Central AC vs Ductless Mini Split Systems | Plumber Sherwood Park
Hey everyone. Welcome back to the Hinse Brothers Mechanical YouTube channel. My name’s Trevor, and this is Adrian Hinse . He is one of the three brothers who started Hinse Brothers Mechanical just a few years ago, um, in Sherwood Park. And they are doing a bang up job out there. They’re, they’re really growing.
They’ve also, uh, acquired a plumbing company so they can offer great plumbing services as well as furnace service furnace. Um, the installations, air conditioning, mini split systems, you name it, these guys can do it. So with that, uh, today we’re gonna be talking about central air conditioning versus mini split systems. Okay? Now as we do, we start up with a quote, and this quote that you chose was from Dr. Seuss. And I, I love it because it rhymes. Um, you have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. And that’s true. And I think that when you’re thinking about mini split systems in central ac, you should choose Hinse Brothers Mechanical, whether you’re in Sherwood park, Beaumont, or the Edmonton area, getting some, uh, air conditioning for those hot summer nights. I tell you what, it’s very beneficial.
We’ve had air conditioning in our homes for the last several years, and I don’t think I could live without it, and I don’t think you would either. So, moving on, um, 67%. Now I found this quote, uh, or the statistic a little bit crazy. 67% of Albertans don’t have or don’t want to buy air conditioning. I don’t get it.
Times are changing. times Are changing 67%. That’s, that, that’s too high a number. I’m sorry, but you, 67% of people are nuts. But anyway, that’s just me. Uh, so moving forward, having something that would be, uh, better, uh, on energy conservation and still provide heating and cooling, even if it’s just in your room, a mini split system is the way to go. So I’m gonna jump right into the questions here for you, Adrian. I hope you’re ready.
I’m ready. All right. Okay.
First one, what is a ductless mini split system?
So a ductless mini split system is actually a system that doesn’t use duct work. Perfect. So in any situation, uh, it’s actually what it’s based on is, uh, an outdoor unit coupled with some indoor units. Those, okay. So you can actually have one unit control up to five different indoor fan coils. Okay. So these units, typically today, the multi-zone units, they will produce heat and cooling.
Oh, wow. Yeah. In Alberta, they’re not to be used as, uh, like your sole heat source. But they can, they can do heating up, uh, as low as, uh, minus 25 in some cases, minus 30 degrees. Okay. So most of the time you could be using these highly efficient units Excellent. To heat Or cool Your home. Nice. I I like the sound of that. So you can provide some extra heat if you, if you need it. That’s right. Awesome. So let now let’s talk to the, uh, about the central air conditioner.
What is a central air conditioner?
So a central air conditioner, um, is like the primary type of forced air heating in, in cooling in, you know, Canada mostly. Um, what it requires is an outdoor unit coupled with an indoor fan coil or furnace. Okay. And that’s actually ducted throughout the home. So you’ll have a central location, your mechanical room usually. Yeah. Which will produce the heat and it will transfer that heat through a series of ducts into the different rooms in your home.
Hey Adrian. Um, how do you decide now, like how would somebody decide between getting a central AC and a mini split system?
Well, probably the be, or the best way to decide whether or not you need a central air conditioner or a ductless system would be the equipment you have right now. Like if you’ve got duct work in your home and you’ve got a central location for the heating, um, that’s likely the best way to go. Uh, that being said, if your heating system or your cooling system isn’t working properly Yeah. In some rooms of the home, we could add a supplemental, uh, ductless, mini split system to, um, temper the, the temperature of that room.
Yeah. So, um, things like a master bedroom or, um, maybe a bonus room. Right. So tell me a little bit about that when you’ve done recently for a client.
So we’ve got a client who, she’s got a boiler system in her home. You know, it’s great in the winter time, gives them all the heat they need, but in the summertime they’ve just realized that over the years it’s just getting hotter and hotter every year. Right, right. And there’s no way to cool this home off.
So, um, by using a combination of two different ductless split systems, we used one to cool off the kitchen and the living room, each room actually has a dedicated thermostat in the remote control. Mm. Nice. So they can dial in the temperature that they want. Um, upstairs they had three bedrooms and a large bonus room that were just cooking hot. Oh
Man, that’d be so hard.
