A needless trip to the hardware store for a portable air conditoner

I recently made a trip to a local hardware store that sells air conditioners.

Not long before that, an HVAC specialist had told me that my air conditioner component was old, showing a lot of wear and tear, and would probably quit sometime during the summer. I need access to cool air during the heat and humidity of summer! So, I decided to look for a new air conditioning unit. When I found the proper aisle, I noticed each air conditioner has listed BTU’s. I did not know what BTU meant. I wasn’t sure how much it mattered. I just wanted it to provide cold air. I decided to google the meaning of BTU and figure how to choose the right air conditioner for my needs. Fortunately Google was a big help. I should have done research before going to the store. I thought I would just grab one off the shelf, buy it and call it a day. I found out that it’s a little more complicated than that. Once I checked Google, I began following each link. I learned that BTU stands for British Thermal Unit. Each air conditioner has specific BTU’s which determine the cooling capacity needed to cool the square footage. To determine how much BTU I needed, I had to know the room’s square footage. I needed to decide where I would place the air conditioner for access to cool air. I had not considered this. I made a wasted trip to the store! I returned home, got a measuring tape, and measured the square footage of the bedroom. I figured out the bedroom was 340 sq. ft. This meant that I needed an air conditioner with 8,000 BTU. The following day, I went back to the store and bought the portable air conditioner component I needed.

 

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