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Is it possible to cool a 1400 sq ft ranch with a 14000 BTU windowless air conditioner? Living in the Northeast the summers aren't that long so I wanted to see if I could get away with not getting central air conditioning.
Can I power the Starship Enterprise with my Chevy Van? Yeah, sorta.
You might keep two rooms more or less cool. If you ran the thing flat out day and night and suffered through freezing nights, you MIGHT keep the house in range IF everything was going your way.
Is it possible to cool a 1400 sq ft ranch with a 14000 BTU windowless air conditioner? Living in the Northeast the summers aren't that long so I wanted to see if I could get away with not getting central air conditioning.
i just bought a 12000btuAC/11000btuHeat portable for my 680 sq ft trailer and a 5000 btu window ac. Portable keeps 12 x 20 room cold and small ac keeps larger room comfortable.
It was supposed to be other way around but 5000btu did not fit in new window in bedroom.
You probably need at least a 18000btu or more or split like I did. My trailer invery well insulated and has a large shade tree on south side that helps.
For one thing you won't get enough air movement throughout the house. These "windowless" units are best suited for one room or so. They are split systems with outside condensing units and require a small hole in the wall for wiring and refrigerant tubing.
If OP is talking about the portable type that rolls around, it is not the split that needs a hole thru the wall and condenser on the outside.
The portable type still needs a big hose sticking out a window, so it's really portable when it isn't being used only. It can cool the room it's in, but don't expect it to cool the ENTIRE house. So if you don't need all the bedrooms and living room and kitchen cooled at the same time, then it'd work.
I have a ranch style home with an open layout. The kitchen, living room and dining room combined are about 500 sq ft in a U shaped pattern. If i put it somewhere in the middle would it cool and distribute the cold air to the opposite ends? I would add an additional unit in the bedroom to cool that room. I am talking about the "windowless" that needs to be vented out through a window, are these just as good/efficient as putting in a few window air conditioners?
I have a ranch style home with an open layout. The kitchen, living room and dining room combined are about 500 sq ft in a U shaped pattern. If i put it somewhere in the middle would it cool and distribute the cold air to the opposite ends? I would add an additional unit in the bedroom to cool that room. I am talking about the "windowless" that needs to be vented out through a window, are these just as good/efficient as putting in a few window air conditioners?
I bought one of those a few years back and shipped it back within a day. If you take a $100 window AC, mine worked about 1/3rd as well. About the only purpose I can see for them is an office worker in a hot warehouse who wants AC blowing over him rather than just a fan. YMMV.
I'm using one since for my apt, also living in the NE. The portable type is definitely less efficient and does not cool as well as window ones at the same BTU. It is better than not having anything, but if you can stick one thru the window, I'd do that instead.
One consideration is the noise (some units are more quiet but still it's something humming in the middle of your living room). Also, the hose gets really hot (at least mine does), so the heat from the hose heats the room back up while the window type naturally dumps the heat outside. What I do is wrap the hose to insulate it a little. Also, can you really put the unit 'in the middle' since the hose needs to get out to a window.
You might be better off with multiple smaller window units than the portable floor unit, methinks. Or one larger window unit with a fan or two to help it along at the edges of its effective area. When I was a kid we had a large unit mounted through the wall (about 12-14k BTU I think) that cooled a fairly substantial area like you're talking about, plus there was a ceiling fan or two in the mix. But if your config would allow you to put two smaller window units in fairly distant ends from each other, I actually think that would work better than one larger unit.
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