Understanding Smart Ducted Air Conditioning

Comfort & Control with Ducted Systems

Ducted air conditioning provides discrete supply of cooled or warmed air throughout your home. Not only can it provide whole house comfort with one system but can be enhanced with smart controllers for greater comfort, control and efficiency.

What does that mean?

Reverse Cycle: An air conditioner that can provide either cool or warmed air depending on the mode you set.

Capacity & Output: An AC systems’ output power is normally measured in kW (kilowatts), with one value given for the cooling capacity and another one for heating.

It is important that you pick the right capacity for your home to heat or cool it properly. If you choose one that doesn’t have enough power then you won’t be able to heat or cool your whole house or reach the desired set point temperature, alternatively, if you select a unit that is too powerful it could be powering up and shutting down too often. This could increase general wear and not be as energy efficient as you may like. Consult your installer for help with selecting the right size unit for your property taking into account its size and design.

Reverse cycle technology utilises an outdoor and indoor unit that work together in unison, by exchanging warmed or cooled refrigerant through copper pair coil to change the temperature of the air inside the house as it is desired.

Comfortable & Discreet

The indoor unit is hidden out of sight, installed in your roof space, and connected to a network of air ducts attached to the outlets placed throughout your house.

Due to the nature of how they are installed, ducted reverse cycle systems are quiet and discreet, plus they can be enhanced with zoning, where your house is divided up into different areas, or air conditioning zones, to let you vary the airflow throughout the building.

Each zone has the airflow going into it able to be turned on or off, or the volume adjusted as you want, using dampers that are installed as a part of your ductwork that open and close to manage airflow.

With zoning technology, you can choose to run the air conditioning just where you need it, and potentially save energy by not running the system where you don’t. Learn more about zoning.

AirTouch takes zoning up to the next level by letting you adjust the airflow in 5% increments for precise comfort, and also turn it on or off throughout anywhere up to 16 zones from a touch screen panel, mobile app or smart assistant like Google or Amazon.

Suitable for almost any home

Ducted systems can either be installed when you are building a new house, or often retrofitted into an existing one by your installer.

Your outlets (aka diffusers) in the ceiling are placed away from the doors of each room so the conditioned air to flows through the entire space, and then back to the return air grille which is normally in a central location.

This is why it is really important that you remember to leave the door of a zone that is switched on open for this all to work.

Cool down in Summer…and Warm up in Winter

Reverse cycle lets you cool your house in summer and warm it in winter. It works by drawing air in through the return air grille (intake), and over a coil filled with refrigerant from a compressor that has either been cooled or heated depending on the mode yours is switched to. This conditioned air is then distributed as you want into each zone.

This technology is efficient: In cool mode, the refrigerant used absorbs warmth from the air passing over it in the indoor unit, and is pumped to the outdoor unit where the heat is dispersed.

AirTouch gives you a simple, yet advanced, single point of control for one or even multiple ducted or VRF units* through a touch screen or app to change the mode from cool, to heat, automatic, or change the set point temperature and fan speed.

Unlike with evaporative ducted systems, reverse cycle systems let you specify a preferred ‘set point’ temperature for the conditioned air.

Keeping the Return Air Clean

Cleaning and maintaining your return air grille and filter is important, and it is a quick bit of easy maintenance you can carry out to improve your comfort and efficiency.

See how simple it is to do in this video, or review this support article for an easy step by step guide.

*Up to 16 depending on your controller