Window air conditioners are going to be necessary until the central air conditioner issue has been resolved.  Currently there is no answer to heating this comming winter.  Electric heaters consume even more electricity than an air conditioner and our service will not handle the load if too many electric heaters are used.  Hopefully the special assessment and an SBA loan will come through in time.

 

Window units should be as small as possible for the intended area and secured with screws so they will not fall out.

 

Never install more than one A/C per circuit.  This can be checked by turning off one circuit breaker at a time and noting which outlets loose power.  Installing more than one A/C on a circuit will contribute to a fire hazard.

 

A 5,000 btu unit is plenty for a bedroom or the living room of a 2br / 1ba condo.   A 6,500 btu unit is fine for the living room of one of the larger 2br / 2ba condos.  A 10,000 btu unit will cool the living room area of a 3br / 2ba condo.   Most of the branch circuits in our condos are not suitable for units over 10,000 btu’s.  Don’t try to accomplish the job with one big unit - use a couple of smaller units, all on separate circuits.

 

Always remember, only one window unit per circuit breaker.  Try to limit your use of window units only to occupied areas.  The buildings electrical service was designed for a “central chiller” system and may not be able to carry the electrical load if owners load it up with too many window units.  A worst case overload would cause an extended power failure to whole buildings or even an entire side of the complex.

 

Failure to follow the above suggestions may result in fire and loss of the use of your property.