Like most appliances that we have in our homes, air conditioners offer a convenience that we not only enjoy, but couldn’t imagine a time being without. Yes, it’s true, we love our air conditioning and the cooling comfort that it provides in our homes when the climate outside is just too hot to handle.
Ductless Mini Split
If you’re looking to maximize your energy savings, this AC type just might be the perfect choice. Ductless mini-split units can be installed in each room of your home that requires cooling, and work to eliminate heat by way of a separate evaporator and fan for each room or space.
Ductless mini-splits allow you to control and customize the temperature in each room (thanks to separate units that can be set to a timer and adjusted to reach and maintain optimal temperature for each room) as opposed to having to run a traditional air conditioning unit, which typically disperses cool air throughout the home through installed ducts.
If your home is an older structure, ductwork may not have been a viable option due to design and lack of space, but ductless mini-splits solve that problem easily. Installation of these units is much easier compared to other systems, and you’ll not only enjoy its energy efficiency but also the fact that these units are typically less noisy than other options.
Should you also need to install or upgrade your home’s heating system, you can explore purchasing a ductless mini-split system with a heating component, or a heat pump. Be sure to consult with a professional or do your research to determine if a single, dual, triple or quad zone unit is ideal for you, depending on the number of rooms you are seeking to keep cool. These units are typically mounted onto a wall, and cost about $12,000 on average. Brands to explore are:
- Bosch
- Panasonic
- MRCOOL
- Ramsond
- GREE
Window Air Conditioner
This type of air conditioner is best chosen based on the size of the room or space that you are trying to cool off. The larger the space, the more BTUs (or British Thermal Unit, which is used to measure heat energy) your window AC unit needs to cool it. For small rooms of 100 to 350 feet, 5 to 8 thousand BTUs is good, whereas an AC unit with 18 to 24 thousand BTUs is ideal for larger spaces of 1,000-1500-plus feet.
Number of occupants, height of your ceiling and light levels will also play a factor in how many BTUs you’ll need for a particular room. Most air conditioners come with an installation kit, but you may need to have someone professionally install the unit for an additional expense. Some home improvement retailers may offer a special rate for this service with purchase.
Models with a timer and a remote control will allow you to adjust the fan speed and temperature of your AC, thus conserving energy. A window air conditioner cover should be used during the winter months to protect your AC from the harsher weather as well as to provide some insulation.
Be sure to determine the type of window that you intend to place the AC unit into—slider, casement or double-hung—and have the window measurements on hand as well so that you can properly size your window air conditioner before buying.
Portable Air Conditioner
Convenience of movement comes with owning this type of AC unit, which is a compact stand-up unit (typically on wheels) that can be moved around from room to room or space to space at will for maximum convenience. An exhaust hose installed into a nearby window allows the machine to cool the room’s air while releasing the unwanted warm air outside.
These units not only cool the air, but they also remove moisture from the air, a feature known as self-evaporation. Depending on the size and type of unit you select, your portable AC may need to be drained of the water it accumulates as a result of collecting moisture from the air. Typically, these units require their filters to be cleaned with some degree of regularity—perhaps as much as twice a month.
Some portable ACs have Wi-Fi capability as well as heating capabilities that can be considered upgrade features, but be sure to select a model with enough BTU capability to cool the desired room.
Floor Mounted AC
Think of this type of air conditioner as the “opposite” or bottom version of the ductless mini units. Whereas those are installed high on a room’s wall, close to the ceiling, floor-mounted air conditioners are installed on or close to the floor, sometimes right under a window.
This type of unit can be installed in a window, but most people opt for this type of air conditioning if wall space is unavailable or the window design (extremely large or sleek glass windows, for example) eliminate wall-mounted or standard window AC units as viable options.
Most units in this style allow you to adjust the direction of the airflow with rotating mechanisms called levers, or louvres. Floor mounted units come in the ductless mini split style as well.
Hybrid / Dual Fuel Air Conditioner
These air conditioners incorporate two different types of heating and cooling technologies into one unit or system. Also known as a “hybrid heat pump” this style of unit is ideal if you live in an area that has both cold- and warm-weather months, as it allows you to both heat and cool your living spaces at will.
This not only allows you to save space because you no longer require two separate machines to heat and cool, but it works to maximize energy by moving hot air that has been cooled into the house and vice versa. The heating component of this HVAC is preferable to the high cost of boilers and furnaces.
Smart Air Conditioner
With the ability to connect to Wi-Fi, smart air conditioners optimize your ability to control your unit and thereby the temperature of your home remotely. In addition to alerting you when the filter needs to be replaced, you can program your smart AC to operate on a desired energy-saving mode and have an auto restart, should your home temporarily lose power.
Geothermal Air Conditioner
Geothermal air conditioning units offer the most energy-efficient cooling option of all the various air-conditioning options, but it’s fair to note that it can be quite costly to set up. Whereas you may pay a pretty penny for the initial install, once this unit gets to working by pumping cool (and sometimes hot, depending on your unit) air into your home through an underground piping system using thermal energy produced naturally by the earth, you end up saving big—an impressive 50% to 70% typically—in energy costs.
Geothermal air conditioners use refrigerant to cool the evaporator coils inside of this unit before releasing it into your home.
Saddle Air Conditioner
If you can envision an air conditioning unit that utilizes a window for proper installation but is not installed “in” the actual window, you’ve captured the essence of this latest style of AC. As the name suggests, this type of AC “straddles” the width of the base of your window, and typically requires very little to install.
If your window offers a prime view that you’d prefer to maintain so that you can enjoy it at your whim, or if a window sans a light-blocking air conditioning unit offers prime sunlight that you just can’t live without, the saddle air conditioner is a great option. Like traditional window ACs, saddle air conditioners should be measured to make sure they can accommodate the window of choice.
These units are a bit pricier than regular window ACs because they are fairly new to the market, but you might not mind paying premium dollars for a machine that’s gotten accolades for offering quiet cooling.
