Air Conditioning For Dummies NEW YORK — If there's one month of the year when you need an air conditioner in New York City, it's August. So unless you're one of the minority who has decided to survive summer in the city without a cooling unit, buying an air conditioner is one of those things that requires a conversation with an experienced salesperson. Pick a store that's been around a long time and has installed many units in different urban-dwelling scenarios. (My favorite is RCI on the Upper West Side. They've been in business since 1934.) Really good independent appliance stores can have decent installation deals, too, but it's worth comparing prices. When you go to the store, bring these key pieces of information: 1) Approximate cubic square feet you want to cool; 2) Estimate of how much direct sunlight the room gets; 4) Photo of the electrical outlet you're going to use. I know nothing about electricity, but your apartment should be wired so that there's a dedicated air-conditioner outlet.

Instead of figuring out how much voltage your outlet has, take a photo or be prepared to describe the shape to an installer. In deciding what window to use, remember that it's against the law to put an air conditioner in your fire escape window. Pick a window that sacrifices as little natural light as possible, and also consider having the unit installed at the top of the window. There are also options where you can have the air conditioner installed and still open and close the window without the unit falling out. When booking an installer, ask about getting a metal bracket cut to size and drilled into the window frame to allow you to anchor the unit while using the window above. Considering that the ozone-depleting refrigerant HCFC is being phased out gradually by the U.S. government (and is already illegal in many countries), you might want to consider purchasing a brand that is not contributing to global warming. Frigidaire and Kenmore models are ubiquitous in city apartments, but Friedrich is really the Cadillac of cool air.

We had the same Friedrich for more than 20 years in our prewar co-op. If you can spend a little extra on this company's latest model, it's worth it. I have the old Frigidaire that came with my current apartment, but my dream air conditioner is the Friedrich Kuhl series — and the guys at RCI recommend it, too. ac units for the windowIt's the sleekest unit on the market. top rated ac unitsYou can control it with your smartphone and program its settings on a seven-day schedule.the fan on the ac unit is not turning I grew up thinking that air conditioners always had those awful plastic accordion extensions on either side. And that dreadful, drafty foam. Plexiglass is the solution for all window air conditioners. It costs slightly more, but it keeps the cold air in and makes the air conditioning unit less of an eyesore.

Every time I watch an air conditioner being installed in an apartment window, I wonder why there aren't more falling out. Those things are heavy and precarious, so use caution. ► Make sure the air conditioning unit is installed securely. Support the unit from underneath, or firmly fasten it from inside with metal brackets, mounting rails and the like. ► Supporting metal brackets or interior angles should be structurally fastened to the building and must be strong enough for the size and weight of the machine. ► Secure all leveling objects to prevent movement and shifting due to vibrations from the unit, wind and other weather conditions. ► Install your air conditioner so it remains in place when the window is opened, or affix it so that the window can’t be opened accidentally. ► Tilt the unit slightly to provide water drainage, but don’t over tilt. ► Do not use loose objects — such as wood blocking, bricks, telephone books, gypsum board or cans — to support the leveling of the air conditioner.

► Do not place anything (TV antennae, satellite dishes, plants, etc.) on top of unit. ► Do not block fire escape windows or other exits . ► No permits are needed for the common unit, unless it exceeds 3 tons or 36,000 BTU per hour.With summer almost over and the August utility bills paid, you may be feeling a little poorer.  You feel like your electric bills were a lot higher during the summer than the spring, but why? Doesn’t the sun stay up longer, reducing your need to turn on lights? Well yes, but then you remember, you and your roommates have been running fans and window AC units all summer! How much of an impact did this have on your electricity bill? And which is the bigger energy hog, the window fan or the window AC?? As an energy nerd and a roommate in an apartment with four window fans and one window AC, I have wondered about how much of an impact running these appliances during the summer has on our electric bills.  I decided to do a couple of calculations to measure energy usage, and was easily able to realize how much of an impact each appliance has on my apartment's utility bills. 

I have to admit, I was a bit surprised by just how much each uses!  Learn how you can figure out just how much your cooling appliances are costing you with these 7 steps. This step was really easy for me because I use WegoWise to track my apartment’s energy use, so I clicked into my account and downloaded my data.  However, if you keep track of your bills online through your utility company's website or keep paper copies, you can organize your usage in a spreadsheet, or, if you're really old school, just write them down! This isn’t scary, I promise! All you have to do is pick out the three months where you have the lowest usage, and then average the usage.  This average will serve as your baseline, and represents the amount of energy you use consistently each month.  For instance, it takes into account the energy you use to run your refrigerator, cooking appliances, TV, etc. For more information on calculating your baseline energy use, check out this blog article. My three months with the lowest usage are March, April and May. 

Averaging out the usage, my roommate’s and my baseline energy use is 138 kWh.  Not too horrible, huh? In some instances, the watts will be right there on the appliance. In other cases, you may have to do some simple math to calculate the watts. Don’t worry, you learned this equation in physics class!  Remember Watts = amps x volts? Either way, you'll be able to find the information you need somewhere on the appliance, either as a sticker on the side or back of the appliance, or on the plug. Sorry for the blurriness, but here's an example of where you might find the information you need.  In this case, I had the Amps (A) and the Volts (V) provided, so I was then able to calculate the Watts. My roommates and I have a combined four window fans and one window AC unit.  The wattage of the AC unit is 515, while the window fans are 48, 60, 66, and 70 watts. If you can add 2+2, and then divide by 4, you can do this step! Just divide each of your appliances’ wattage by the total wattage of all your appliances. 

515 +48+60+66+70 = 759 total watts for my apartment's cooling appliances Window AC unit: 515/759 = 67% of total energy! Window Fan #1: 48/759 = 6% of total energy Window Fan #2: 60/759 = 8% of total energy Window Fan #3: 66/759 = 9% of total energy Window Fan #4: 70/759 = 9% of total energy After talking with my roommates, I realized we all used our fans and AC unit pretty much the same amount – we only had it on at night, and we only used them during the hottest days of summer, which were in July and August.  In July, we used 244 kWh, and in August, we used 225 kWh. Now that you know the monthly usage, you can use that usage and your baseline to determine the excess usage from your cooling appliances.  To do this, add the usage from the months, multiply your baseline by the number of months you used your cooling appliances, and subtract this value from the total usage.  244 kWh + 225 kWh = 469 kWh used in July and August 469 kWh – (138 kWh x 2 months) = 193 kWh from cooling appliances