I live in an old apartment building with casement (crank) windows. This makes it difficult to find a window A/C to fit in such narrow window openings. My window opening is about 16" wide, but with the way the window cranks out I really only have about 12"-13" to work with. I recently found a unit that is 15.5" wide and 12" deep. With the way the window is, I could only hang about 4" of the A/C unit out the window and the other 8" would be resting on my deep window ledge.

My question is...is 3"-4" enough to let the condensation drip down? Could I tweek things a little bit and perhaps have a drip pan or something? I live in a very dry and hot climate so I don't know how much condensation would really exist. Also, are there any health risks (i.e... coolant) associated with not having the unit completely through my window.

I've been looking into buying portable air conditioners (I don't really want to go with swamp/evaporative coolers) but they are way too pricey for me. (All around $350-$500).

Any ideas, suggestions, or input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I'm not much on putting something in that's not put in properly. Can you take that one window panel out completely so that the unit will set in properly. You would be so much better off. Maybe someone here will disagree with me, but if it cannot be installed properly, you cannot expect it to operate properly. Good Luck

I agree with Esquire 1, take the window out and put paneling or plywood in the remainder of the opening .