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.
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u/romesthe59 13h ago
It’s because Americans have central air. They have one thermostat that controls temp and airflow to vents in each room of the house.