Cooling a pool house presents challenges due to the nature of the structure itself, the condition inside the room, and the architectural limitations. While you can install any system, you will realize that there are certain aspects that need to be considered to achieve your expectations in terms of flexibility, performance, and efficiency. Finding the right cooling solution for your pool house will give you the right comfort that you deserve at a very reasonable energy-costs.

Things to Keep in Mind

One thing to take note is the fact your pool house is not a large indoor pool facility, so it doesn’t need any large, highly sophisticated, centralized HVAC system to handle the cooling or heating needs. Before you start looking for an air conditioner, you need to figure out first what you really need. And when we say “need,” it means your general comfort and cost-saving expectations from the system.

What Makes a Pool House a Unique Space for Cooling?

Building a pool facility like a pool house requires certain key considerations: design, safety, and HVAC system. Making all these aspects complement each other is crucial to your overall experience of the place. With that said, your choice of a cooling solution has to be perfectly ideal to the type and condition of this particular environment. In other words, your AC system must be capable enough to tackle the limitations posed by the structural design and the challenges that are naturally brought by the general condition inside the facility. So what are these limitations and challenges that have to be tackled? Well, there are three major issues—system installation feasibility, temperature control, and quality of indoor air.

• Feasibility of installing the system - Most pool houses are retrofit areas or room additions. Because the home’s HVAC system is usually only focused on accommodating the main house during the original construction, many pool houses require a separate cooling system.
• Temperature control - A pool house is an area where the temperature always varies depending on the outside temperature and the condition of the place. Keep in mind that one of the unique aspects of a pool house is the variation of water temperature with the air temperature. As an aquatic environment, it requires the level of temperature that is ideal for the safety, comfort, and convenience of anyone who is using it.
• Quality of indoor air - As an indoor environment, a pool house is a naturally humid space. An indoor pool environment with too much humidity level is, in fact, very common. Mostly, it is a result of materials used and overall construction and design issues. In many cases, a pool can also get too hot or cold depending on the climate condition. With poor ventilation also comes poor natural air distribution, which often causes the whole room to become very hot and even dry.

While the system flexibility and capability to handle the cooling, heating, and moisture are key considerations, it must be emphasized that energy-efficiency is just as important when you are looking for the right system.

Where Do People Go Wrong?

The most common difficulty that many people encounter is finding the right system that can be easily installed without requiring any tradeoffs, whether in terms of effective installation, system performance, or energy-efficiency. Because the truth is, many homeowners who use random systems for cooling and heating complain about high operational costs on top of mediocre level of temperature comfort and poor indoor air quality. And that’s where people mostly usually make a mistake. As commonly seen in pool houses with incorrect, if not inefficient system, combo AC solutions are used just to compensate the need both for cooling and heating. Sometimes, they combine a window AC with a baseboard heater or any type of heating unit. On the surface it looks effective, but when it comes to performance and energy-efficiency, these piecemeal solutions are always proved wanting. So, what are the other options? Many think that extending the home’s ducted system to the pool house may be the better option. But this method is often replete with difficulties both prior to and after implementation. One of the main issues lies on the fact that a pool house is a typical room addition and normally out of the path of the existing ductwork. A pool house that is detached from the main house presents an even bigger problem. Even if, let’s say, that extending the ductwork would be feasible, it would be too costly and complex to install. On top of this installation difficulties, your operational costs would be too high as well, because your energy consumption would really shoot up since you will have no way of regulating the temperature and air distribution inside the room. It means that as long as you are using your main HVAC system at home, your pool house would get its share of energy regardless whether you are using it or not. The worst part is, the lack of control also contributes heavily to uneven temperature inside the room. At some point, you will notice that there are certain areas in the pool house that gets too cold and areas that’s always hot. To effectively tackle these issues, what you need is a system that is flexible enough to be installed in such type of environment and capable of handling the cooling and heating loads and providing effective dehumidification. When all things are said and done, the general consensus among experts and users alike remains the same: that conventional system is not your best cooling option for your pool house and there are several reasons why.

Why a Traditional AC is Not Your Best Option for a Pool House

Traditional cooling systems, while proven, have three main issues that make them not really your best option for a pool house:

1. The conventional ducted system is a classic study of an inflexible system that is always difficult to use in unique retrofit environments such as a pool house.
2. Average performance. Conventional systems are proven to be “hit-or-miss” solutions due to their average capacities and lack of advanced features and capabilities.
3. High energy costs. Traditional cooling solutions, whether it is a window AC or a centralized air system, are not so energy-efficient.

Ductless Mini Split as Your Smart Choice

Unlike the traditional systems, the ductless mini split system is your ideal cooling choice for a pool house environment. Using this system ensures that you will be able to:

Easily install the system

Through its split design and the absence of ductwork requirement, a mini split helps you avoid the costly and complex installation procedures that are mostly associated with traditional systems.

Experience the right and exact amount of cooling or heating comfort

Due to the varying levels of temperature inside a pool house, you will need an AC solution that is fully capable of reaching any level of temperature that you need. A ductless mini split system will enable you to achieve your target cooling and heating loads by simply using one system. That’s right, there will be no need for piecemeal solutions. As an advanced AC solution, a mini split can also effectively remove or load heat regardless of the outdoor weather condition.

Attain the best humidity level

Humidity control is essential in maintaining a comfortable pool house environment due to the high level of evaporation that occurs inside the place. It must be noted that most mini splits also function as great dehumidifiers. So, while you can use a separate dehumidifier technology, having an AC system that’s capable of removing moisture and maintaining the recommended relative humidity level inside your facility is definitely a huge plus. This capability does not only make mini splits efficient and economical, but also helpful in improving the quality of indoor air and protecting the structure.

Get quality indoor air

The high level of humidity, the poor ventilation in an enclosed space, and the use of water disinfectants all add up and contribute to poor quality of air inside a pool house. The use of chlorine, for instance, creates a foul smell when it mixes with human body fluids like sweat. The chemical reaction often produces another chemical with by-products that become airborne contaminants. Unlike traditional systems, a mini split system is built with better filtration technology and components that are capable of effectively eliminating contaminants in the air and deodorizing the odor inside the pool house.

Cut your energy costs

In terms of energy-efficiency, ductless mini splits stand out over any kind of traditional AC system. Available with excellent efficiency ratings and powerful, energy-saving components, these ductless solutions can effectively reduce your energy consumption and significantly lower your electricity costs. For a pool house application, this is your most cost-effective choice, especially if you’re looking for significant energy savings.

Find the Right Mini Split AC for Your Pool House at ComfortUP

A pool house environment has inherent air conditioning challenges that you have to effectively tackle to make the place ideal for its specific purpose. It must be a safe and comfortable environment that you can use anytime without you losing too much money on energy costs. While many systems can be used in this type of space, the ductless mini split system emerges as the only solution that assures you of hassle-free and cost-effective installation, excellent cooling and heating performance, effective humidity control, quality indoor air, and sustainable efficiency and long-term energy savings. For a selection of the best mini split options for your pool house, you can visit ComfortUp.com.

 

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