Portable vs Window Air Conditioners: Compared With Charts
Stuck between these two types of mobile air conditioners? Let's compare them and find the best type based on noise, efficiency, and more.
Read MoreAir conditioners are a godsend, but man can they be noisy! As someone who’s suffered from a rattly old window air conditioner for a summer, I vowed to never go through that again.
To keep a window air conditioner quiet, check the internal components for any loose parts. Keep fans and coils dusted, and gently adjust any bent or disjointed parts. To fix vibrations, tighten all panel screws and use weatherseal to cushion against any rattling of the window or frame.
But there’s more than that. Let’s look at each type of solution in more detail together.
While this is quite a big list, I’ve written it with the most common problems first. By checking each one in order, you should (hopefully) find your answer to quiet your air conditioner.
If your noise issue is due to the air conditioner itself (say, a super loud compressor), there may not be much you can do. For sanity’s sake you might want to consider a modern replacement. Recent models are much quieter – not to mention much less demanding on your electricity bill.
This point deserves a whole topic on it’s own.
A major downside of window ac’s is the outside noise they let in. If you were to remove the panels and filters, you’d just have an open window to the outdoors! As much as we all love listening to car horns and sirens – there are ways to help this.
So let’s fix it. All we need to do is re-block the paths that the noise is getting in.
First, we need to cover up the window frame.
For air conditioners like the one below, these super-light frames let in a ton of noise. Cover them up with some foam insulation from your local hardware store (just 1-2″ thick will do). If you measure carefully and cut it just slightly too large, it should hold its place by being squeezed in. For a less crude looking option, take your exact measurements to an arcylic supplier and have them cut an upside down ‘U’ to fit around the AC.
Second is the air conditioner itself.
Same tactic.
Cut out some insulation to affix in front of the main panel. Although crude, it’s 10x more effective at blocking out noise.
Obviously you can only keep this on when your ac is off. There’s no real way to block out the noise when the AC is on – since it needs access to that outside air in order to work.
Well, there is a solution. But it’s a tricky one. The idea is to cut some metal or wood to snap-fit around the back of your AC with a vertical funnel opening at the top. This lets the ac ‘breathe’, while putting a barrier over most of noise. But you’d need to get help from a professional to cut this. If you’re desperate, take the measurements of your unit and head to a local
The best way to keep an appliance quiet is to look after it properly. Especially with something like an air conditioner, there’s a few easy steps we should be doing regularly. They take can take less than 10 minutes to do, but can keep your air conditioner working for over 10 years!
Here’s how to keep your window air conditioner running quietly:
Window air conditioners can be a fantastic solution to a hot summer.
They’re an inexpensive way to keep cool and ‘chilled’ even while it’s roasting outside. But a noisy unit can drive anyone insane. I hope these few tips have given you some ideas to try and help solve any noise that you’re air conditioner is giving you.
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Thank you for reading, and have a great day! -Craig