How to Pick The Right Air-Conditioning Unit For Your Home

Picking the right air-conditioning unit for your home or business can be a challenge. This handy blog guide outlines some of the options and their advantages. These choices are realistic for cooling up to two rooms at a time, and require a way to convey hot air from inside a room to the steaming hot outdoors. Step one is to calculate BTU (British Thermal Unit) , so you can work out how much cooling power you need to get your rooms to the temperature that’s right for you.

Step two is to then consider which specific air-conditioning unit will get the job done the way you want the job done. First up is your standard window unit. These range from several feet wide for average-sized windows to very small around a foot wide. They generally work best on casement windows that open horizontally. The plus on window units is that the compressor, condenser, expansion valve and coil and other integral parts are all in the unit itself, making it a fairly easy-to-install choice. They’re also not that hard to move if you change where you want it to be located. These are often the most straightforward and cost-effective option for cooling a home.

Next up in unit type are portable units such as your standard portable device that can generally be placed in front of a window with a tube going in and out through the window and feeding hot air out and converting incoming air into refreshing cool breeze. Portable units come in dual hose or single hose form. Single hose units are less expensive but they cut down air pressure inside the house and let in more hot air, whereas double hose have a greater cooling effect and have a better self-regulating internal cooling procedure to prevent possible overheating of the system itself or its wasting of cooling power. Double hose units are recommended for larger rooms. Overall, portable units should be your last resort. The only people who should really use one are people whose home or building can’t work for a window unit or a wall unit. Generally speaking portable units are pricey and inefficient, a lose-lose, but a possible option if you have no other.

Next up are ductless and split units. These are more heavy-duty but they can be an effective choice. Split units have an indoor and outdoor part, with part of the system mounted on the indoor wall and the other sitting next to the building itself. This allows you to put the inside portion wherever you’d prefer – no obligation to place it near a window, however, whoever is installing it will need to drill holes to mount it. Ductless units refer to systems that use hoses running from the inside of the room being cooled to the outside condenser unit. These hoses run through walls and aren’t that hard to install. A split or ductless system is very good if you need to cool a large area and comes close to the cooling output of a central air system. The downside is that split and ductless tend to cost a pretty penny and aren’t portable.

Wall units are the last and most complex option. They are like window units, except you basically need to make your own hole instead of using the hole the window provides. These are best to hire a professional for, as cutting a sizeable hole in your home’s wall can potentially lead to structural issues. The advantage of a wall unit is that the price tends to be quite reasonable and their output and energy savings are quite high.

When it comes to air-conditioning, it’s all about finding the optimal system to meet your needs and your budget. Luckily our friendly and expert staff at Mannix Air-Conditioning, Home Heating and Solar is here to help.