Converting air conditioner ducted to ductless
I bought an Atwood non-ducted ceiling-mounted air conditioner, assuming the current AC was non-ducted - but maybe it was ducted, because when I removed the old one, there were ducts on either side abo...
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Typically the air return is on the ceiling air conditioner itself (with a foam filter under a cover grille), and the ducts are for the conditioned air distribution. Most ducted air conditioners also have a sort of blast door shutter arrangement which can be opened to permit most of the conditioned air to exit straight from the unit rather than heading down the ducts.
I'd think you could just stick the new unit in place and not worry about the existing ducts at all. It should be shrouded so that little if any air flows through them. If it looks like it would, you could just block them off. The one thing you definitely want to avoid is having an opening between the air return and the air conditioned side of things, allowing the cooled air to circulate through the air conditioner but not the room.
I'd think you could just stick the new unit in place and not worry about the existing ducts at all. It should be shrouded so that little if any air flows through them. If it looks like it would, you could just block them off. The one thing you definitely want to avoid is having an opening between the air return and the air conditioned side of things, allowing the cooled air to circulate through the air conditioner but not the room.
