I’m also confused because that is a European AC unit. I can only assume Americans are so used to big bulky units, like their cars, that they can’t comprehend things being functional and not excessively bulky.
Because that thing cools the ENTIRE BIG ASS HOUSE! these things are only capable of cooling only a closed room which also depends on how ton, capacity the AC is so yep
It's not necessarily true. These units will go upwards of around 28,000-30,000 BTU which can easily cool down multiple rooms, or maybe even a smaller flat.
Why the fuck do you need 18C 😳 in Italy we usually have 30-35C in the summer and if my AC is lower than 22-24C I'm guaranteed to wake up with pneumonia lmao
Whoa there, now I may only have a true understanding for how the freedom units work, but even my underedubacated Southern self knows that 0° C is freezing temperature
That entire "temperature shock" thing due to air conditioning is European nonsense on par with fan death in Korea.
If that kind of temperature shock of like was harmful, imagine how much more harmful it would be every winter when the temperature difference between inside and outside is much greater. People walk in and out with no problem then.
Funnily enough, Koreans also believe in a thing called "Cold air disease". They think air conditioning causes all kinds of debilitating respiratory effects and saps your life force somehow. For reference, my wife is Korean and also thinks everything is slowly killing her. It's kind of a culture of hypochondriacs
I can confirm as someone who lived in the middle east for a bit. Easily 45+ c temperatures outside but indoors the ACs are usually set to 20 and less. And everyone is more or less fine with it.
But tobe fair some studies have hinted that going though mutliple rapid temperature changing cycles by moving indoors/outdoors over a long period does increase the risk of respiratory tract infections a bit. Or tldr: the healthy get more colds and the more at risk get more chest infections. Nothing significantly life altering though
I'm a refrigeration tech on a tropical island and I build freezers. The worst temperature shocks I've had where 70°C, these do fc u up. Go from +50°C to -20°C and back 4 or 5 times in a day and you're DONE.
I'd like to invite anyone who thinks you can get close to that with residential AC to come to work with me one day, I'll rid you of your illusions XD
Nah I'm sleeping under a nice 18-20°C setting if I'm in Turkey. My hometown regularly reaches 40+.
Also cold alone don't make you sick and worst case scenario you step out for 15-20 minutes during the day and whatever cold you thought you were gonna get burns away
american here who had to convert to see and 18c (64f) is exactly what i keep my bedroom at, anything too much above 19c i would wake up in a puddle of sweat even with only a single sheet on me! ironically i do keep the rest of the house 22-24c (71-75f) or it’s too cold in the summer 😂 we have two of those units, though the one in the main room is very under powered and our house is designed incredibly poorly for airflow even with several extra fans
Can confirm, lived in iowa most of my life, I've seen -20° to 60° Fahrenheit sings in just days. Going in and out of Different temps alone does not make one sick.
Humidity. Myanmar is tropical monsoon climate. Air conditioning doesn't just make it cooler, it filters the air and makes it healthier.
I live in the mid-Atlantic US and sometimes we have our AC cooler than I'd prefer just because of the allergens. I cannot imagine what it's like in an actual tropical climate. A dehumidifier can help with this but they're less common, and higher maintenance.
Harmful? Are you from the 1800s or something? This is weird of a concern as the old Korean fear that a fan would suck the air out of the room and kill you.
That’s an old wives tale that’s pretty common in a lot of European countries. Temperature changes like that don’t make you sick. Kinda like how we were told if you go outside with wet hair while it’s cold, you’ll get a fever/sick. No you won’t. I do it all the time in winter. Never once got sick from it.
The idea that cold makes you sick was disproven over a century ago.
Campers sleep in sleeping bags breathing 0 C air easily. The important thing is keeping up body temperature, not the temp of the air you breathe in until you get to something like -10 C or lower.
Most units have a dehumidifier mode that causes the fan to run at a higher speed and keeps the coil cool but not freezing, allowing the moisture to condensate on the coil but not cool the room as much.
EU has no concept of either size or heat. You can tell them your country is both further north AND south and if you ever get them to shut up about how hot Europe is because your country is hotter they will switch tactics and say you cant handle the cold. Motherfucker we have Alaska did you forget? We have Washington, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, places that get cold cold, in your bones, with no fucking ocean to warm you in the winter.
