Installing air conditioner in top cage

May 5, 2009 11:19 AM

What do I need to know about buying & installing an air conditioner to go in a cage at the top of a window?

I'm just wondering how best to go about this. For one thing, it seems like the air conditioner will have to be an exact fit vertically - unlike with a bottom cage, I won't be able to adjust the window to fit.

Pictures: exterior interior

posted by Awkward Philip to home & garden (3 comments total)

You could still adjust the window, you just would need to make sure that the machine is supported either underneath through a platform of some sort or suspended from the top of the cage, or a combination of the two.

PS - bring your screens in before someone walks off with them.
posted by Pollomacho at 11:25 AM on May 5

It looks like you'd just lift the AC unit in above the lowered upper-window, with the bottom side of the upper window supported by a couple of struts that rest on the sill. You would do any adjustment by changing the length of the struts, right? So couldn't you just measure a couple of pieces of cheap wood to the size you'd need, then cut them to size?

Or, if the window itself isn't enough of a support, you could just make sure the back part of the unit rests directly on the cage; there might be a gap at the top, but you could fill that in with wood and/or insulating foam pieces.

Anyway, if you want any help with the installation (I've got a jigsaw and mitre saw and power-drill and stuff you could use), you know where I live, Brosephus.
posted by Greg Nog at 1:03 PM on May 5

I am curious about the possibility of using a "free-standing" a/c unit. They use a hose(s) for inlet and outlet of air.

Link: http://www.brandsonsale.com/free-standing-air-conditioners.html
posted by JayRwv at 3:45 PM on May 5