The Difference Between Ducted & Ductless A/C Units
your home for the first time or you want to replace your existing system,
you’ll have your choice of two primary types: ductless and ducted.
There are several differences between these systems that will greatly
affect what type of system you should purchase for your home. Let’s
take a closer look at each of these types of systems in order to help
you make a better-educated decision about your home’s cooling system.
The Big Difference
Let’s get this out of the way up front: the
biggest difference between
ducted and ductless systems lies right in the
name. Ducted systems force
air throughout your home using a system of
passageways located in your
walls, floors, and ceilings called ducts. This
allows them to effectively
cool your home evenly in each room, making it much
easier to maintain
a constant temperature. Ductless systems do not
use ducts, and instead
cool the air from the same room they are located
in.
Ducted Air Conditioners
Ducted air conditioners are also known as “central
air conditioners”
because they’re usually located at a relatively
central point in
your home in order to distribute cool air evenly
throughout. They do require
that you have a duct system already installed in
your walls, and while
this does give you more effective whole-home
cooling, installing ducts
if you don’t already have them can be tremendously
expensive. Likewise,
there is no way to run these systems in a
low-capacity manner: they’re
either on and cooling your whole home, or off
completely, meaning they
do tend to use substantially more energy.
Ductless Air Conditioners
A ductless air conditioner doesn’t require a duct
system running
throughout your home since they don’t actually
force the air to
travel over longer distances. This actually has
several advantages: for
starters, they’re actually tremendously effective
at cooling a small
space, such as a bedroom, office, or living room,
and you will notice
a cooler temperature much quicker than with a
central system. Likewise,
you have a much more precise control over your
system, allowing you to
only run your cooler in the rooms you’re currently
using, which
saves energy. However, the downsides are that you
need to purchase a system
for each individual room you wish to cool, which
can add up. Furthermore,
some ductless systems have both indoor and outdoor
units (like a central
system does), but because they’re a single unit,
you’ll have
to cut a hole in your wall to run the system
through, and many people
don’t want to leave their home vulnerable like
this.
Whether you’re looking to install a ducted or
ductless air conditioning
system, the Virginia Beach air conditioning
experts at American Mechanical,
Inc. can get the job done right! Dial
(757) 899-1554
to
schedule your service
today!