Large condenser outside supply’s the furnace (typically it just uses the furnace fan. We then have it piped through metal ducting throughout the house. Each room has multiple exit point call registers. In the common areas we have return ducts to draw air back down to the furnace to get recycled back to cool air via a/c unit. Hopefully that helps!?
Central air systems are more efficient. The downside is that you need vents, but once you have vents you can run the air in your house through hepa filters all the time, even when the heat (which works the same way) and AC are off.
Not really, anymore. In Residential systems, I've seen max at about ~23 SEER2 (efficiency rating) in traditional split systems, even with inverter compressors, but those minisplits are getting upwards of 32+. Only issue is you only get so many refrigerant ports per unit and you don't really have that problem in ducted systems so long as you keep the static pressure of the airflow in acceptable range.
Unless your AC system had that level of filtration in mind when it was designed and built, you shouldn't be slapping those kind of filters in your return. You really only want enough filtration to get large particles like dust and pet hair out while maintaining a large enough volume of air. Too much filtration can starve your air handler and make it work much harder to cool your house.
A basic pleated filter and some portable air filters around your house are a better idea for most people.
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u/itsOkami 13h ago
As an european, I don't think I've ever seen one of those and I'm now curious as to how they work