Window A/C

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

beck3906

Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2005
Messages
2,138
Location
Belton, TX 76513
I'm looking at installing a window A/C unit in a room in my shop. The bottom of the window is about 18 inches off the ground outside.

My concern is critters, particularly snakes, being able to crawl through the various openings within the A/C unit and getting inside.

Could I wrap the A/C unit with some type of screening cloth to somewhat block those openings? Or would this cause too much of a restriction in air flow?
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

Gary Beasley

Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2009
Messages
1,326
Location
Marietta, Ga. USA
I doubt it would cause much restriction with maybe quarter inch mesh as long as you keep it clean. Ive never seen critters trying to get in to an ac unit though, the heat from the coils would drive them away.
 

bjbear76

Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2008
Messages
669
Location
Louisville, KY 40299
I doubt it would cause much restriction with maybe quarter inch mesh as long as you keep it clean. Ive never seen critters trying to get in to an ac unit though, the heat from the coils would drive them away.

I thought the same thing, except I had to replace my a/c 2 years ago because either mice or chipmunks ate through the fins.
 

JPW062

Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2016
Messages
156
Location
Ohio
Keeping the mesh clean will be the problem.

Sent from my SM-J327P using Tapatalk
 

TonyL

Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
8,904
Location
Georgia
If you live in a subdivision with covenants, you may want to check with HOA in the event that the exhaust vent is visible. It doesn't sound like it would be. Much success and cool turning.
 

MRDucks2

Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
3,215
Location
Bristow, IN
1/4 inch hardware cloth would be fine for both snakes and mice. You will need to keep it clean, but that will be no more of a chore than keeping the fins and drain clean, which would also need to be done.

The difficulty in keeping it clean that close to the ground would be from grass clippings and dirt kicked up by rain. You can always put one in through a hole in the wall and get it up higher.


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app
 

Charlie_W

Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2011
Messages
5,918
Location
Sterling, VA USA
I am with you on very much disliking those slithering serpents. My shop used to be at my parents place which was in a wooded area. I carried a .38 revolver with shot shells......and used it a few times....most effective! Found one of those buggers in the shop behind the radial arm saw :eek:.....Bang... :biggrin:
 

Dehn0045

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2017
Messages
1,533
Location
US
I thought the same thing, except I had to replace my a/c 2 years ago because either mice or chipmunks ate through the fins.

I HATE MICE! Snakes too...

Anyway, you might consider a portable unit, you just need an exhaust duct like a clothes dryer. With a louvered vent cover it might be a little more secure against critters.
 

Herb G

Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2015
Messages
1,461
Location
Southern Maryland
I am with you on very much disliking those slithering serpents. My shop used to be at my parents place which was in a wooded area. I carried a .38 revolver with shot shells......and used it a few times....most effective! Found one of those buggers in the shop behind the radial arm saw :eek:.....Bang... :biggrin:

Since you & I live pretty much in the same area, you have to be familiar with Copperheads. Nasty bastids. No warning whatsoever.
They just hit you like a Mack truck.

About 40 years ago, my dad & I built a metal shed. He built a wood platform to put it on. After 10 years or so, I stepped thru the floor & saw a nest of Copperheads. 2 large ones & about a dozen babies. I ran in the house & got my .38 loaded with shotshells. I proceeded to unload all of it into the floor.

I got them all, but my Dad was pissed about the holes in the floor.

A month later, I shot another one laying on the ledge of the shed with a hollow point. I blew its head off, and put a 12" hole thru the back wall of the shed doing it. Dad was super pissed off about that, but when I showed him the 5' long Copperhead I took out, he didn't mind too much.

That snake was a monster Copperhead.

:eek:
 

thawkins87

Member
Joined
May 15, 2017
Messages
77
Location
McKinney, TX
If you're really concerned about snakes getting in, aside from hardware cloth, etc, you could put some cedar balls or discs or moth balls by the opening. Don't know if the cedar thing is urban legend but it always seemed to work for me in (relatively) high snake population areas.
 

Sylvanite

Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2006
Messages
3,090
Location
Hillsborough, North Carolina, USA.
5 feet long is big for a copperhead. Usually they're fat but not long. I've shot several who were nesting in my wife's tomatoes. You really don't want to run into the juveniles.

I was turning a bowl once and a black racer crawled across the wall (3 feet above the ground) right behind my lathe. I put my tools down, stopped the lathe, and tried to grab it, but the snake had already gotten behind a cabinet. I resumed turning, and saw the snake again. Then it crawled across the wall a third time. At that point, I realized that each time, the snake was a different size. It wasn't one black racer, it was three.

It turned out that there was a copperhead nest in my shop and the black racers were after them. Later that evening, I went back out to my shop with my brother-in-law. He chased the copperheads out from under a shelving unit with a stick to where I was waiting (in tall boots) with a shovel. I chopped their heads off and gave the skins to a friend to tan. I made him a pen from the skin.

Snakes don't like sulfur. When I had a snakes in my greenhouse, I sprinkled sulfur powder around the foundation and that kept them out. You can buy it expensively as Ortho Snake-B-Gone, or cheaply as bulk sulfur powder at home improvement stores.

I hope that helps,
Eric
 

Jgrden

Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
6,287
Location
hOUSTON, Texas
Yuppers, just put some screening up. It should blow through long as you clean it wonce in a while. Snakes be gone.
 

Gary Beasley

Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2009
Messages
1,326
Location
Marietta, Ga. USA
Why not place the a/c at the top of the window to keep it higher off the ground?

If the upper sash is moveable, then you would need a support frame under the unit to take the place of the sill. A higher mount will get better circulation as the cool air will sink and the ac will be drawing in warmer air from higher up.
 
Top Bottom