Schaumburg’s winter temperatures are at freezing point at best. December and January lows here average 17 and 12 degrees, respectively, which means your heating system is vital to life, not just comfort.
While summers are mild in the region, you may also need a little help from a cooling unit between June and August. A ductless mini-split kills two birds with one stone, so to speak.
How do ductless mini-split systems work? Leith Heating & Cooling is one of the ductless mini-split system experts in Schaumburg, IL, and surrounding areas. Below, we’ll explain what makes these units tick.
Ductless Mini-Splits Versus Wall and Window Units
If you’ve ever had a wall or window air conditioner unit, you know these box systems have all their components housed in one piece of equipment. The side of the unit that faces inside your home is the evaporator section, housing the evaporator coils that absorb heat and humidity from your home. This unit also has a drain pan and a blower fan.
The condenser compartment is on the back part and sits outside your Schaumburg window or wall. Its condenser coil releases hot air outside your home. It also has a motor-driven fan and electrical compressor, among other electrical controls, which leads to a light but evident humming sound indoors.
How do ductless mini-split systems work differently from this? While they also comprise an evaporator and condenser unit, these two parts do not connect in a mini-split setup. Unlike wall and window units, the mini-split might have the evaporator unit resting on your wall and the condenser unit sitting on the ground outside your home.
This “split” indoor and outdoor position has a few benefits. One is that a ductless mini-split functions almost silently. The other benefit is that a mini-split brings a better heating option in the winter.
Ductless Mini-Splits Versus Schaumburg Central Air
Many people actually compare mini-splits to central air conditioners. It makes sense because both types provide heating and cooling capabilities for year-round comfort. Both make it so that one unit alone can heat or cool your entire Schaumburg home, but mini-splits work differently from central air systems.
A central unit uses a return duct to pull air from your indoor climate into the evaporator unit for conditioning. From there, the altered air enters the supply duct that runs behind walls, floors, and ceilings, moving to the vents located in each room. Mini-splits are ductless.
So, how do ductless mini-split systems work? The evaporator units in a ductless mini-split, known as air handlers, connect to the outdoor condenser unit via the conduit line (not ductwork). You don’t have to install or maintain metal chutes.
Each air handler heats or cools a single Schaumburg room, though. You’ll have to install one air handler per room for whole-home comfort. Two to five of them can connect to one condenser unit if that’s what you want.
The Inner Workings of Schaumburg Ductless Mini-Splits
That’s the very basics of how to use these air conditioning and heating systems, but let’s delve further into the mechanics of mini-splits.
Cooling With a Ductless Mini-Split
When indoor temperature rises above your thermostat setting, it signals the ductless mini-split to turn on. The blower fan inside the evaporator compartment (or air handler) starts to pull hot household air into the system. It runs it over the evaporator coil to cool.
Refrigerant runs within the evaporator coil in liquid form, absorbing this heat from the Schaumburg air just outside the coil. After the coolant sucks up all this heat, the system only has cool air left in it. Its blower fan pushes the cooled air back out through the air handler and into the mini-split’s designated zone or room.
How do ductless mini-split systems work the hot air out of their units? The conduit runs from each air handler to the outdoor compressor unit. This thin cable houses power cables and refrigerant tubing, allowing the now gaseous refrigerant to:
- Travel through the tubing.
- Reach the outdoor condenser coil.
- Become pressurized by the compressor so that it releases the heat and humidity outside your Schaumburg home and reverts back into a liquid.
- Travel back through the conduit into the evaporator coil.
- Repeat the process until the system finishes its cooling cycle.
So, the system cools your home by extracting heat from it. It then moves this heat outdoors, similar to a heat pump.
Heating With a Ductless Mini-Split
The ductless setup is more cost-effective to run and eco-friendly compared to traditional wall, window, or central units. Can this same system keep you warm in the Schaumburg winter? Yes, just like in the summer, you set your thermostat to the cozy temperature you want your home to be at during the winter.
Simply switch your thermostat to “heat” rather than “cool,” and it’ll tell its handlers to turn on if your indoor temperature drops below that level. From there, the unit works to draw hot air indoors rather than expelling it outside. Of course, you may wonder how that’s possible in winter, but the outdoor air is a mix of warm and cool air most of the time.
Warm air always exists outside as long as the temperature is above absolute zero. The system pulls the cooler winter air into the outdoor unit and does the above-mentioned process in reverse.
Basically, the mini-split uses refrigerant to absorb the heat, separating the hot and cold air and then expelling the cool air outdoors once again. The gaseous coolant travels through the conduit to bring warm air to all indoor units.
Trust the #1 HVAC Team in Schaumburg for Year-Round Comfort!
Indoor heating and cooling is not a concept to take lightly in Schaumburg, Illinois. EPA-certified technicians don’t underestimate what it takes to bring comfort to a home or business in these extreme climates. Every mini-split installation or repair job deserves respect.
How do ductless mini-split systems work in Schaumburg, IL? Why do some systems have weak AC airflow? Ask Leith Heating & Cooling anything or call us for 24/7 emergency services – a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee is yours!