Living room cooling

Living Room Cooling

Living room runs hot in summer. Windows are too small for a standard window AC.

The real fix is a whole-house heat pump — but that's deferred behind other financial priorities. This is about a cheap stopgap to get through this summer.

The space

• Open-concept living/kitchen/dining, 23' × 30' = ~690 sq ft. No separation — it's one big great room.
  
• Kitchen is in the room (oven, range, fridge all add heat load).
  
• No door to close anything off, so you can't isolate the cooling load.
  

Windows & power

• Living room windows: none wider than 19" W × 15" H — too small for a standard window unit (want ~22"+ width).
  
• Dining room window: 34" W × 25" H — big enough for a real window AC, including an 18k unit.
  
• 220V available: there's a 240V welder outlet on the back of the house, ~20' from the dining window, plus a long 220V extension cord. Means a 230V window unit can be powered without hiring an electrician — at the cost of a fat cord run across the back porch all summer.
  

Constraints

• Brick facade — rules out a casual mini-split (line-set penetration through brick is a bigger job, and it's semi-permanent anyway).
  
• Whole-house heat pump = the eventual answer, not this year's budget.
  

Conclusion: a 24k inverter window unit in the dining window

The dining window (34×25) + the welder outlet make a real window AC possible, and that's the better answer than a portable:

• Window-unit BTU is honest (no SACC haircut — the hot guts hang outside).
  
• Powered off the existing 220V welder circuit (~20' away) → no electrician, just a plug adapter.
  
• The only real downside is the cord across the porch all summer.
  

The dual-hose portable (small living room window) drops to the fallback if the cord-across-the-porch is a dealbreaker — but it can only zone-cool the seating area, not the whole space.

Shortlist (all 24,000 BTU, 230V, inverter)

Leaning Friedrich for the living-room quiet, Frigidaire if saving ~$120 matters more.

Fit & power (verified for both finalists)

• Window: both need min 28" W × 18.5" H; the 34×25 dining window clears easily (units are ~24–25" wide, accordion panels fill the rest).
  
• Plug: both are NEMA 6-20P, ~13–14A at 230V. Welder outlet is likely 6-50 → need a 6-50→6-20 adapter pigtail (cheap, common). The heavy welder cord is far more than adequate for the ~14A draw.
  
  • Do it right: keep plug connections off the ground and dry, outdoor-rated, cover/tape the cord run so nobody trips. (On a 50A breaker, the breaker won't protect the AC's thinner cord — rely on the unit's own LCDI plug/internal protection; don't substitute a skinny extension cord.)
    
• Capacity: 24k is generous for ~690 sq ft + kitchen (need ~18k). Oversizing normally causes short-cycling/clammy air, but inverter units throttle down and handle the headroom gracefully — no downside.
  

115V alternative (skip the electrician and the adapter)

• Biggest 115V window units top out around 14,000 BTU (~$400–500). Borderline-undersized for 690 sq ft + kitchen, but far better than the portable and plugs into a normal outlet.
  

Sizing math — why ~18k is the target

• Rule of thumb is ~20 BTU per sq ft → 690 × 20 = ~13,800 BTU just for the floor area.
  
• +4,000 BTU for the kitchen heat load → need ~18,000 BTU to actually cool the great room. A 24k inverter covers this with margin.
  

• Portables specifically: a single 115V portable tops out around 14,000 BTU SACC — not enough. (Plus SACC ratings are already the honest, lower number.)

• Rule of thumb is ~20 BTU (SACC) per sq ft → 690 × 20 = ~13,800 BTU just for the floor area.

• +4,000 BTU for the kitchen heat load → need ~18,000 BTU to actually cool the great room.

• A single 115V plug-in portable tops out around 14,000 BTU SACC — not enough. Truly cooling this space would need two portables or a 230V unit, at which point the money is better aimed at the whole-house heat pump.

• So: one portable = zone/spot cooling for the seating area only. The kitchen end stays warm.

Fallback candidate (portable, zone cooling only)

• Whynter ARC-1230WN (NEX Inverter Dual Hose) — $609 at Home Depot. 12,000 BTU SACC / 14,000 ASHRAE, rated "up to 600 sq ft." Good specs (R32, inverter, dual-hose, sealed bottom, <42 dB low, WiFi). Unit is 19.5"W × 16.7"D × 32.5"H, 77 lbs. Window kit extends to 82" (so the 19" opening is below its minimum — needs a custom panel).
  
  • Undersized for the full 690 sq ft + kitchen (rated 600 sq ft, needs ~18k). Fine as a zone cooler for the living-room area; won't cool the whole open space.
    

Why portable ACs underperform

• Single-hose negative pressure penalty. Most portables have one exhaust hose. They blow room air outside to dump heat, which creates negative pressure that sucks hot outdoor air back in through every gap. Real cooling can be ~half the sticker BTU. Dual-hose avoids this — get dual-hose.
  
• Hot guts stay in the room. Window/mini-split units put the compressor + condenser outside. A portable keeps all that machinery indoors, radiating waste heat back into the space it's cooling. The exhaust hose itself reheats the room too (insulate it if possible).
  
• BTU rating inflation. The honest "SACC" rating is often ~half the big number on the box — size up.
  
• Small coils + compressor (has to fit on wheels) → low efficiency, higher power draw, loud, often needs draining.
  

Buying guidance

• Dual-hose, not single. (Whynter, some Midea/LG.)
  
• Size up on BTU for the room since real output is lower than rated.
  
• Window kit: 19" wide is below the stock kit's minimum — plan to cut a custom foam/plexi panel with a hose collar to seal the 19×15 opening tight.
  
• Position it near the seating area and aim airflow at where people actually sit — it's a zone cooler.
  

To do

• Decide: 24k inverter window unit in dining window (whole-room, cord across porch) vs portable (zone only)
  
• Pick the unit: Friedrich CCV24A30A (~$849, quietest) vs Frigidaire FHWW245WE2 (~$728, value)
  
• Identify the welder outlet's exact plug type and buy the right adapter (likely 6-50→6-20)
  
• (Later) price a whole-house heat pump when budget allows