Ductless Mini Split Replacement for Old Central Air in Georgetown

Updated September 2026 · ATX Mini Split King, Austin and Central Texas

Georgetown homes range from historic bungalows near the Square to mid-century ranches with aging ductwork and newer additions built over original foundations. When a central ducted system fails, a ductless mini split is one replacement path. This page walks through what that actually means for your house, the honest tradeoffs, and the exact work involved so you can decide with clear eyes.

Flat pricing, everything included

Those are materials and labor together, wired to code by a TDLR licensed contractor. Anything non standard gets quoted first, before a single tool comes out of the truck: a very long line set, an electrical panel that needs work, a difficult mount, a roof or masonry penetration, disposal of the old equipment. You hear the number before we start, not after.

What a Ductless Mini Split Actually Is

A ductless mini split is an air conditioning system that does not use ducts. An outdoor compressor unit connects to one or more indoor air handlers mounted high on a wall, in a ceiling, or tucked above a doorway. The two units are linked by a slim bundle called a line set that carries refrigerant, plus a small drain line for the water the indoor unit pulls from the air. Each indoor head serves the room it is in, blowing cooled or heated air directly into the space.

The system moves heat rather than creating it. In cooling mode it absorbs indoor heat and dumps it outside, exactly like a central unit. In heating mode the cycle reverses, pulling heat from outdoor air and bringing it inside. Because it conditions one zone at a time and bypasses ductwork entirely, there is no air loss to a hot attic or a leaky chase. The outdoor unit runs quieter than most older central condensers and the indoor heads are barely noticeable once you stop looking at them.

Honest Reasons People Choose This Path

The strongest reason is avoiding ductwork that is shot. Many Georgetown homes built before the eighties have ducts that are undersized, disconnected, or rusted through in the attic. Replacing ducts in a single story ranch or a home with awkward additions can mean tearing out ceilings, running new chases, and a cost that rivals the new equipment itself. A ductless system moots that entire problem. There are no ducts to lose air, so efficiency stays closer to what the equipment was designed to deliver.

Another real upside is zoning. A central system treats the whole house as one box, pushing the same air to an unoccupied front bedroom, a sunbaked west facing living room, and a kitchen that runs hot from cooking. Mini splits let you condition only the rooms you are using. For a couple living mostly in two or three rooms of a larger house, that cuts energy use without sacrificing comfort. The systems also filter the air in that room directly, which matters during cedar fever season when you want fewer paths for pollen to circulate.

For Georgetown homes with converted garages, sunroom additions, or detached studios, the mini split solves the problem of extending ductwork that was never designed to reach that far. Running one line set through a wall or a short attic chase is far simpler than trying to splice into a main trunk line that is already marginal. The outdoor footprint is small as well, a boon for tighter lots in neighborhoods like Old Town or University Park where side yards are narrow.

Honest Drawbacks and Limits You Should Know

The most obvious limit is appearance. There is a white appliance on your wall or ceiling, in every room you want to condition. They are not invisible. Some people never stop noticing them. In a historic Georgetown home with original trim and tall ceilings, a modern indoor head feels like an intrusion. You can hide them in closets or above doorways, but that often compromises airflow and access for cleaning.

Another real drawback is maintenance that lands on you. Central systems have one filter at the air handler. Mini splits have a washable filter in each indoor head that catches dust, pet hair, and the fine grit that drifts off the Blackland Prairie. Those filters need rinsing every two to four weeks during heavy use. Skip it and the coil clogs, airflow drops, and the head can develop mold on the blower wheel. The blower cleaning is a known issue with these systems and ignoring it leads to a musty smell that takes a deep cleaning to fix.

Uneven temperatures between rooms are also a fact unless you put a head in every room, which adds cost. A hallway or a bathroom with no head will drift toward whatever temperature the rest of the house settles to, affected more by outdoor conditions than you might expect. If you want whole home coverage that matches a ducted system in every closet and corner, you will need multiple indoor units and possibly more than one outdoor compressor. That changes the price math substantially.

Signs Your Central Ducted System Is Nearing the End

Age is the bluntest indicator. A central system in a Georgetown home that has run twenty summers of hundred degree days is tired even if it still kicks on. Look at the outdoor condenser. If the fins are flattened or corroded and the compressor sounds harder than it used to, heat exchange is suffering and the amp draw is climbing. The refrigerant lines should be insulated fully, not bare copper showing through rotted foam.

Inside the house, uneven cooling that no amount of register adjustment can fix usually points to duct leakage, collapsed sections, or a coil that is partially blocked. Walk the attic on a hot day and feel for cold air bleeding out of duct joints. If you feel it, the system is cooling the attic more efficiently than the bedrooms. A spike in your summer electric bill that is not explained by rate changes or a hotter than usual August often traces back to the unit running longer cycles to fight the duct loss.

Moisture problems are a red flag that goes beyond repair versus replace. Rust on the air handler cabinet, water stains on the ceiling below the attic unit, or a drain pan that holds standing water mean the system has been leaking internally or the condensate line has backed up repeatedly. That kind of chronic wetness rusts the heat exchanger in a furnace and breeds mold inside the cabinet. When you have multiple problems compounding, the cost of fixing them individually can overtake the cost of a fresh start.

