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This Cary, IL homeowner had enough of struggling with a window-mounted air conditioner to keep the second-floor home office cool in the summertime. What’s more, his window unit was noisy providing a less than professional background on important phone calls. And truth be told, the room wasn’t cooling that well in the summertime and it was uncomfortably cold in the winter months.
The solution for this homeowner’s problem lay in the installation of a ductless mini split.
Now, our homeowner has really upped their game with a professional, quiet, home office that is a pleasure to enter – year round!
It’s also nice that there is no longer a twice-a-year struggle to lift and install a heavy window unit that will only solve their cooling problem for half the year anyway. They still needed some way to heat the office in the winter.
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Our homeowners elected to install a Daiken, Ductless Mini Split to address their cooling and heating needs. This system was specifically designed to provide energy-efficient air conditioning and heating. Since this system can both heat and cool, it means they can remove the window unit, and don’t have to worry about using a space heater in the winter.
The Daikin Aurora has a completely programmable thermostat that allows you to adjust the temperature, and set a schedule as well. If they forget to adjust the temperature, the systems’ programmable app will allow them to reset the thermostat remotely from an app on their phone, saving energy costs even when they aren’t home.
The ductless system is permanently mounted on the wall, so there is no need to struggle with heavy, bulky window air conditioners that block your light and provide unwelcome background noise.
The Daikin Aurora system is a heat pump. Its whisper quiet system works with refrigerants the way an air conditioner does. But that is where the similarities end.
Mini splits do a much better job of circulating air than a window unit. The Daikin Aurora uses an indoor air handler that mounts on the wall. You decide whether you want it high on the wall or low toward the floor. You control the comfort every step of the way!
These units condition the air by also acting as a dehumidifier – something that a window unit cannot do. Humidity control eases the amount of cooling you need, as the heat doesn’t linger in the moist air with lower humidity.
Outside is the condenser for the heat pump. This is where the transfer of heat happens, where it is run over a refrigerant line, and then either brought back inside the house to cool, or the process is reversed and the system creates heat.
This is where the energy savings come into play. The cycle of heating up the liquid and cooling it down once the heat is released happens mostly on its own. The heat pump itself uses just a small amount of electricity to run. Instead of using combustion like a furnace, this is a high-efficiency HVAC system that runs off of electricity.
We already know that the window air conditioner alternative is loud and cumbersome. Now we know that compared to the mini split, it is also an electricity beast, using way more than is needed to cool a room.
The mini split requires no messy ductwork to install. And ductless mini split installations can be done many times in one to two days. For this job, it took us just one day. If they had needed multiple zones, it may have taken longer.
The outside heat pump is a compact unit that can be nestled into the outdoor plantings and landscape. One thing – a heat pump does need access to air for circulation. So it is important to keep the heat pump clean and free of debris and dense plantings.
So for the first time, our homeowners had a quiet comfortable, and professional office environment. They were able to put away the sweaters since they no longer had frigid air blowing directly on them from the window AC. Plus they had the added benefit of extra light without the air conditioner blocking the window.
They now have total temperature control year-round – a definite plus over their old window air conditioner.
Another big win was the money they saved by purchasing an Energy Star-certified unit. The Energy Star designation means that this heat pump uses less electricity to provide the necessary heating and cooling power.
These customers have never been happier or more comfortable in this home office space. Cool in summer. Now warm, even heating in the winter, and energy savings to boot!