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Replaced that dead attic air conditioner!! This has been on my to-do list for years. I don't quite remember when I bought it, but I'm guessing early 2000s. It was total crap - the knobs started cracking and breaking off within a year, then it started rattling and eventually started blowing the circuit breaker when it powered up. There's another working AC unit in the south window, but it can't keep up when the temps are over 90. Which they might well be when Amber's family comes to visit this month, expecting to sleep in the attic. So... yikes! Climate change alert!
So instead of just buying the biggest AC unit in stock at Costco, this time I did some research and ended up ordering a state-of-the-art Dual Inverter Internet-Enabled LG. It's more expensive than the regular compressor type, but promises to be quieter and massively more energy-efficient. (It came with a perfectly good remote control, so I have no intention of using the ridiculous Internet-enabled ThinQ Smartphone technology. Anybody who ever watched Mr. Robot knows better than to wire their house to the Internet)
Getting the old one out was a bloody mess, involving alternately excavating and vacuuming my way through a decade or two of sparrow nest debris, hacking away dead Virginia creeper vines, and unscrewing mysterious brackets from the old wooden casements. Thank goodness Thorin is strong enough to carry 70 pounds of dead weight up and down 2 flights of twisty stairs, because Richard and I could not possibly have done that. But other than that, installing the new one wasn't that hard. You just have to resolve to ignore the bags of unnecessary brackets and screws that must be intended for some other type of window, and pretend that the instructions don't tell you not to install their precious device where it will be exposed to sunlight (WTF? You can't exactly install it INSIDE THE HOUSE).
I'm happy to report that after all that, this air conditioner is everything the product description promised. It is sleek and silent and has a prodigious fan. Although it is only 9500 BTU, it cools the whole attic down in about 10 minutes without requiring any help from the larger, older unit on the south side. I have set that one to serve as a backup in case of more 100-degree days, but so far it hasn't been that hot.
Being one of those strange people that reads the user guide (but doesn't always understand it) I then spent way too much time trying to figure out what Energy Saver Mode is for. It turns out that "Energy Saver" in AC-land just means that when the compressor goes off, the fan goes off too. Okay, fine. Considering how little energy fans use compared to compressors, it seems mostly pointless, but I suppose it could save a little energy. BUT... the whole point of an Inverter AC is that the compressor has the ability to slow down and speed up, so it never actually turns off. So I suspect that Energy Saver Mode does exactly nothing. I disabled it anyway, because I don't actually WANT the fan to go off. I want the whole attic to stay cool, not just the 6x8 foot dormer where the AC is installed.
So instead of just buying the biggest AC unit in stock at Costco, this time I did some research and ended up ordering a state-of-the-art Dual Inverter Internet-Enabled LG. It's more expensive than the regular compressor type, but promises to be quieter and massively more energy-efficient. (It came with a perfectly good remote control, so I have no intention of using the ridiculous Internet-enabled ThinQ Smartphone technology. Anybody who ever watched Mr. Robot knows better than to wire their house to the Internet)
Getting the old one out was a bloody mess, involving alternately excavating and vacuuming my way through a decade or two of sparrow nest debris, hacking away dead Virginia creeper vines, and unscrewing mysterious brackets from the old wooden casements. Thank goodness Thorin is strong enough to carry 70 pounds of dead weight up and down 2 flights of twisty stairs, because Richard and I could not possibly have done that. But other than that, installing the new one wasn't that hard. You just have to resolve to ignore the bags of unnecessary brackets and screws that must be intended for some other type of window, and pretend that the instructions don't tell you not to install their precious device where it will be exposed to sunlight (WTF? You can't exactly install it INSIDE THE HOUSE).
I'm happy to report that after all that, this air conditioner is everything the product description promised. It is sleek and silent and has a prodigious fan. Although it is only 9500 BTU, it cools the whole attic down in about 10 minutes without requiring any help from the larger, older unit on the south side. I have set that one to serve as a backup in case of more 100-degree days, but so far it hasn't been that hot.
Being one of those strange people that reads the user guide (but doesn't always understand it) I then spent way too much time trying to figure out what Energy Saver Mode is for. It turns out that "Energy Saver" in AC-land just means that when the compressor goes off, the fan goes off too. Okay, fine. Considering how little energy fans use compared to compressors, it seems mostly pointless, but I suppose it could save a little energy. BUT... the whole point of an Inverter AC is that the compressor has the ability to slow down and speed up, so it never actually turns off. So I suspect that Energy Saver Mode does exactly nothing. I disabled it anyway, because I don't actually WANT the fan to go off. I want the whole attic to stay cool, not just the 6x8 foot dormer where the AC is installed.
