Window Air Conditioner Pros and Cons Not sure whether to buy a window- or a portable air conditioner? Let’s first look at the advantages and disadvantages of a window unit air conditioner. Are more popular, thus are easier to find and price competition is in full force Often have relatively low noise output and high efficiency Water drains from the unit to the exterior with no intervention needed Sends ALL hot air to the exterior as warm air is exchanged for cold Even small units can adequately cool 100-300 square feet. Larger units can cool rooms up to 650 square feet If carefully placed, can cool more than one room Can be placed either in windows or wall holes The window where you install the air conditioner is blocked as long as the unit is there Dripping water outside can end up where you do not want it to (pedestrians on a city street? creating rust on a metal roof?) More of a hassle to remove and move to another room/location

Not all windows support air conditioners Installation can get tricky if you do not have exterior support. It is not unheard of for window units to fall out of windows at inopportune times, even during installation. The panels that come with these units can let in a lot of hot air, making the air conditioner less efficient Even the best installation can still leave your home or apartment at a security risk Quite frankly, the appearance of many window units in a living area is not seen as the ultimate in decorating or class Click here for the Pros and Cons of Portable Air Conditioners Click here for Window vs. Portable Air ConditionersWhy Shouldn't I Buy a Combo AC Heater Unit? Good Questions: Why Shouldn't I Buy a Combo AC Heater Unit? I recently discovered a portable Air conditioner + Heater unit which seems to be a genius idea. But I can hardly find any review about most brands of portable AC+heater units. Why aren't people buying them? Are they too new?

Why do New Yorkers use window unit ACs and separate portable heaters for extra supplemental heat? I have small studio apartment (200-250aq), so it's kinda funky looking to have a 20"W X 18D" X 31H portable AC+heater, but it sounds so promising. Shall I go ahead and purchase? Thanks, Kelee (Pic: Amcor Portable Air Conditioner/Heater from the editor) (Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first. Email questions and pics with QUESTIONS in subject line to:editor(at)apartmenttherapy(dot)com)Link To All Good QuestionsCustomers are always asking us why can't they just put a regular window AC in their wine cellar, or just have a duct from their home Central AC run into their wine cellar? It's a great question as you would think as long as the room is a little cool it would be fine. However there are a few large distinctions between how these two types of units function. Your regular home air conditioners are meant to go down to around 65 degrees, possibly 60 at the lowest.

But wine is meant to be stored at around 55 degrees in order to age and evolve properly. home ac unit not coolingSo even though 60-65 feels cool, and is the appropriate serving temperature for red wine, it is still a little warm for long term storage and can speed up the aging process.how to choose window air conditioner unit But many people also feel that 60 is close enough to 55, and if they are not aging their wines for extended periods of time (more than a few years) that the temperature difference won't really affect the wines. top 10 central air conditioning brandsIf it was just a matter of temperature that could possibly be the case. But as important as temperature is humidity. Standard AC units are built to cool the air quickly and to draw all of the humidity out of the air so that you and I are comfortable in a room.

That is about the worst thing you can do for your wine. The humidity helps to keep the corks moist, as if they dry out and air gets into the bottle, you have just turned your expensive bottle of wine into an expensive bottle of vinegar. Wine Cellar Cooling Units are designed to cool the air at a much slower rate in order to maintain the humidity in the room. In certain units you can even add a humidification component to help raise the humidity if the wine cellar is in a dry area. So it is really the combination of the wine cellar cooling unit's ability to cool down to those lower mid 50 degree temperatures and doing so without drying out the air that makes them quite different then your standard air conditioning units. Return to Cooling Unit Buying Guide Return to Buying Guide Home Page Buy Wine Cellar Cooling Units Custom Wine Cellars & Cooling Units NEXT: The Major Cooling Unit Brands: Whisperkool, N'FINITY, EuroCave, Wine Guardian and WineZone > So it's an air conditioner, right?

Technically, yes -- it conditions the air by cooling it, but it works much differently than what we commonly think of as an air conditioner. Standard AC units work by passing air over a set of coils filled with a refrigerant like Freon (a trade name for a variety of chemical blends), which heats and cools as it's compressed and expands. The air is cooled by the coils, sent into your house, and then re-circulated over and over through the machine, venting hot air generated in the process to the outside. (For more about standard air conditioners, see How Air Conditioners Work). It's a closed process -- leaving a window or door open allows the cool air to escape and makes the air conditioner work harder to supply cold air. Swamp coolers are an open system. They rely on the flow of air through the building to direct the cool air, and since they always need hot, dry air to evaporate the water, it needs to displace the air already in the house. Both systems can use either a large central unit or small window units, but air from the swamp cooler needs a way out.

Opening and closing windows and doors controls the air flow from the swamp cooler to different parts of the house, while central air conditioners use ducts to direct the flow. Swamp coolers can also use ducts in some cases, but they need to be larger than traditional air conditioner ducts to account for a greater flow of air from the swamp cooler. Standard air conditioners also dry the air, condensing water vapor from the cooled room as it passes over the cold coils. The water drains outside -- that's the distinctive drip you'll feel if you stand under a window air conditioning unit long enough. The result is a dryer room, and in humid climates, that can be a good thing. Too much humidity can prevent perspiration, which is how we cool ourselves naturally. Since swamp coolers work by putting water into the dry air, they act as humidifiers. This is great in dryer climates, because humidity can also be too low for comfort. Under the right conditions the water-laden breeze also can have a secondary effect of helping the skin's perspiration, resulting in an even cooler feel than the swamp cooler would give on its own.