Is A Central Air Conditioner Always the Best Option?
Central air conditioners have been around for a long time. They’re affordable, fairly efficient, the ultimate middle-of-the-road system for a wide range of home situations. While central air conditioning is a good option for many different kinds of home situations, though, they are not the best option in every case.
If you’re not sure what air conditioner to install in your home, we recommend that you consult with a professional technician before making any decisions. In the meantime, have a look below at some of the reasons why you might want to look for a different solution for your cooling needs.
Efficiency and Convenience
While central air conditioners are certainly capable of cooling a home comfortably enough, they do have some areas where their performance doesn’t stack up well against other options. Two areas where central air conditioners can be lacking are efficiency and convenience. A central air conditioner uses an all-or-nothing method for cooling. The entire home gets cooled, or none of it does. This is all well and good, but it does mean that the system spends a lot of energy cooling parts of the home that you don’t necessarily need to be cooled. No need for rooms to be cooled when no one is in them to enjoy it.
The second area, convenience, has mostly to do with the standard home layout for climate control. The majority of homes in this country make use of a central air conditioner and heater. While this two-system configuration does work, it means spending extra money and space on a separate system. The other options available to you on the market, however, can resolve both of these issues.
Heat Pumps and Ductless Systems
Heat pumps and ductless systems both have the capability to offer both heating and cooling functions on demand. Many homeowners install these systems for that reason alone, as it saves them quite a bit of money on installing a new climate control system. Centralized heat pumps are essentially centralized air conditioners that can also act as heaters. Ductless mini splits, though, are a bit different.
A ductless mini split uses smaller air handlers instead of a duct network. Each air handler conditions one room, the room in which it is installed, and is controlled by its own thermostat. This configuration allows you to set your own ideal temperature without having to worry about affecting any other part of the home. It also prevents you from wasting energy on parts of the home that don’t need to be conditioned. These are just a few of the many benefits of using these kinds of systems. They’re not a perfect fit for every situation, either, but it’s something to think about when it comes to consulting with your technician about installing a new system.