Yeah, it’s tough. And we were able to put a system in there that actually controls all four rooms.
Wow. That’s really good. That’s right. Yeah. That’s really good. Yeah. So each one of those people can have, can dial in their, their, uh, air conditioning or what they want for, for cooling for the summer, and I think that is awesome.
Yeah. It’s actually fantastic and the rooms that you’re not using, you can just turn it off.
Yeah. And that’s, that’s another thing as well. ’cause when you have central ac you know, it, it’s just kind of going and running and, you know, trying to to heat or cool a whole house and it’s based off of one thermostat in one area, typically. Now with these, you can set your own zone, uh, for, for cooling or just for fan or what have you. And, uh, you know, I think that, you know, a lot of people would really enjoy having that option. Right.
That too. And some people are, have the idea that I can just close some vents and change the temperature in different rooms. But the problem is, um, with most central air conditioning systems, they, they need a lot of air flow. So what happens if you start closing too many vents in the home, it’ll actually freeze the system out. Right. So, um, they do need adequate amount of air flow for them to function properly. Right.
So there you have it guys. You, you need to, to probably get a, uh, mini split system as well as a central AC depending on your situation. And especially if you have that a boiler or, or like radiate heating, very, very much. You need some kind of an AC system. Alright, so next, um, what are the benefits of a central air conditioner? We talked a little bit about the, uh, the mini splits. Let’s talk about some benefits of the central air.
So a central air conditioner actually functions quite well in the larger home.
So the, the upfront costs aren’t quite as as expensive. Okay. You know, so if you do have the duct work, you know, um, it’s probably more efficient in a larger home to use a central air conditioner. Nice. A lot of homes will have two furnaces, so they do require two air conditioners, but, uh, the costs are a little bit lower than having to do a ductless mini split system in the different areas if you’ve already got the duct work in place. Um, that being said, if you don’t have the duct work, you, you’re limited to options.
Gotcha. So you have to make that decision based on, on, you know, if you’re just planning on building, think about these things folks. Think about what you really want, if you really want that, uh, radiant heat. Uh, the in-floor heating or hydronic heating, it feels really nice. Like it’s, you know, wrapped in a nice warm blanket and you’re never really cold. The warm the floor is always nice and warm. Um, and it just permeates through the whole house, which is awesome.
However, um, having that having some kind of air movement in your house is very good. Absolutely. So there’s there, there’s different options out there and, um, Adrian can consult you on those different options, um, whether it’s, you know, mini splits, central air or another type of system that could possibly help move air around your house and could add some cooling and stuff in there. I’m sure there’s gotta be ideas around that as well. Absolutely. So the next one is, let’s talk about the benefits of a ductless system.
So the benefits of a ductless system, um, one, if you don’t have duct work, you can use it to heat and cool your home. Two, they’re highly efficient operating units. So, um, these units are upwards of twice as efficient of a standard, um, duct or sorry, conventional air conditioning
System. Nice, nice. And um, as far as the, the sound, like they’re super quiet as well.
Absolutely.
They’re really quiet, man. We’ve got some here and you can’t even hear. They’re running, they’re awesome.
Yep. They’re quiet. So they increase your comfort that way. Less disturbance as well. Um, you can dial in the temperature in each room exactly where you want it. If in one room the guy likes it extremely cold, you know, he wants it 70 degrees, 68 or whatever, he can take that temperature there and, uh, you know, maybe the wife is next door and she likes to have it about 73 or 74. She can take care of that as well.
Nice. So you’ve got options and, and no fighting. It’s kind of like a dual climate control in your car. Uh, you can set it, uh, for the, either the passenger or the driver’s seat. Same kind of, uh, same kind of scenario. And there’s less fighting, less biting is important. So the next thing here, um, is any home or business able to choose between both systems? Now we kind of covered this a little bit, but let’s, let’s talk a little bit more about that.
So typically we would have to come out and do an assessment of your home or business, right? Um, we do want to check, see if you’ve got the duct work, if you’ve got the proper size furnace. Um, we want to see if we can actually, if you’ve got the power required to power these units as well. Right. It’s a, it’s an important part of it.
We have to do the full assessment, um, and we just basically check the different heating in the rooms and, and see where if, if you’ve got proper locations where we can install, um, fan coils on the walls with the ductless mini splits or what we need to do to optimize your situation.
Right. Okay. So these guys know what to do. They can come in, do an assessment for you and show you, um, you know, the different options that are available. Okay. Um, next, how does energy consumption compare between the central and the ductless?
Well, the ductless mini splits are highly efficient. One, you only use them in the rooms that you’re occupying usually. Right. So you could leave them at a nominal temperature unless you’re using the room and so you’re only cooling or heating the rooms that you need to. Right. Um, the other thing is the operational efficiency of a ductless mini splits are extremely high. So the measurement is a ser rating. Um, typically a high sear or sear efficiency for a conventional AC is about 16 sear. Okay. You can get the, uh, ductless mini splits well over 20 sear.
Wow. Wow. So quite a, quite a bit more efficient on the electricity usage, which is what, you know, it’s a kind of a big deal with all the pressure on the, the electrical grids and so forth. Um, I think it’s a, a smart move for a lot
Of people. Absolutely. All right.
Now, next, why might you need a ductless system when you already have central air?
Give us some more options here.
So we kind of went over this a little bit before. Um, there’s certain situations where you can’t control the temperature in a specific room or a couple of different rooms. Uh, ductless mini split is, uh, it’s a great option for this. Mm-Hmm. You can put the fan as long as you don’t mind seeing a fan on your wall. It’s actually, it’s quite a nice looking unit, but it’s super quiet. Mm-Hmm. And, uh, you can just dial in that temperature exactly where you want it.
Yeah, exactly. You, you, you do see, uh, a unit on the wall and I’ll, I’ll show some pictures in this video here, uh, what they look like. Um, but you know what, as, as far as uh, you know, your, your comfort is probably more important than what the thing is on the wall.
And if you really wanted to, you could probably call up some company and get it vinyl wrapped in whatever, uh, color shape tone or, or make it blend in with your, with your, uh, your environment if you wanted to. Um, ’cause it’s all, you know, hard plastic so you can, there’s options out there, like you’re not stuck. There’s options. Um, so now the upfront costs, let’s talk about some upfront costs comparison between the ductless mini split and the central ac.
So the upfront costs obviously are a little bit more expensive, so you’ve got more equipment. Um, each room will have a fan coil mounted usually on the wall, or there may be one, like a, a floor mount unit depending on the shape and size of the room. Sure. Um, the other thing, we have to have the outdoor unit and each of these have to be supplied with electrical and with refrigerant lines. Okay. So there’s a little bit more installation as well.
So upfront costs are a fair bit higher, but you do make up over the years in operational savings. So it’s definitely important to weigh the options and figure out exactly what’s right for you. Um, in some situations there’s, you are very limited to the choices, but, uh, the beautiful thing is there’s a solution to your problem one way or another. We can figure it out.
Yeah, exactly. And, and with the, uh, the mini splits, you also have to open up some, some walls to bring those lines in and, and there’s be some drywall repair that has to be done afterwards usually. So there’s, there’s a little bit of that to consider, but, you know, what is your, your personal comfort worth? What is that good night’s sleep worth to you?
Um, I think it’s, it’s a much better option than just suffering with some kind of a, a fan that’s just bulletin basically. It’s just cooling off your sweat that’s pouring off your body. Um, that’s not acceptable. I’m sorry. It’s just not. Um, but I’m, I’m biased. I like air conditioning. I, you know, I couldn’t live without it.
So the last question here that I have is how do we get the conversation started? How do we hire you guys?
Well that’s pretty easy.
Alright, You can look us up. Hinse Brothers Mechanical or Hinse mechanical.com. Um, send us a message, send us a text message. Um, give us a phone call at (780) 999-6900 and we’ll set up an assessment for you and get in there and see how we can best meet your needs.
Perfect. Alright, thanks Adrian for Thank you all of your help. And schooling us a little bit on central air conditioning and mini split systems. So guys, pick up the phone, give ’em a call, and, uh, stay tuned to the channel. We’ll have a lot more, uh, to come in the future. Thanks. Thank you.