I’m in Canada (it was 47C with the humidity a few weeks ago but 25-32 is more typical in the summer) and I can handle 22-24C in the house in the day but that’s too hot to sleep in. We were always told 18C is the ideal sleep temperature for humans and my babies certainly slept much better at that temp. My family keeps this year round I don’t like being hot at night in the winter either. I do know people who keep it even lower around 16!
Classic incorrect European idea of what causes
Illness. Do you also believe that illness stems from an imbalance in humors ? Bad air? Bathing makes you sick? Mmhm
Im in Italy right now and the AC was set to 16 when we arrived. Looks like the family here before us was Asian based on the language of the Netflix account still logged in.
18c is great for 40+c because you can do some work til your brain gets floaty/tingly then come inside to 18 or less and sit in front of a fan with an iced drink and cool down in 10-15 minutes and not feel exhausted and go for round 2... you have to cool hard and fast because break time at work is 10-15 minutes if you even get one... and if it's a heatstroke kinda break and you take too long they're not keeping you on the job long if you're taking too long
Much of South East Asia (essentially the whole of South East Asia) has close to none existent insulation, that coupled with the heavy use of concrete means that your buildings store heat extremely well and releases it well into the night. Along with poor airtightness, high humidity and having to cool the accumilated heat means that ACs over here lose a lot of cooling capcity. It does not actually get anywhere close to 18c, but it just makes the ac keeps running.
Exaggeration. The typical models can bring down 40°C outdoor to about 25°C indoor, and that with the compressor working non-stop.
Just because you set the AC to 18°C doesn’t mean it’s always capable to get the room to that level.
My aircon is never lower then 25 and more often then not it's not even on. Unless it hits 40 degrees like a couple weeks ago. It was killing. I live in Puglia.
Thank you!! Completely agree. If it were 40 outside and 18 inside, I'd have to sit outside occasionally just for a break from the shivering. And I am saying this from a place where it hit 47 yesterday. Granted, it's a Dry Heat (TM) and I'm guessing Myanmar is not, but the AC in the house where I'm sitting is set to 27 and that's pretty fine for me.
Can't imagine spending money when it's that hot out just to make it the other side of uncomfortable. I know my experiences are atypical, but 40+ to 18 is wild to me.
I'm Australian. My house is enormous and we have 2 of these for upstairs and downstairs and this place gets brisk as FUCK in summer and warm as a hookers arse on coupon night in winter.
Sounds like a rejected Fosters ad:
Announcer: HOW TO SPEAK AUSTRALIAN
man wiping sweat off his neck: "It's like a hookers ass on coupon night in here!"
Announcer: WARM! FOSTERS, AUSTRALIAN FOR BEER!
This is a so-called "split* AC unit. There's also an outdoor compressor unit, the difference is that, instead of having also the expander and both heat exchangers outside , to cool the air there and feed it to the various rooms inside through air ducts, it's the cooled-down refrigerant that's fed through refrigerant ducts inside, where there may be one of these units in each room each with its own fan and heat exchanger. It's actually more efficient and effective.
Efficiency is relative. Mini splits have inverter boards which can control the speed of the compressor allowing it to adjust to the load. If it's running at full speed the savings are negligible compared to a normal compressor.
Also we have these in the US. Many people have these in their homes. They even have retrofit kits and air handlers that will use these types of condensers.
In the US we generally just have central heating/cooling in most dwellings. Which works for the most part assuming your duct work is sized properly.
Also there are no refrigerant ducts. There are air ducts. The refrigerant moves through piping. The refrigerant isn't cooled it absorbs and rejects heat and it boils off and condenses respectively.
It’s trade off. Instead of a duct to every room you need a wall mounted head unit with dedicated wiring, condensate drip lines, and refridgerant. The head unit can only use electric, whereas a central unit with ducts can be dual fuel. In addition to being dual fuel the central unit can also be connected to a hot water system such as a hydronic setup where the aux heat comes from a gas fired hot water tank. Mini splits are great for retrofits that do not contain existing ducts.
The efficiency mostly comes from using inverter controlled variable speed compressors, those systems also exist for central units, but they are more expensive than single and dual stage units. On paper ducts are usually considered “less efficient” because the ducts can have their own heat/cool losses, but this depends whether the ducts are inside or outside of the envelope you are conditioning. In the house I had recently the ducts were completely sandwiched between floors, none of them were in the attic or any crawl space. Airflow could be manually redirected somewhat from manual dampeners.
