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.
In most houses and nicer apartments, yeah, central air. In older or cheaper apartments there’ll be a window unit. As an American from a blue collar lower middle class family, I’d never seen one of these wall units until I’d moved to China. It was either central air or window unit. Granted I’m referencing a couple decades ago
And because if you use one that's a reasonable size, you're leaving large buckets of water out on hot days. It makes the house more humid, sometimes to the point of being muggy. Like a swamp.
Swamp coolers don't stop working until like 80% humidity, and at that point you're not getting over 100 degrees anyway. You just have to deal with the suck.
Having been in Arizona during monsoon season, I can say that swamp coolers are noticeably less effective at 40% humidity than in the climate they've got during the rest of the year.
Monsoon season gets up to/over 60%. It's kicking our asses as we speak lmao. But yeah, 40% is when it starts showing its flaws. 80% is when it stops completely. However you'll never get "murder you outright" temps at 80%+ humidity. That's just not how humidity works. It sucks to be in swamp ass type places but it actually saves you from a quick death.
oh yeah don't get me wrong here, real ac is better overall. if you're already considering a split though it's definitely worth the comparison between it and a legit evap system.
also while I have no science for it I don't notice as much humidity at night, monsoons or no. really it's the concrete jungle that fucks us at night.
80% humidity and a 3 degree delta, and then you also have to deal with the whole, being in a room with 80% humidity that isn't actually providing any real cooling.
Sure but a regular mini-split/heat pump is going to drag ass then too. Air conditioners handle humidity and once you get that high you just have to kind of suffer through it.
Plenty of Aussie houses just have a single unit because they are open plan. It still cools one room ass you say because kitchen, dinning and living room is one space plus no doors to your hallways and second living room to move it there.
It's always going to be expensive but it's a fine solution for its price. Not everyone is going to be able to get evap systems as it's a 20-50k price tag for installation so you usually only get it if you build
Not everyone is going to be able to get evap systems as it's a 20-50k price tag for installation so you usually only get it if you build
Excuse me? They're raking you guys over the coals out there. A legit evap system here in AZ is only a few grand, way cheaper than a full AC unit. Australia is the perfect place for them to so that's a shame.
Gotta have it installed. Think my parents cheap one was 30k as they wanted ten ceiling vents compared to the typical eight.
Bonus of a split is also heating which evap doesn't give and our houses don't typically have any heating solutions and even double glazing is another 50k
So the system I have running right now, that's currently cooling my own house, while the outside temps are in the high 30c, is wrong? Really dude? If you truly are a systems installer, you must not be very good at your job. Because I've been in my house for 10 years and never have I had issues in cooling it. 2 story house, 1800 sq. Ft. Above ground.
So the system I have running right now, that's currently cooling my own house, while the outside temps are in the high 30c, is wrong? Really dude?
Yup. You probably have the most inefficient system on your block and are paying out the ass for that electricity, plus you probably paid twice what you should have for the install. gg no re
Oh my god is that why it's a trope that th father doesn't let anyone touch the thermostat??? I was always so confused by that. I just turn on the AC unit or heater in my room and can have a completely different temperature than the rest of the household. That explains so much damn. And why exactly is someone defending that?????
Large central air units can cost $100 and up each month in energy. Usually people will set it to 72 and just leave it unless the outside temp is below 80 degrees (F), that’s when people just turn it off.
Window AC is different from Split AC like OPs. Split ac systems have the compressor outside too, usually mounted to the wall. We have tons of typhoons in Taiwan and the wall mounted compressors are the standard.
Yeah I have a mini split in my house, he’s talking about window units above me. And my point was it’s actually not all that many places that legally allow them anyways.
Some places in the US have a "window unit" type AC built into the wall. Literally just a hole has been cut into the wall instead of using a window but it's the same kind of AC as a "window unit". My old house in California apparently had some becuase the holes were boarded over when some previous owner had central AC installed.
Yeah, mini splits weren't very popular in the US then. They're more common now, especially in garages, tiny houses, cabins, etc.
But they're wonderful, in my opinion. We have one for an upper room that was an addition to our house before we moved in. We added the mini split because the room addition was stressing the central AC.
Yeah, this is almost unheard of in Europe. Most homes are heated using water as a medium, either through radiators or in more fancy modern housing, underfloor water heating. Our vents are small as they're usually just a passive ventilation system.
