The Benefits of a Ducted Air Conditioner

A homeowner has many responsibilities in keeping the inhabitants happy and comfortable within the household. One way of keeping the inhabitants comfortable in the household is to provide a convenient temperature to them, throughout the day. This should be done regardless of the condition of the outside weather. The best way of doing it is to install a ducted air conditioning system in your home. A ducted air conditioner will provide consistent temperatures, precision speed and fan controls, a quiet operating system that will not keep you awake the whole night and air vents that are not obtrusive. Most people would prefer a ducted air conditioner system over the other systems because of this.

The air handling unit of the ducted AC will help to balance the outside compressor and the inside condenser. It also consist of thermostats and the control unit and vents that leads to each room or targeted area inside the house. These vents can be placed on the ceiling, on the walls and on the floor. This is mainly depend on where the air conditioner is being installed. If you are in the process of building a new house, it will be easy to install the vents where you find it most appropriate. But, if you are adding the ducted AC unit to an existing house, it would be somewhat costly to place the vents where you prefer.

The initial cost is the only disadvantage in installing a ducted air conditioner in your home. A ducted air conditioner will cost anything between $5000 to $15000, depending on the brand, the size of the house and the company installing the system. If you are choosing additional features for your ducted air conditioner, the price can fluctuate accordingly. If you find the initial cost quite appalling, you can cut down on some of the additional features, and this is what most of customer do when they buy the air conditioner. The investment is well worth in the long run as you can save a huge amount of money on energy bills, month after month. Consider replacing your existing AC with a ducted AC when you are planning to remodel your home.

The choice of selecting a ducted air conditioner will depend on your budget and your home. The size of your home plays a big part in this decision. Look at your current energy usage and see how a ducted air conditioner can help you to lower costs in the long run.

Is My Air Conditioner Good for the Environment?

Living in Australia without an air conditioner is a very difficult situation to contemplate. This is because it is extremely hot and humid most of the year. It is a subtropical environment. There are evenings and some days as well that are cooler, but for the most part it can be hot and very humid. With temperatures in the 30-40C and humidity in the 90% range you can have heat indexes in the 50’C range. It is oppressive heat.

This type of climate almost dictates the need for air conditioning. Australia offers a great opportunity to look at AC systems then and their impact on the environment. If you want to be environmentally friendly what type of air conditioner should you use? There are several to choose from. Let’s start by looking at the most common form of whole house air conditioning throughout the world which is the ducted central air system. This is probably the most effective, least efficient and least environmentally friendly type of air conditioning.

Why is this system so harmful to the environment? This is mostly because this type of system uses a lot of energy and is often not energy efficient. This is being rectified all the time by the research and development that is improving its energy efficiency daily. Also these systems tend to use a coolant or refrigerant that is also not environmentally friendly. So this is not the system you want if you care about the environment. So what are your environmentally friendly options?

There are many other choices that are both environmentally friendly and suited to the climate in Australia. Air conditioning choices in this category though not inclusive include:

1. Inverter System: This system takes the central air ducted system and adds an inverter to it. What this does for the system is uses the inverter to control the temperature instead of a thermostat and controls system. When the compressor sends cool air into the ductwork the inverter controls the motor and fan speeds in order to reach and maintain the desired temperature. The inverter system is then able to hold the room at that temperature. In so doing there is not the turning on and off of the system and compressor that occurs with a forced air and central air system. It is this on again off again aspect of the central air that uses the greatest amount of energy.
2. Split System: This can be ducted or non-ducted. The non-ducted system is extremely energy efficient as an outside compressor pushes cool air through a series of linkages to the wall mounted units in the individual rooms. This can be a single room unit, or zones within the home that might have 4 units per zone.
3. Solar System: This is the most environmentally friendly type of air conditioning system that is still in constant development to make it more efficient. Some solar systems are currently at 60% energy reduction while others in development will be up to 90% in energy reduction.
4. Any one of these air conditioning systems will reduce the impact on the environment that we are used to hearing that AC units have.

