Her Apartment Was 90 Degrees Inside — Here’s What Worked to Cool It Down

Finding the right portable air conditioning unit for your apartment and installing it is a tricky task — made even trickier if you have casement windows, the kind that swing outward instead of opening straight up and down. With the up-and-down kind — which are either single-hung, meaning only the bottom pane moves, or double-pane, meaning both the bottom and top panes move — you can easily slide in a window AC unit. But those won’t stay put with casement windows.

This was the problem that faced renter and home influencer Kelly Marcelo in her Indianapolis apartment. While her apartment actually technically has central air conditioning, Kelly found it couldn’t keep up with the summer heat.

“The main problem came from all the windows that wrap around the whole apartment and the fact that the unit is facing south so we get sun all day long,” Kelly tells AT. “The AC would kick in, and you could feel cool air coming in if you felt right up against the vent, but our apartment would still reach crazy temperatures during summer.”

Last summer, it actually spiked to around 87 degrees inside. Kelly documented her saga online, and several IG commenters had tips for how she could keep her apartment cool. 

Blinds and box fans weren’t cutting it, moving wasn’t feasible, and reaching out to the landlords resulted in unsuccessful “repair” after unsuccessful “repair.” But here’s what worked: a stand-alone portable AC unit. (Kelly went with a 14,000-BTU option from Whytner, and it was her first time using a portable AC.) 

If you’re working with casement windows — “crank windows instead of windows that fully open up,” as Kelly describes — chances are, a standard window unit AC won’t fit, which leaves you with portable units. And even then, since you need to snake the hose out the window while also blocking surrounding airflow, you’ll have to buy a separate piece to make the setup work.

Their fix: full-pane acrylic inserts for the windows with openings cut specifically for her AC’s hose. Kelly ordered it custom from Martinson Manufacturing.

Window seal kits like the off-the-shelf options shown below will absolutely do the trick if your goal is to make a portable AC unit work with a casement window. They’ll essentially create a zip-up, accordion-like cover that fits into the window’s opening and blocks out everything except for the required space for a hose to fit through. Unfortunately, they’re not exactly attractive.

With some research help from her brother, Kelly found an option that looks a lot less clunky (and a lot more like a window). When the acrylic pieces are in, they just look like a regular window — no clunky white insulation required.

“The great thing is that it’s renter-friendly,” Kelly says on Instagram. She can take the inserts out in wintertime (or move-out time) and fully close the windows. 

For more ideas for cooling off a superhot house or apartment, try the sheet method, the car shade method, or any of these 11 tips for combating peak summer heat.