Types of Aircon: Split Type, Window Type, Portable and Centralized

Every aircon has a cold side that takes heat out of the room and a hot side, with the compressor, that dumps it outside. The four types are four ways of arranging those two sides around your wall. Once you can see where they sit, the install, the noise, the running cost and the cleaning follow. If you already know which you want and need it fitted, that is our aircon installation service.

1. 1 Window type: one box in the opening. Its back is outside and its front is in the room, so the compressor is in the room with you and the opening has to exist.
2. 2 Split type: two machines with a wall between them. The noisy half is outside, and it needs somewhere out there to stand.
3. 3 Portable: the whole machine in the room, with a hose to a window. The hot side is inside with you, and the hose pushes room air out, which pulls warm air back in.
4. 4 Centralized: one plant outside, several rooms inside. Ducts across the ceiling or several indoor units, and the whole system runs whenever any of it does.

The four side by side

Running cost here is relative and assumes the same size and the same technology. A right-sized unit of any type beats an oversized one of another.

Split type aircon

Two units joined through the wall by copper pipes, a drain hose and a power line. The slim indoor unit hangs high on a wall, the outdoor unit with the compressor stands outside on a bracket or a slab. It is the type both Carrier Philippines and Daikin Philippines build their home ranges around, and Daikin's room air range lists only splits.

How it is installed

A longer job than a window type. A hole through the wall, a pipe run, a drain that has to fall the whole way outside, and somewhere for the outdoor unit to breathe. Most of what can go wrong with a split later is decided on install day.

Running cost

Low, especially as an inverter. The heat is dumped well away from the room, so the unit is not fighting its own exhaust.

Noise

The quietest indoors, because the compressor is on the other side of the wall. What you hear inside is the fan.

Rooms it suits

Bedrooms, living rooms, any room with an outside wall and a place outside for the second unit. If the walls cannot hold it, the floor mounted version, which Carrier lists for exactly that case, puts the indoor half on the floor instead.

Cleaning and servicing

Two units and the drain between them. The drain is what blocks and drips onto the floor, so a clean that stops at the filter has missed the usual fault.

Window type aircon

One box that sits in an opening in the wall or window, its front in the room and its back outside. Carrier's guide gives the reason it stays popular here: it takes no floor space and it is easy to install and maintain. Carrier lists it and Daikin's home range does not, which says a lot about where it sits in the market.

How it is installed

The shortest job when the opening exists. The frame has to carry the weight without flexing, and the unit needs a slight tilt outward so water runs outside rather than down your wall.

Running cost

Close to a split of the same size and technology, closer than the sales copy suggests. Inverter window units exist, and an inverter window type can cost less to run than a non-inverter split.

Noise

Noticeable. The compressor sits in the opening, so you hear it start and stop. The back of the unit also pushes its heat and noise at whatever is outside.

Rooms it suits

Rentals, rooms with no space outside for a second unit, and anywhere you might want to take the aircon with you.

Cleaning and servicing

One box with everything behind one front. Quick to clean properly, and easy to neglect because it looks fine from the room.

Choosing between these two is the most common decision, and it has its own page: split type vs window type aircon.

Portable aircon

The whole machine in one box on wheels, standing in the room, with a hose that carries hot air out through a window. Carrier lists it, and its reason is the only one a portable has: it can be moved from room to room.

How it is installed

It is not, which is the appeal. The hose still needs a window or an opening, with a panel to close the gap around it.

Running cost

The highest of the four for the cooling it delivers. The hot side is inside with you and warms the room it is cooling, and the hose pushes room air out, which pulls warm air back in through every gap.

Noise

The loudest. Compressor and fans are all in the room.

Rooms it suits

One small room, short-term, where nothing can be mounted. Not a good answer for a bedroom you sleep in every night.

Cleaning and servicing

One box, plus the hose, the window panel and, on many models, a water tank that has to be emptied. A tank left standing is where the smell comes from.

Centralized aircon

One large outdoor plant cooling several rooms, either through ducts in the ceiling with an outlet in each room, or through several indoor units on one system. Daikin Philippines lists multi-split in its room air range, which is the small version of the same idea: one outdoor unit, more than one room.

How it is installed

The biggest job by far. Ducts or pipe runs through the ceiling to every room, usually planned when the house or office is built or renovated, because that is when the ceiling is open.

Running cost

Efficient per room when it is designed for the house and the rooms are in use. Expensive when it cools rooms nobody is in, because on a simple system the whole plant runs whenever any part of it does.

Noise

Quiet in the rooms, where there is only an outlet or an indoor unit. The noise is in one place outside.

Rooms it suits

Whole houses and offices where most rooms are cooled at the same times of day. For a house where one or two rooms are cooled at night, room units usually make more sense.

Cleaning and servicing

As many places as it has rooms. Dirt in a duct reaches every outlet on it, and getting to the ducts means getting into the ceiling.

