The debate of whether to have inverter or fixed speed air conditioning is one all new comers to the market have to ask themselves. Inverters are generally 40% more expensive initially but the the benefits far out way the cost when the equipment is used on a regular basis. With the recent change over from old air conditioning refrigerant R22 to R410a inverter technology has been boosted further. R410a runs at a much higher pressure and temperature than the older gas thus being better for heat pump applications. Most modern day systems are actually better at heating in Kw / Btu than its cooling output. i.e- If you were to purchase a 3.5 Kw wall mounted heat pump system then you would see that its heating output would be somewhere in the region of 4 Kw / 13000 Btu. The stated rating on the box is always in cooling output. Inverters do not have the high inductive power rush associated with fixed speed air conditioning which are renowned for draining huge amounts of energy when they start up, sometimes lights are known to dim. This is said to save on a well used system up to 60% on a annual electricity bill. Fixed speed is being phased out by many manufactures within the next few years.

Wall air conditioning

Systems used in well used environments such as server rooms or offices will benefit from this technology as companies are suddenly starting to wake up to the fact these systems will save money.  What type of system will fit your needs depends on your initial budget and the environment that requires cooling or heating. The cheapest and generally the easiest to  install is the wall mounted air conditioning system. These are the most popular air conditioning control as any air conditioning sales company will tell you. The wall mounted unit comes in heat pump format. not so often cooling-only but they are available. These air conditioning units ideally require being mounted on a internal wall that is a outside wall of the house. If the unit cannot be installed this way then a condensate pump will be required to be used to take away the condensate water.

Cassette air conditioning

The cassette air conditioning system is designed to be concealed in a ceiling void, usually the space in the void should be around 300 mm minimum. The cassette air intake is in the middles of the assembly and the conditioned air will come out of the four side louver vents of the unit. Theses units are more intensive to install and 9 out of 10 installations will require a condensate pump. Cassette units are a professional way of air conditioning a area.

Ducted air conditioning

The best way to air condition an area in a completely concealed way is a ducted system. These units come in slim format of around 285 mm to fit into a tight area. Concealed away in a ceiling flexible ducting would come off the spigots of the unit being ducted to the area and out through the outlet air grills. As well as supply air grills, return air grills will be required to let the air return to the air conditioning unit. By far the ducted unit is the professional way to air condition a environment. Under ceiling units are as the name suggests made to fit under the ceiling. These units can also be mounted on the ground as a floor mounted unit. These units come in high output format with some manufactures having 25 kW format. Installation of these air conditioning units is not to intensive but condensate is worth considering as these systems do not come with a internal pump. Therefore the ideal would be gravity drain.