Going to be starting a pretty big remodel of my house this year. I have gas/forced hot water for heat. I want to put in central air.
What is better... a large A/C unit outside piped in or ductless (split?) units? i know ductless will be cheaper on the install but if the outdoor ac unit is better i would certainly try to fit that into the budget. the fact is i have never had central air so i really do not know which is better (from a performance point of view, not neccesarily cost).
appreciate any feedback!
With the mini-splits, you get more control. Each of my rooms has a ductless unit and everyone can control exactly what temperature they want their room to be. Since I've got heat pumps, I also use it for that period in the winter when it's still warm enough to not need the boiler to heat the whole house, but might need a little heat here or there.
More moving parts though, more things that can fail (although failure would typically mean losing 1-2 rooms instead of the whole house).
Upside to the central air unit - probably cheaper from an install perspective (although that depends on whether and how you have ducts run), you'd only have one unit instead of likely multiple compressor units (taking up space and possibly being an eyesore).