So today like any project day in Yuma AZ during the summer, the day starts a little early. Mine started at 4 am by finishing my research looking up spec’s on window ac units sold locally.
As our home was purchased from a couple that never spent the summers here in the park, they had never installed climate controlling fixtures in the Arizona Room (AR). I had a vent installed attached to the bedroom leg of the heat pump ducting. But this was not providing the airflow needed to keep the room as cool as we would like.
A quick little course on Arizona Room structure and the work around they can provide. Here in Yuma as well I am sure to some degree in other counties/cities a room addition requires permits. But reading the fine print there are quite a few requirements needed to be met for an addition to be installed.
The largest of which is the space requirement of the lot size that can be developed. As all Resorts we have looked at have roughly the same size lots, one would never be able to meet the lot size requirements to add the Arizona Room onto an existing Park Model. So now that you understand that catch 22, I will go on to explain the work around.
What you can do to add an Arizona Room without breaking the law is to build it to room addition spec’s but the outside wall structure must be built with a heavily calculated ratio of window to wall as well as an outside exit door. So basically you are building a inclosed heavy duty pouch with the window and door requirements meeting the required addition specifications.
Now the practicality, all works well as we use our AZ Room as our dining room, storage, computer areas and a 1/2 bath. But as you may have guessed the windows create a bit of a heat buildup issue. Even with their being double pain when the temps get into the 100+ degs you need adequate relief. Of course you put reflective insulation on them over the summer months something like one does in Mn with plastic on the windows in the winter.
But this room/rooms is a 10’x18’ area with one divider wall so keeping the air both cool and evenly distributed has proven to be a bit of a task. So today I with box cutter in hand to remove the silicone seal that had been put around the outside, on one of the windows, and with pry bar at the ready, along with a few choice words while working very slowly I freed and removed the bottom section of one of the 48” windows without breaking anything. Big Win!
Now as mentioned I have researched for many hours and planed what I needed and which window ac unit I was going to buy. So much so that Cindy and I even spent part of the day yesterday looking at ac units. Well with the window now functioning normally I closed it again and was off to purchase the ac unit of choice. One that met the BTU requirement for the room and that could be modified to fit my install requirements. A special note here is in order. They do not make window ac units that fit nicely in 48” wide windows, and as you would not in this environment expect the side aprons to be uninsulated I planed to make the install and build the insulated side panels myself.
Ok so off to the store to pick up my chosen ac unit. Wait, store one was out of the unit I had looked at just yesterday, as well as store two…….. This was not looking good being the center of my efforts. Ok now that price was not as much of an issue as it once had been, a compromise was made and I left store two with a more expensive unit, same BTU output, higher energy rating and a few more options. So now once installed my ac to be controlled by my Google Smart Home Appliance. And it actually only cost $40 more after discounts.
All said the install went better than I had imagined it would. Although it got warm there was a nice breeze that kept things bearable both inside and outside the home while working and by 12:30 all was in, secured and running. As the new ac unit has an auto function after running the unit on high like the manual said to bring the room to the desired temperature it was switched over to auto and then slowly fine tuned to meet our requirements.
I am happy to report this project went well and actually, as I had the insulation and building materials needed for this project left over from another, it even came in under budget! Another Win!
