Sign up today and activate a Common Questions about Window Air Conditioners Published May 27, 2010 | Updated August 5, 2015 A great way to beat the heat is by installing a window air conditioner in your home or office. Using individual air conditioners and heaters in your home can take the load off of your central heating and air conditioning system, providing you with significant energy savings over the course of a year. Here are some frequently asked questions about window air conditioners and how you can use them in your home. Shop Air Conditioners & Heaters ▸ Will window air conditioners work in any window?Window air conditioners are built to fit multiple window types, including those that open vertically or horizontally. Many window air conditioners include adjustable panels, which help them expand to fit and seal most window openings. Be sure to measure your window and compare it to the air conditioner dimensions. What is a "SEER" rating?The SEER rating is a rating of window air conditioner efficiency.

The higher the SEER rating, the more BTUs of cooling power your window air conditioner creates for every watt of power. SEER ratings are calculated by dividing the number of BTUs by the watts used per hour. How much energy does a window air conditioner use?To calculate your window air conditioner's energy use, divide the BTUs by the SEER rating. This gives you the watts per hour. Divide that by 1,000 to get kilowatt hours (kWh), which is probably how your electric company calculates your energy bill. You can then multiply the kWh by your power company rate to learn your costs per hour. For example, a 12,000 BTU air conditioner with a SEER rating of 10 and a cost of 25 cents per kWh would calculate as follows: 12,000 BTUs / SEER 10 = 1,200 W = 1.2 kWh 1.2 kWh x $0.25 = $0.30 per hour to run your window air conditioner. At 8 hours a day for 125 days of summer, your window air conditioner will have an annual running cost of $300 a year. How often should I clean the air filter?

Usually, window air conditioners need new filters every three months. fan coil unit pipeworkIf you live in an area with a lot of dust or pollen, you may want to replace it more frequently. trane ac unit dimensionsClogged air filters can impair the performance of your window air conditioner and increase your energy costs.carrier hvac rooftop unitsHome Guides Home Home Improvement Sustainability Wattage vs. Surge Wattage for a Window Air Conditioner Email Reddit Surge wattage may cause nuisance tripping of circuit breakers. You may be wondering what the difference is between wattage (also called running or rated wattage) and surge wattage (also called start-up wattage). Running wattage represents the power a motor-driven appliance uses once it reaches normal operating speed.

Surge wattage represents the power the appliance consumes as its motor starts and gets up to two-thirds of its operating speed. Surge Wattage Depending on the operating efficiency and the power factor of your air conditioner's hermetic motor-compressor unit, the surge wattage could be as little as 1.04 to 2.0 times its running wattage. In most cases the surge wattage will not be a problem for you, but if you have an older home where the branch circuits are already operating at their maximum safe capacity, the additional surge wattage may cause sporadic tripping of a circuit breaker. Typical Surge Wattages A 10,000 BTU Unit has surge wattage of 1800 watts and a running wattage of 1200 watts. A 12,000 BTU unit has surge wattage of 3950 watts and a running wattage of 3250 watts. /Getty Images Suggest a Correction Stages of Foreclosure If you fall behind on your mortgage payment, the ... Does a Foreclosure Next Door Lower My ... A foreclosure can definitely have a negative effect on ... Differences Between Condominiums & Co-Ops Condominiums and co-ops are both apartment style ...

Does Fannie Mae Pay the Closing Costs on a ... When purchasing a Fannie Mae foreclosure property, ... Most air conditioners have their capacity rated in British thermal units (Btu). A Btu is the amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of 1 pound (0.45 kilograms) of water one degree Fahrenheit (0.56 degrees Celsius). One Btu equals 1,055 joules. In heating and cooling terms, one ton equals 12,000 Btu. A typical window air conditioner might be rated at 10,000 Btu. For comparison, a typical 2,000-square-foot (185.8 square meters) house might have a 5-ton (60,000-Btu) air conditioning system, implying that you might need perhaps 30 Btu per square foot. These are rough estimates. To size an air conditioner accurately for your specific application, you should contact an HVAC contractor. The energy efficiency rating (EER) of an air conditioner is its Btu rating over its wattage. As an example, if a 10,000-Btu air conditioner consumes 1,200 watts, its EER is 8.3 (10,000 Btu/1,200 watts).

Obviously, you would like the EER to be as high as possible, but normally a higher EER is accompanied by a higher price. Let's say you have a choice between two 10,000-Btu units. One has an EER of 8.3 and consumes 1,200 watts, and the other has an EER of 10 and consumes 1,000 watts. Let's also say that the price difference is $100. To determine the payback period on the more expensive unit, you need to know approximately how many hours per year you will be operating the air conditioner and how much a kilowatt-hour (kWh) costs in your area. Assuming you plan to use the air conditioner six hours a day for four months of the year, at a cost of $0.10/kWh. The difference in energy consumption between the two units is 200 watts. This means that every five hours the less expensive unit will consume one additional kWh (or $0.10) more than the more expensive unit. Let's do the math: With roughly 30 days in a month, you're operating the air conditioner: 4 months x 30 days per month x 6 hours per day = 720 hours