Heater/Air Conditioner

seekermeister · 25 Mar 2012

It is nice to live in a complex with bills paid, but one problem with it is that they never turn on the heater or air condition during season changes in a way that keeps the apartment comfortable.

At one time, long ago, I had a window unit in my house that served worked as both a heater and air conditioner as the need may arise. I can't remember what it's BTU rating was, nor much of anything else about it, but the thought of it caused me to eBay for something similar.

I found this:

Electric Portable Heater & Air Conditioner 13,000 BTU | eBay

Which looks ideal in many ways, but I'm not sure how large of an area that it would be able to handle? Also, the noise level appears somewhat high to me (56db), and I'm wondering how much the noise would penetrate thin walls...or for that matter, if one could sleep or watch TV with it running in the same room?

CB · 27 Mar 2012

If calculated roughly as 12,000 BTU can handle 490-640sq feet, then 13,000 can probably handle 550-710sq feet. :)
But noise level up to 56dB (in full run maybe) is slightly annoying as our daily chat in the living room is only 40 dB. Don't put it on the corner as the 90 degree wall corner will strengthen the resonance unless you apply soft and thick wall paper, or your room full of soft material furniture.

That is some of what I can think of, Sir.

Kevin

seekermeister · 27 Mar 2012

Thanks, that definitely gives me something to go on. Apparently it is too small to handle the entire apartment, so I would have to move it from one room to the other. It should handle the bedroom, but I'm not so sure about the rest, because the living room and kitchen are actually one room, with divider wall, and instead of a standard ceiling, it is a half-cathedral one. Not sure at the moment of the square footage, but at least with the heater function, the high ceiling would probably be a problem. Guess I could stay in the bedroom, until the central heat/air was turned on, but that is not very appealing.

Lava King · 27 Mar 2012

It's not made very clear in the ad, but this unit must be vented to the outside, usually through a window. This will make moving it from room to room less handy.

seekermeister · 27 Mar 2012

Yes, but that would be less of a problem than the equation consisting of cost, noise and effectiveness. Unless I can find a better unit than the one linked, I think I will just have to grin and bear a little discomfort for a few weeks each year.