Most people assume warm air from their A/C unit means it’s low on refrigerant. That’s not always the cause. times, window and through-the-wall A/C units can’t blow cold air because the evaporator and condenser coils or coolingProfessional cleaning costs over $100. But you can do the entire job yourself in about an hour with a few dollars in supplies. If cleaning doesn’t do the trick, you can always call in a pro (or buy a newer, more efficientHere’s how to clean your A/C unit. First remove the plastic filter holder/trim panel. Then remove it from the window or slide it out of the wall (get help—it’s heavy). If you’re working on a window unit, remove the mounting frame and the case. The case screws are usually located along the bottom edge. Note the location of any odd-length screws since they have to go back in the same spots upon Then straighten the bent cooling fins with a fin comb (Photo 1). The Frigidaire fin

here is cheap and Buy two cans of A/C coil cleaner (one brand is AC-Safe buildup from both coils (Photo 2). Then spray both coils with the cleaner (Photo 3). While the foam works, clean the fan blades with household cleaner and a rag. If the fan motor has plastic- or rubber-capped oiling ports, pop them and squeeze in a few drops of electric motor oil (pros use the Wash (or replace) the air filter and reinstall the unit. might blow a lot cooler. If not, you have other problems!Build your own walk-in cooler with a CoolBot and an air conditioner Save $1,000s compared to traditional cooling systems Save up to 83% in upfront costs and 40% in operating costs versus the conventional walk-in cooler refrigeration system. Install a CoolBot in minutes A CoolBot can be installed by the average consumer in minutes. Travel to our installation page to see how easy it is. Five Star Product Review Customers on Amazon rate the CoolBot five stars, and we have sold over 30,000 CoolBots to customers in 60+ countries.

Additionally, leading academic institutions such as UC Davis, Cornell, North Carolina State and The University of Vermont have provided positive coverage on the CoolBot. why does ac unit ice upCome see what our customers have to say on our Amazon page, or check out our Uses pages to see how your peers are using the CoolBot.best air conditioning units ratings Outstanding Customer Support and Warrantymobile home hvac equipment Connect with our customer support team via email or phone to provide you live support for common questions such as cooler design, air conditioner sizing, and CoolBot installation. Each CoolBot comes with a standard one-year warranty on parts and labor, and you can easily double your warranty just by sending us some information on your setup.

Portable air conditioners are independent, movable units with exhaust hoses that are easy to install and vent out of a variety of window types. Window air conditioners are generally less expensive than portable air conditioners, but they are more difficult to install and only fit in standard-sized windows. Both unit types must be vented to the outside to function properly and are better as a supplemental cooling source, rather than a home's sole source of cooling. How air conditioners work. Neither portable air conditioners nor window air conditioners are intended to cool entire homes or apartments. They are meant to be room air conditioners and are often used to help supplement central air conditioning. Portable air conditioners are designed to be more flexible than window air conditioners, which can only be carefully installed in standard-sized windows. While portable air conditioners must still be vented to the outside, their exhaust hoses are bendable and extend somewhere between five to seven feet, meaning the unit can be moved as needed.

This allows for more direct cooling in different parts of a home throughout a day. The downside to portable air conditioners is that many, though not all, models have no good mechanism with which to properly dehumidify a room, but instead function like regular dehumidifiers, collecting water in a dish that must occasionally be emptied. Window air conditioners are designed to be compact, affordable, and relatively efficient; some also double as heaters for wintertime. They are able to dehumidify a room through their system, without the need of a tray to collect water. The downsides to window air conditioners are that they cannot be moved very easily and that if they are improperly installed they may not function correctly or may even prove dangerous (e.g., fall and hurt someone). To learn more about the main differences between the two types of air conditioners, check out the video below. Whether a portable air conditioner or a window air conditioner will better cool a room depends on a lot of factors, such as how large the room is, what the room is used for, local climate, and the energy efficiency of the unit itself.

Regardless of air conditioner type, one of the best ways to cool a room is to choose the right sized unit. Window air conditioners are usually quite loud as they work and rumble against window sills. The noise levels of portable air conditioners vary, with some models being as quiet as a fan and others being as noisy, if not noisier, than a window air conditioner. If noise is a major concern for the room that the air conditioner will go in, a quiet portable air conditioner is almost certainly the better choice. The larger and more powerful the air conditioner, the more it will cost upfront. A high upfront cost is worth it, though, if it means buying the right size air conditioner. Portable air conditioners are usually around $100 more expensive than window air conditioners of the same cooling capacity. Also, because portable air conditioners are generally larger and start at a higher BTU/h, they will be more expensive than window units with a lower BTU/h. usually has a large variety of air conditioners.

