old air conditioner

Dys


Michael checked my swamp cooler last month. He's a real gem!

BBB

yer tellin me

As i shop now, I see everything from 5300 btu
up to 8000


what in the world is that?

Why is it important?

I found this for an answer




goes in one ear and out the other..


I guess. what I want to know is.. does the higher btu mean less energy useage?

one last question

should I get a window unit sized to cool myliving room?
or my whole apt?

our entire apt is 720 sq feet.

We , of course, spend 90% of our time in the living room/dinning room area

A ceiling fan in the bed room could fix any heat issues we have.. so it is REASONABLE though Im not sure how COMFORTABLE it will be to not have a cooling system in our bedroom..


Im seeing that most of the apt units that are prices for our size costing between 2-300 dollars .
Not bad.. until you get to the shipping.
LItearally.. the difference between the ones geared for 400 sq feet ( which would cool the living area.. probably not the bedroom) VS the one that will cool the whole place..

almost 80 dollars in shipping costs!



I am looking for some place local who would charge less then that to deliver by truck
or , I could hit up people I know to see if they have a small truck I could borrow to go to Sears and pick it up my damnself.

oh.. and another thing.
( )

Landlord actually DOES have a rule about fixing something here..

AMAZING
It happens to be the AC

I have to call the person who does his repairs..

yeah.. the one who does the patch work kind of repairs.

I think , if I go the AC unit route, I will have him disconnect the main unit maybe.... screw it. That thing is horrible on my pocket book

Sounds like our old unit.

Save your bills. Ask around and see what your other neighbors have for bills. Find out if their unit is newer.

Take them to your landlord and demand a replacement.

BTU rating is basically how much heat it will move, or how powerful the A/C unit is. Higher BTU means colder A/C.


You can get the apartment-sized one, and put a fan at the door to your bedroom.


Check CostCo before you buy: http://www.costco.com/Common/Category.aspx?ec=BC-EC21733-Cat30994&pos=0&whse=BC&topnav=&cat=30995&eCat=BC|103|30994|30995&lang=en-US.

Just saw this thread for the first time.

I have nothing to offer as far as the workings of your particular unit, that's been covered well by others.

I just about fainted alongside DrewDad when I saw $200/month for 600 sq ft set at 78 degrees.

I think the main problem is your unit is older than dirt, and has an efficiency rating of zero.

Your landlord writes off the cost of new systems, I'd try to get him to replace it.

Then again, how much longer are you going to be there?

shewolf, my house is 2000ish square feet, someone is home all day, and we keep the temp between 72 and 75 depending of if we're laying around or working, and our bill for all the electric just gets over $200 in the hottest months....and Mr. Tea, much to my chagrin, is one of those people who leaves lights on all the time, leaves the TV on, and so forth.

What I remember most when getting our system was the importance of matching the size of the A/C unit to the area it will be cooling. The A/C must be able to reduce the humidity in the room efficiently, as well as blasting out cold air. Otherwise, you will have cold clammy air. If it's too small, it'll run and run and run and never cool the area enough to turn off.

That inefficient unit you have is the equivalent, in my mind, of driving a huge SUV with one person in it, loaded down with all kinds of stuff you don't need, for short distances.

damn.

If price is a serious concern, you might check the Habitat for Humanity Restore over on 5th and Comal.

you have SEEN how small this place is Chai.
200 is sometimes a wonderful thing when it comes to our electric bill.

Old unit is correct.
In fact, I have finally gotten him to have someone come out and clean it.
But Im still waiting for him.. as usual

This is the guy who told me one day that they were going to remove the stairs and I had to either get out , or stay in. ( completely out of the blue. No warning)

So I chose to say in.. this was 11 am

8pm they removed the first damn stair.

I never thought of that.

But they would sell FULL units there right? Not window units?

Central Air has an initial set up expense that is much higher than a wall unit.

However, the cost over time is much lower.

We paid $2500 for ours.

I am NOT funding a new ac unit for this apartment.

A window unit? Yes. Because I can take it with me. AND I can just cool the room we are in and nothing more.

Full ac?

It would probably have to be out for a whole month before landlord would change it. .

I don't know. The stock varies.

There's also a place on Lamar just North of Airport that sells slightly damaged stuff; usually just cosmetic issues.

That sounds like a really good idea drewdad.

shewolf, read up on energy ratings and energy star and stuff like that before going up there.

It will pay to spend a little more, if you get greater efficiency.

for instance, before we got our central, we had a 5,000 year old window unit in the living room, and 1 in the bedroom, cooling half the space, and our electric bill was just as high.

How much are you looking to spend? Keep in mind an efficient unit might slash you electric bill in half, or at least, for a window unit, 25%, being pessimistic.

I just looked at new window units @ home depot.

15K BTU's for $329.....25K BTU's for $399....both with a $50 Rebate.


I just saw this chart on how to figure how many BTU's you'll need....

To cool this area<XML>


Look for this size air conditioner


100 to 150 square feet


5,000 BTUs


150 to 250 square feet


6,000 BTUs


250 to 300 square feet


7,000 BTUs


300 to 350 square feet


8,000 BTUs


350 to 400 square feet


9,000 BTUs


400 to 450 square feet


10,000 BTUs


450 to 550 square feet


12,000 BTUs


550 to 700 square feet


14,000 BTUs


700 to 1,000 square feet


18,000 BTUs


1,000 to 1 400 square feet


24,000 BTUs

yup, yup and yup.

I want one that cools 400 sq feet.

after an hour of measuring, I am guessing our apt to be around 680.

Jillians room is always cool because it is out of direct sun, and with a ceiling fan she will be fine. She hates sleeping when it is cold so I can keep her room door closed most of the time and be fine.

Our room is close to the living room and with a box fan on the floor, and a ceiling fan, we dont need to count THAT space either .
We dont spend time in there during the day anyway and if we do, it is minimal so no need to fork out the money to cool it.

That leaves the living/dining area.
Landlord , in exchange for work I did here when I moved in, is paying for and installing my ceiling fans. ( 2 for 19.97 a piece at Lowes) so with a ceiling fan over the table, and a box fan in the living room area, a cooler for 400 sq feet is perfect. It will actually be cooling a little less then 400 sq feet so it makes sense.

Now I need to build some lattice work and maybe train a vine or two up it so that I can stand it up behind the cooler about 7 feet or so and help block the sun heat , and voila .. screw the large ac unit

Good note today though-
I finally got the repair man to hear my concerns about the AC.
He just looked at me strangely and said " You are just now noticing that thing is a piece of crap? I would DIE with your electric bills"
We laughed.. and he agreed to show me how to clean it up , as much as I can with out special tools, and give me an explanation of how it works basicaly so that if anything happens , I can try to repair it on my own before having to wait for landlord.

I also repaired the tub
With ......... (drum roll).......



tape. .....

Oh crap.

I just thought of something else.

I will need to build a support for that window unit.
Those things are 90 frikking pounds..

urgh..

'kay, check this out.

Home depot 8000 btu, 9.8 effciency rating, 63 lbs., $169

I don't know that you'd need any support for 63 lbs.

2 other units that were energy star approved a/c's had ratings of 10.8 and 9.4

there were 2 reviews.
One gave 4 out of 5 stars, saying it worked well.

The other douchebag gave it a 1 out of 5 because he was a whiny butt saying "The noise is overwhelming"

wah wah wah....

yeah, I'm sure the fan is loud when turned up high, but then you turn it down low once you've got the room cooled down.