Hi,

I live in a tower building and many people left their through their through the wall air condition cover bolted in place which faces the terrace, and they placed their through the wall conditioners into their a/c sleeves, and said for years their air conditioner works great with no problems.

Now I am sharing the terrace with another person who just rented the apartment from a new shareholder, and since neither are friendly nor speak english I feel very insecure, and now I prefer to now have the terrace through the wall a/c cover placed back into the sleeve and securely bolted in place.

Another reason now is I also have acute asthma so constantly removing excess rust, priming, and repainting the air conditioner security metal gate is impossible as it will create acute asthma attacks. Also small gnats keep coming in from the vegetable store on the avenue, and I was told bolting the through the wall a/c cover back on will not allow any insects to come into my apartment and this should make the a/c sleeve completely secure.

My question is this:
Since many tenants have already left their a/c terrace sleeve covers bolted in place and just placed the air conditioners into the sleeve, and use them like that with no problem, is this unheard of or unsafe to do?

Also if I do it will my new installation of an a/c still work properly?

Thanks in advance.

Your question is not clear. Are you using the sleeve that came with the unit? Using the wrong sleeve can cause air vents to be blocked and the AC will run hot and use more power as well as causing it to fail. The inside unit should be sealed against the sleeve so no outside air can get around the sides of the unit. You can seal it with foam rubber or some other sealing material, but the best thing is to have the correct sleeve securely bolted in place.

Hello and thank you drtom444:

The sleeve is original to the apartment building and is a chrysler through the wall a/c sleeve.
The sleeve is bolted in place, but I still need to know if it is safe to leave the sleeve cover facing the terrace side bolted with nuts and bolts in place, and just slide the Frigidaire 10,000 BTU a/c into that and have the a/c installer secure the a/c as needed, and use the additional foam around it so no air seeps in.

I hope this gives you enough additional information, if not please advise, and again I thank you for your pro reply.

Should work and the installer should know the side vents need to be open.

Sounds like it should be okay as long as there are air vents in the right place for air to be supplied to outside coils. I have seen this done before in older buildings without any problems. The only problem you can have is drainage of condensate water. Make sure it can drain.

Should work and the installer should know the side vents need to be open.

Thank you very much.

Sounds like it should be okay as long as there are air vents in the right place for air to be supplied to outside coils. I have seen this done before in older buildings without any problems. The only problem you can have is drainage of condensate water. Make sure it can drain.

Thank you, greatly appreciated.