For years I had relied on central air conditioning in order to cool my home. I had ductwork stretched in the walls and air vent openings right by the ceiling. The idea is that central AC provides whole home temperature control in the summer. No room in the house doesn’t get AC. Everybody is equal and you have one thermostat to set the house temperature. I was never a fan of my central cooling system though. The energy loss through the ductwork was a constant pain. I had to get frequent ductwork sealing appointments and I was nuts about having clean air ducts. I also did not always want every room in the house cooled. It was expensive to cool and totally unnecessary.
When I moved and bought a new house, I decided to change my cooling situation. The house I purchased did not have already existing ductwork. The home only relied on the window AC units, which the homeowner took with them. It was totally up to me what I wanted to do in terms of air conditioning. I started hunting online trying to come up with the best solution. I did not want to deal with dragging window AC down from the attic every summer. I did not like the look of portable cooling taking up every window in the house too. I also was concerned over how much electricity individual units would suck up. I then googled around and found that a lot of people rely on ductless mini splits.
The price tag on the mini split immediately caught my attention. It was not as much money as I originally expected. The house also would not have to be destroyed in the process. In order to set up central AC, the walls and ceiling would need to be torn down. After that, new walls, paint, light switch covers, and many more elements of the home would have to be replaced. Not only is the process invasive, but it is so expensive! With a mini split, a small three inch hole is drilled into the wall for the conduit. Afterwards, wiring and refrigerant tubing are fed through the wall to the outdoor air compressor. It is an easy, cheap and simple AC installation for that unit.