Window AC BTU- is 18,000 enough?

We have an 11,000 BTU AC that someone gave us and it doesn't cool off the living room/dining room area very well at all. Does anyone have an AC in the 18,000 range that can tell me their experience? Does it cool off a decent area of your home? We have ACs in the bedrooms, so we really just need the living room, hallway and dining room (and the kitchen a bit too). We have a small cape

Window AC BTU- is 18,000 enough?

I would say so- depends how choppy the area is. We had one for our apartment when we rented and our layout was choppy, we used it in our bedroom and then got another one for the living room because it just didn't cool everything off. I would say if it's a straight flow it should be good! I believe ours said it can cover 700-1000sq ft on the box

Re: Window AC BTU- is 18,000 enough?

Try one of the on-line calculators. It will give you a pretty good idea of what you need for your room size.

http://www.calculator.net/btu-calculator.html

This one is much more complicated.
http://www.cooloff.org/sub_cool.html

I would use the very simple calculator, and bump it up a little bit.