Ductless Air Conditioning Solutions

In this short article we will cover four main topics:

1 What is ductless AC? (or a split AC)

2 How ductless AC works

3 Where ductless AC units can be used

4 Cost effectiveness of ductless AC versus a traditional ducted AC system.

Ductless AC is simply a cooling system that has the compressor separated from the cooling coil. The cooling coil is the portion of the system that goes on the inside of your home or work area that is targeted to be cooled.

The compressor, which is the noisy part of a cooling system, is then placed outside, just like a traditional AC system so virtually all of the noise is outside and away from your living or work area. So a ductless AC system is extremely quiet.

You can conveniently place these ductless AC units almost anywhere. There is no need for expensive or inefficient duct work, no window, not even an outside wall is necessary for installation.

Having personally sold millions of dollars of traditional heating and AC equipment, I know firsthand the difficulties as well as the expense of attempting to update an old forced air system in a home. Most often, it is the AC that causes the most problems in an home, not heat for winter. We will let the technicalities up to someone else, but the basics are easy to understand. Cold air is heavier and harder to move. Cold air does not want to go up, the reverse is true. This is one of the reasons why basements are cooler. All the heat wants to go upstairs and all the cold air wants to go down. And in the summer, all of the heat wants to go upstairs.

So with a vintage home, that may have been built before AC was ever thought of, there is a severe lack of duct work, both in size as well as in number of adequate vents that generally run to the upper stories of a home of that vintage. And in the northeast there are many homes that have steam or hot water heat only, and there may not be any duct work at all. Great heat, but not so good for AC! So what is an adequate replacement versus a noisy window AC unit or none at all?

A ductless AC system is a great way to go.

So if you are attempting to cool an attic, or are doing a renovation, or just want to make the living area more comfortable and you have limited, or no access to duct work, if there even is duct work, let's see what can be done. While attempting to add to or modify existing duct work I have seen costs exceed $10,000.00 without new equipment in a small home! This $10,000.00 is just for the duct work! For many of us this is just out of the picture. Even if we can afford it sometimes it just does not make sense to put that kind of money into a home.

So let's look at an alternative. A ductless AC unit may be the perfect, less invasive approach, done at a small fraction of the price. All you need is an area inside about 15 inches tall and about 3 to 4 feet wide. Above a window, above a door, or just an area to place the inside cooling coil. Place this cooling coil towards the ceiling of the room if possible in the room that is desired to be cooled. There are even some manufacturers that have ceiling mounted cooling coils, so if there is room in the ceiling, this type of application may work as well.

As far as installation goes all you need is electricity and the ability to get some minor hardware to the unit that will be mounted on the inside of your living area. If absolutely necessary, this line set, electrical wiring and condensation tube can be run on the outside of the building, although it is preferred to keep this all inside of a wall if possible.

Costs? These unites are extremely inexpensive. If you are able to install the unit yourself, you can purchase a one ton unit for less than $1,000.00 easily. If you are not able to install it yourself, then you will have the expense of having some professional assist you with the installation. Some of the smaller units are actually made to clip line sets together and just plug the electrical connection both for the wall mounted cooling coil as well as the outside compressor unit into a regular 110 volt standard plug in. Easy.

On the larger units up to 3.5 ton will require a professional for the electrical hookups. And it is always a good idea to have a professional do the installation if you can afford to have it done.

I can tell you, that a ductless AC unit beats the heck out of one or two of those noisy window AC units. You just cannot beat the quiet, the comfort and the price.