Night shift worker here. Sleeping in the summer is terrible. My house has central air, but the upstairs, particularly my bedroom, barely feels the effects. I use a window unit in my room, but light shines through it whereas in the winter I have a complete blackout. I looked into portable units but they seem too inefficient.
What would be a good way to cover up the holes on a window air conditioner's outside cover to stop light shining in without blocking any ventilation?
Can you take a picture of it?
>>1002008
It's out of my window as I'm going on vacation soon. The front grills let in the light from the vents on the top and side.
>>1002015
Maybe make frame out cardboard that has a hole in it for the front of it
>>1002015
Make a cardboard duct that points down and tape it to the front part of the AC unit.
Looks like your answer is cardboard
>>1002015
Oven vent style vent, something like pic related to keep water out. Id vet HD/Lowes has this. Then buy self tapping screws and screw to top of unit.
>>1002048
Bullshit. The vent probably doesn't even pull air. On top of that, a vent only redirects air. If you're worried about that, install a 120/24v transformer in the thing and buy some cooling fans.
>>1002048
The air gets stuck in the front then blown out the vents on to of the front. As long as the front it not covered you will be fine. But if the light is coming out of the vents in the front then put something at downwards angle over it
Thanks for the input guys. I feel like my best bet is to fashion something to redirect the air on the inside vents to block the light. The window is basically in a corner and my bed is in the middle on the perpendicular wall so it should be fine. It's overpowered for the room it's in anywaysand this isn't a project I was looking to spend a lot of time on as I have landscaping to do.
>>1001990
I know what you mean, my window unit has an interior like styrofoam and light shines through but I throw a curtain over it during the day.
I can get away with just running it as the sun goes down so far I'm at
>44.5 days
>16.33kWh
>1.31USD
but this is minnesota weather, I haven't had a full month of 80+ degree weather yet.
An idea based on >>1002022
>>1001990
Thread is mostly answered, but I'll chime in anyway. I use a small window unit that is so small I can lift it with one hand. It is fairly cheap and easy to install and uninstall
http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4286682
Only 5k BTU and 515 watts, but it is great for a small room and spot cooling. I combine it with a cheap box fan to have better directional air flow to where ever I am in the room. This allows me to only need to run it while I'm in the room. I don't need to cool off the thermal mass of the room since the spot cooling is only cooling me and my location (bed)
For light problems, which mine also has, I just drape cloth/towel over the top part and down the sides. I use clothes pins to attach the cloth/towel to the lip of the window, all along the window length so it drapes down and blocks light while also insulating
If you use the tape_cardboard method remember the tape could strip paint, varnish, or stain from whatever you are taping it to. Vinyl windows are tape-friendly. Alternatively, you can also get a panel of stiff foam insulation, cut it to fit, and tape it in place to the AC. This will insulate and block light
For the gill problem, you can make your own deflector like in >>1002046
will only work partially due to its reflective inside. You will need to use dull finish black spray paint to paint the inside of the vent in order to prevent as much reflected light as possible. You can also face the vent towards the window, since that vent is more of a passive heat riser and not a forced air part of the unit
Personally, I'd use an inside cardboard unit like >>1002341 that is much larger and painted black on the inside will be easier to install/uninstall and maintain. You can couple it with a fan box to redirect the flow as needed
Other long term considerations are to move your bedroom to the downstairs or basement and keep it on the north/non-sunny side of the house. That can make all the difference in the world.
>>1001990
Close dampers downstairs forcing more air upstairs make sure dampers upstairs are fully open. You no longer need window unit. Success.
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