Choosing a Room Air Conditioner

Room Air Conditioners

Universal Appliance and Kitchen Center Advice

Types of Room Air Units

Portable

Portable air conditioners are handy for occasional cooling in hot spots where you need it most. These units are on wheels and can easily be moved where needed. Universal Appliance and Kitchen Center (UAKC) offers a good selection of Soleus portable air conditioners.

Window

Window units are big sellers and easy to install. They fit on the window sill and have expandable side panels to fill most windows.

Casement
For homes with casement or slider windows, casement units are best.

Through the wall

If you're adding or enclosing a room you'll want a through the wall unit. These units typically come with a sleeve. Install the sleeve during construction and then slide the air conditioner in when ready.

Heat/Cool
Some of the above air conditioning types will be available as heat and cool units. They have electrical heat strips that will blow hot air into the room instead of cold.

Heat Pump
Heat Pumps will not only provide cold air on hot days, the compressor will work in a reverse fashion to provide hot air on cold days.

UAKC carries the full line of Friedrich Air Conditioners, America's leading brand of high efficiency and Energy Star room air conditioners.

Sizing of Room Air Conditioners

Room air units are measured in BTU's = British Thermal Units. An air conditioner may have as few as 4,000 BTUs and go up to 24,000 BTU's. While it is important to have a unit that is big enough to cool your room, it is also not a good idea to get a unit that is much too large for your room. An oversized air conditioner will cool a room quickly, but will not do a good job of removing moisture (humidity) from the room.

There are many factors involved in selecting the right size for an air conditioner. Of course the general climate of the area, both heat and humidity, will influence your decision. However, the size of the room, the number of windows in the room, the ceiling height, insulation, even the direction that the room is facing can all be factors in calculating the needed BTU's. There are some rules of thumb that can get you started. Here is a table of room sizes and recommended btu's:

|SQ. FT. | BTU's |

|Under 150| 5,000 |

|150 – 250 | 6,000 |

|250 – 300 | 7,000 |

|300 – 350 | 8,000 |

|350 – 400 | 9,000 |

|400 – 450 |10,000 |

|450 – 550 |12,000 |

|550 – 700 |14,000 |

|700 -1000 |18,000 |

|1000 -1200 |20,000|

|1200 -1400 |21,000|

|1400 -1500 |23,000|

|1500 -2000 |24,000|

For the best prices and additional help in selecting the right air conditioner contact the experts at Universal Appliance and Kitchen Center (UAKC) today.

Two locations to serve you – Calabasas and Studio City:

Universal Appliance and Kitchen Center

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