A packaged terminal air conditioner (often abbreviated PTAC) is a type of self-contained heating and air conditioning system commonly found in hotels, motels, senior housing facilities, hospitals, condominiums, apartment buildings, add-on rooms & sunrooms. Many are designed to go through a wall, having vents and

heat sink A heat sink (also commonly spelled heatsink) is a passive heat exchanger that transfers the heat generated by an electronic or a mechanical device to a fluid medium, often air or a liquid coolant, where it is dissipated away from the device, th ...

s both inside and outside. Different standard dimensions are found in the market including 42×16 inches (1067 x 406 mm), 36x15 inches, and 40x15 inches. Packaged terminal air conditioner removed

Packaged terminal air conditioner removed

Although PTACs are used mostly to heat or cool a single living space using only electricity (with resistive and/or heat pump heating), there are cooling-only PTACs with external heating through a

hydronic Hydronics () is the use of liquid water or gaseous water (steam) or a water solution (usually glycol with water) as Heat transfer, heat-transfer medium in heating system, heating and cooling systems. The name differentiates such systems from Oil ...

heating coil or

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

heating. Typical PTAC heating and cooling capacity values range from 2 to 5.5 kilowatts (7,000–19,000

BTU The British thermal unit (BTU or Btu) is a unit of heat; it is defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. It is also part of the United States customary units. The modern SI u ...

/h) nominal. One characteristic of PTACs is that condensate drain piping is not required because the condensate water extracted from the air by the

evaporator coil An evaporator is a device used to turn the liquid form of a chemical substance, such as water, into a vapor. Uses Air conditioning and refrigeration Some air conditioners and refrigerators use a compressed liquid with a low boiling point, su ...

is drawn by the condenser fan onto the condenser coil surface where it evaporates. Conventional PTACs still require condensate drain piping to be installed. The first practical semi-portable air conditioning unit was invented by engineers at

Chrysler Motors Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

and offered for sale starting in 1935. PTACs are commonly installed in window walls and masonry walls. Their installation typically requires the following: *

Louver A louver (American English) or louvre (British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". Mor ...

s * Metal

sleeve A sleeve ( ang, slīef, a word allied to ''slip'', cf. Dutch ) is the part of a garment that covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The sleeve is a characteristic of fashion seen in almost every country and time period, acro ...

Heating coil A heat exchanger is a system used to transfer heat between a source and a working fluid. Heat exchangers are used in both cooling and heating processes. The fluids may be separated by a solid wall to prevent mixing or they may be in direct contac ...

* The PTAC itself * Room enclosure

References

Cooling technology {{engineering-stub