Adding air conditioning to a sunroom helps make it usable for more time during the summer. Without cooling, it can become too hot to enjoy in the dead of summer. And, ductless units are a great way to add excellent climate control to your addition.

Sunrooms, or Florida rooms, are a fantastic addition to any home. They add more living space without for a fraction of the price and hassle of an addition to your home. And, just as the name implies they’re a great way to soak up the sunshine while staying indoors.

However once it becomes too hot out, they aren’t always as pleasant. Sunrooms are essentially just enclosed patios. Because of this, they usually aren’t connected to the home’s heating and cooling system.

As a result, they don’t get much, if any cooling from the house’s air conditioning. That can make the room uncomfortably hot in the dead of summer. And, the area will get even warmer than other spots. That’s thanks to all the windows letting in sunlight, as the name implies.

The sunlight raises the temperature in this room more so than in others. First, the amount of sunlight itself means more heat comes in. Next, the glass magnified that heat as it enters.

Finally, the heat doesn’t move. If the windows are all shut, there’s no breeze to disperse it. That’s when you get those bright, hot spots.

Adding air conditioning to your sunroom, then, makes it more comfortable for more time each year. With some cooling, you can enjoy it no matter how hot it gets outside.

There are plenty of options for cooling off an area like this. But, they’re not all equal. If you have central air, you can add on to that system. But, the ductwork alone is costly. And, you may not get the effect you want.

Portable air conditioning or window units are options too. But, they cost a lot to run. They’re also loud and not as efficient as other units.

Ductless systems, however, are becoming a popular choice. They combine the flexibility of portable units with the power of a central air system. And, they don’t cost nearly as much in energy bills.

Cool Your Sunroom With A Ductless Unit Mini-Split System.

A ductless unit mini-split system offers powerful cooling exactly where you need it. It works on its own, so you don’t have to pay to add ductwork and a vent in your sunroom. And it is more powerful and much quieter than old window units.

Here’s how it works: an outdoor heat pump generates the cold air. This part of the process is similar to a regular ac condenser.

The treated air then travels through thin, flexible tubing, or piping. The tubes are made of plastic and are less than three inches thick. Our installers can feed them through the house behind the walls. They won’t need to take up any extra space or tear anything down to set it up.

At the other end is a unit that distributes the air. It’s white rectangular unit that we mount to a wall. The piping connects to the back so you never actually see it.

That’s where the name “ductless” comes from: You don’t use regular ductwork and vents to distribute the air. This setup allows us to place the unit wherever we need it.

Installing a mini-split system doesn’t require us to build, design and install ductwork. That alone carries a hefty price tag. Instead, we can have the new system up and running in less than a day.

A mini-split can also provide heat. That’s an option portable, or window, air conditioners don’t offer. Adding heat means getting even more use out of your Florida room. Now, you can enjoy it even when the weather’s cold.

And, that’s not the only difference. This system is also whisper-quiet and doesn’t require a lot of maintenance. Compare that to the dull roar of a window unit, and how you need to clean it out every season, so it works correctly.

Creating Zoned HVAC With Ductless Units

A ductless system offers heating and cooling in different zones of your home. Each unit handles a separate room. That gives you flexibility in setting the temperature.

In this case, the room is its own HVAC zone. You can use the thermostat on the unit to make the area any temperature you like. It doesn’t have to follow the thermostat for the rest of the home.

That makes a big difference. When the whole house runs from one thermostat, you end up with uneven heating.

Here, the room you’re treating will naturally be hotter than most of the other rooms in our home. That’s also similar to how the bedrooms on the second floor are often warmer in the summertime than the downstairs, and colder in the winter.

Uneven heating occurs when the heating or cooling system uses one thermostat for the entire house. The thermostat measures the temperature in just the room it’s in. Then, the system warms or cools the home accordingly.

However, when other rooms are warmer or colder, they get treated according to the thermostat. If those rooms take longer to treat, then they won’t get proper climate control. The system will turn off before that happens.

By contrast, zoned HVAC handles each area on its own. The unit in the Florida room will work they do the job, even if the rest of the house is already cooled.

And, once you’ve installed that unit, you can expand later into other parts of the home. If those bedrooms, for instance, are always too hot or cold, a second or third unit can take care of that.
Ductless air conditioning is energy-efficient and saves you money

An important benefit of a ductless mini-split system is its price. The cost to install a full system closer to that of central air conditioning than using ductless units. But, there’s a big difference in what you’ll pay after that.

A ductless system is more energy-efficient than those other options. That means they use more energy to provide the same amount of cooling. And, since they use less energy, they cost less on your monthly utility bills.

Just about every mini-split system has an Energy Star certification. That means they meet government standards proving they use less energy than other systems that do the same job.

As a result, you can often save money on installation as well. Most states have groups that offer incentives for homeowners to install energy-efficient HVAC equipment. Those come in the form of cash rebates.

Therefore, checking on this is important before choosing your mini-split. You may get anywhere from a few hundred to a thousand or more dollars back. It depends on where you live and what you’re installing.

Either way that makes a significant dent in your installation cost. While it’s probably already cheaper than adding on to your central unit, a rebate makes that price even lower.

Virtually every part of a ductless system makes it more efficient. For instance, the piping is sealed tight. Unlike ductwork, no treated air can leak out along the way. That means the system doesn’t have to work extra to make up for lost air.

And, the units do a better job than ducts or window units when it comes to distributing the air. Consider, for instance, that any portable ac unit is never fully installed. They are made so you can quickly take them in and out of a room. As a result, plenty of that cold air escapes out the window where you put the unit.

The units, on the other hand, are entirely inside the room. This setup prevents a lot of that treated air from escaping before it affects the zone.

Between the cost, flexibility, and efficiency, it’s not hard to see why ductless units are such a popular option for rooms like these.

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