Home Kit vs central cooling

[lowercaseperson]

Hey all,

I am planning on moving soon and my wife and I are looking at cheap/older houses...many of which don't have central air-conditioning and some don't even have central heat. I feel like we are on the brink of having "central air-conditioning" from non-central units tied together via home kit (or some variation thereof).

So what I've come up with is fairly simply and needs some help. I can imagine plugging a few simple portable air-conditioning units into some smart plugs, so I can turn them on and off. Which is very easy, but not QUITE what I'm hoping for.

I was wondering if there is a way to put a smart thermometer in a room and somehow tie it to the smart plug that the portable A/C unit is connected to. Then I could set each room to trigger its local A/C unit when a certain temp is reached (on or off based on the temp). It wouldn't be extremely cheap I know, but I could do it room by room, and I wouldn't have to hire a contractor to come in.

On a side note, have any of you reading tried to add central A/C to an old home? How painful was it? Is this a decent alternative to your experience? What would ya'll do?

Thanks for reading

 

[ColdCase]

A couple this old house and ask this old house episodes discussed the project.

Depends on the house and how many stories, but they typically put the cooling unit in the attic and run ductwork. Todays system can be set to adjust temperature in each room individually. For two story houses, worst case is two cooling units, one in the attic for second floor, one smaller in the basement for the first floor.

Current in window and portable air conditioners have built in thermostats, they turn on and off as needed. You could add one of those smart outlets to cut power completely....

 

[BrianBaughn]

One possibility is the ductless split systems. Look them up if you're not familiar. They'd have to be professionally installed.

It won't cost you anything to have contractors come over and give you estimates along with their plans.

We lucked out in our old house and got some technicians to install two separate systems in their spare time...saved a good bit there. They put in "Space-Pak" high velocity systems. Like a standard A/C setup but most of the ducts are small, flexible hoses. It's a little noisier than larger ducts, of course, but the prospect of putting sheet metal ducts in the place was horrible to contemplate.

I think if you have to add both A/C and heat your options will be more limited.

 

[lowercaseperson]

Thanks for the input - I've been researching the ductless units, but it's so hard to get any concrete information without actually having a house yet, or knowing a contractor.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Thanks for the input - I've been researching the ductless units, but it's so hard to get any concrete information without actually having a house yet, or knowing a contractor.

It'll be good to be prepared with the knowledge once you've found a place.