Like many homeowners, you want to keep your house cool and comfortable in the hot Aussie weather. Before installing an air conditioner to achieve this goal, you should understand your options.
Ducted air conditioning is one of the most popular ways to cool your Australian home. Read along to learn how it works and discover its pros and cons.
How ducted air conditioning works
A ducted air conditioning system is what its name suggests – an air conditioner that uses a network of air ducts running throughout a house to deliver cooling output. It has return-air and supply-air registers in each room you want to cool.
The return-air registers pull hot air from your home's interior environment into the AC system. Once the heat is extracted from the indoor air and dissipated outside, the cooled air moves through the supply-air vents and registers and back into the home.
Benefits of ducted systems
- They are suitable for whole-house cooling – unlike a mini-split AC system, which requires indoor air-handling units in every room you want to cool, ducted air conditioning allows you to cool the entire house using a single piece of equipment.
- They will blend nicely with your house interior design – the air handler of a ducted system is located in the basement or attic of your house rather than on your interior walls. As a result, your air conditioning installation does not become a conspicuous and ruinous part of your home interior design.
- They deliver quiet operation – since all the moving components of your air conditioning system are in an out-of-the-way location, a ducted system reduces noise levels inside your home, ensuring quiet enjoyment of the property.
- They can be economical to install – if your home has existing ductwork, installing a ducted air conditioner can be more cost-effective than installing multiple split systems to cool the same amount of space.
Drawbacks of ducted systems
- They can be expensive to install – the upfront cost of ducted air conditioning installation can be pretty high if you lack ductwork in your home.
- They can be affected by energy losses in ducts – the air ducts that facilitate the delivery of cooled air throughout your home become dirty or develop leaks over time. If left unaddressed, these ductwork problems will hurt the performance and efficiency of your air conditioning system.
Ready to get a quote for your residential air conditioning installation? Contact an HVAC contractor today!
