I want to use a window air conditioner, without having it hang out the only window in my room. The problem with this is the window is in the front of the house, and it looks ugly. My question: Is there any other way I could still use this window unit?
Not smart to blow the hot air into the attic! Will just raises the temp up there! Also the unit may or may not like having that part of its works in a hot not very well ventilated roof space. And be more likely to burn or cut out? Also moisture condensate as the air is cooled, which normally drains outside, has to go somewhere.
Please don't put parts of your question in the subject line without repeating everything in the body of the post. I know I'm not the only one who doesn't read subject lines, and it's like writing a report, putting the essence of it on the title page, and then not putting that in the report itself In my opinion it's stupid, I mean, less than optimum, and I wouldn't have known what you were talking about if I hadn't read terry's answer.
It might be just as ugly, but many acs can be installed through the wall, with a sleeve designed for that purpose and that model ac. But you'd stilll have the window to open easily when it wasn't that hot or cold out.
On Sat 23 Aug 2008 08:56:16p, told us...
Do you already have the window unit? For several reasons it is not a good idea to vent the air conditioner into the attic, primarily added heat, condensation, and the risk of fire.
There are room air conditioners that hae a simple vent that are mounted flush with the window and to not protrude. You should probably look at some of these before making a decision.
I cut an opening in an outside wall and mounted my window unit there.
Yes. You can take the unit apart, and make a drain line, so the condensate goes into your house drain. And then use it as a dehumidifier.
You can take the unit out to the back yard, and put potted plants on it.
You can bring the unit into the house, and use it as a base, for stacking books.
Other ideas available on request.
As an aside, why do you care whether it looks ugly? Are you concerned that strangers passing by will think less of your esthetic sensibilities?
Very bad idea. Pumping warm moist air into the attic can cause damage. It will also increase the temperature up there adding more heat to your home and since the air up there is hot, it will reduce the efficiency of the air conditioner.
Consider a split unit where the compressor/condenser is located outside on the ground and a small conduit is connected to the evaporator in your bedroom.
Won't work well in attic; heat will make it very inefficient. Put it thru a wall somewhere instead of in a window ifyou can't stand havinmg the ungly thing out front. Or get central air. IMO you're being too vain.
Why would you open a topic of discussion if you don't know the subject? Curiosity? If so, then you must not have much else going on in life to sit and open many topics without reading the subject.
IMO, I think you're making a mountain from a molehill. I find it beneficial to read a question in the subject line to know what it's related to. This isn't a writing class and just because you fail to read the subject line doesn't mean everyone else does. I actually can't imagine who would not read a subject line prior to opening the thread.
Perhaps you need to be a little less uptight. Stop trying to make people change to accommodate you instead of taking the time to put effort into changing your own habit(s). Self absorbed people are annoying.
1) Plant a bush in front of the window. Let the condensate water the bush. 2) Paint it the same color as the house. It will look great that way. 3) Quit obsessing over how it looks. Dozens of people have seen it and no one has complained.
Problem solved.
Joe
Sometimes I use one key to just go from one post to the next, without looking at the table of contents page at all.
If my issue is a molehill, I think yours is a molehill squared. Less important than mine. But you plainly think it's worth posting about, and so did I.
I'm not at all against their putting the question in the subject line. I like that a lot better than using titles like "Question" or "Help me" or even the broad "Electrical question".
I'm against their *not* putting the question in the body of the question.
I'm not the only one who has complained about this. Plus there are probably many more who don't like it but haven't complained.
All these things could just as easily be said about you, given that you've complained about something which I think is at most no more imporant than what I complained about.
While you may think it's more important, there are a lot more posts like the OP's than there are like mine. So that alone makes that problem more important. I don't complain every time I see one like his, but in this case, his post actually made sense without the subject line. But it made no reference to the attic, which is why I ended up writing an answer about wall sleeves, and ignoring attics.
I see, so anyone who complains about a complainer has less of an important complaint than the actual complaining. Therefore, then we may as well just allow the complainers to complain all the time without trying to enlighten them with reasoning or the logic of why something is done the way it is (rolls eyes). Sorry, I don't buy it. But as I stated, it would be easier for you to make a simple adjustment to your search method than to try and change the world to do what makes it easier for you. But hey, who's complaining.
A regular window mount air condx has two completely separate systems.
The "back" of the air condx draws outside air in thru the sides and blows it over the condenser out the back. The cooler the air it takes in, the more efficient the heat removal from the condenser is. This is separate from the "front" of the air condx, which draws in room air from the front and blows cool air out the front.
So when the air condx is mounted in a wall inthe attic, the "back" system would draw in hot attic air and discharge even hotter air into the attic. It is the INTAKE , in thru the sides, that is the problem....
I handled this by making a box around the back where the air drawn into the "back" comes from a cooler source. In my case, it was the garage air, which is the same temp, more or less, as the air outside the house. The garage was directly below the air condx mounting, and I just cut a hole in the garage ceiling and put a decorative grill over it, and a duct to run the air up to the INTAKE on each side of the box. The DISCHARGE air, out the back, still goes into the attic, which doesn't have very much effect at all...
So, for the "back" system, figure out how to get the coolest air into the sides of the air condx and let the back air discharge whereever it is convenient.... DON'T FORGET TO HOOK UP A HOSE TO THE DRAIN... LOTS OF WATER WILL BE FORMED....
Finally, make sure there are no leaks which would allow the inside room air to get to the sides of the air condx.... You want to re-circulate the room side air thru the front only, as it gets cooler and cooler each time it passes over the evaporator....
I hope this explanation helps. It works well for me, and I live in North Texas, with very hot attics.... and my air condx is a 5000 BTU unit from Home Depot for $69 (on sale) and cools a 12 X 18 room...but just barely in August ,
Andy in Eureka, Texas
I agree with MM, who has a valid point. You don't have to repeat the entire subject line verbatim. But if you expect to get responses from most people who understand the question, at least the rest of the post should make the situation clear and be consistent with the subject line. In this case, the only mention of putting an AC in the attic, which seems to be the main interest, is in the subject line. The rest of the post only asks what alternatives there are to putting it out the window.
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