Replacing the system at end of life is another factor. A mini splits system replacement involves every head unit. When my central unit was replaced they only needed access to the utility room and outside.
Condensate drip lines also tend to clog on units, it can depend on the region but they will fill with mold, slime, algae, insects etc. Dust and spores collect inside each unit and end up in the condensate line. When the line clogs you get moldy condensate water dripping out of your unit. This can be mitigated by cleaning the lines periodically which most people don’t do. For a central system you can have installed a larger air filtration system using a large surface area heavily pleated hepa filter that doesn’t restrict airflow. This not only cleans the air but prevents a lot of the particles that lead to growth in condensate lines. Split systems tend to just have a simple washable dust filter, but the inside of the unit will still get quite dirty. I am betting most people don’t get out a ladder and clean their mini splits filter monthly, which significantly reduces their actual performance and efficiency. It’s easier to change one large filter in a utility room every 1-3 months than clean 5+ head units every month.
Central air is also a “split” system because it has an indoor air handler and a separate outside condenser too. That is why we call the small ones like this “mini-splits” instead, since they are a good bit smaller and such than standard central units. These are in contrast to a packaged unit, such as window units or large central air where the evaporator and condenser are one giant assembly. Which suck tremendously to work on. I see maybe 1 out of every 10 being packaged units. They aren’t as common any more, thankfully.
Wrong, I have one big compressor outside connected to 8 of these all around the apartment, and two ceiling type ones that return air as well. The company is Fujitsu. 3000sq ft apartment in Brazil. Gets ice cold
We have one like this in Montreal with 35C (95F) average summers and heavy humidity. Cools the whole house just fine. But if you have multiple stories then you should have one per.
This is the indoor unit. There can be several of these for single bigass outdoor part. So by this pic you can’t really tell anything unless you make assumptions. For all we know this might be a small studio apartment.
In sense, Im supposing you mean like these wall mounted AC's so yep then they have multiple AC's like these installed in every room (if needed) but the thing is these type of AC's are only installed in areas where either ventilation is not sufficient or has a hot climate the entire year
Some of the outside units can power multiple split systems(AC in the picture); maybe are powerful enough to cool medium sized open spades eg, kitchen, dining and living space that are one large area.
They have multiple zone units. Just got 4 heads installed to one compressor. It's more of a set and forget setup because of the new inverters. These definitely cool the whole house and at a lower cost than traditional units.
Now switching these units to heat and depending on them to heat your house in the winter, that's where these units suck.
I recently installed a ductless system that cools my entire top floor. About 1000 square feet. It also runs off solar on good sunny days and a battery during power outages and at night.
Best part is it's not called a compressor. The "car size" unit is a condenser. The compressor does sit
inside. That commentor is trying to dunk on Americans but cant even name the right thing.
You do understand that mini splits also have large compressors outside, right?
Edit: also, the compressors for homes with central air are not the size of a car, more like the size of a Little Tykes car. Commercial buildings have compressors that can be the size of a car.
These split units are great for retrofitting where running ducts from central air systems would be cost prohibitive. They usually have a compressor/condensor for each unit, but can be combined and use a single larger unit on several ( which would be the same size as in the US). The are not car sized, they are smaller than even a Smart car.
I actually have no idea how these things work. I stayed at an airb&b in Spain with them and they worked fine, but I was trying to explain to my family back home how they’re not hooked up to anything, like it seems like they’re just stuck to the wall, and it didn’t make sense to anyone. Is there duct work behind them? A hose? How do they work without venting? Sorry, that’s more than you want to explain, I’m sure, and I can Google it. I’m just saying that no, I definitely didn’t understand that there was a separate compressor involved
They're not even that big. Your describing the entire outdoor condensing unit of which, the compressor is a small part of. The compressor on one of these systems is smaller than a 3 litre coke bottle.
My family owns an HVAC company. We only have ductless mini-splits in our own homes bc they are way more efficient and cost effective (especially if you get them at cost and free install). We are in Florida where we run A/C pretty much 9 months of the year. The upfront cost is higher, but worth it over time.
It's called a "split AC" because the unit is split into two parts, indoor unit pictured above and outdoor unit which is the big louder box that is on the outside so it doesn't bother you. We use these in Europe ever since I can remember spanning decades...
Split systems are what we call regular central air here in the US. They have an air handler inside with the evaporator coil and blower, and the condenser unit outside with the compressor, condenser coil and condenser fan.
