Window air conditioners are never something that are just bought on a whim. We all know this. All of us, or most of us, do not buy these products until it is in the dead of summer and the heat is at it’s hottest. To top it off our central air conditioner is probably broken or we’re living in an apartment with no central air. You’ve tried and tried to put off spending the money on a new window air conditioner but enough is enough. You are ready to buy one and enjoy that sweet sweet cool air but where should you go? Where can you buy these products?
Well folks the obvious answer is nearly everywhere nowadays. Sure, your basic stores like Target or Wal-Mart most likely aren’t going to carry them. But, if you head to a Lowes or Home Depot store you are sure to find them in stock and ready to go. (Especially if you are buying in the summer season.) The problem when shopping in person like this at one of these retail stores is that your choice and more importantly, your knowledge, is limited. Think about it. When you walk into a store you are already limiting yourself to what brands and products that they have on their shelf. You can’t read any reviews. You don’t know what products are better than others. Worst of all though is that you can’t price shop. You are stuck with what they have there.
Sure, you could whip out your phone and look online for some comparison shopping but you are at the store already and scrolling through pages and pages of information on your phone is never fun. I get so frustrated when having to use my phone for extended periods of time, especially trying to do research. I don’t know about you but I am a desktop guy. Everything is so much easier.
Shop Online
Now here’s the thing. If you can stomach it. If you can stomach going another few days without air conditioning then I highly recommend that you at least do your research online. As an example, if we look at our partner Amazon.com’s website’s selection of window air conditioners we can begin to see the value that is added.
We get reviews. We get all different product brands. We get all different BTU sizes. My favorite feature, especially with products like this, is that there is a customer question section as well. These are questions asked by other customers either before they purchased or after they purchased. More often then not if you had a question about a window unit it has already been asked and answered!
All of these features give you the ammunition and knowledge on what to look for when purchasing a new unit. Now the only downside that I can see here when purchasing from Amazon.com is that you don’t get that instant gratification feeling when buying a unit at a retail outlet. If you buy a window air conditioner at Home Depot you can take it home, install it, plug it in, and enjoy cool air all within about an hour of getting home. If you buy online then you may have to wait a couple days, maybe more. The choice is ultimately up to you. Will you sweat it out and wait for it to come in the mail or will you go to the store and heave one off the shelf?
Conclusion
If you are serious about buying a new window air conditioner then I would highly recommend checking out our Window Air Conditioner Buyer’s Guide. Starting out you may know that you just want to get cool and escape from the heat but once you really start looking at the different window air conditioners out there you will most likely begin to feel overwhelmed. There are so many choices and varieties out there. How do you know that you will get the right one?
If you buy the wrong sized unit you could end up with your air conditioner running constantly trying to cool too big of a room. This will cause your energy bills to shoot up month to month. On the other side of the coin if you purchase a window unit that is much bigger than the room you need it for then your air conditioner is going to have difficulty extracting the humidity from the air as well as evenly distributing the cooler air. The end result will be hot and cool spots throughout the room. That isn’t even mentioning the increased monthly cost to run a much larger machine then you needed in the first place. This will leave you feeling frustrated due to the hot and cool spots as well as paying more money per month then you should be. The sizing of your window air conditioner is a sweet spot and you have to get it just right.
The Buyer’s Guide that I linked above will not only answer these questions but also go as far as recommending products based off of your room size. My goal here is to make things easy for you. I want to give you the easy button! (Remember those commercials?)
I know how it feels to be trapped in the heat of a summer sun. We get a lot of that here in Kansas, trust me. Just as I am nice and cool here in the middle of February as I write this article, I want you to be nice and cool when the hot rays of the summer’s sun come down.