How do you cool a room with no windows? Is there such a thing as a windowless air conditioner?
There are a few types of air conditioners that you can use to cool a room with no windows.
Some expensive, some not as much. Some that take a whole lot of installation knowledge and work, and some that take less.
One solution that falls under the moderately expensive side and does take a moderate amount of installation is the PTAC.
PTAC or packaged terminal air conditioners are through the wall air conditioners that require the wall that they are installed to to be an outside wall that has the outdoors as one side of the wall.
PTAC air conditioners are known as commercial hotel air conditioners because that is where they are seen the most.
But they can be used in almost any type of application where you have a room that has an outside wall.
Advantages of Packaged Terminal air conditioners
1. Quality.
PTAC air conditioners are commercial grade ACs that can literally last you 20 or more years.
2. Work as both air conditioners and heaters.
If you have ever stayed in a hotel that has a Packaged Terminal air conditioner installed in the room that you were sleeping in, you know very well how intensely cold that room can get using a PTAC.
You also know how hot one can get in the winter.
3. Energy efficient.
PTAC disadvantages
1. Installation
Not nearly the amount of installation that a mini split requires,
but installing a Packaged Terminal air conditioner does require a large rectangular hole to be cut through an entire wall. And for most people that means that they will have to hire an outside Carpenter to do the work.
The size of the hole that you are cutting pretty much dictates that you are invested in using the package terminal air conditioner for a very long time.
And once the hole is cut, you are stuck with that location for the air conditioner.
Of course you can always fix the wall if needed. But that would be an entire job on its own.
2. Single room only
PTAC air conditioners only work in the room that they are installed in.
And they are a point of origin type of air conditioner. In other words, they are very cold, the closer you are to the air conditioner.
Back to the hotel reference,
If you ever stayed in a room with two beds that used a PTAC air conditioner, you know that the bed closest to the air conditioner is going to be the one you want if you like to sleep with a lot of covers.
Otherwise, it may get a little warm on your side of the room.
3. Noise
Just like a window air conditioner, all the components of a HVAC system are located in one package with a Packaged Terminal air conditioner.
There is no getting away from the sound of the compressor running and cycling on and off while the air conditioner is on.
Because of that point, PTAC air conditioners are not very suitable for use in recording studios or podcast studios where you need as much quiet as you can get.
Summary
Packaged Terminal air conditioners are a commercial grade windowless air conditioner solution when you have a room with no windows.
PTAC air conditioners are known as hotel air conditioners because that’s where you see them the most.
But anywhere you have a room with one wall that is an outside wall, you can use a package terminal AC.
The installation for a Packaged Terminal air conditioner requires that a large rectangular hole be cut into your wall.
So not only are you looking at the installation cost, you are also looking at a fairly permanent solution when you install a PTAC.
And though they are very powerful air conditioners with a long lifespan,
They do have the disadvantage of being a single room air conditioner that has a noisy compressor built right in.
And they are a point of origin air conditioner that can be freezing cold when you are next to it.
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