Fire Escape FaQs Episode #1

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wow

all right so the most frequently asked

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question

that we have regarding acs in a window

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you know you have your bedroom

uh you rent this out to a college

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student or you rent it out to your

family i mean your family is using it

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and there’s a fire

and they have an older house and they

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have an ac unit

in the window as opposed to an ac unit

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up on the wall there

so let me show you uh why you can’t have

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any time

uh to uh deal with it

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window issues and that’s whether you’re

a person or whether you’re

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a uh an old older person whether you’re

a young child

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so i need to get out there’s a fire i’ve

got

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three to five minutes before smoke

inhalation becomes my problem

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um and then i have to get out of this

window to get onto the fire escape

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so but because i want to stay cool at

night i got an ac

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so let’s let’s let’s get this ac out of

here you know

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i’ve got a fire come in here

now i gotta be careful i gotta

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get all this stuff out i gotta i gonna

lift it

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oh there’s a lot of tape here so let’s

get this out of here

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i really don’t care anymore because the

fire is

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getting at me and i’m a little concerned

about the fire

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grab this and i gotta make sure it

doesn’t fall out the window

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because if it falls out the window and

gets onto the fire escape i’m gonna be

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stepping on it so

i’m gonna take it out

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throw it over here and

i’m out to the fire escape so

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that’s one of the problems with the ac i

have tape on mine

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but i’ve had people with screws sheet

rock screws

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they permanently secure the window so

that people from the outside can’t break

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in

and kick it in so aside from safety

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factor there’s also a break-in factor

with these ac

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units but i’m gonna go out so

this is one of the reasons why you can’t

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have an ac

in uh anywhere near the fire escape now

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if you look at this room

there’s two windows let’s look at one of

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the window behind you

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so if i was going to put an ac anywhere

i got to put it in that window not this

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window because if this is the window

that has the fire escape

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this is the way i gotta go out so this

is option number one

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why you can’t have an ac in your window

in order to get out and one of the main

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reasons is look how heavy it is and i’m

a

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an adult getting this out so if i’m old

if i have any disabilities and if i’m a

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child i’m not going to be able to do

this

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and god forbid i push it the wrong way

it’s going to land in the

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in the fire escape and now i have

something else i’m gonna trip over all

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right let’s look at another way

to get this done all right so now we

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have another alternative which is what

we recommend on all the buildings

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that people get what’s called the inside

unit this inside unit

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feeds that hose that’s in the wall right

there

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and that hose that’s in the wall is what

allows me to do this so whether i have

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this

in a bedroom or whether i have it in the

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living room and i gotta get out

and when you have a typical one you’re

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gonna have all kinds of stuff in the way

dining room tables chairs stuff but

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let’s say there’s a

there’s a fire going and i got smoke is

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my biggest issue i got three to five

minutes to get out of the smoke

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uh because the smoke will kill you not

the fire so

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but here i have an ac unit that i’ve

been using to cool down the apartment

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cool down my bedroom or the living area

which is where these are typically at

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and now watch me get out of here whether

i’m an old person young person

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a child somebody with disability

watch how quickly i can get out this

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window to to get out to the fire escape

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so

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all right show you how quickly i got up

i don’t care about this stuff i’ll push

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it aside i’ll knock it to the ground

whether you’re a young child so

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if you have an apartment and you’re

renting make sure that the tenants

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only have one of these units

a little bit more expensive but they

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come in different sizes 8000 btus 12 000

btus

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but the key is that this is all i have

to push out of the way

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and this is just to exhaust the heat

that’s all it does

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but it gives me immediate and i can just

push it out of the way

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it’s not a big deal but

as you can see if it’s a dining room or

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a mixed situation i just need to get out

as quickly as possible

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so no ac’s in the windows you have to

have an ac

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in an old apartment make sure that’s an

inside unit

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otherwise somewhere above

open a hole if the if the landlord wants

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to do that

you can open a hole or up above the

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window and at least seven feet so when i

step out

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i don’t hit my head on the bottom of an

ac so it has to have at least

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six eight which is about seven feet

clearance

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all right national fire escape

association helpful tips on fire escapes

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all right so one of the other options

cost a little bit more money

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is when you have an older property and

you want an ac but instead of putting an

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ac in your window

they put an ac they build it in so they

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your car your owner of the property has

to open up a hole

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stick the ac in it and that ac basically

is built into this into the wall now if

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it doesn’t stick out too far in the fire

escape

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and i mean two to four inches if it

sticks out more than that

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it becomes an obstruction you can’t have

this outside where your knees your feet

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are gonna smash into it so

this can happen way up there

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you know so you gotta put it at six feet

eight plus to the bottom of your can

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of the ac unit you need to have about

seven feet of clearance okay so if you

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have a nice

tall fire escape you can actually put it

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above the window

or next to the window but you can’t run

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your head into it

so you gotta put these units up above

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whenever possible but again it involves

cutting the wall open

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you have to have a power supply brought

in by an electrician

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and those things cost money so

again but it’s a better option than uh

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the ac in your window in case of a fire

because you have to

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take it out manhandle it and then get

out and you don’t have much time when

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smoke’s involved

because it’s not the fire that will get

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you it’s the smoke