Some houses should not be opened up for a full duct system. Older central Austin bungalows, downtown McKinney houses, garage apartments, and single hot rooms over a garage are common examples.
A ductless mini-split uses a small outdoor unit and indoor heads mounted in the rooms you care about. Home Ranger Services designs the head locations with the furniture and the structure in mind, then installs and services the equipment. We also say when ductless is the wrong tool and a conventional system is the cleaner project.
When to call about ductless mini-splits
- 01
The house has no ducts
Forcing flex through a plaster-and-beam bungalow can cost more and look worse than a careful ductless design.
- 02
One room is always the problem
A loft, a closed-in porch, or a garage apartment can be served on its own.
- 03
You are finishing an ADU or a home office
A dedicated ductless system keeps that space off an already tired main system.
- 04
An existing mini-split is leaking, icing, or dripping indoors
Those are service problems. A dirty head or a bad install drain is not automatically a new system.
What the visit includes
- 01
Which rooms actually need conditioning
- 02
Wall structure, line-set path, and condensate route
- 03
Outdoor unit location and clearance
- 04
Electrical capacity for the new circuit
- 05
Whether the main system should be left alone
- 06
Head placement relative to beds, sofas, and desks
How a visit goes
- STEP 01
Decide if ductless is the right project
We will recommend a conventional system when the house already has sound ducts.
- STEP 02
Place the heads and the line sets on purpose
Drainage has to go downhill or to a pump we can stand behind. Line sets should not be an afterthought across the front of the house.
- STEP 03
Install, commission, and show you how to clean the filters
Mini-split filters are simple and they matter. We leave you able to maintain them between visits.
Ductless Mini-Splits questions
No. They are a solid whole-house approach for older homes without ducts, and a targeted approach for one difficult room. They are a poor way to abandon a duct system that only needs repairs.
Most of the systems we install are heat pumps, so they do both. In a hard freeze, sizing and the specific model’s low-ambient performance matter, and we cover that in the quote.
Usually the condensate path is clogged, flat, or pumped poorly. That is a service call. Keep the indoor unit off if water is reaching the wall.
Related: AC Installation, Air Conditioning, Heat Pumps, Indoor Air Quality.
