Photo: Micha Weber (Shutterstock)
Air conditioners are life-saving appliances. If you live in an area where the temperatures can soar into the 90s—or higher—you know how crucial it is to have some sort of climate control in your home. Window air conditioner units are terrific because they’re relatively affordable, easy to install, and work very well cooling down small areas. Yes, you sacrifice some light and fresh air, but being able to sleep at night without bathing in your own sweat makes it worth it. But when the cold weather arrives, we face an age-old question: Do you have to take your window AC units out and store them, or can you leave them in place?
The answer is pretty straight-forward: If you have a way to store them, you should absolutely remove your window air conditioners for the winter. Here’s why.
A window AC unit is not well-insulated
If you installed the air conditioner unit yourself, you know how poorly they tend to fit in your windows. The “accordion”-style wings on either side rarely snap into place snugly, and the installation process is often a race to get it somewhat secured before you lose your grip and the whole thing goes hurtling to the street. Maybe you put some effort into insulating around the unit, but the fact is you’ve got a wide-open window plugged with a device that’s designed to let air flow through it. Leaving your window AC in place pretty much guarantees you’ll have cold air leaking into your home—and warm air leaking out of it. That can make heating your home during the winter an extra challenge—and a more expensive one.
You can try insulating around the unit and covering the portion that hangs outside the window, but this will only reduce, not eliminate, the energy inefficiency of having that unit in your window. If you want to keep your house as warm as possible without spending a fortune, you should remove the AC unit.
Why winter weather is a problem for window AC units
While most modern air conditioners are designed to withstand inclement weather, leaving your AC exposed to the elements all winter long can still result in damage. Heavy snow can bend and warp portions of the unit, and the freeze-thaw cycle can eventually undermine the intricate inner workings of the appliance.
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You can try to prevent this sort of damage by covering the exterior, exposed portion of your unit, but this carries its own risks. The cover can trap moisture inside the unit, and mold can start to grow inside it. This can be pretty dangerous—aside from pumping a bad smell into your home when you fire the unit up when the weather turns warm again, mold spores can cause a host of respiratory problems and other health issues. If you leave your window AC unit in place and smell mold when you turn it on, you’re going to have to either replace it or do a thorough cleaning, which is time-consuming and laborious (and possibly dangerous if your unit is high up off the ground). If you absolutely must cover your window AC because you can’t remove it or have no place to store it, you should make sure the unit is drained of any residual moisture and that you run the unit in fan-only mode for several hours to dry it out before covering it.
If you have no choice but to leave your window AC unit in place during the winter, drying it out, covering it, and insulating around it will minimize problems. But if you do have any sort of storage option and can safely remove it without liability issues, you definitely should. It will make your house warmer and help your unit last longer.
