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Click my name for a link to an on-line air-conditioner size calculator -- the first thing you need to do is get a reasonalbe estimate of the size of your apartment and calculate the BTU rating suggested for that size.

Base on your comment above, I am guessing that you will need 10 to 12,000 BTUs.

I have been shopping for a similar sized unit -- have seen several at PC Richards/Best Buy and Home Depot in the $250 range. Hope this helps.

Question -- is apt one or two (or more) rooms? To save money, you might want to consider cooling only one room -- a 5,000 BTU unit, which will cool a typical bedroom, can be had for only $90.

i totally sold out and got a little one at walmart for $70.

You could put one small one in each window since you have windows in the front and back. What I would do (personally) is to shop around on line for a price, and then go to your neighborhood hardware or appliance store and see if they will match it and include delivery and installation. Costco is also a good choice for a/c's.

Not knowing your location, it's difficult to recommend stores for you. But try National Wholesale Liquidators for good prices, the have several stores in the NYC area:

http://www.nationalwholesaleliquidators.com/store-locator

KMart has two locations in Manhattan & also has several inexpensive units on their website:

http://www.kmart.com/catalog/thumbnail.jsp?Ne=467&N=761&Nty=1&categoryId=761&pCategoryId=467&gpCategoryId=466&nomerch=1

Wal Mart is your answer for inexpensive.

As to BTUs: You need 9.900 plus. My apartment is slightly larger than that and my $190 9,900 btu air conditioner cools the whole thing off. Got it from Wal Mart.

Make sure you have the electricity to handle the air conditioner. Most air conditioners run on 15 amps, so you'll have to check your circuit breaker, find a circuit that has at least 15 amps of capacity and dedicate the air conditioner to that. Newer wiring sometimes has 20 amp capacity in which case you shouldl have amps to spare.

One other thing: if you need to run an extension cord to the outlet with the circuit you plant to use make sure the extension cord you are using has a capacity of at least 15 amps as well. These types of extension cords can be found @ Home Depot.

And, finally, make sure you take measurements of your window before you buy.

My studio is entirely open. The only interior door is to the bathroom. Last summer a PC Richards clerk calculated me to need about 12000 BTUs allowing for the openness and high ceilings. The machine never came in and when I found out I'd have to remove the chassis to install it, I asked for a refund. This year, I'll pay someone - anyone - to put one in for me.

I don't know what the configuration of your apartment is, but it's possible that a 10,000 or 12,000 BTU air conditioner and a judiciously placed fan (to pull the cold air through the rest of the apartment) might cool the entire place. I did that in my old apartment.

what's the deal with installing an AC? if it's a small one (5,000btu) do you think it's feasible to install it oneself?

also any recommendations for brands? we're going through the same thing in brooklyn and live near a pc richards

Riz,

We just installed our airconditioner last night ourselves. We bought one of those arms that they sit on (got it at Home Depot) and these screw into your window sill. Then the AC has a surround that screws on to the inside of your window all around.

All you need is a drill and some screws.

We have central air in our apartment, but for my 400sf 2-room office I purchased a 6000 BTU low-profile LG A/C from PC Richards last summer. I don't have the model number on hand, but it's the one with the remote control and digital thermostat. I absolutely love it. It's quiet, doesn't kill the entire view from the window and despite it being lower BTUs than I had planned on it really cools the entire space quite well. We just re-installed it for the season a few weeks ago and it's still working well. It has settings to adjust the humidity as well. It wasn't expensive. We paid $250 for it at the PC Richard on 14th St near Union Square. I do recall that on a particularly hot day I was in there buying something else and it did go up in price but we were smart and bought it on a cool, rainy, cloudy day :)

Get a second hand panasonic with remote and digital read out from craigslist.

More info here
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/good-questions/good-questions-ac-or-the-highway-008412

Had the same quandary last year. Worried about a clunky behemoth blocking my view and the energy cost. After much research I got a great AC at Sears that is low-profile and really energy efficient. What you save by buying a second-hand or cheap model may be lost with electric bills. It was easy to install. And I've helped 2 friends install the same model. I can't recommend this model enough. Click my name for the link...

You can get high EER energy star units second hand so don't let that deter you.

If you can't go above $150 then craigslist is really the way to go and you will find many that are energy star compliant.

I was able to get a 10,000 BTU model for my ~400sf studio at Circuit City for $179 about 2 weeks ago. It has an EER rating of 9.8 and was pretty easy to install. It even came with a remote! Home Depot also had one that size for under $200.

Thank you everyone for your advice.

Consumer Reports has a sizing (BTU size) questionaire at:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/air-conditioners/reports/sizing-worksheet/index.htm

Danby is a great reliable A/C brand. Anything with 6000-8000 btu will definitely cool your 500 sq ft apt, but it really depends on the layout of the place. I have the same size space and i use an A/C with a fan to circulate the air. Give it a try.