On 8/23/2013 12:18 PM, wrote:
On Friday, August 23, 2013 12:52:36 PM UTC-4, John Albert wrote:
Hello all -



I may be buying a house before too long, and a few questions

about installing air conditioning into a home that lacks it.

House will be ranch-style, 1600-1900 sq. ft. I have no house

in particular picked out yet, but some I'm interested would

be fine -- EXCEPT for the fact that they were not built with

air conditioning.



I'm wondering about the pros/cons of installing a "mini

split" system (with multiple "room units" or perhaps more

than one mini split unit), vis-a-vis going for central air...?



Just from casual browsing, it looks like mini split would be

considerably cheaper and easier to install than a full

central air system with ducting, etc. (the latter probably

involving a LOT of wall/floor work as well).



It depends on the house, what it already has, and how easy
or hard it is to run ducts. If the house has forced air
heating, then generally no new ducts are required. If it
has hot water heat, then a lot of ducts are required. How
much work that is depends on the layout of the house, ie
basement, crawlspace, etc.




Is central air worth paying the extra $$$ and installation work?

Or can mini split do as good a job, have equal reliability,

etc.?



MS is good for areas. One room or a few rooms. If you need
and want to cool the whole house, as most people do, then
central is what's needed. MS or even window AC can be used
as a supplement to central AC. If you have a room that has
a lot of sun exposure, isn't being cooled adequately by central,
or a room you spend a lot of time it, etc.

But if you're in an area with periods of high humidity, nothing
beats central air.



I'm also wondering if pre-existing ducting in some homes

that have either oil or gas hot air, could also be used with

a central air system?



Yes, they always are. Another option you should look at is the
new high velocity systems. They use air under pressure through
like 1.5" hoses to deliver it. They are more expensive, but might
be viable for a retrofit, because they use those hoses, not ducts.



You beat me to it. Johnstone Supply was carrying the units but all I see
on their site are the parts for it. O_o

http://spacepak.com/

TDD