We like to think that the bigger something is, the better or if it costs more, it should work better. Well that's not always true. A bigger air conditioner will not always serve the purpose better than a smaller one.





 

Window or single room air conditioners are meant to be installed with the room in mind, because it has to remove all moisture from that room. Removing the moisture in the air is what makes the room feel cool. The size of the machine matters since it determines exactly how long it will operate, and if it will work long enough to remove the moisture from the room.

 

Ratings for AC's are given in terms of BTU's (or British Thermal Units). BTU gauges what amount of heat is being taken from the room and how much is being put out. Since heat is going from inside your room to outside it, the cooling coil inside is cool and the one hanging outside is equally hot.

 

Most households don't need any more than a 5000 BTU machine for a single room. What size you need depends on the size of the room you want to put it in. If the area of your room is between 100-250 sq. ft in size, then a 5000-6000 BTU unit will work fine. Similarly if the room is anywhere between 250 and 400 in size you can manage comfortably with a 6000 BTU to 8500 BTU machine. Calculate what you need based on this.

 

Before deciding the size of your air conditioning unit, you need to decide which room you will be putting it in. Consider where the unit will provide you with the most comfort. Most people think the bedroom is the ideal place. After a hard days work, you want to get a good nights sleep in a cool room.

 

But there is no strict rule stating that you must place your AC unit in the bedroom. You might not like the cold atmosphere while going to bed and can therefore choose to put the machine in the living room instead, where the whole family can enjoy its benefits all evening.

 

Wherever you ultimately put your air conditioning unit make sure your expectation from it is realistic. It was designed to cool one single area, and just because you want it to it won't suddenly decide to cool more than that one area. Most window AC's do not have the sort of blower to cool a couple of interconnected rooms. If you want the other rooms to be cooled too get yourself a couple of smaller units and fix them in all your rooms.