Which is better, refrigerated or evaporative cooling?

Evaporative and refrigerated cooling systems are two highly effective air conditioning options. These systems function as central cooling solutions, ensuring even temperature control throughout your home or business for optimal comfort.

Choosing between evaporative cooling and refrigerated cooling can be challenging. Each type of air conditioning system offers its own unique benefits and drawbacks. If you’re considering a central cooling system for your property, keep reading to discover how these two efficient options can enhance your home or workplace environment.

Difference between Evaporative Cooling and Refrigerated Air Conditioning Systems

The first step in selecting the right cooling system for your home is to understand the differences between each option.

While many people consider air conditioning to be a single type of product, it actually refers to a variety of systems, each differing in cost, efficiency, performance, and environmental impact.

Let’s explore evaporative cooling and refrigerated air conditioning in more detail to understand how they differ from one another.

Why Evaporative Cooling?

Evaporative cooling is a highly favored option for cooling homes and businesses in Melbourne. These systems typically involve installing a central cooling unit on your roof and connecting it to ductwork that runs through your ceiling. The ducts deliver cool air throughout your property, providing a refreshing, ducted cooling experience.

Evaporative coolers work by using water and filter pads to cool your home. The system pulls in warm air from the outside, passes it over the filter pads, cools it through evaporation, and distributes the cooled air to every room.

Evaporative cooling is an eco-friendly cooling solution with a low environmental impact. For optimal performance, it’s best to keep some windows and doors open while running your evaporative cooling system.

Why Refrigerated Air Conditioning?

If you’re seeking the ultimate cooling experience, refrigerated cooling is the premium choice for you.

Similar to evaporative systems, refrigerated coolers are usually installed as central ducted units, distributing cool air throughout your home via a network of ducts.

However, unlike evaporative systems, refrigerated air conditioners don’t pull in air from outside. Instead, they recirculate the air already present inside your home, cool it using refrigerant, and release it back into your rooms for a refreshing effect.

All cooling takes place in the outdoor condenser unit, while the indoor unit contains a fan and heat exchange coil. Although steps have been taken to reduce the environmental impact of refrigerated cooling, the refrigerant used in these systems is still not environmentally friendly.

Unlike evaporative cooling, it’s important to keep your doors and windows closed when using refrigerated air conditioning since it constantly recirculates and cools the air inside your home.

Which is more affordable?

In most cases, evaporative cooling will be more affordable than refrigerated air conditioning. If you’re aiming to cut costs on your ducted cooling system in Melbourne, opting for evaporative cooling in Ringwood, Lilydale, Dandenong, or wherever you’re located could be a wise choice.

While evaporative systems usually have lower installation costs compared to refrigerated systems, the real savings come from the running costs. It’s estimated that evaporative coolers can be up to seven times cheaper to operate!

However, cheaper doesn’t always mean better. Refrigerated air conditioning is known for offering superior cooling performance, particularly on humid days, though this is less of an issue in Melbourne and across Victoria.

Which system has better cooling power?

If you’re after the most powerful and high-performing air conditioning system for your home or business, ducted refrigerated air conditioning in Melbourne is the way to go. 

Refrigerated air conditioners are far more efficient at reducing humidity and delivering cool air compared to evaporative coolers, which rely on water to function.

That said, as mentioned earlier, this higher performance comes with increased running costs. For most days in Melbourne, where humidity is generally lower compared to areas like Queensland, evaporative systems will usually suffice.

Maintenance

For maintenance, both refrigerated air conditioning and evaporative cooling systems should be serviced every 2-3 years. Regular servicing ensures optimal performance and helps reduce dust, bacteria, and other allergens from accumulating.

As long as you properly maintain your cooling system, you won’t face any additional repair or maintenance needs for either option. However, evaporative coolers generally require more frequent cleaning compared to refrigerated systems.

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