Many people fail to appreciate all of the incredible innovations that have taken place in the air conditioning world in recent decades. Unfortunately, this often means that they fail to take advantage of efficiency boosting new technologies. If you would like to learn more about the options available today, read on. Here you will find a useful comparison between traditional systems and what are known as variable refrigerant flow air conditioning systems.

Similarities

On the surface, variable refrigerant flow systems–often referred to as VRF systems for short–function much like conventional air conditioners. Both systems utilize refrigerant filled coils to cool down the air in your home. Likewise, the two types both utilize a condenser unit to change the heated refrigerant from a gaseous back to a liquid state. This condenser unit is generally located in the yard outside your home.

Differences

A conventional air conditioning system operates using just a single fan coil unit. This is the coil through which the condensed refrigerant flows, thus cooling down the air around it. A blower system then distributes this cooled air through the HVAC duct system in your home. Unfortunately, this often leads to inefficiency issues, whether because rooms are being cooled even when not in use, or because the air is not evenly distributed to all of the roofs.

A VRF system manages to avoid both of these pitfalls. It does so by incorporating multiple fan coils. Generally, several such fan coils are located here and there throughout your house. This allows you to manually–or even automatically, by programming your thermostat–alter the volume of refrigerant being sent to a particular fan coil. As a result, you are able to precisely tailor the amount of cooling each different zone of your house receives. This allows you to maximize cooling power, while avoiding spending more to heat unused portions of your home.