What advice is out there for the efficient and effective use of my two wall unit air conditioners?

My wife and I are trying to figure this out, we never had wall units just central air. We plan on getting central air by next summer.What advice is out there for the efficient and effective use of my two wall unit air conditioners?
I use small 12'; oscillating fans which bring the A/C temp down about 2 degrees. they are good at mixing the cold air around the room SHAWWhat advice is out there for the efficient and effective use of my two wall unit air conditioners?
Fans are a good idea. Or if you have the option to run the furnace fan without heat that will circulate the air.





Basically other than keeping the filter clean and annually cleaning the coils there is little you can do to make the units themselves more efficient.





There are the things you can do to keep heat out of the house but that is true with all cooling (sun shades, drapes, drafts, insulation, attic fan,...). But that is a separate issue.





They likely are fairly less powerful than a central air. And one thing that will affect the efficiency is the ambient (outside) temperature. The cooler it is outside the more efficient the heat exchange.





So in that respect my best advice would be to start it early and not wait until the house becomes too hot before turning it on. Partly because they are smaller and partly because running it full out to cool a hot house in the hottest part of the day is less efficient and will be less effective.





But experience will be it's own teacher in that regard.





Just don't be surprised if it takes hours to cool down a hot house if you had if off all day while at work.





And something else. Reduce the moisture in the house. Run fans when boiling water or taking a shower. Reduce the number of plants. A/C units condense water and condensing water releases heat lowering efficiency until the humidity in the house drops.





And reducing humidity is another reason for running it some earlier to speed cooling when you need it most.





Good Luck
It's a good temporary solution as you can always sell them later.


Use them in the rooms with the largest volumes.


Try not to oversize for a room.


I have seen people install these in a hallway to try to cool adjacent rooms. This will not work well as small areas cool down fast and will cycle the compressor.


You could figure 500 square feet per 12,000 BTU on average.It depends on the normal high temperatures where you live.


If you have an unusual amount of widows facing south you may need more.


Use window shading in all the areas that get direct sunlight.


Try to keep any moisture producing activities to a minimum.


Use bath fans when showering and make sure dryer is vented properly.