COMPONENTS OF A DUCTLESS SYSTEM Installing a ductless system is not only easy, but it allows for flexibility in where you deliver heating and cooling in your home without the use of ductwork. An outdoor unit is placed outside your home--often at ground level, but not always--and is connected to an indoor unit by small cables and a refrigerant line through a hole inThe indoor unit is typically mounted high on the wall of the room and can be pre-set to run automatically or be adjusted by a The mini-split ductless system controls one room or zone by connecting one outdoor unit to one indoor unit. system can connect one outdoor unit to up to five indoor units—depending on the indoor and outdoor model—letting you control the heating and cooling in several zones or rooms independently of WHERE DUCTLESS IS NEEDED A ductless system is a great solution for homes without a central heating/cooling system or when a room is added onto a house or an

attic is converted to living space. Instead of extending the home’s existing ductwork, a ductless system can provide efficient heating and cooling at a lower operational cost. Direct Expansion Air Conditioning A direct expansion air conditioning (DX) system uses a refrigerant vapour expansion/compression (RVEC) cycle to directly cool the supply air to an occupied space.  DX systems (both packaged and split) directly cools the air supplied to the building because the evaporator is in direct contact with the supply air,Expansion refers to the treatment of the refrigerant (a valve reduces its pressure and temperature) prior to it entering the evaporator.  DX systems can come equipped with all the components in the unit (packaged system) intended for installation on the rooftop or by the side of a building; or it may have some components installed inside the building and some outside (split system). DX systems require a ventilation fan to distribute the cool air and resupply/re-circulate it. 

A  RVEC cycle has four basic components; an evaporator, compressor, condenser, and thermal expansion control device. The evaporator (located inside the supply air ductwork) absorbs heat through the process of expanding the refrigerant flowing within it. air conditioner units for school busesThe refrigerant then flows to a compressor which compresses it causing it to condense in the condenser and release the heat it removed from the supply air. clean your own ac unitThe condensed liquid refrigerant then flows through the thermal expansion control device which controls the flow and pressure of the refrigerant back into the evaporator.repair outside ac unitPackaged Systems – Packaged DX units contain all 4 parts of the RVEC system, as well as fans and internal ducting.

These units are designed to be installed easily to serve local zones cooling needs; multiple units can be installed to service multiple zones in a building.Split Systems – These systems generally have the evaporator and fans inside the building, while the rest of the RVEC system components are a separate unit placed outside the building. This allows system designs that are more flexible, allowing performance that can satisfy greater variations on system demands. Split units are made to an incremental performance scale, meaning only certain working load sizes are available.DX systems are less expensive to install, and uses less space in mechanical and electrical rooms than centralized cooling systemsDX systems can be expanded in an incremental fashion to match changing building requirementsPackaged Systems have standardized operating performances per unit, allowing more precise system sizingPackaged Systems generally require less ventilation, and do not require dedicated condensate linesPackaged Systems occupy less space than comparable split systemsSplit Systems tend to be larger allowing for fewer units

, and therefore less maintenance costs than a comparable Packaged systemSplit Systems have lower noise levels because the compressor unit is located further away from the cooling load areaSplit Systems may allow vertical duct shafts to be smaller in size. Winnipeg MB R3E 2Z9 website design by Canada's Web ShopWith ducted or ductless mini-split systems, you only pay for and use as much or as little heating and cooling as you need at any given time in any given room? In technical terms, there are three primary components to making this possible. 1. An inverter-driven scroll compressor inside the outdoor unit (a.k.a. condenser, compressor) that adjusts its rotation speed, and the electrical draw, to precisely match the load requirements within each zone of the house or building. 2. Quiet, low-wattage fans in the “mini” air handlers and outdoor units modulate their speed to match the need of individual zones (air handler) and whole system demand (outdoor unit)

3. Dual electronic linear expansion valves (LEV) that adjust the amount refrigerant being delivered to all air handlers, and within each air handler, based on what each zone or all zones are calling for. In practical terms, it’s similar to a pay-as-you-go cell phone, where the user only pays for the minutes used. No more, no less. With this technology, the users heat and/or cool as much or as little as they want, and only pay for what they use. The inverter-driven scroll compressor in the outdoor unit adjusts the amount of electricity, and the linear expansion valves adjust the amount of refrigerant, the hot and cold liquid that is used to condition the air being supplied to each zone, to deliver exactly the amount of heating and cooling needed at any given time in any given room and/or zone. The system only uses the energy it needs to do this, whether its a little or a lot. The mini air handlers (a.k.a. indoor fan coils), which range in capacity from 6,000 btu/h to 24,000 btu/h for residential, and up to 96,000 btu/h for commercial applications, are selected through a process that is based on the heat loss and gain calculations, a.k.a. load calculations.  

How many air handlers, how much air needed, and how that air is delivered to each room or zone, are the remaining steps in the  process. Outdoor units can have as few as one (1), and as many as eight (8) air handlers in residential applications, and up to sixty-four (64) units in commercial. This is what gives these systems their name “mini-split” heat pumps, since conventional split systems have one outdoor unit and one indoor unit to serve individual or multiple zones. The “mini” refers to the multiple air handlers that are not only smaller in capacity, but also in physical size. IMAGE LEFT – Typical Wall-Mounted Ductless Air Handler IMAGE RIGHT – Typical Concealed Ducted Air Handler The air handlers can have ductwork and be concealed in a ceiling, attic or floor cavity to serve up to three or four rooms. OR, they can deliver the air without ducts with wall-mounted or recessed (in wall/ceiling) ductless units. Either way, these air handlers deliver air with a fan that is generally quieter than a human whisper.

Everything about these systems are variable, efficient, quiet, great for good indoor air quality, and extremely effective. What more would you want in an HVAC system? Contrary to what you might be thinking, or know, these systems can and DO work in all climate zones. They’ve been used in Europe, Asia, Canada, and South America for decades, and have proven themselves to be reliable. HVAC companies rave about how few call backs and/or repairs that there are with these systems. Generally, they can be as much as 30%-50% more efficient than conventional systems. Though they’re rated efficiency (at full capacity) ranges from 14 to 20 SEER, they rarely ever run at full capacity. This makes their real world efficiency seem higher. In fact, an alternate efficiency rating, called Integrated Energy Efficiency Ratio (IEER), is used to more accurately factor the variability of the equipment in to the rating. A final technical note: Conventional outdoor units (heat pump or air conditioner) draw about 25-40 amps of electricity when in use.