The bestsellers list on Amazon can be quite useful: Portable air conditioners are typically easier to install than window air conditioners, even with "easy install" kits that now ship with most good A/C units. One possible issue for those installing a unit alone is weight. Even with casters (wheels), some portable air conditioners can be very bulky and heavy to move. Likewise, window air conditioners can weigh up to 100lbs (45kg), making lifting difficult for most. To see how portable air conditioners are installed, watch this video. For window units, see this video instead. Whether dealing with a portable air conditioner or a window unit, it is important to buy the correct size for the room the unit will be cooling. Too small, and the unit will be quiet, but run constantly in an attempt to cool a room that is too big. Too large of a unit, and the air conditioner will be noisy and shut down too soon for the dehumidifying process to begin, which will leave a room feeling humid.

Home Depot's BTU recommendations for portable and window air conditioners are slightly different from the U.S. government's Energy Star recommendations (found in the table below). When it comes to window units, the window the unit will go in should be carefully measured. While modern window air conditioners can be installed in a variety of window sizes, they are still mostly standard sizes; for oddly-shaped windows, a window air conditioner is unlikely to fit. To choose the right size air conditioner, calculate the area of the room (how to find the area of a room) and select the right BTU/h accordingly. BTU stands for "British Thermal Unit" and is the standard unit of measurement for air conditioners. It is the amount of energy required to heat or cool one pound of water by one degree in Fahrenheit. The higher the BTU/h, the larger and more powerful the air conditioner will be. Other factors can affect how well a room air conditioner functions. When choosing the BTU of an air conditioner, consider the following:

Portable air conditioners have a larger cooling capacity and start at around 10,000 BTU/h, while window air conditioners start around 5,000 BTU/h. As both types of air conditioners extract hot air from a room, they need a place to send it. Ventilation to the outside is how air conditioners take hot air from an area and replace it with cool air. Portable air conditioners vent to the outside by way of a flexible exhaust hose. Some portable units have two exhaust hoses, one for venting hot air out and one for taking air in from the outside. Exhaust hoses are easily installed in open windows with the help of a window installation kit. While venting out of a window is the easiest and most common method of ventilation, a portable air conditioner can also be vented through a ceiling, door, or wall. Although it is possible to extend the exhaust hose, it is not advisable because doing so may void the warranty or even overheat the unit. Window air conditioners sit on window sills, with the front of the unit inside a room and the bulk of it outside the window.

If they do not fit snugly in a window, there is a risk of leakage, either of the hot air the unit extracts or the cool air it produces. It is easier to find an energy-efficient window air conditioner than it is to find an energy-efficient portable air conditioner. In the U.S., there are no federal regulations to mandate the energy efficiency of portable air conditioners, and so no portable air conditioner is given Energy Star ratings. This does not mean portable air conditioners cannot be energy efficient or that other laws do not govern efficiency, only that defining and determining portable air conditioner efficiency, specifically, is slightly more difficult. EER ratings can be used to determine efficiency in both types of room air conditioners. EER stands for "energy efficiency ratio" and is the ratio of an air conditioner's cooling capacity—its BTUs/h—to the amount of power it uses in watts. (BTUs / Watts = EER rating. So a 10,000BTU unit that uses 1,000 watts of power will receive an EER rating of 10.0.)

Room air conditioners with a high EER rating are more efficient than those with a low rating. National standards require all air conditioners—including portable units—to have an EER rating of 8.0 or greater. Units with an EER rating of 10.0 or above will be very efficient. Air conditioner efficiency can be affected by other factors, such as nearby lamps or electronic devices that might lead the unit to believe a room is warmer than it actually is. In higher humidity, fan speeds should be set low to help remove moisture. Replacing air filters regularly is also important for unit efficiency. Most filters need to be changed every three months. Air conditioners are noisy—there's no way around that. Both portable and window air conditioners are equally noisy but noise levels vary by manufacturer and model. So look for the decibel rating (dB) of a unit before buying; the lower the dB level, the quieter the unit will be. The pros of portable air conditioners are: