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But it pays to be smart about selecting the right air conditioning system because you have many options to choose from. Below we take a look at the pros and cons of each unit or system to help you decide which is the best option for your home. There are four main types of home air conditioning units and systems that function on the principle of removing heat, however, when it comes to efficiency levels, design and the ability to provide comfort, results can vary. These popular AC units are designed to fit in double- and single-hung windows. Usually installed in apartments or homes with no central air conditioning. Similar to window units, these do not go into a window but stand on the floor. They draw in air, remove heat and moisture, and vent cool, dry air back into your home. Hot, humid air is vented through an exhaust hose, which must be out of a window. Portable air conditioning units are only a better option to window units if your window size doesn’t accommodate a window unit or if you can’t lift heavier window AC units.

A ductless mini-split AC system is basically a heat pump without ductwork. what makes a window ac unit freeze upIt has two main components:package ac unit reviews Ductless mini-split AC systems are a perfect solution for older homes without ductwork, smaller homes and add-ons where adding ductwork isn’t feasible. new ac window unitSome ductless systems have the highest efficiency ratings of any type of AC system. A central AC system is the most comprehensive way to cool your home. The system distributes cooled air through ductwork with return and supply registers in every room of the home. Every system component is located outside, except for the air handler, which is usually shared with the furnace. If you’re looking for the best whole-house cooling, and already have ductwork in your home, this is the best AC option.

When picking the right air conditioning system for your home, always consider the size you need. An undersized unit won’t keep up on the hottest days. An oversized unit will short cycle, wearing out parts faster and won’t give the unit a chance to dehumidify the space. If you choose a central or ductless mini-split air conditioning system, a licensed professional contractor sizes the unit for you, to match your cooling needs. It’s just one more reason to opt for a professionally installed home air conditioning system. for Through the Window, Window Units, Portable Air Conditioners or other LG Products2012 was a hot one. We’ve had at least 31 days over 90F, something which hasn’t happened since 1988, and July 2012 was the second warmest July on record in the Twin Cities. This is a departure from the norm; for example the average number of 90F days is 13 – we almost tripled it this year.  The 1930’s homes in our neighborhood weren’t built with AC, and retrofitting ductwork is tough. 

And although I obsess over our energy use like some people obsess over Kim Kardashian, we do have to be able to function on those sweltering days.   Last year we struggled through the hot week with a single 8,000 BTU window unit upstairs, which was cumbersome, noisy, ineffective, and inefficient. This year we decided to give in and install something more efficient, permanent, attractive, and convenient – a Fujitsu ductless mini-split AC (our model is here). These units come in various configurations, but simple ones like ours have an outdoor compressor/condenser similar to central AC and a single indoor air handler that hangs on the wall.  Refrigerant, power, and control lines run back to the outdoor unit.  Because it’s a matched set, and because there are no ducts to blow through a hot attic and leak air, they can be very efficient – ours is 25 SEER, 13.8 EER for cooling.  For comparison, Energy Star standards for central AC require >=14 SEER/ >=11 EER. We weren’t going for perfect comfort, just something to keep it tolerable, and keep the upstairs cooler at night for sleeping. 

One consideration with these units is that they are a single point of conditioning, and distribution can be an issue*.  We installed only one unit at the top of the stairs, figuring some cold air could fall and hot air could rise.  If we’d been going for more consistent whole-house comfort, at least one more head would have made sense, and we may still do that in the future. In the end, we selected a single 12,000BTU (1 ton) unit after doing a whole-house heat gain analysis to determine the necessary cooling capacity.  I contacted the fine folks at The Neighborhood Energy Connection in Saint Paul to do the analysis. Overall, it’s been pretty good.  We put it in just before a perfect storm of hot:  103F days, both sides of the family visiting, and a birthday requiring use of the oven to bake a cake.  That was a struggle, but it kept things reasonable – around 80F downstairs – and much drier, which makes a huge difference.  Distribution was a bit of an issue; it’s hard to cool a hot kitchen with a unit on the 2nd floor.

Here might be a more representative day: Sept 11 2012 had a high of 93F.  We closed the house and set the unit to 74F at about 11:00AM, and turned it back off around 7pm.  The bigger spikes are likely the espresso machine.  Stuff later in the evening is cooking & running the dishwasher. The graph shows indoor & outdoor temperatures, solar PV power production, and household power use.  Outdoor temp peaked at 93F at 4pm, and indoor temps on the first floor peaked at about 76.5F around 1pm.  On the energy side, we used 13kWh and produced about 13.5kWh.  If we’d anticipated a string of hot days, we would have just left it on 24/7 to keep things cool and dried out. In July 2011, with the window unit struggling to keep up, we used 33kWh-38kWh per day for the hot days.  In July 2012, with the mini-split running 24/7 on the hottest days, we used between 19kWh and 28kWh per day – quite an improvement. The unit can also work in reverse, as an air-source heat pump, with an HSPF of 12.0, meaning for every BTU watt-hour it consumes, it moves 12 BTUs of heat into the house. 

Converted to Coefficient of Performance, this indicates that it transfers about 3.5 units of energy into the house for every unit of energy it consumes – or 3.5x more efficient than a resistance space heater.  It maintains rated heating capacity down to 20F outside, and continues to function even in -5F weather. I haven’t yet decided if we’ll use it much for heating, but it might make sense in the “shoulder seasons” when our 83 AFUE boiler would be operating infrequently and at lower efficiency.  Because these electric units can heat and cool so efficiently, they are often used in the design of well-insulated net-zero or near-net-zero homes with PV installed. Overall I’m pleased with this thing.  It’s quiet, efficient, attractive, and made the hottest weeks quite tolerable.  It helps that we’ve done air-sealing and insulation of our home, so the single unit is better able to meet our cooling load.  I may experiment with sun control screens on the south windows next year to cut down on solar heat gain.