JHZR2
Staff member
I live in a >85 year old home. We have radiator heat which I greatly prefer. We generally have only 10 or so days a year where we really need AC to sleep comfortably.
Unfortunately the previous owners removed the beautiful wood sash weight type windows and installed horrid vinyl windows in their place. I'm not a fan and would have preferred rebuilding the wood windows and having storm windows.
Anyway, it is what it is. But now that we have an infant, it's not just a one bedroom deal. Especially since the baby naps many times a day. So I want to put in a window AC in the nursery.
So for reference, this is how they are installed:
All the vinyl windows are the same. This is just the closest one to snap a shot of, in the butler's pantry. Pardon the dirt and pollen.
One of the main reasons I hate these windows is that the frame is a good inch inside the original chestnut trim and the sill. We put Anderson windows in our living room, which look far better and original, but I'm dealing with vinyl upstairs so they match. Anyway, the challenge is that the windows are set like this:
So the sill is really high and vinyl.
So the question is how to install it best with this setup.
From the first image you can see that the front bottom of the case, and the ~1/2" trough that extends from the AC case imparts a lot of the mass onto the actual sill that would be underneath the lower window sash. Of course the other force is the L-channel on the top of the AC case that presses against the lower window sash. But that's easier to work around.
So the AC sits high, puts all force on this hokey plastic outer sash, and id guess isn't the most stable - not like the US-made Friedrich unit (the new one is also Friedrich, and they're the last to offshore but they have now as well - discussion for another day).
So recommendations for supporting the mass of the AC on a vinyl window? For whatever reason, this one isnt as sturdy as our other one which is no longer made. I've ripped a window width strip of 1/2" plywood to put as far outboard as possible, to prevent the weight from being directly on the outer vinyl strip. But what else?? The vinyl base on the window, shown above, seems sturdy enough, but I don't know that means much of anything...
Suggestions?
Thanks!
Unfortunately the previous owners removed the beautiful wood sash weight type windows and installed horrid vinyl windows in their place. I'm not a fan and would have preferred rebuilding the wood windows and having storm windows.
Anyway, it is what it is. But now that we have an infant, it's not just a one bedroom deal. Especially since the baby naps many times a day. So I want to put in a window AC in the nursery.
So for reference, this is how they are installed:
All the vinyl windows are the same. This is just the closest one to snap a shot of, in the butler's pantry. Pardon the dirt and pollen.
One of the main reasons I hate these windows is that the frame is a good inch inside the original chestnut trim and the sill. We put Anderson windows in our living room, which look far better and original, but I'm dealing with vinyl upstairs so they match. Anyway, the challenge is that the windows are set like this:
So the sill is really high and vinyl.
So the question is how to install it best with this setup.
From the first image you can see that the front bottom of the case, and the ~1/2" trough that extends from the AC case imparts a lot of the mass onto the actual sill that would be underneath the lower window sash. Of course the other force is the L-channel on the top of the AC case that presses against the lower window sash. But that's easier to work around.
So the AC sits high, puts all force on this hokey plastic outer sash, and id guess isn't the most stable - not like the US-made Friedrich unit (the new one is also Friedrich, and they're the last to offshore but they have now as well - discussion for another day).
So recommendations for supporting the mass of the AC on a vinyl window? For whatever reason, this one isnt as sturdy as our other one which is no longer made. I've ripped a window width strip of 1/2" plywood to put as far outboard as possible, to prevent the weight from being directly on the outer vinyl strip. But what else?? The vinyl base on the window, shown above, seems sturdy enough, but I don't know that means much of anything...
Suggestions?
Thanks!