Ducted Air Conditioning

What are Ducted Air Conditioners?

As their name might suggest, ducted air conditioners work primarily through a series of ducts to keep your home cool. They consist of an internal fan coil unit which is installed in the roof space of the home from which the ducts run into as many rooms as the home owner desires. Each room can be designated as a different controllable zone to keep at certain temperatures individually. This is done so by the thermostat on the wall, allowing you to select the temperature and other settings. A great example would be MyAir, which not only controls zones but also adds a whole slew of features for ducted refrigerated air conditioning control. The ease of cooling a whole house efficiently is apparent here, especially if you’re constructing a new home or are doing renovations, then ducted air conditioning is a viable choice for your home, especially in Melbourne where we have such a variable rise and fall in temperature. For more information about what ducted air conditioning is, please feel free to give us a call.

There is a large undertaking required to install ducted refrigerated air conditioning, and so many people in established homes may find themselves turned off of the idea. If you only need to heat or cool one particular room, then a split system unit may be more suited to your home. However, ducted air conditioning is considered to be the most effective air conditioner to cool or heat your home, especially if your Melbourne system supports ducted air conditioning zoning such as with a MyAir control panel.

MyAir Control System Upgrade

While all ducted refrigerated air conditioning comes with a control panel whether it supports zones or not, most of our customers opt to upgrade to a MyAir control panel which adds a number of zoning and ease of life features. Rather than create a massive list of features, take a look at the instructional video which highlights every function of the MyAir Series 5 control panel:

Is Ducted Refrigerated Air Conditioning installation right for me?

Ducted refrigerated air conditioning may or may not be the right choice for your home, depending on what your requirements are as well as your home layout.

If your primary need for air conditioning is to cool one or two rooms, then ducted A/C may be overkill. You might be better off installing split system units in these rooms. Although if your primary need is to effectively and efficiently cool the entire house, especially if you have a family, then ducted air conditioning is definitely the better option as you have complete control over the “zones” in your house, allowing you to efficiently control exactly which rooms need cooling, and not having unoccupied rooms wasting power.

Selecting a System

If you are looking to put a brand new ducted system in an existing house (as opposed to incorporating it into a new build), you’ll need to take into account a whole lot of details about the structure, inside and out. You should have all of the following info before you decide on a specific ducted air conditioning system:

• Your home’s floor plan: How many levels are there? What are the dimensions of the rooms (including ceiling height)? Which direction do the rooms face?
• The size, position and orientation of windows and doors.
• The type of construction (for example, weatherboard or full brick).
• The level of insulation.
• The number of people living in your home.
• The main use of each area (for example, sleeping, living, cooking).
• The ceiling cavity space – slimline systems are available for homes with small ceiling spaces.
• The limitations of your outdoor spaces – just as with split system air conditioners, the outdoor compressor unit(s) needs to be installed somewhere where noise won’t be an issue (for you or your neighbours!).
• Large systems may require a three-phase power supply, which will be an extra installation cost if you don’t already have it.

Value for Money

Credit: http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au

Installing a new ducted air conditioning system in your home can initially be a costly investment. However it is often cheaper than installing multiple split systems in every room, and adds an extra level of control for similar if not better results. You need to be serious about cooling your home if you are going down either of these roads, so you have probably already determined whether this is the right choice or not.

If your goal is to use the ducted air conditioning zoning feature of your new system and maintain a balance of cooling only when rooms are occupied, then in the long run, ducted air conditioning can be quite cost effective. To help with this, smart thermostats like MyAir can include motion sensors in different rooms to maintain temperature while there is an occupant, and switch off cooling if someone leaves that room.

Pleasing to the Eyes and Ears

Unlike other cooling solutions, ducted air conditioning is a very visually elegant solution.

Their only visible features are discreet grills mounted in the ceiling or floor, which do not at all intrude into the overall look of your rooms like a wall hung unit.

Along with their pleasing aesthetics, ducted air conditioning can be very quiet, comparatively to other systems. With all of the noise producing equipment either in the ceiling, under the floor or outside, ducted air conditioning is by far the quietest of all air conditioning options by far.

Pros and Cons

Like all air conditioning systems, there are always pros and cons that come with each. Here or some pros and cons for ducted refrigerated air conditioning systems: