Stay Cool and Efficient this Summer with Ductless Mini Splits

Written by Hanna Plumbing & Heating / May 18, 2021

Picture this: It’s midsummer in Iowa and it’s hot and sticky. You have your central air conditioning system pumping out cool air. But your spouse, who is on the second floor, is complaining that it’s still too hot up there and your kids in the basement are complaining how cold it is down there. This is the problem with central air. Depending on the size, age and insulation of your home, you may feel like you have to adjust your AC’s thermostat when you move from room to room throughout your house. As you can imagine, this isn’t the most efficient way to cool your home. Cooling rooms individually with window air conditioner units can fix this problem but not without the eyesore of AC units hanging out of every window in your home. This is where ductless mini splits come in.

HOW DOES A MINI SPLIT SYSTEM WORK?

A mini split uses electricity to pump refrigerant and transfer heat energy from one space to another. In the summer, heat energy from inside is absorbed and released outdoors. In the winter, heat energy is absorbed from the outside air and released inside.

WHO SHOULD USE A MINI SPLIT SYSTEM TO HEAT AND COOL THEIR HOME?

It mostly depends on your home’s age, size and how evenly your current system heats and cools your home. These systems are often a favorite in households that have a hard time agreeing on the thermostat setting. With mini splits you’re able to control the temperature in each room independently—so you’re not overcooling some rooms and undercooling others. And since they are ductless, they don’t require the messiness of adding to your duct system. Unlike window units, mini splits don’t take up a window in each room and they blend in fairly well with the interior of your home. This sort of heating and cooling system is also ideal for those in an older home with an old duct system, or for homeowners who are adding a new addition and don’t want to have to add ducts to the new addition, which can be difficult and expensive.

 DUCTLESS MINI SPLITS MORE EFFICIENT THAN A CENTRAL A/C?

Ductless mini splits tend to be much more efficient. Your central AC unit can’t cool individual rooms of your choosing, so you either have to cool the whole house or none of it. Of course, you can close the vents in rooms you aren’t using but cooled air is still being forced through your ducts until it gets to that vent. The issue here is that your air duct system isn’t airtight, so even when you close the vents, the cool air, which you’re paying for on your energy bill each month, leaks from your ducts and into the crawl spaces in your home.

Think of it like this: if you’re trying to fill a bucket with water from a pool but you can only use your hands to transfer the water from the pool to the bucket. It’s going to be much less efficient if the bucket is 50 feet from the pool because during the time it takes you to transfer the water, most of it will have escaped through your hands. This is what happens to the air that your central air conditioning system is pushing through your duct system to rooms on the other side of your home. With ductless mini splits you don’t have this inefficiency—it’d be kind of like dipping the bucket directly into the pool.

BUT I ALREADY HAVE A CENTRAL HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEM SO THERE’S NO NEED FOR ME TO GET MINI SPLITS. 

If your central heating and cooling system creates a consistent and comfortable temperature in each room of your home, then you likely don’t need a mini splits system. But there are many homeowners with both types of heating and cooling systems. Some use their central air in the main part of the house and have added a mini split system to a new addition or a sunroom that is not as insulated as the rest of the house. Other homeowners like having both types of systems because it allows them to adjust the temperature in specific rooms to fit their needs. They are then able to use their central heating and cooling system to set a base temperature that doesn’t require it to run as often and the mini split is used to adjust the temperature in specific rooms.

Take Control of Your Home’s Environment

A mini split system isn’t for everyone. For those homeowners who love the idea of being able to control their home’s temperature for each individual room and those who enjoy the ability to make small temperature adjustments for maximum comfort without affecting the rest of your family, mini split systems are a perfect fit. If you want to know more about these systems before the Iowa summer heats up or you just need advice on whether mini splits are right for your lifestyle and home or not, give Hanna a call at (319) 377-2809 or contact us online.