If you are considering adding air conditioning to a small room or an add on to your home room air conditioning can be a great choice. Small rooms and areas that require less than 18,000 Btuh of cooling capacity can be served efficiently with a small room air conditioner(s) that mounts in a window section or with a floor mounted PTAC type unit that is used in hotels and motels. There are many manufactures to choose from with many options. I would strongly consider a heat pump model if heat is needed. If the unit is strictly a cooling only application for go the heat option for the unit. You need to decide if heat is needed or not before you buy the unit. If you have to install the electrical service to the unit you can save some money by purchasing a cooling only unit. The size of electrical service and breakers will be considerably smaller for a cooling only unit. Make sure you do not need the heat option. If heating is needed as I said earlier heat pumps work well. The heat pumps not only save money but the heat they deliver is not as hot as conventional units and in small rooms this is a benefit. I would definitely choose a model that has digital controls. Many manufactures have models with time of day features that allow for programming the unit on and off to help save money when the room is unoccupied. When choosing a room air conditioner be sure to consider the drain needed to remove the water the unit removes from the air. The heat pumps available today have SEER ratings from 9.5 to 11.5 and are a very economical way to condition small rooms. If the room or area needs 18,000 Btuh or more then I would suggest a split system over a room air conditioner. I would avoid buying the very top of the line room air conditioners. The added gadgets and features do not really add much to the comfort or function of the unit and can be quite expensive to repair. Small room air conditioners should be considered as a throw away unit if the unit experiences a major problem. The cost to repair these small AC units is quite expensive and in most cases a new unit can be purchased for less money than required to repair one.
Ricky Ellis is the Senior Inspector for Safety First Home Inspections based out of McKinney, Texas.
www.safetyfirsthome.com 214.533.2536
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