I live in an old apartment building, and there is only a single outlet anywhere near the only window in my living room. My Air Conditioner works great with it, but now I can't use the desk lamp and digital piano that were plugged into that outlet (with a splitter) while the A/C is running without running an extension cord across the floor.
I realize that you're never supposed to use power strips or extension cords with air conditioners, but there are ones that are apparently meant for this. However, I can't find any that are splitters (i.e. they all are just one male to one female).
I don't need an extension cord per se – just a splitter, like this. This is rated for 15 amps, and the A/C says it's only 6.3 amps, so I'm assuming it's ok (not sure what the piano is, but it uses a thin cord without a ground so I assume it's not much).
Would that be ok?
Side question – even the cheapest power strips I can find are rated for 15 amps – and from what I can tell, the household outlets are usually 15 amps. So why can't I just use any power strip or extension cord, if the A/C only pulls 6.3 amps?
Best Answer
Your AC only draws 6.3amps when its running. But when it turns on, for a moment as the motors start, it draws significantly more. Many window air conditioners say in the manual that they need a dedicated circuit because of this.
These startup surges may melt cheap powerbars and splitters, eventually causing enough damage to be a fire hazard.
Additionally, those surges cause the voltage to drop which can wreak havoc on delicate electronics like an electric piano. Usually not destructive, but enough to make it malfunction.
Assuming you cant get permission to have more outlets installed, run an extension cord, preferably for the other electronics near the window. Make sure that extension runs to an outlet on another circuit, and that no other large loads or sensitive electronics are on that circuit.