The Easy Guide to Evaluating Ducted Air Conditioning Prices and Value

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If you’re in the market for a new cooling system that can keep every room throughout your home perfectly chilled all summer long, ducted air conditioning is your best option. It’s the only type of system that can give you full temperature control, allowing you to determine exactly how much cool air gets circulated into each separate living space, from your kitchen and living room to your bathrooms and bedrooms. When it comes to ducted air conditioning systems and manufacturers, though, Australians have several options. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with ducted air conditioning prices and specifications, with so many different models available in so many different brands. If you’re looking to cut through the clutter and find the perfect ducted air conditioning system for you, it’s important to ignore the details and look at how much value you can get for your dollar. Here’s how you can find the best ducted air conditioning system available, given your budget.

Energy Efficiency Ratings Can Reveal Which Systems Are Worth the Money

One important factor to remember whenever you’re looking for a new air conditioner for your home is that the retail and installation costs aren’t the only expenses that come with a new system; there are also electricity costs to consider. Especially when it comes to ducted air conditioning–a system more often than not used for cooling entire full-size homes–the overall energy efficiency of the unit you buy can have a dramatic impact on your monthly electricity bill. Depending upon the extent of that impact and whether it raises, lowers, or maintains your monthly costs, the value and price of the specific system you purchase may or may not be worth your time and money. Instead, the best way to find the most energy efficient systems is to look for its official Energy Efficiency Rating (EER). Every air conditioning unit sold in Australia will have its EER listed somewhere in the manufacturer’s specifications. A higher EER represents a system that will run more efficiently and that should have you paying the same price as you are right now, if not less, for electricity each month. Any ducted air conditioning system that boasts a higher EER rating (5-7 stars) is sure to give you tangible value at the end of each month.

Life Expectancy and Warranty Can Both Offer Significant Added Value

For a ducted air conditioner that will be installed throughout the interior of your home, the life expectancy and warranty of the system you decide upon plays a critical role in determining whether the price you paid was right and what added value, if any, you’ll receive. When it comes evaluating any ducted system, always check the specified life expectancy. After all, you don’t want to go through all the trouble and cost of installing a brand new system only to have it completely give out on you just a handful of years down the line. The absolute best quality systems can easily last for upwards of 15 years or more, so you’ll want to determine where each system you’re considering falls with respect to life expectancy, and choose the one that can serve you the longest. In addition, there’s also added value to be found when it comes to the warranty offered by a particular system. The longer that warranty lasts and the broader its terms for system repair and replacement, the more overall value you’ll be receiving as the years go by.

Cooling Capacity Reveals Whether a System Can Meet Your Needs

Finding a new ducted system for a fair price that you think offers great overall value will mean nothing unless the system you select can actually meet all your cooling needs. Therefore, in order to determine the true value of any system, you need to reference its listed specifications with regards to overall cooling capacity. Ducted systems in particular are supposed to be able to cool your entire home, so check to see whether the units you’re considering will be able to do just that. Cooling capacity is measured in British Thermal Units (BTU), and the BTU rating you will want to look for will depend upon the size of your home. In general, the cooling capacity needed for a smaller area of around 100 to 300 square feet is 5 000 to 6 000 BTU, for mid-range areas of 250 to 550 square feet it’s 7 000 to 8 200 BTU, and for larger areas of 350 to 950 square feet the required capacity is 9 800 to 12 500 BTU. Whether or not a certain ducted system you’re considering can meet the BTU requirement for your home will play a significant role in helping you to evaluate its price and overall value.

Filtration Ability is Another Major Indicator of Quality/Value

When you purchase a ducted air conditioner, you’ll be making a significant investment. That’s why a factor like filtration ability is important to keep in mind when weighing your options. You don’t want to make such a significant investment only to find out later that the system you purchased can only cool the air in your home and do nothing else to it. The best systems on the market can keep your entire home filled with not just cool air, but also fresh air that is continuously cycled through a series of filters. Those filters will work to remove all the dust particles, allergens, chemicals, and other irritants from the air so that you can breathe easy while you stay cool. Each ducted system that you look at should have specifications that outline what its filtration capabilities are, enabling you to determine which system will bring the full package when it comes to overall value for your money.

Shopping for a brand new ducted air conditioner is certainly a lot easier when you have a guide outlining what to look for and how to evaluate the price and value of an individual unit. Some of the main things to keep in mind throughout your search include energy efficiency ratings, life expectancy and warranty, cooling capacity, and filtration ability. Each of these by themselves are excellent indicators of overall value, but when combined, they should be able to reveal exactly which ducted system at which price point would be the best investment for your home. If you would like more information, please visit our ducted air conditioning page.