My gonzo engineering solution to a window too big for your vital air-moving device

[azurelunatic]

So, in the time before our heat pumps, we had a window air conditioner. (Still have, actually, just not in use.) Except our windows open the wrong way except a very few in the wrong place: sideways instead of up and down.

This can be solved with Engineering! Note: you may have to make special provisions if you have People Within The House Who Must Not Exit, such as Alex's late Escape Calico, who examined the cracks and crevices around the AC with great interest because she could smell the outside air and she longed for the Wild Places. We used a web of string on the outside in addition to friction; I could also see using a strong elastic cord around a handle anchored somewhere.

Materials:
Air moving device
Foam insulation sheet
Padding (I used the stuff you use to fill stuffed animals & spare fabric scraps)
Cover for padding (I used rags)
Securement for padding cover (I used duct tape but gaffer tape is probably better)
(Optional) Aesthetics cover (especially if you have someone monitoring the outside of your home, such as a rental office or HOA) -- a thrift store fitted sheet in the color of the outside of your blinds, maybe
Something to make sure it stays in and your bowling ball of a cat won't body-slam it out

Step 1. Insert your air-moving device into the window or whatever.
Step 2. Measure the empty space. You are going to be filling this empty space.
Step 3. Obtain a sheet of insulating foam that can be cut down to fit this empty space, with just a little wiggle room so it's just smaller.
Step 4. Around the outside edges of the foam, start attaching padding until it can be squished into place but it doesn't overflow the space
Step 5. Attach the cover for your padding.
(5b. Attach the aesthetics cover, with the nice side pointed out and the side you've pinned or tied into the right shape on the inside.)
Step 6. Set your space filler into the space.
(6b. Adjust if needed.)
Step 7. Do whatever you're going to do to secure it in place.
Step 8. If you have a fan shroud or some other thing to block any gaps in the air-moving device itself, attach those.

Comments

[senmut]

Ahh yes, the days of jury-rigging windows for Air but Not Cats.

[azurelunatic]

And for This Air but not That Air. There's very little point in running the air conditioner when the hot air from the AC exhaust comes right back inside again!

[sine_nomine]

You are a marvel!

[azurelunatic]

Half credit to my dad, who used the padding on the sides hack for getting a 6 inch door to open nicely through a 1 foot wall. (He decided to not fuck around when it came to insulation.)

[wibbble]

Randomly, I watched a video on YouTube the other day where the guy installed a janky as fuck old AC unit in a window that slides that way. He balanced it on breeze blocks and filled the space with a bit of plywood - given his context (an abandoned airfield in the middle of nowhere, AZ) aesthetics were somewhat less important than getting something cooling working.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifWQwg_I0sw - warning, video starts with them removing a cactus from the foot of someone who decided to walk in the desert wearing flip-flops)

[azurelunatic]

Oh yeah, that sounds like it's extremely important to get the space cooled as quickly as possible.

[snippy]

We have for about 15 years used plexiglass cut to fit. We measured carefully and the local plexi shop was happy to cut it while we waited. We reinforce with weatherproofing tape. We take it out in the late autumn and slide it behind a bookcase to keep it safe, and reinstall in the late spring when heat is predicted. For us it's the only way that works because the landlord won't allow anything that blocks light, like a piece of plywood or even the kind of sliding panel filler that comes with portable a/c units.

[silveradept]

That's a curious decision on the landlord's part. Have they ever given you a justification for it?

[snippy]

It's common here. Landlords say it's preserving the attractiveness of the complex, so it will appeal to new renters as well as ongoing. This is the second complex I've rented from that had the provision in the lease.

[silveradept]

That sounds like "my aesthetics are more important than your ability to live in a space," more than anything, but landlords gonna landlord.

[azurelunatic]

I had a place where they said we couldn't tinfoil coat the windows, but then that apartment complex also covered everyone's chiller costs with the rent, so it wasn't as terrible as it could have been.

(That was the place where they'd installed the thermostat in my second apartment there without being able to switch it between heating and cooling mode. Among other little problems.)

[silveradept]

Ingva was always happy to test out the setup for strength and security, I'm sure. Cats.