Choosing the Best Window Air Conditioners

Window air conditioners are air conditioning units built to cool a room or two of your home, rather than blasting cold air throughout your entire home like a central air system. For many situations, especially apartment dwellers, this is the best solution available. There are many choices when it comes to window unit air conditioners, and trying to find the best one can be a bit of a daunting task if you're not sure what you're looking for. You want to take into account the size of your window, the size of the area being cooled (in cubic feet), and the rating of the air conditioners you're looking at.  You'll have to combine these factors to find the best and most efficient air conditioner for your situation. 

If you are looking for the most efficient possible window air conditioner, avoid buying used, or at least skip buying very old models. Due to advances in technology, the newer the unit is, the more energy efficient it's going to be, Efficiency also decreases as the air conditioner becomes worn and used.

Energy Efficient Window Air Conditioners

An air conditioner's energy rating uses the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. According to Wikipedia, this is:

...the cooling output in BTU (British thermal unit) during a typical cooling-season divided by the total electric energy input in watt-hours during the same period. The higher the unit's SEER rating the more energy efficient it is.

Without delving too deeply into the mathematics involved in calculating this rating, the final sentence there is the most important - a higher SEER rating means the air conditioning unit is technically more efficient. Sometimes, in the listing of features, the "seasonal" will be ignored and it will be listed simply as EER.

If you are just looking to make any room as cold as possible as fast as possible with little regard to the efficiency, then you'll be looking for a unit with a high BTU rating. Your definition of the best window air conditioner will depend on your own requirements - whether you prefer efficiency over raw cooling power, the opposite of that, or a compromise between the two.

One obvious factor when deciding which unit to get is to choose the proper orientation for the type of window in the room where the air conditioner will be located. If you have traditional windows that slide up and down, then you're going to want a standard unit that sits on the sill, and has the window slide down to a level that is even with the air conditioner. Vertical windows are quite common in many apartment buildings; this is the type of window that slides sideways in order to open and close. In this situation, you're going to need a vertical window air conditioner. It's important to understand that there is a distinction between these two types of units, and you can't simply situate a standard unit vertically and expect it to work properly.

You might assume that size matters when it comes to air conditioners, and while it's true to some degree, it isn't necessarily a blanket assumption that can be made. Some small window air conditioners work just as well, if not better than larger units. This will depend on the quality of the manufacturing, and the technology involved with the unit. Oftentimes manufacturers will use the same basic shape and size for different units that range in power from 5,000 to 10,000 BTUs, and have various EER ratings. This is because it's cheaper for the manufacturer to make these outer shells in the same size in large quantities, so don't be fooled by size; small air conditioners can pack a big punch. Gone are the days of the boat-anchor size and weight air conditioners that require 3 people to lift into place. Today's air conditioners are small, light and energy efficient.