How Does Ductless Air Conditioning Work?

How Does Ductless Air Conditioning Work?

You may have heard about something called ductless air conditioning before, a type of central air conditioning system that does not need a duct-based ventilation network to distribute air to the rooms in a house. Ductless ACs, also known as ductless mini splits, have been used in businesses such as restaurants and hotels for years. They are now popular in homes, particularly for new housing construction and historic buildings that lack the space for ventilation systems.

So how does central air conditioning work without ducts?

Think of a ductless AC as a cross between a window unit air conditioner and a conventional central air conditioner. Like a window unit, a ductless AC blows cooled air directly into a room from an individual unit that contains an evaporator coil and a fan. But this blower connects through a power line and a refrigerant line to an outdoor condenser unit, like the ones in standard central ACs. The condenser hooks up to a set of different blowers placed around the house (usually four).

There are a number of advantages of going with a system like this. The main one is that it eliminates the pesky problems that come with ductwork. Ducts allow loss of energy along their length, especially through leaks that permit cooled air to escape before reaching the vents. Since ductless ACs blow their cooled air straight from the air handlers in the rooms, there is minimal energy loss. The absence of ducts also helps increase indoor air quality, since ductwork is a principal source of the accumulation of dust and debris.

Ductless air conditioning is also very energy efficient, since it uses less power to run the smaller fans. Since the individual blowers can be operated separately from each other, you can save additional money by shutting off the blowers in empty areas of the house.

For answers to all your questions about ductless mini splits, call the professionals at Russell’s Heating and Air Conditioning in Yucaipa, CA.