Home Air Conditioning: Central or Room Air Conditioners?

The first question that you need to answer when deciding on the cooling system for you home is, whether you need to go for central air conditioning or room air conditioning. Well, the answer would depend on both your requirements as well as your budget. First, you need to decide on the actual area you want to cool and next, you need to identify whether you can bear the cost of installing and maintaining that type of cooling system.

Before you decide on the type of AC unit, you need to understand how each type of air conditioning works.

Central air conditioning:

This type of system helps cool the entire house using a single condenser, ducts to bring in and take out the air, and a fan-and-coil system. The condenser is normally set up outside the house. Central cooling systems normally work in tandem with forced-air furnaces. In case where that is not used, the fan and coils for the AC unit will be set up in the attic.

Room air conditioning:

In room air conditioning, the units can be either fitted in a window or mounted on a wall. Either ways, the unit connects to a standard electrical outlet and does not require any extra wiring. As its name suggests it is meant to cool only a room. The size of the room would determine the size of the unit that you would need to purchase.

Now, how would you decide what best suits your needs?

1. If you are looking at air conditioning your bedroom or any single room in your home, then the obvious choice is a room air conditioner. However, if you are looking at cooling your entire house, then a central air conditioning best serves your requirements.

2. If you already have a forced-air furnace and its entire duct work in place, or if you are managing multiple window units to cool your home, then it would be cost-effective and energy-saving to instead go in for central air conditioning.

3. A window unit costs only a few hundred dollars. On the other hand, a central system costs a few thousand dollars. Further, if your home already has a forced-air furnace and duct work, you could save a few thousand dollars. In case you don't, setting up central air conditioning could cost you anywhere around $10,000.

Therefore, besides your climate, location, the amount of sun hitting your home, heat gain within the house due to other appliances or insulation, etc, budget is a great limiting factor in the air conditioning that you finally choose.