Younger daughter lives in hipster-ville, Brooklyn, asked if I would help her buy (and install, of course!) a bedroom air conditioner. Being the safety-obsessed father, I threw myself into designing and building a robust contraption to ensure security of the A/C and double-hung window facing the rear of the building, and adjacent fire escape.
I decide a floor-standing A/C is preferable to minimize window opening size, added benefit of keeping noise from the unit away from the bed.
The drive in two weekends ago takes an hour-plus, and the wife and daughter yak it up as I take measurements, make a detailed drawing, and take pictures of the window interior and exterior. This past weekend I swing by big-box home improvement store, pick up a half-dozen carriage bolts, and assortment of window track locks. I spend a few hours with the toy collection (aka power tools :-) ) fabricating the plywood-and-framing-lumber 'box' the A/C vent hose will pass through, ensure (reasonably) air-tight, and secure as any safety-obsessed father with woodworking skills can make it (i.e. _way_ too many 2 inch construction screws).
Sunday afternoon I assemble a (massive) array of tools to bring with me to install the 'window-A/C-vent-box': impact driver, corded drill, hand saw, drill bits, impact bits, packing tape, belt sander, screws, extension cord, jig saw, yada yada. And assortment of framing lumber cut-offs 'just in case' :-).
The easy drive in should have been a sign. I find a parking space in front of the building - another sign - and schlepp up tools, A/C unit, 'window-A/C-box', and assorted extra framing-lumber.
Mocking up the 'window-A/C-box', I discover I'm off a half-inch here, five-eighths there, requiring several cuts using the hand-saw in the bathroom: standing with one foot on the lip of the tub, to ease later cleanup of sawdust and cutoffs. It's a beautiful summer day, 90+ degrees with a nice breeze ... but no breeze inside, other than from the box fan.
After necessary adjustments the 'window-A/C-box' is completely installed and fits perfectly; the vent hose lines up exactly through the five inch opening. I connect vent hose to the A/C, install filter per the instructions, plug in, turn on, and it powers right up. I adjust desired temperature a few degrees down. I feel the cool air coming out, and observe a few minutes to make sure it works OK. Then *poof* A/C suddenly shuts down with no warning. CR*P... maybe I blew the fuse ? I double check the circuit breaker on the A/C plug, reset it, it shows green. Plug other stuff into the outlet, works fine. Try another outlet, no joy. I wait ten minutes ... maybe the A/C condenser overheat protection was triggered? Still no joy. I call the manufacturer support number .... "please leave a message". Arggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!
We load everything back into the car - A/C unit, tools, assorted extra framing-lumber, etc. Oh well. This time I was the bug :-(
