expect to see a significant rise in your power bill. It might be cheaper to have your home A/C unit serviced instead. Could it be low on freon? Would it benefit from having the coils cleaned?
get one rated for the room size.
I have one for an attic room that gets around 100°F without one. it’s about 100sqft and I’m running a 9000BTU system. with the unit it stays around 71-74°.
stay away from “Mr cool”. they’ve had lots of defects from factory.
I would get something local, probably Walmart. reason for that, if you have any problems you can just take it back.
Don’t do it at this time of year.
This is a fact. It’s absolutely the highest priced time to buy any air conditioning. Everyone is buying so they have zero incentive for true sales.
Other comments seem to have covered the advice around checking insulation and system charge, so I’ll say that if you need to get a window unit make sure it’s an inverter unit; they’re typically advertised as ultra-quiet. The reason you want an inverter air conditioner is purely the efficient gains you get over a traditional on/off compressor; they use around half the electricity in some cases for the same cooling.
All of the U-shaped units from various brands use inverter tech, but they might be hard to find because a lot of them are rebranded Mideas. LG’s ThinQ “dual-inverter” units are also very good, I have one that’s served me well for a couple years and it’s very quiet. You can barely hear the compressor start up at all aside from a faint electrical whine for a few seconds and the sound of refrigerant moving through the system. The fan moving the air is the loudest part by far (and it’s not bad).
All of that said, consider replacing your central ducted unit with a multi-head mini-split system in the long run. For residential use they’re typically the most efficient you can get, and you have the bonus of being able to control room temperatures individually. A mini-split system uses inverter tech too just like the good window units. In fact, the U-shaped window units are just miniaturized mini-split systems in a rigid housing.
The U-Shaped units were also all recalled due to mold collecting in a drainage area. Source: Consumer Reports, because yesterday I was researching which on I could get for my stupidly narrow windows, in my stupid new old house. Went with this one:
LG - 330 sq. ft. 7,600 BTU 115-Volt Window Air Conditioner with Cool, Heat and Wi-Fi Control - White
Model: LW8023HRSM
SKU: 6583340 (Best Buy)
Midea recently recalled its u-shaped unit, so be wary of used ones (I have one and now have no way to get rid of it).
There are also these GE ones that are like upside-down U’s to keep out of the way of the window; but between the unit blowing air so low as to not affect the rising hot air in the room and the fact that they have to pump the condensate up and over the window sill make me think they’re not a great investment…
All of that said, consider replacing your central ducted unit with a multi-head mini-split system in the long run.
Mini splits don’t provide ventilation, whereas ducted systems do. In general, if one can have a ducted system, I’d rather have that. The major problem with ducted systems is that ductwork takes up a lot of space, so it’s hard to stick into an existing house; much less of an issue if you can build it in during construction. A mini split is less invasive to an existing structure.