What the Replacement Job Actually Involves

The crew removes the old equipment first. That means the outdoor condenser, the indoor air handler or furnace, and the refrigerant lines. The ductwork stays where it is unless you choose to have sections removed from the attic. The return air grille and the supply registers are left in place or patched at your request. The focus of the work is installing the new system, not restoring the old duct layout. An abandoned duct system in an unconditioned attic does no harm but brings no benefit either.

For a standard installation the outdoor mini split unit sits on a pad or is bracket mounted to an exterior wall. A three inch opening through the wall, usually at the top of an exterior wall or through a soffit, carries the line set, the electrical wiring, and the condensate drain line to the indoor head. That penetration gets sealed with a grommet and a trim cover. The condensate line runs by gravity to daylight outside, or into a nearby plumbing drain if one is accessible and code permits. The electrical work taps an existing circuit or adds a dedicated breaker at the panel, sized to the unit's requirements and done to NEC code by our licensed electrician.

The indoor head mounts to a bracket secured to studs. Most installs take one day for a single head system, two days for multi head systems where line sets need to be routed through different parts of the house. The homeowner needs to decide indoor head placement before we arrive. The decision balances airflow, appearance, and line set routing. A unit above a window or a doorway often hides well. A unit centered on a blank wall is harder to live with visually. We walk you through those choices at the site visit and confirm anything non standard. Flat pricing covers one indoor head at $1,500, two heads at $2,500, three heads at $3,500, all materials and labor included. Anything outside that envelope, like a line set longer than standard, a panel upgrade, or an awkward mounting situation that requires structural work, gets quoted clearly before any work begins.

When Not to Switch, and When to Wait

If your ductwork is in good shape and the problem is just a failed compressor or a bad blower motor, repair is almost always the smarter money. A ducted system that still moves air effectively and has solid ducts should not be abandoned over a single component failure. Georgetown homes built in the last fifteen years often have duct systems that are still tight and sized correctly. In those cases a straight equipment swap is faster, cheaper, and preserves the invisible comfort of a ducted system.

If you value uniformity of temperature across the entire house, closets and bathrooms included, a ductless system will disappoint unless you install a head in every room. That costs more than the flat rate packages and moves into custom quote territory. For a large two story home in a neighborhood like Berry Creek or Woodland Park, a ducted replacement or a hybrid approach may serve you better. We will tell you that openly on the walkthrough.

There is also a timing argument. If your current system is struggling but not dead, and you are heading into October, waiting until the mild fall window is reasonable. Emergency replacements in July are harder on everyone. If you can limp through one more cooling season with a repair, you gain time to plan the head placement, the electrical scope, and the budget without sweating through a week of no air conditioning in triple digit heat. Georgetown summers are not the time to rush a decision that changes how your house feels for the next decade.

Questions people actually ask

How does a mini split handle heating on the few really cold Georgetown mornings?

The outdoor unit pulls heat from the outside air even when it feels cold to us. Modern systems work well into temperatures we rarely see in Georgetown. On the handful of mornings that dip into the teens the system still produces heat, though output drops. Most people keep a backup source for peace of mind, something as simple as a plug in oil filled radiator in the main room. Because our winters are short and generally mild, the mini split carries the load for the vast majority of the heating season without drama.

What happens to my old ductwork after the switch?

It stays in place unless you ask us to remove it. Abandoned attic ducts are inert. They do not affect the new system. Some homeowners choose to pull sections of visible ductwork from a closet chase or a garage ceiling for headroom, but most leave it. If you ever sell the house, the next owner could put a ducted system back if they wanted to, though that is rare. We can remove and dispose of selected duct sections and patch the ceiling openings as a separate scope, quoted before work.

Does the flat price include the electrical work and the condensate drain?

Yes, the $1,500, $2,500, and $3,500 packages cover one, two, or three indoor heads with all standard materials and labor, including the electrical hookup and the condensate drain line run to code. The price assumes a standard line set length, a straightforward wall penetration with no structural complications, and an electrical panel with room for a new breaker. If your panel is full, if the line set must run an unusually long distance, or if mounting requires specialty work, that is quoted separately before work begins.

Can I put a head in every room including bathrooms and the kitchen?

You can, but the cost rises beyond the flat rate packages. Kitchens are tricky because the airflow can disturb a gas range flame and because grease loads the filter fast. Bathrooms are small enough that a dedicated head is often overkill unless the room has an exterior wall and its own heat gain problem. Most people put heads in the main living area and the primary bedroom, then let smaller rooms float. We can design a full coverage system and quote it, but the value sweet spot is usually two or three heads in the rooms you occupy most.

How loud are these things compared to the old central system?

The indoor head on low or medium speed is quieter than a central system's air rushing through registers. Most people notice the absence of the rumble and the sudden whoosh of a central blower kicking on. The outdoor unit is also quieter than an older condensing unit, with the compressor ramping up and down rather than cycling on and off abruptly. If the outdoor unit is placed outside a bedroom window you will hear a low hum at night during peak cooling, so placement matters. We walk that line with you before the install.

Keep reading

Every replacement guide we have written is listed on the replacement guide hub. Next door to this page: replacing a central ducted air conditioning system with a ductless mini split in pflugerville, replacing a central ducted air conditioning system with a ductless mini split in kyle. Pricing, service area and the quote form all live on the ATX Mini Split King home page, and the Austin mini split cost guide covers what the rest of the market charges.