What To Know Before Installing a Split System Air Conditioner in Your Home

Summer temperatures can heat up your new home pretty fast, making your rooms unbearably hot. With the right air conditioning system installation, you can beat the heat and stay cool in the summer and other hot days. But choosing the correct air conditioner for your home requires a little research.

A split system air conditioner is one of the popular choices among Australian homeowners without AC ductwork built into their homes. If you're considering this type of air conditioning installation for your home, here's what to know before making the investment.

How do split system air conditioners work?

Although they're available in many configurations, these air conditioners are primarily made up of an indoor unit and an outdoor unit, which are connected with a conduit that houses copper tubes. The tubes contain the refrigerant gas needed to draw heat from the interior of a home to the exterior environment.

The indoor unit pulls hot air from your home's indoor environment and extracts heat from it. It accomplishes this by passing the hot air over the evaporator coils, which contain cold, liquid refrigerant. As the cold refrigerant absorbs heat from the air, it enters the compressor as a warm, low-pressure gas and leaves as a hot, high-pressure gas.

The heat carried by the hot, highly-pressurised refrigerant gas is then transferred to the outdoor environment via the condenser coils, which are contained in the cooling system's outdoor unit. Cooled air is then returned to your home and distributed in selected rooms via the same indoor air handler that draws hot air into the cooling system. The refrigerant cycle will continue as long as your AC system keeps running.

Why should you opt for split system air conditioning?

Split system air conditioners have their benefits and drawbacks, just like other types of air conditioning systems available on the market these days. Some top advantages of these air conditioners include the following:

Ability to cool selected rooms

Split system air conditioning eliminates the need to cool your entire home, including the unused rooms or areas of the home. The targeted style of cooling helps to keep your cooling expenses as low as possible.

Quiet operation

The indoor air handler unit that distributes cool air throughout your home runs quietly so you don't have to compromise your home's serenity just to keep cool in summer.

Ability to heat your home

With the advent of reverse cycle split system air conditioning, you can now heat up your home in winter and other cold days using the same piece of equipment. This not only saves precious space but also helps you save money on heating and cooling installation.

On the downside, the compressor/outdoor unit of a split system air conditioner can be quite noisy. The noise can be disruptive to your neighbours. Price is another drawback of this kind of air conditioner as it tends to be more expensive than window units and even central air conditioning for homes with existing AC ductwork.

Generally, the benefits of split system air conditioning outweigh its disadvantages. If you want to have a split system air conditioner installed in your home, contact an HVAC contractor near you for a quote.