Heating and cooling split systems guide

Heating and cooling split systems advice, Online tools and equipment tips, Efficient building heat help

Heating and cooling: Are split systems more efficient?

31 May 2021

One interesting approach you can try for your climate control these days is the split system air con systems. Split systems for heating and cooling have a number of advantages such as efficiency.

Heating and cooling split systems guide

Energy Star and Split Systems

Split systems, also known as “ductless” systems are different from traditional systems in a number of ways. For starters, if the split systems are Energy Star certified by the government then it means that they are more efficient because they can both cool and heat through a single device.

This device is called a heat pump. The way this works is that a split heat pump system uses both an indoor unit and an outdoor unit. The two are connected using something called a refrigerant line. You only need a three-inch hole in your outdoor wall to make this work during installation. You can connect up to 8 different indoor units to just one outdoor unit.

This is why this is called a split system.

Excellent Efficiency

One of the reasons why the system is considerably more efficient than other climate control systems is because you can set the controls differently for every room of your house, or at least for as many rooms or areas you have units. This way, you can actually turn off power for parts of your house where you don’t need energy, for example.

On top of that, the units are transferring heat instead of generating it. So, they can spend as much as 60% less energy than more traditional systems that make use of electric systems for creating or removing heat.

How Split Systems Help

These systems are particularly useful in systems that had electric heat using a highly inefficient approach previously. For example, a furnace or baseboard, or something like electric radiant heat, along with an inefficient cooling approach. Instead, you can use the one split system to replace all of that.

In situations where you have no ducts in your house at all, due to it being older, split systems can be of great help. In addition to allowing you to avoid the expense of putting in ductwork everywhere, you can also get a system that is far more efficient anyway.

Areas with High Costs

If you live in an area where fuel and energy are particularly costly, these systems can help you save a significant amount of money. You will need to use far less electricity to get both the cooling and the heating system working the way that you want.

Colder Climates

In situations where you live in a colder climate, sometimes a heat pump can struggle a bit more since the heat pump has to use more energy to get heat from the air outside. However, there are new options for this that use special refrigerants and compressors to work much better in colder temperatures. These are called Heating Seasonal Performance Factor devices from Energy Star. If you look for one of these, then they can work well with split ductless systems.

Comments on this guide to Heating and cooling split systems article are welcome.

Air Conditioners Articles

Air Conditioners Posts

Need to Have an HVAC Repair Done

How can HVAC estimate software save time and money

When You Have Your HVAC Unit Replaced

What are the benefits of air conditioning services

Building Articles

Residential Architecture

House Designs

Interior designs + architects

House Extension Designs

OUTSIDE the Box, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Design: Weiss Architecture & Urbanism Limited with Wonder Inc.
Outside the Box Toronto Ontario
image courtesy of architects
OUTSIDE the Box

Comments / photos for the Heating and cooling split systems tips page welcome