ductless air conditioners advantages and disadvantages

Ductless air conditioners - or mini-split air conditioning, or simply mini-splits – have some good advantages over central air conditioning, especially for small apartments, room additions and homes with old or faulty ductwork or no ductwork at all.

Elements of ductless AC

Ductless mini-split AC may have some advantages over central AC Like central air conditioners, ductless mini split AC uses an outdoor condenser unit to run power and the refrigerant elements; it also involves small indoor wall-mounted fans, with each indoor unit connecting to the outdoor through conduits.

Instead of mounted in a window like many room/window AC, the ductless units are installed anywhere on the walls.

The number of indoor units will depend on your cooling or heating needs, but most models have 3 or 4 indoor air fans that can be installed in different rooms, all of them connected to the outdoor unit.

Advantages of ductless air conditioning: Zoning

The big advantage of ductless AC is in their flexibility and on the small size of their units (and, obviously, on the fact that they not use or require ducts...).

The system can be dedicated to each space, allowing an easy response to the needs of individual rooms (zoning). Since each indoor unit has its own thermostat, the system operates only where and when needed, saving energy.

The fact that mini-split AC do not use ducts, can also be an huge advantage: it makes them cheaper, without the leakage problems inherent to ducted systems.

Another advantage is that ductless AC is quieter than a central or window AC (since the refrigeration takes place outside).

Disadvantages of Mini-Split ductless air conditioning

Mini-split ductless AC prices are decreasing, but they are still higher than those of comparable window AC systems - and that's the main disadvantage of mini-split air conditioning systems.

Prices between $700 and $1,500 per ton (12,000 Btu per hour of cooling power) are now common.

Installation of mini-splits

Mini-splits AC should be properly sized and located for maximum performance.

A too large system has the same disadvantages of oversized central AC systems (see: Air conditioners Size & Charts). Wrongly located air-handlers can also cause short-cycling, with resulting wastes of energy and lack of performance.

Ductless mini split systems are easy to install, but they require a qualified installer.

Other advantages of Ductless Air Conditioners

In most cases ductless mini-split AC installation involves a simple wall hole (3 inch/8 cm) to connect the outdoor unit to the indoor components.

Ductless systems are extremely flexible in their design options: the indoor air handlers can be mounted on a ceiling, suspended on a wall, or placed on the floor (in the case of floor-standing models). The large variety of conduit lengths also provides versatility to the installation and to the location of their components.