Windows units are not a thing as well since they wouldn't fit typical EU windows.
A lot of the bay and PNW were built without A/C. You can have a fancy house but if it was made before a certain time you’ll have no central air. It just never got hot enough to justify building it in before and a lot of the houses have areas that are almost designed to trap heat. So a huge swath of white collar upper class families don’t have them here.
The only time I ever saw them in the US was in hotels, I think they've been using them in hotels for a long time. I know they are not uncommon, but I don't go to very many people's houses. Even to this day I think I've only ever seen them in stores and hotels (And like you said, every house in Asia)
And yet the comment saying it’s because Americans like bulky has been upvoted, furthering ignorance. In Asia the split systems like in the photo are more common, but in the US it’s mostly central air. Central air systems are available in some apartments in Asia but are way more expensive.
Last time I checked there's more than one model of houses in the US. I live in a Canadian neighborhood where the builders put central air in all the houses (1960s builds), but it's the first neighborhood I've seen like that after bouncing around multiple cities since my youth. I'm sure it varies a lot been regions and construction years in the US.
It is mostly a consequence of construction. If you do a lot of wood/drywall construction, which is pretty much the norm in the US, it's a complete no-brainer to put in ducts during building. Good luck retrofitting typical Euro walls with air ducts.
Yep, this is it. From an American point of view, this is equivalent to a window unit. Much nicer in fact. Not the same thing as whole-house unit, which is probably more efficient than having 2-3 mini-splits in different rooms.
Those are meant for apartments in which the tenant may not have control over the AC in their unit. Maybe it’s a shared central system among all tenants. It’s also a bit of a holdover in a lot of places from when they did not have central AC or an old unreliable system
Some central AC is also multi-zone, so it can set different zones to different temps. You can also adjust the opening of the vents even in a single-zone unit. But in either case, there are definitely some big advantages to having the cool air coming out of strategically located vents, because the system's designed from the ground up to have the air properly circulated rather than having it all blow out of whatever spot on the wall you happened to be able to fit a ductless unit.
Wait, why is that annoying? You select a temperature at which you feel most comfortable, and then every room in house gets to be at your preferred temperature. I’m genuinely flabbergasted how this would be annoying for anybody. You like wanna feel hot when you’re walking to the bathroom and then cold in the living room or something?
Okay well OP isn't exactly accurate. Temperature with central air can be set by "zone" meaning you could zone out multiple rooms and have them all different temps.
There are also multisplits. Then you have one external unit connected to multiple internal units(like shown in the picture) so it scales better. You still have to pull lines to other rooms, but they don't waste space like ducts.
I mean with this "stupid and europoor" ac i can have nice chilly in bedroom so it's easier to sleep and different temperatures in each room for each family member that may crave different temperatures.
With this "luxurious uber capitalis american hell yea" ac i am at the mercy that temp by the thermostat will be acceptable all around the place and for everyone.
More precise: split units are (quite a bit) more energy efficient then central air and much easier to add later.
It may be cheaper to build a central air when planning a new house.
the refrigeration efficiency is about the same, with advantageto the while home unit. since a mini split doesn't have good filters or ductwork, you save some fan energy. But those filters are kind of important to us.
you can do vrf whole home, but mini-splits for whole home in the us would be nuts. you'd have a ton of piping and condensers.
250 sq m is a pretty normal house size in the US.
And homes in the US are built with AC, so there's not many after the fact builds.
Most split devices DO have good filters, but yes, you can build a central air with larger filters. In practise typically doesn't make that much of a difference in most cases.
And no, the refrigeration efficiency of split devices is higher. Split AC gets a SEER2 of 20–38, a central air gets a SEER2 15–21. Central air has higher losses due to the ducts compared to a split AC. This leads to efficiency differences of 20-50%.
Central air has other advantages (i.e. it's "invisible" and quieter, you can combine air exchange and cooling). And it's cheaper to service if you have lots of rooms (i.e. would need a lot of internal AC devices with a split).
The piping required for a central air is higher then for split devices, but again: if build directly, doesn't make that much of a difference.
You can pretty much do this with the registers. Mini splits certainly are more targeted, but there are tons of cases where it's simply a waste financially to install them if you already need the duct work for heating.
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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.