How to Pick the Right Air Conditioning Expert

If you have spent hours researching they type of air conditioning system that you believe you need, including the size of the system, it can all be for naught if you do not hire the right air conditioning expert to install your system. In fact you may be better off not doing all that research before speaking with an air conditioning service. There are many professionals and experts in this field who can advise you as to the best system for our climate and the best system for your home.

Just as it is important to consider the type and size of system for your home, it is equally important to consider who does your air conditioning installation. Australia will offer you many expert AC contractors and a few who will not be quite as quality conscious as you might like. You need to be judicious in selecting your air conditioning expert and you need to know what you should be looking for.

Qualities to Look for in an Air Conditioning Expert

With the importance of both installation and service, following basic criteria for hiring your contractor is really important. Here are some basic components of that criterion.

• Professionalism: This involves a lot more than knowing your air conditioning systems and how to install and service them. This is more about integrity and reputation. This is about offering and standing by guarantees and warranties. It is about selling only high quality products and at a reasonable price.
• Longevity of the AC Firm: How long has this firm or this contractor been in business? You don’t want a rookie. You want some expertise. At the same time you want someone who is keeping up with the changes and the technology in this field.
• Type and Quality of Products: You want a contractor who offers the best products in the field of heating and air conditioning. You want to be able to choose from a variety of types of AC and a variety of brands.
• Credentials: You might think this is just a combination of the first two points but it is not. This is about training and experience. What is the contractor’s training and can they show you their license, their course completion certificates or any other proof of their training and experience.
• What kind of maintenance service do they offer? Do they service their own warranties? Do they guarantee their service? You are going to need you system serviced and it is best done by the expert who installed it. What are their service hours if you have an emergency? Are they 24/7 or are their hours limited?
• Finally ask about cost. This is the least of your concerns in looking for the right air conditioning expert for your home. Cost is important but it is not the driving force. Cost won’t matter if you can’t trust your installer.
• Follow this list from the top down to choose the right air conditioning expert for yourself.

Why Air Conditioning Saves you Money in the Long Term

Living in Brisbane one knows how hot and humid this semi-tropical climate can be. Most of us cannot live without air conditioning. Brisbane has a climate that will leave you needing to be wrung out if you do not have some form of air conditioning. At the same time most people think that AC is all cost and no benefit on the money side. Of course there is benefit in human comfort but can air conditioning actually save you money?

The key to saving money with air conditioning is that there is not a quick return on investment (ROI). The ROI is realized over a period of time even though it is expensive to install in Brisbane. Air conditioning – especially central air conditioning – can save you money in many over time. To begin with however you must recognize that a central AC system will eat up 40-50% of your energy costs through the hot season. What will the Return on Investment be for your air conditioning system?

Ways that Air Conditioning Save Money Over Time

• Energy Efficient Units: Today’s central air conditioning units are so energy efficient that you will realize excellent savings over the years that you have your unit. You can save up to 60% with these units over the older units. Over time these savings can be significant. These units usually pay for themselves in a few years.
• Savings in health benefits – this is a big factor. When you live in a hot and humid climate, bacteria and viruses can run rampant. Those with asthma or any type of pulmonary issue will also need AC to reduce health care costs. The inside air is also kept very clean by the AC system. Brisbane is now a growing city and air quality can become an issue. Air conditioning also helps to prevent mold and mildew.
• Pre-programmable systems: The use of pre-programmable systems will drastically reduce your energy costs now and over time. New central AC units are almost all pre-programmable systems that you turn the air down when you are out and up when you are in.
• Solar Systems: With their use of the sun as an alternate energy cost, air conditioning powered by solar has great cost savings immediately and over time.
• Split Systems: These air conditioning systems save money over time because this is a ductless system and in being so automatically saves on all the air that is lost in the ducts. This system also cools individual rooms as they are used instead of the whole house all the time. You can also choose to cool ‘zones’ rather than individual rooms with this type of system.

With any of these systems you might pay more upfront but if the system – regardless of type- is an efficient systems than your return on investment (ROI) should be good over time. The higher your return on investment is, the more savings you will see over a period of several years.