Splits are cheaper and simpler; ducted is quieter, hidden and zoned. The decision comes down to how many rooms you want to control, whether you have roof space, and your budget. A straight comparison with no thumb on the scale.
This is the question we are asked most, and the honest answer is that it depends on the house and how you live in it, not on which system has the bigger margin. Both are good. They solve different problems.
A split system is one indoor head connected to one outdoor unit. A multi-head puts two to five indoor heads on a single outdoor unit, so you can cool several rooms with independent control in each. Splits are cheaper to install, can be staged room by room as budget allows, and need no ductwork, which makes them the natural choice when there is no roof space.
The trade-off is that each room has its own head on the wall, and a house full of heads is more visible and a little louder than a single hidden system.
A ducted system hides a single fan coil in the roof and pushes conditioned air to every room through ductwork, controlled from one touchpad. It is the quiet, invisible, even option for a whole house. The decision that makes or breaks it is zoning.
Zoning lets you cool the living areas by day and the bedrooms by night without running the whole house. It is the single biggest running-cost saver on a ducted system, and the reason an unzoned ducted system gets a bad name for power bills. Designed well, around how you actually use the rooms, a zoned ducted system is both comfortable and efficient.
The deciding factors are simple: how many rooms you want to control, whether you have the roof space for ducting, and your budget. Everything else is detail.
Ask this, exactly
“Can you quote both a zoned ducted option and a multi-head split for my place, and tell me honestly which suits the house?”
A working installer will lay out both options honestly and tell you which suits the house, even when it is the cheaper one. Push back on anyone who only quotes the dearer system.
On the site visit we look at the rooms, the roof space and how you live, then lay out both options on the quote with the cost and the trade-off for each. We would rather you choose the right system with the full picture than be talked into the bigger one. The right call is the one that fits the house.
Saltline Air & Refrigeration