If you live in a hot country, or even one that merely has hot summers, it is just lovely to be able to sit in your home without sweltering. In particular at night as being too hot can prevent you from getting a decent night’s rest. Likewise, when you are at work. We all know the pleasure of walking into a cool, air conditioned building, like a bank on a hot summer’s day.
Total air conditioning like this used to be the privilege of office blocks and the very rich, but it is becoming more general now. In fact, if you already have ducting throughout your house to be used in association with a central heating system, a total air conditioning package could cost as little as $4,000.
I know that $4,000 is not an insignificant amount, but if you do not have the ducting already, you can add another $3,000 to $4,000. These figures relate to a typical three or four bedroomed house or apartment.
A total air conditioning system like this will usually be adequate for seven rooms in one or two zones, which could be two small bungalows next door to each other or a house and a garage or shed. One good point about total air conditioning is that the whole house or just the ground floor can be cooled at the same time so that you can walk around the house as you normally would.
This is in direct disparity with split systems which only cool one room – every time you go out of the room, you let cool air out and warm air in, which makes the air conditioning system work more and costs you more money.
Total air conditioning has other less well-known features too. It lowers the humidity in a room or house by drying the air as it is returned to the unit for cooling and sophisticated units have filters with additional capabilities. The more sophisticated the unit, the more germs, bacteria and other substances (like pollen) the built-in filter will remove.
Because these filters can remove airborne substances they can significantly reduce a person’s affliction from allergies. Good air filtration can help asthma and hay fever sufferers considerably, if the filters are kept spotless.
In general, a total air conditioning system is divided into two major components – an outdoor condenser and compressor and an indoor evaporator in an air circulating system. The air circulation, or air handling system filters and dehumidifies the cooled air, and delivers it, via ductwork, to several rooms. Total air conditioning is frequently much quieter than split air conditioners, because the noise of the latter’s compressor is so much closer to where the cool air is needed.
It is much better to take the ducting into account at the construction stage of a new house as part of its heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, but it can be put in later. A good HVAC system should be designed to provide adequate cooling, heating, and ventilation, taking into account such factors as the dimensions of the building, the efficiency of its insulation and the regional climate.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with central air conditioning systems. If you are interested in Home Air Conditioning Systems, please click through to our site.