The short answer
Floor-standing and console units are split-system indoor units that sit at floor level rather than high on a wall. They suit rooms with no suitable high wall and are well placed for heating, but they take up floor-level space.
On this page
They're easy to confuse with portable air conditioners, but they're fixed units connected to an outdoor unit outside, just like a wall-mounted split. What changes is where the indoor unit sits, and that affects which rooms they suit and how the air moves around the room.
The main kinds
| Type | What it looks like | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Floor console | A low box, roughly radiator height | Low on a wall or on the floor |
| Floor/ceiling unit | A wide, slim box | Low on a wall or under a ceiling |
| Floor-standing column | A tall, slim cabinet | On the floor in a large space |
Floor consoles are the kind most often fitted in homes. Floor/ceiling units can be mounted either way round, and tall floor-standing units are more usual in shops and offices than in houses.
How they move air
A console draws room air in through the front and blows it out of a grille on top. Some models can also send warm air out of a lower outlet along the floor.
Because warm air rises, releasing it low down suits heating, helping the room warm from the floor up. When cooling, the air is aimed upwards so it can spread across the room before it sinks. How air conditioning heats a room explains the heating side in more detail.
Like a wall-mounted unit, a console connects to its outdoor unit through refrigerant pipes, a cable and a condensate drain. The pipes usually leave near the bottom of the unit, which can make for a short, direct run to an outdoor unit on the ground just outside. Depending on the range, a console can also be one of the indoor units on a multi-split.
Where they work well
- Loft rooms and rooms with sloping ceilings, where there's no high wall to fix a unit to. See loft rooms and top floors.
- Under a window, sometimes where a radiator used to be.
- Conservatories and garden rooms where most walls are glazed and the only solid wall is below the windows.
- Rooms where heating matters as much as cooling, since warm air starts near the floor.
- Homes where easy reach helps. The filters and controls are at floor level, so cleaning the filters, usually every few weeks while the system is in regular use, doesn't need a stepladder.
Where they fall short
- Floor-level space. The unit uses wall space low down, and furniture, curtains or toys in front of it block the airflow, so it needs clear space around it.
- Less choice. There are fewer console models and sizes than wall-mounted ones.
- Drainage. The drain starts close to the floor, leaving less height for water to run away by gravity, so a ground-floor console sometimes needs a condensate pump.
- In the living space. It sits in the part of the room you use rather than above it, and within reach of children and pets.
Console or wall-mounted
A console and a wall-mounted split use the same kind of outdoor unit and work the same way. The differences are about position.
| Floor console | Wall-mounted | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | Low on the wall or floor | High on the wall |
| Heating | Warm air starts low | Warm air blown down from above |
| Filter cleaning | At floor level | Usually needs a step |
| Wall space | Low down, near furniture | Above furniture |
| Choice of models | Smaller | Wider |
Related guides
- Wall-mounted split systemsA wall-mounted split system pairs an indoor unit fixed high on a wall with an outdoor unit outside, joined by refrigerant pipes. It is a common choice for fixed air conditioning in UK homes, and most models heat as well as cool.
- Loft rooms and top floorsLoft rooms and top floors run hotter than the rest of the house because the roof heats up in the sun, warm air rises, and roof windows catch sunshine for much of the day. Shading, ventilation, insulation and well-planned cooling help.
- How air conditioning heats a roomTo heat, the system runs its refrigerant loop in reverse. The outdoor coil turns cold and collects heat from outside air, even below freezing, while the indoor coil turns hot and warms the air blown into the room.