Have you been making do without air conditioning at your vacation cottage? You may be able to stay reasonably cool with ceiling fans or box fans, but you probably know your cottage would be more comfortable with air conditioning. Of course, installing a window air conditioner is an option, but there is an even better option: installing a ductless mini split air conditioner. These units are virtually perfect for vacation cottages. Here are a few reasons why.

You don't need any ducts

Many vacation cottages have a simple heating setup. You may have a pellet stove or some electric baseboard heaters. Chances are, you do not have ducts, and installing ducts just to install air conditioning would be an enormous amount of work. With a ductless mini split air conditioning system, you do not need ducts. The air will come into your home through the air handler. It will be blown out with enough force to circulate through the cottage and cool it adequately.

Mini-split systems don't take up a lot of space

In most vacation cottages, space is at a premium. You probably do not want a big appliance taking up a whole corner of your room. The good news is that mini-split systems take up very little indoor space. There will be an outside condenser unit, but you can put that in an inconspicuous area. Inside, all you will have is half of the air handler sticking through the wall. And usually, an HVAC contractor will put the air handler way up high, above head level, where it will not take up any space you would otherwise be using.

These systems are easy to maintain

Because there are no ducts—just a compressor and an air handler—ductless AC systems are easy to maintain. You will not have to spend much of your valuable vacation time cleaning or maintaining an air conditioning system. Just have an HVAC contractor come out once a year. They can likely access the air handler and do all they need to do from outside the cottage, so you can likely even schedule them to come when you are not there. 

If you want to air condition your cottage but are not interested in using window air conditioners, installing ductless air conditioning is a good way to go. To learn more about air conditioning installation, including ductless AC units, contact an HVAC company in your area.