i have one, but it's 5500 btu. whatever that means. lol
and my house is set up so its all open with very high ceilings. (like a garage, only higher) and my kitchen and bathroom/living room is all sort of open..
now.. the air conditioner i have right now only cools off maybe a 6x7 space. thats like a damn cubicle. and all my windows are closed.. but i dont know how old it is and i changed the filter in it, and its still not working well..
and yes, i have a ceiling fan it doesnt help
can someone tell me if a bigger one like 8 or 10,000 would work better coz my walls arent insulated and i dont know if getting a bigger one would help if the heats going to come in anyway.
the dimensions of my whole house (excluding mark's room and the loft) are 35 ft x 25ft
should i just get another small one and have 2 running - i need to get the most energy efficient one there
2006-07-17 14:41:20 · 13 answers · asked by joy 3 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
Usually you figure 1 ton of cooling for every 600 square foot of your home. 1 ton is 12,000 BTU so your 5500 BTU AC unit is way to small to cool your home. I am assuming this is a window style AC unit. Because your ceilings are high and your home has no insulation, you will probably require more than the usual 1 ton/600 square foot. 18,000 BTU would be closer to what you need. A window AC unit is not designed to cool a whole house regardless of how open a floor plan you have. Several smaller window AC units would work, but it will be considerably more costly to run than a whole house unit which is an option only if you have a forced air furnace or another air handling system. Adding insulation to your walls would help considerably.
2006-07-17 15:02:51 · answer #1 · answered by sevenofus 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It sounds like the 5500 BTU unit that you have is working it's little heart out and is working to it's best ability. If you have no insulation in the large living space you have described you will need at least 25000-30000 BTU's to put a dent in the heat. You may be able to use a few smaller units and just cool small areas off but without insulation and high ceilings you are trying to cool off an industrial sized oven.
2006-07-18 00:11:43 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Have you tried leaving your ceiling fan OFF? It will only bring the hot air down & make it seem as if your cold air doesn't exist. You may be able to get away with another 5000 btu, if you put it in the room where you need it the most, or you could move the old one to the Smallest room/space & buy a larger unit 12,ooobtu or higher for the larger area of your place. If there isn't anything in the upper area of your loft, then why bother to cool it? It also helps to have a small box fan or occilating fan to move the cool air around in the lower parts of your rooms. Think about it this way...if you are 6 feet tall, how much cold air do you really need? Most people are in the seated posistion or lying in bed, so do you need to waste energy & cool it from floor to ceiling? Probably not!
2006-07-17 21:57:56 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
it will take 1 1/2 ton of cooling to cool a 35 x 25 house which is 18 000 BTU. a 5500 BTU unit is good for a medium sized bedroom (250 square foot) so either get alot of window units or call the AC guy and get bids on a central air system.
2006-07-17 21:50:04 · answer #4 · answered by hillbilly named Possum 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You Need a Total of 21/2 tons of A/C, I would keep the one you have and buy two 12,000 BTU (12,000 BTU = 1 ton) window units and install them on opposite ends of the house.
2006-07-18 02:02:39 · answer #5 · answered by Texas A/C 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
typically smaller air conditioners only cover a small amount of space, or a closed off room of your house.... I would definately suggest getting at least one more, depending on the size of your house.. I don't think anything is wrong with the current one, though i suppose it COULD be a possibility... but before you roast alive in your house... spend the extra energy and get that second air conditioner.
2006-07-17 21:46:26 · answer #6 · answered by llamasmooches 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A 5000 BTU unit is a one room unit. It can cool an are about 12X12. Since you already have it, I would suggest that you purchase another one to help that one.
2006-07-17 21:46:44 · answer #7 · answered by JRandy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I currently bought a 8,000 BTU Window Air Conditioner, and My current place is really small, it will hardley cool our apt. For a space like that I would say that a 12,000 BTU would suite you good. 5,500 is wayyyy to small for a space like that. I bought a Kenmore for 190 bucks, so 12,000 should be around 250.00.
2006-07-17 21:47:58 · answer #8 · answered by Wyatt 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
5500 btu is only big enough for 1 small room. You need more any person who works with airconditioning can tell you. Small house, probably 30,000 btu at least.
2006-07-17 21:48:41 · answer #9 · answered by M D 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes if you have about 15,000 btu and you whould need about 3 of them it whould cost about 1200 and then they use a 220 the same as a elictric stove or driyer the best thang is to isolate and then get that but only if you plan on living there for a whole
2006-07-17 21:48:08 · answer #10 · answered by gate123456789p 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