How to install an air conditioner in a sliding door?

[ahochstadt]

Hi All,

I have a vertical air conditioning unit I would like to install in a sliding bedroom door. I can only access the door from the inside once the unit is sitting in the door as it leads to a small, separate balcony.

I previously put the unit in and sealed it using a piece of ply wood and plenty of tape around the edges. This was noisy and I frequently had to retape as the tape came off in places letting in outside air.

I also struggled keeping the sliding door in poisition once it was pushed up as close as possible to the vertical air conditioner unit. There were some gaps which I sealed using some insulation tape followed by going over with packaging tape.

I’m wondering if anybody has recommendations on a better way to install the unit and material suggestions for filling the large gap above. Also some advice on how to keep the sliding door in place once the unit is in and it sits as flush as possible to the door.

Many thanks 

 

 

 

[JacobZ]

Hi @ahochstadt,

Thank you for your question about installing a vertical air conditioner in your sliding glass door.

Unfortunately, the method of installation that you've already tried, is the only method I see working. Blocking out the opening with a piece of plywood, or even sarking would do some good, but it likely wouldn't be a very permanent solution. You could use either plywood or sarking and potentially use the strongest insulation tape you can find such as this Ametalin 72mm x 50m Reinforced Insulation / Ducting Tape, but I imagine the results would be much the same as your previous efforts. 

I note that this style of air conditioner is usually designed for installation in a window, and they generally come with a kit to block the opening above the air conditioning unit. It may be worth contacting the manufacturer of the unit to discuss options as they may have a kit that can be used in this application and a method of installation that will produce better results.

Allow me to tag some of our helpful members to see if they have any ideas, @TedBear, @CSParnell, @Nailbag, @Noyade.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Jacob

[TedBear · Accepted solution]

Hi @ahochstadt ,

The extra noise will be from you acoustically attaching the large sliding door glass plus the plywood to the a/cond unit. 

Don't use tape to seal it, instead seal it with soft rubber. (Not the spongy stuff. See link below for one suggestion.)

Place the rubber around the unit where the door sides will touch it and where the wooden panel sits on top of it.  Once you've done that slide the door up against the unit first and then measure the gap where the wood panel will fit into the door's side grooves. Cut the panel to that width minus a little to attach rubber to its sides so that it all sits tight when in place with the a/c unit below. That will lower the noise, be removable and seal the gaps... without tape sticking (or not) to things. The same rubber seal recommended for the unit may also suit the panel if it is not too wide to stick to the sides (how narrow is the panel?) otherwise whatever suitable width seal you can get will be ok, but the thicker the better to keep the cool  air in.

To keep the sliding door up against the unit, have you tried using a long heavy piece of wood? It needs to be longer than the gap between the fixed frame and the sliding door's frame so that it leans on it at an angle to push the door up against the unit firmly but not too hard. You can adjust the pressure by hanging some weight on it.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/moroday-10-x-10mm-x-5m-black-d-shape-self-adhesive-rubber_p4000088?refer...

[Nailbag]

Hi @ahochstadt I can't offer anything further than the great advice from both @JacobZ and @TedBear. My only concern is with whatever you build that it should be of a temp/permanent design that doesn't modify the sliding door or framework.

Regards, Nailbag