Avoiding Common Air Conditioning Installation Mistakes When You're In A Hurry

Installing an air conditioner is often a difficult but necessary thing to do, and as a result, mistakes are often made. Here are some mistakes people often make during installation, including what you can do to avoid these mistakes when installing air conditioners in a hurry.

Wrong Unit for the Room

When it's blistering hot in a particular room, it's tempting to install whatever air conditioner is available that seems to fit the room. The problem is, you don't want to risk wasting energy and having the unit be woefully unable to properly cool the room down. You can use an air conditioning calculator to get the right BTU power you need for a room.

It's possible to lower this amount depending on various factors, however. For example, if the room is in shade on the outside, then you can lower the amount by 10 percent.

Ignoring Insulation

When you install a classic window-mounted air-conditioning unit, it's important to be careful about the insulation. If you don't extend the "fans" on the side of the unit all the way over to either side, then the unit will be inefficient. This will also occur if you don't use the insulation pieces that come with the unit properly. They need to go in any cracks that you see after initial placement.

Otherwise, it could not only get hot in your room anyway from heat coming in through the cracks, but bugs and other vermin could slip through it as well. You'll be glad you focused on this as the summer moves on.

Trying to Do It Alone

Window air conditioners are heavy for most people, and placing them perfectly in the window is often difficult. This is not something you want to try to do alone unless you have no choice. This is especially the case if you're installing your air conditioner high off the ground, such as in an upper story apartment.

Planning can help to make sure you're not in a situation where you have to try placing the unit and then closing the window down onto it and securing it with screws all simultaneously and all by yourself. You only need another person to help you for a minute to avoid a catastrophe.

You can also place a wood support outside the window in order to make sure the unit stays level and doesn't fall, as well. Doing the unit installation alone, even if you manage to get it in OK, will also sometimes result in a non-level install, which can lead to problems of its own. 

Contact a local air conditioner installation professional for more help.

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