I'll check out Lowe's & HD this weekend. It's getting to be that time..... texas_al - we're in Texas too. It just makes no sense to run the house unit all night - especially since it's just the 2 of us. Thanks for the info. You're right, a little noise makes for hypnotic, good sleeping. Our last unit was a huge Carrier that came with that house - when we installed central, we kept it because we were used to the sound (which wasn't loud exactly, but did block out the neighbor's barking dogs...). I know that none of them are silent, but some of them are LOUD. I think that the mini split option sounds like heaven - we just can't go that route right now - got too many other irons in the fire - next up: fencing 7+ acres to keep our neighbors kids & their ATV's off the property. I assume they can read since I see them get on a school bus, but somehow "NO TRESPASSING" signs just don't register with them......

some window units come with braces that support the weight of the unit on the exterior of the wall. this takes the weight off the window unit and distributes it on the wall. usually by putting a piece of lumber between siding of house and support braces. then the window closes to the top of the unit & pull out pieces on the side of the window close the unit to the sides of the windows. hard to describe, but look at pics on window unit boxes. I think hd and lowes sells these braces seperately. go talk to them & see what they have. best of luck.

As stated in my post, we already tried the portable unit, but they are not as efficient at cooling as a window unit. It just didn't cool the attic space well enough. They are vented out the window but much easier to remove quickly, that's why we tried that first. I was not interested in installing a wall unit as my house is brick and in the future we will be installing central air, so cutting a hole into the brick and then later having to patch it would not be acceptable. We were able to solve the problem though. We installed a window unit by using window locks on either side above the top sash, the kind used to prevent a thief from entering or a child from falling out ( this locks the sash in place substituting the screws that you would normally install through the air conditioners top bracket and the top window sash. we also installed "L" brackets on either side of the unit. there were already screws as a part of the units construction on the side walls of the a/c. We simply unscrewed them and placed the "L" brackets on the sides, with the right angles facing opposite directions. these face into the room and like a couple of small arms, essentially hold the unit into the window frame and are a simple way to prevent the unit from falling out should the window locks fail. All anyone has to do is flip the locks and pull the a/c unit into the room to clear the window space. I feel safe knowing clearing the window is easily accomplished in case of an emergency. Thanks for all your suggestions.

the biggest problem with teh low noise units is that they have SLOW fans, even on high speed they don't move much air. if you let it get hot in teh room before turning them on, they MAY not be able to cool it down. only thing you can do is try it an see. we have an OLD 5800BTU unit that cools circles around every newer 6-6200BTU unit we can find. the difference, the old unit moves 3x teh volume of air, thus cooler quicker and better. efficiency don't mean a thing IF they run forever and never cool it down. then you only waste electric. don't get me wrong, you want it to run long enough to remove humidity. but i am just not a fan of the newer models at all. our tower sites have fixed equipment that always use the same amount of electricity a month. the above mentioned 5800 btu unit kept teh small(6x8) building cool as we wanted, even with outdoor temps over 100. the 6000 and later the 6200 we installed in the same building never could cool if outdoor temps were above 80, and they ran continuous. the electric bill showed a 40% INCREASE during teh times they were installed compared to teh same months of use during the times teh 5800 was in. we actually spent 100.00 for a new fan and put the 5800 back in, it was cheaper to pay more to fix than to pay less to replace but have bigger energy bills. and for your reference, the bills vary by only $10.00-$15.00 over a 15 year span OTHER than the 6 months those new "efficient" models were in, and those months were as much as 80.00 more! so, as long as you don't have a high heat load and don't mind leaving them on even when you are gone for a while, go for it.