Central AC vs. Ductless: Which Is Right for You?

One of the fastest-spreading big hits in the New York CIty HVAC world on the heels of conventional air conditioners and furnaces is the mini-split, working fully without ducts based on new technological innovation. Does the hot new commodity always equate to what’s best for your home environment and utilities though? That’s an issue that isn’t clear cut by any means. Sure it’s convenient to have climate controlled individually in every room, but is that going to end up hitting your pocketbook harder, or will it actually save you money instead?

How about the cost that will have to be fronted in the very beginning? Do you have the resources for each one? And will one of these perhaps save a homeowner from the gunk that’s floating around outside that could make family members sick or simply affected in little noticeable ways?

Today we are going to break down for you how exactly the traditional systems as well as ductless systems work and then go down a checklist of points to help you answer the title question for yourself.

Each of these accomplishes the same jobs in very different ways.

Duct-based Systems

The air conditioning systems homeowners have relied on for decades entails an outdoor compressor which pumps refrigerant into an indoor coil. Warm air from your home passes over this coil, where heat is absorbed and carried outside. The cooled air is then pushed through the ductwork and out of vents in each room.

Ductless Mini-Splits

It uses an outdoor condenser connected to one or more indoor air handlers mounted high on the wall or ceiling. Each indoor unit cools a specific zone or room, giving you direct control over the temperature in that space. Because there’s no ductwork, installation is less invasive, and energy loss is minimized.

Now let’s ask a series of questions to lead you toward your decision.

In the offchance that you already have had an AC repair system in the home that you’re living in, the cake is a little bit baked. The decision is almost made for you, taking 3 days max.

If it’s the other way around, you’re going to have to really sweat to remodel your ceiling and roof completely, because those vents would need room to put them in there. The other option, which is much recommended, is you could simply poke a small opening in the wall for the external unit to fuel the internal minisplit. It’s a match made in heaven for old and historic homes.

In NYC, you can have a minisplit like that done in a day for you and you’re all set. You’ll barely even notice the works are going on. The small hole for the conduit line is easy to seal too.

We all know that in a big family people get hot and cold under the same conditions. That particularly applies to people of different body masses – the larger you are, the more heat you trap in your body. On top of that, of course a business is going to want to control the air temperature in different ways. Particular supplies have to be kept in safe condition and energy needs to be used shrewdly to prevent wasting money on unused facility areas.

The same applies to saving money to avoid consuming electricity for unused bedrooms. Some of them you may indeed use, just seldom, for instance a guestroom.

On the other hand, it’s easy to use a central system that you can just adjust the thermostat for and the whole house is temperature-adjusted. It's set it and forget it, an automatic temperature maintenance system throughout. If your house is really big though, you’ll profit by getting a conventional AC.

WIth the older systems, you’re going to have parts mounted on the wall. Some people like a seamless look inside their interior, so they will resent these kinds of features. Mini-splits are the best at keeping smooth, consistent walls and ceilings.

Central AC systems naturally dehumidify air as they cool, and they can handle whole-home moisture removal better than separate unts.

Ductless systems avoid the 20–30% energy loss that can happen in ductwork. They also tend to have higher SEER ratings—often between 18 and 30+—and use inverter technology to maintain steady temperatures without frequent on-off cycling.You eventually save hundreds annually.

In a mini split, a single failure won’t cut off your home’s entire airflow. With ductless, each indoor unit operates independently. If one stops working, the rest keep running, so you’ll never lose cooling everywhere at once.

The efficiency of a central AC system depends on two main factors: the system’s SEER rating (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) and the condition of the ductwork.

The U.S. Department of Energy reports that so much as a third of cooled air escapes every which way. This means even a high-SEER central AC could cost more to run if your ducts aren’t in top shape. You’d be shocked to find out all the illusively obvious places it flows out of – your door frames, your windows, the cracks withn your walls.

Ductless Systems

Ductless systems often outperform central AC in energy efficiency because they eliminate duct losses entirely. Instead of cooling the whole home at once, you can run only the indoor units you need. They also use inverter technology, which allows the compressor to adjust speed rather than cycling on and off—this reduces energy spikes and keeps temperatures more consistent.

In both of these rival systems, you’re looking at somewhere around a decade and a half to two decades you could count on them lasting. The older systems though are built out of a lot more little parts. These include of course the outdoor condenser, the indoor coil, the blower, extensive ductwork, so maintenance is more involved than simply swapping a filter. That said, that 1-3 month frequency they have to be tend to is much more seldom than mini-splits. They need attention every two to four weeks.