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I was looking to get one of these to replace my electric heat set up but I am not sure it would be worth dumping all the money into this system. Not really sure how long I plan on being in my unit.
You got to wait till late spring for their site to open . I spent around 1800 in total
Complete do it yourself . No mess at all. A gamble I did did last spring paid of already. Granted this winter was mild was thing fact that the thing was trying to push warm air when outside was -5F had me impressed.
The one disadvantage I see over this system vs a larger, in-attic, setup with multiple ducts is that the outlet is limited to one room only, vs being able to run duct through the attic to multiple rooms.
I like the DIY factor with a mini split, but looks like I'd have to run 3-4 of these units to hit all the main areas of my Ranch-style house.
EDIT: Nevermind, I did some googling and it looks like they are available with multiple zones. Interesting. Time to do my homework.
The one disadvantage I see over this system vs a larger, in-attic, setup with multiple ducts is that the outlet is limited to one room only, vs being able to run duct through the attic to multiple rooms.
I like the DIY factor with a mini split, but looks like I'd have to run 3-4 of these units to hit all the main areas of my Ranch-style house.
EDIT: Nevermind, I did some googling and it looks like they are available with multiple zones. Interesting. Time to do my homework.
The conventional wisdom is to stick with the Japanese brands and avoid the Chinese stuff. Mitsubishi, Fujitsu, Sanyo, and Daikin have all been at it for decades. I imagine LG is fine, too. I cool 992 square feet with an 18,000 BTU Fujitsu. I have good doors, glazing, and insulation and I don't need to close bedroom doors. I run it 24x7 at 74F all summer and it costs about $1.00 per day. YMMV.
In hindsight, I should have gone with a heat pump instead of a pure A/C. My heating costs with a natural gas boiler are far higher than my cooling costs. I could have used the mini-split at least on the shoulder season for heat and saved some bucks.
In hindsight, I should have gone with a heat pump instead of a pure A/C. My heating costs with a natural gas boiler are far higher than my cooling costs. I could have used the mini-split at least on the shoulder season for heat and saved some bucks.
Interesting thing to think about. I need to see what my shoulder season heating costs are with my NG furnace first to see if this is a viable option.
To be quite honest, having a Ranch, and a wide open attic, it might make more sense to just install a ducted system and then just run the ducts to all the various rooms I would want a register in. Since it's all one level living, should be easy to do.
The one disadvantage I see over this system vs a larger, in-attic, setup with multiple ducts is that the outlet is limited to one room only, vs being able to run duct through the attic to multiple rooms.
I like the DIY factor with a mini split, but looks like I'd have to run 3-4 of these units to hit all the main areas of my Ranch-style house.
EDIT: Nevermind, I did some googling and it looks like they are available with multiple zones. Interesting. Time to do my homework.
Mike
Basically they are much more like single room AC/heating units rather than a whole house AC/heating unit. An older home with multi rooms will require multi units.
Look at them more as a less obtrusive window unit versus a central unit.
Typically the expenses are where/how to mount them and running electricity to them. In an older home with limited electrical service. it could require darn near a whole house rewiring to support several of them.
It can be misleading in that yes they are like having several zones the same as having several window units is also having several zones....LOL
Basically they are much more like single room AC/heating units rather than a whole house AC/heating unit. An older home with multi rooms will require multi units.
Look at them more as a less obtrusive window unit versus a central unit.
Typically the expenses are where/how to mount them and running electricity to them. In an older home with limited electrical service. it could require darn near a whole house rewiring to support several of them.
It can be misleading in that yes they are like having several zones the same as having several window units is also having several zones....LOL
It's not just the "obtrusive" when comparing to a window A/C. They're very quiet and they're far more efficient. They do a much better job filtering the air. You can also run multiple indoor air handlers off of one outdoor compressor. The 220v DC inverter units don't draw a huge amount of current to start the compressor like an AC-powered compressor. You can run a 36,000 BTU compressor that can drive 4 air handlers off a 30 amp 220v circuit. It only pulls about 4,000 watts max.
I had the worst case electrical install. My panel was full. I had to install a small outdoor main panel with a 220v breaker for the mini-split and use my original indoor panel as a sub-panel. That was $800.00. It's the same breaker size you'd use for an electric clothes dryer. It's unlikely it would ever pull even 20 amps so you'd have to have ancient electrical service coming in from the street to have anything worse than that.
And I've "darn near rewired my house". That wasn't $800. Trust me.
One big advantage of mini-splits is that you only need to cool the space you're actually using. The indoor units in the guest bedrooms can be off with those doors closed. You can flip on the one in the master bedroom a few minutes before you go to bed and it will cool right down.
I had the worst case electrical install. My panel was full. I had to install a small outdoor main panel with a 220v breaker for the mini-split and use my original indoor panel as a sub-panel. That was $800.00. It's the same breaker size you'd use for an electric clothes dryer. It's unlikely it would ever pull even 20 amps so you'd have to have ancient electrical service coming in from the street to have anything worse than that.
Being a former electrician, not too worried about the electrical aspects of the job. I've been slowly rewiring the house anyway.
Right now, I run window units, but a few rooms have them built into the walls. I hate this because you're forced to wrap up the AC each winter, and sure as hell, mold grows inside where there is condensation from the warm air meeting cold air. So pretty much now I need to remove all the wall units and decontaminate them each spring. That involves removing the casings and wrestling them out of the walls.
So as you can see, I want to get away from this ASAP. Mini splits seem like it would duplicate the same thing, without the hole in the wall. Problem is it looks like I'd need to do a bunch of them.
Might be more economical, and practical, to look for a ducted system I can put in the attic instead.
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