At Snowflake Air, we hear a lot from people whose bedrooms are too hot in the summer. This problem affects homes everywhere, not only in Idaho. And it’s getting worse.
Deleted: Generally speaking, summers are getting hotter and hotter. Now, homes where a little extra heat used to be bearable are suddenly too uncomfortable for a good night’s sleep.
When central air won’t cut it, and window ACs are too loud, inconvenient, or expensive, people don’t know what to do. Fortunately, there’s a solution that’s been getting more and more popular nationwide over the last decade: Mini splits, also known as ductless heating and cooling.
In this article, we’ll look at why, exactly, your bedroom is always too hot in the summer. Then, we’ll look at how ductless heating and cooling works.
Finally, we’ll compare those systems to the more traditional ones to see how they stack up.
Meanwhile, if you have any questions or want to know how a ductless system could work in your home in or near Meridian, ID, call or email us for a free consultation.
Whey Are My Bedrooms Too Hot in the summer?
Your bedrooms get too hot in the summer because heat rises to the top floor of your house. In the warm weather, there’s nowhere else for it to go, so it stays there. If you have central air, a thermostat on the first floor won’t help because the gauge doesn’t take the second floor into account.
Let’s break these two factors apart a little further.
First, we’ll deal with the air circulation and how heat behaves. We all know hot air rises. There’s a problem when it has nowhere to go.
In the winter, this phenomenon leaves your bedroom too cold. The heat keeps moving up and out because the air outside is colder, and heat naturally moves toward colder air. For this reason, it’s especially hard to keep rooms with high ceilings warm in the winter.
But in the summer, the sun’s beating down and heating your attic or crawl space. That gives you heat beating down from outside, and heat rising from your first floor.
No wonder you feel like you’re in a sauna.
Central Air on the Second Floor
Next, you have the limitations of central air. The problem isn’t power: Your system should be strong enough to do the job. Instead, it’s that different rooms in your home need different treatment.
Most likely, your thermostat is downstairs in the living room or dining room. You set it to, say, 69 degrees. Then, the AC kicks on whenever the temperature in that room goes above the call setting.
The problem is that it can be five to ten degrees hotter upstairs. But, the thermostat doesn’t account for this difference. Instead, it shuts off way before the bedrooms cool off. Once again, the issue even worse with cathedral-style rooms: It’s even harder to cool rooms with high ceilings.
That’s why window units remained popular: You could put one in the hottest room and cool it individually. But, those ACs are loud, a real pain to put in, and they make your bills skyrocket — especially if you’re also running central air.
That’s where mini splits come in.
Read More: How Much Does A Mini Split Cost for Homes in Boise, ID and Valley County?
How Ductless Heating and Cooling Works
Ductless heating and cooling works by using coolant running in a closed loop to deliver powerful, silent heat or air conditioning anywhere in the house. You can control the temperature in each room individually, and you don’t need ductwork to connect it all.
We call these systems “mini splits” because the process gets split between air handlers in your home and a heat pump outside.
Heat Pumps and Air Handlers
Inside, we put an air handler in every room you want to treat. It’s your choice to fix one problem room, install multiple units to manage the entire home, or design something in between.
Each air handler has a built-in thermostat and controls. That means you set the temperature for each one individually. Then, they work separately to maintain the temperature where you installed them.
Imagine if you had a thermostat in every room, and every vent could work apart from the others. That’s what this is like.
And, the air handlers use special sensors and fans to find hot and cold spots within a room — great especially for open-floor plans or rooms with high ceilings.
Outside, the heat pump gets rid of heat in the summer — or delivers heat in the winter. It uses a compression and transfer process that requires far less electricity than conventional air conditioning.
Line Sets
The final touch here is connecting the indoor and outdoor components — without using big, bulky ductwork.
Instead, all we do is run a line from the heat pump to each air handler. That way, a refrigerant liquid, or coolant, can run in a closed loop between the components. The coolant carries heat in or out of the house.
The lineset is small enough that we often run it behind the walls like electrical wiring. Installation is quick and easy, and most times, you never even notice it.
Read More: How Do Mini Splits Work?
Ductless Vs. Central Air and Window ACs For Bedrooms
Ductless gives you the best of both worlds compared to central air or window units. You get the power and convenience of central air while zeroing in on one room like a portable unit. And, you get an electric bill that’s way, way lower than with either of the older options.
Read Real Case Studies Of Mini Split Installations In Boise Metro and Valley County
Since we permanently install each air handler, there’s no dragging a unit in and out of storage in the spring and fall. You also don’t give up sunlight by blocking out part of the window.
Meanwhile, having a thermostat in each room gets rid of that pesky five-to-ten degree differential you get when you rely on a single measure for the entire house.
Also, you don’t have to shout over your cooling! Ductless is whisper-quiet. There’s no more turning up the TV or speaking louder than you should just to stay cool.
Read More: Rebates and Financing Options For Treasure Valley Heat Pump and Mini Split Installations
Heat Pump and Mini Split Installation in Meridian, ID
As a certified Diamond Dealer for Mitsubishi, we believe ductless heating and cooling is the best option for older homes, new construction, and everything in between. When customers come to us with problems like bedrooms that are too hot or cold, they’re amazed at how well this solution works.
As a result, we’re seeing heat pump and mini split installations in Meridian, ID homes becoming more popular. The same goes from other Boise Metro areas, and as far as Cascade and McCall in Valley County. If you’d like to learn more, download our free product guide. Or, call or email us at Snowflake Air for a free consultation.
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