Air conditioners allow fresh outside air into the room (fan setting)?

June 30, 2014 3:00 AM

Do some AC's allow fresh outside air into the room?

My bedroom has only one window and I shut the door to the room while sleeping. My current AC only circulates the room air when on the fan setting. On cool nights I'd like to vent outside fresh air into the room but removing the ac to do this isn't practical.

posted by BillyAnne to Health & Fitness (4 answers total)

I'm in Australia but here, yes, many if not most new models do. We have a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries model that has a "direct" setting - most of their systems do, and it's not uncommon with other big brands like Fujitsu, Daikin, etc.
posted by smoke at 3:23 AM on June 30, 2014

There may be a mechanical lever you can push/pull to switch between recirculating and outside air. Look for a lever or something under the vent.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 3:34 AM on June 30, 2014

Some do,, but a lot do not. Mine does; it has a switch like the one in a car ac with arrows for recirculate and outside air. I just bought mine this spring in the US, and a lot of the mid priced models had this, but only some of low-end ones.
posted by bluefly at 4:32 AM on June 30, 2014

Best answer: Just make sure that whatever air condtioner you buy has a meaningful "fresh air" setting. Our (mid-priced) air conditioner has a little lever that nominally lets in fresh air. However, all this little lever does is open a little plug that is, literally, ~1 inch x 0.5 inches. It is totally useless to the point that it must have been added solely so the manufacturer could claim a "fresh air" setting.

I'll be watching this thread closely since I, too, have been looking for an air conditioner that has a useable "fresh air" setting.
posted by Betelgeuse at 7:59 AM on June 30, 2014 [1 favorite]