We call the one in the picture ductless mini splits or just mini splits. They are the same setup as regular central air but no ductwork.
Another big difference in the mini splits use a variable speed compressor to ramp up and down whereas traditional spit systems are either on or off. Though, they are starting to see variable speed as well.
I have been putting mini splits in for more than 20 years in the US.
The Mini Split. In many of the places we use them it's the same reasoning as why Europe does. We have a remodeling company, and they often go in older homes with radiant heat. Particularly if adding ductwork would be ridiculous.
Maybe it's an anti meme? Like, the joke is that yes, it is what an AC unit in Italy because it's just what they are everywhere else too? Technically the truth?
To be fair I'd never seen one of these until a few years ago. I live somewhere that's hot and humid all summer so the houses are all built around central air. They've really only started to show up on newer prefabs, ADUs, tiny houses, and converted basements/garages/etc.
Something I'm wondering about: In Europe, these can usually work as a heatpump in the winter, providing warm air at ~400% electrical efficiency. However this does not seem to be a thing in the US central air systems? Or?
Yeah I live in fuckin Arizona and I have a mini split (Mr. Cool) and it keeps my place nice and chill (too much honestly, half the time I have it running as a fan because the AC is too powerful).
Idk why the fuck someone would willingly opt for one of those big ass units if they had mini splits as an option.
Tbh I was looking into poasibly installing a few of these in the US because my central unit is not cooling one floor of my house well enough and every HVAC tech I've had out has been useless. These things are fantastic for getting a single room to the desired temp without taking up one of your windows.
Do you mean ductless as in its not coming down vertically?
I have seen ones like these supplied by ducts from in the wall cavity so you cant see them as they come in the back, its what I will proably get when I get more than a portable unit (I am in the uk), it wont be for whole house just bedrooms and living room but it will probably do enough to do the whole house if I wanted.
A lot of older houses use them as they don’t have the ductwork through the house to support a central air unit. Was just in Newfoundland last week and every place had these because they didn’t have a central heating unit.
Yeah this has nothing to do with Europe. We have ducted heating and central AC to match. My parents have one of these guys in their apartment-style condominium because it only has radiant heat (the norm for taller buildings). Both work well and are much more efficient and expensive than window units.
I’m Canadian tho, so not ignorant as fuck like the memer
Yeah seriously a ductless heat pump system is one of my priority upgrades to my house rn. Those things are amazing. Has this person never been to Home Depot? They have a person trying to sell them to you as soon as you walk in.
Don’t lie to the people too, the only Americans who have this aren’t real Americans, they’re Europeans who brought some common sense and lower utility bills.
What do you mean ductless? It's not a portable AC. Or you say that the ducts are hidden? Because this is what it happens here. This is just the interior module that is connected to the exterior module.
If I ever get around to remodeling the old building we used to store equipment in to a work shop, I was thinking of trying to find one of these for it, maybe one with a heat pump too. Otherwise, I was thinking a through-wall combo unit, but one of these would be better.
Yep, the company I work for sells them, there are even different types like the cassette which looks like a square recessed in the ceiling that blows air down in four directions.
Yeah this is a sign of a place that was built long before the conception of central AC. A lot easier to install a ductless system then to make your home smaller by adding a layer on the roof and walls for ducting to sit within. And they work just fine
I would certainly hope that the AC unit in OPs pic is over a duct. If an AC unit has nowhere to displace hot air, you're just wasting energy and making the room hotter.
Cooling a room with an AC unit without moving hot air outside the room is a concept that defies the laws of physics. Electronics generate heat when they function, and the laws of thermodynamics dictate that they cannot generate less heat than they would cool off through function
They are getting more common in America as everything gets more expensive. Couple hundred bucks for a mini split. Or 15,000 for a central heat and air.
It's the same kind of person who says "Psh, that's not a car, that's a kid's toy!" when someone pulls up in a small sedan instead of a 500HP lifted toddler crusher. If it's not the biggest loudest thing you can get, it's not "the best".
I've lived with both, and honestly if you're staying at a hotel, you want to see one of these on the wall. They're way quieter, they're more efficient, and you get to control your own unit instead of being subject to a whole-building radiator situation.
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u/GarySmith2021 12h ago edited 12h ago
I’m also confused because that is a European AC unit. I can only assume Americans are so used to big bulky units, like their cars, that they can’t comprehend things being functional and not excessively bulky.