I have long touted the many benefits of ductless mini-split systems over central air. I even had a Mitsubishi Electric ductless system installed at our old house in Aliso Viejo for the master bedroom. This after quickly realizing that the central air system wasn’t doing a good job cooling the upstairs master bedroom which has south facing windows and a hot garage underneath. It was life changing. What happened last night was the final straw and why I need to convince my landlords to let Command Comfort install a ductless air conditioner in the master bedroom of our new home in Huntington Beach, CA.

Despite the beauty of South OC and the love we have for our first home in Aliso Viejo. A few years ago we decided to move back to Huntington Beach before our second child was expected. Huntington Beach is quite a bit closer to my office in Los Alamitos but more importantly, it is closer to my family and also my wives. And with a second child on the way, we were eager to be closer to helpful grandparents. After searching for the right house in the right neighborhood, we finally found “the house”. It was perfect all but for one thing. No air conditioning. A big deal breaker for me. The owners of the home promised that HB gets a good enough breeze and doesn’t need air conditioning but I knew better. Of course a Mitsubishi ductless system was the first thing on my mind but for a large rental home already ducted for central heating, central a/c was the better investment for the owners. So they hired Command Comfort to install a central air conditioning system. That was a huge upgrade to the home and well worth their investment and it got us into the home. Still though, during the first summer in Huntington Beach, we had to freeze out the downstairs to get the upstairs even reasonably cool at night. And despite a moderately high-efficiency model we installed. We hated our summer electric bills and stopped running it at night. I suffered through some uncomfortable nights, drifting off only to dreams of my nice cool master bedroom in Aliso where the whisper quiet fan in my ductless system would lull me to sleep every night with no fear of a high electric bill.

But now on with the story I started. Last night, it was 75 degrees upstairs (hot for me). I had just put the girls to bed and that’s hard enough to do on its own. When I got into my room I knew it was going to be a bit too hot for me so I grabbed my phone, opened the Nest app and turned the a/c down to 72 degrees. Now my preferred temp is closer to 70 but I thought 72 was a good compromise. Nevertheless about 5 minutes after the central a/c kicked on, my oldest daughter opened our door and told us that the big fan in the hallway scares her and she can’t sleep with it on! My first reaction was WOW, this is a perfect ductless commercial. Maybe I can sell the script to Mitsubishi Electric. Hahah. But immediately after I realized the bigger deal was that I had to turn off the a/c, try to get my little one back to bed and then somehow sleep in an uncomfortable room.

So the moral of the story is…. Get yourself ductless a/c for your whole house or at least the most important rooms in your home. Often times the master bedroom and living room are great choices. Even if you have central a/c already. Ductless is quiet, it’s incredibly energy efficient, they clean the air using anti-allergy enzyme filters while they run and they maintain a perfect temperature so that you and the little ones can sleep in peace! Most people agree that summers are increasingly hotter each year and so your beach house in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach (to name a few) could really benefit from a ductless air conditioner installed by Command Comfort.