split air conditioner

[jross]

We are contemplating replacing our window air conditioners with split units. Anyone have any experience with these types? They don't seem hard to install

[Pat]

I assume you are talking window units still, not central. The only thing even close with which I have personal experience is "Bard" units which were hung on the outside wall, had their air return as a grill leading through the wall, but had some provisioin for ducting the supply air if you wanted to do it and they had a remote thermostat.

I bought two of the largest window units that Sears sold and mounted them next to the windows where our design and development team had a decent sized space. I set them on pedestals comprised of 3 inch diameter posts set in the ground with flat sheet metal platforms on top. We had to get a demo hammer to blow a hole through the black top parking lot to set the posts and I used replaced disk brake rotors off my wife's Mercedes 300 Turbo Diesel sedan as load spreading flanges between the pipe and the sheet metal.

This way the load was not supported by the window frame and the vibration was partially isolated from the building's wall so it was quieter. These were very efficient units. the fan blade that blows air across the condensor coils catches the condensate and throws it into the condensor to it gets evaporative cooling. Clever design.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[GaryM]

Unlike Pat, I'm thinking you mean the units made by Sanyo, Mitsubishi, and other where the outside unit is set on a pad and the inside unit is hung on a wall. Only the refrigerant and electrical lines penetrate the wall.

Here a web site of interest: Split Units

A fellow here at work installed on on his room addition two years back. He's well satisfied with the performance

[twstanley]

I've seen those split units working in tents ( big 20 - 60 person tents in Kuwait and Iraq ). We weren't in those tents during the hottest part of the year but they did work decently on the few warm days we had in the fall/winter and the heaters worked decently ( when I could control the knuckleheads from putting them on a/c because they liked sleeping in arctic conditions that is ).

I would think it would be a nice system for a house without central a/c, at least it wouldn't be blocking a window.

You still have the problem of unequal cooling, the room where that unit is will be cold, the rooms at the other end of the house may be hot. Maybe you could run the fan on the furnace to move the cool air thru the house....

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] Actually, being the air conditioning Junkie that I am, I consider that setup to be a good mid-step between central air and window units. The split system isn't burdened by the space and design compromises that hold packaged window units hostage, and can therefore have a much more efficient condenser. I think that the wire-to-ice overall efficiency is better, AND.....you aren't listening to the compressor all night as you sleep. PLUS....the one-room-at-a-time-aspect of the system automatically gives you "zone" air conditioning, similar to a four-pipe chilled water/hot water system as used in many hotel-motel applications. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]