What each type means for cleaning and servicing

How often a unit needs cleaning depends on how much it runs and how dusty the house is, and that is the same for every type. What changes is how much there is to open. The more parts a type spreads across the house, the more places dirt can sit where you cannot see it.

1. 1 Window and portable units are one box. The filter and the coils are behind one front, which is why they are the quick ones to clean and the easy ones to neglect.
2. 2 A split type is two boxes and a drain line. The drain is the part that blocks, and it is inside the wall, so a clean that stops at the filter has missed the usual fault.
3. 3 A centralized system is as many places as it has rooms. Dirt in the duct run reaches every outlet on it, and the technician needs a way into the ceiling.

When you book, tell us which type you have, and for a split how many indoor units, so the technician comes with the time and the gear for it. Our aircon cleaning page covers what a proper clean includes.

Choosing, in one line each

• Space outside and noise matters: split type.
• No space outside, or you rent: window type.
• Nothing can be mounted, for now: portable.
• Building or renovating, most rooms cooled together: centralized.

Whichever it is, size it first. Work out what the room needs with the aircon HP calculator, check the room size for each HP, then compare running costs with your own electricity rate.

Questions people ask

What are the types of aircon?

For a home here, four: split type, window type, portable and centralized. Carrier Philippines also lists floor mounted, which is a split type with the indoor unit standing on the floor. Inverter and non-inverter are not types in this sense; both split and window units are sold in either form.

What is the difference between a split type and a window type aircon?

Where the parts sit. A window type is one box in an opening, with the compressor in the opening. A split type is two units joined through the wall, with the compressor outside. That one difference decides the install, the noise and which rooms each can go in.

Which type of aircon is best for a bedroom?

A split type, if there is somewhere outside for the outdoor unit, because the noisy half is outside the room. If there is not, a correctly sized inverter window type is the next choice. A portable is the noisiest of the four in a bedroom.

Is a portable aircon worth it?

For a short time in one small room, or where nothing can be mounted, it can be. As a permanent answer it is the weakest of the four: the hot side of the machine is in the room with you, it is the loudest, and for the cooling it delivers it costs the most to run.

Which type of aircon uses the least electricity?

Size and inverter matter more than type. A correctly sized inverter split and a correctly sized inverter window type are close. A portable uses the most for the cooling it gives, and a centralized system is only efficient if it is not cooling rooms nobody is in.

What is a centralized aircon?

One large outdoor plant cooling several rooms at once, either through ducts in the ceiling with an outlet in each room, or through several indoor units on one system. It is usually planned when a house or office is built, because the ducts need the ceiling.

Other guides

• Aircon capacitor: what it does and the signs it has failed

  The humming outdoor unit, the fan that will not spin, and why the capacitor is tested first.

• Aircon freezing up: why ice forms and what to do

  Ice on the indoor coil or the pipes, how to thaw it safely, and the three causes behind it.

• Aircon making noise: which sounds are normal and which are not

  Clicks and water sounds that are normal, and the rattles, hisses and squeals that need a technician.

• Aircon not turning on: what to check, and the 3-minute wait after a brownout

  Remote, breaker, the compressor’s restart delay, and the flashing lamp that means a technician.

• AVR for aircon: when you need one and how to size it

  What an AVR does in a brownout, which units already protect themselves, and sizing it from the nameplate.

• Aircon watts: how many watts a 1 HP aircon uses, size by size

  Running watts and kWh per hour for each size, how to read the nameplate, and starting watts for a generator.

• What is freon, and why your aircon should not need a yearly refill

  The sealed loop, why low gas means a leak, the three refrigerants in Philippine units, and the refill myth.

• Aircon HP and room size: what each size cools, 0.5 to 2.5 HP

  The square metres each size suits in a shaded room and a hot one, with the arithmetic behind 0.6 HP.

• Aircon cleaning schedule: what to clean, and how often

  The filter every two weeks, a full clean by how hard the unit works, the deeper clean, and when in the year to book it.

• Common aircon problems, symptom by symptom

  Not cold, weak air, water inside, a smell, ice, noise, tripping and blinking: what each points to and what you can check.

• Aircon lifespan: how long it lasts, and repair or replace

  How many years a unit usually gives, what shortens it, and the signs that a repair is no longer worth it.

• Inverter vs non-inverter aircon: which costs less to run

  Kilowatt hours side by side at 2, 4, 8 and 12 hours a day, and the kind of use where a non-inverter is still fine.

• What size aircon for a bedroom, living room or kitchen

  Room by room: what each kind of room adds to the size you need, worked through for a sample two-storey house.

• Aircon energy saving tips that lower the bill

  Where the heat gets in, the setting and the fan, the timer, the cleaning, and reading the DOE energy label.

Sources: Carrier Philippines' air conditioner buying guide and its residential product categories, and Daikin Philippines' room air range, all read on 30 September 2026, with no publication date shown. Both are named as the source of a fact and neither is recommended.