Thermostat control for wall-mounted heater/AC unit?

schattenjaeger

My new apartment has two wall unit ACs/heaters. The one in the living room is very simple: it has two knobs. One for fan speed, with three speeds each for heating and cooling. The other is a temp control like you'd find in a car, where you can turn it from "red" to "blue."

I've found that even at the lowest heat fan speed, with the temp cranked all the way to blue, it still gets way too hot in the apartment (I've seen it hit 75 deep in the room with my own thermometer before I cut it off).

I'm not really sure how this type of device works. Is it just blowing air at the selected temp continuously or is there possibly a hidden thermostat? If the former, is there any way to modulate the air temperature associated with a given temp setting, and if the latter, how can I access the thermostat? The bedroom one is a little different, and I feel like I've heard something switch off and on. Regardless, the bedroom one can keep it much more temperate. A

I wish I had brand info but I just thought of asking at work. I'm hoping someone sorta knows in general how they work...

Thundyrkatz

What floor are you on?

If your on an upper floor or your downstairs neighbors like a hot apartment you could be getting a lot of unwanted radiant heat. I remember in college, my dorm was on the 7th floor and even in the dead of winter we had the windows open to keep the room cool.

schattenjaeger

I'm on the second of three floors. However, with the heat off the apartment will stabilize around 60 on our normal winter days. That's honestly fine with me, but on particularly cold days it can fall into the 50s. In any event, if I do want heat I have to manage it myself, and can't leave it on while I'm gone. For example, when my parents visit I'd like to hold it at least 65.

Also, when summer comes I wonder if I'll have the reverse problem.

Creagan

Maybe you could use just one heater and see if that helps?

schattenjaeger

Creagan wrote: »

Maybe you could use just one heater and see if that helps?

Ah, one heater is in the bedroom. It has similar controls and if I crank the temp knob to the cool side it stays comfortable in there.

The living room heater is the problem (it's a one-bedroom apartment so by living room I mean everything but the bathroom). If anyone's curious, I THINK this is the style it is: http://www.islandaire.com/pdf/CS.pdf though with none of the optional features. It's completely unadorned except for the Islandaire logo, and this is the only one on their site that looks like it.

So right now it's under 20 degrees (all F) outside. It's 65 in the apartment. In a couple of hours it'll be in the 50s in here, so I'll crank it up (on the coldest possible settings) and in about 20 minutes it'll be back over 60. Then I need to switch it off. Then it gets cold, then I switch it back on...etc.

As mentioned, I can tolerate 60, but I can't leave it running so if I'm out of town or anything during a real cold snap my cats will get awfully chilly, and if I have company over I'd like to keep it a bit more stable.

Something like this would be cool: http://www.amazon.com/Lux-Heating-Cooling-Programmable-Thermostat/dp/B000E7NYY8

Except this unit doesn't actually have any apparent plug.

Foomy

I was going to suggest one of those plug in thermostats but it's hardwired? your sorta out of luck unless you want to open up the unit or wall and get to the power cord and then re-attach a wall socket plug.

Phasen

Contact the apartment complex and explain your problem. See if the maintenance has a solution.

Handgimp

There will be a thermostat inside the unit, but if you're not a trained electrician don't take off the cover and start playing around. ESPECIALLY if you cannot kill all power. Even 115 volts can kill you. Contact maintenance for your apartment.