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Old 10-20-2022, 12:49 PM
 
2,348 posts, read 1,778,418 times
Reputation: 700

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cloudship View Post
Do the mini splits work up here? I know they only are efficient down to a certain temperature. We regularly have weeks of the teens, and even a few consecutive days of single digit temps around here.
The mini split that I looked at on Home Depot claimed it could do 12k BTUs at 1090 W and 7k when air dropped to 17 F... this compared to 5k BTUs at 1500 W for baseboard.

A therm apparently is about 100k BTUs.

In the end it would depend on what you pay... but at 28 c/kWh and a dollar/therm, that would be about 2.5x more expensive for the heat pump just at 40+ F. All ground source does is make the low air temp loss less.
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Old 10-20-2022, 02:26 PM
 
2,710 posts, read 1,731,014 times
Reputation: 1319
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cloudship View Post
Do the mini splits work up here? I know they only are efficient down to a certain temperature. We regularly have weeks of the teens, and even a few consecutive days of single digit temps around here.
We used mini splits for heat in the living room and master bed in Sept and our electric bill was the highest ever, almost $300. Thought it would have been cheaper. Switched to baseboard gas heat for October and our latest gas bill was only $77, and it heated the whole house not just a couple rooms. Mini splits are only efficient for cooling it seems.
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Old 10-21-2022, 05:02 AM
 
3,933 posts, read 2,189,162 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by matrix5k View Post
We used mini splits for heat in the living room and master bed in Sept and our electric bill was the highest ever, almost $300. Thought it would have been cheaper. Switched to baseboard gas heat for October and our latest gas bill was only $77, and it heated the whole house not just a couple rooms. Mini splits are only efficient for cooling it seems.
Could you please mention the manufacturer of the split you have, how many BTUs rated and the size of your home?
The mini-splits suppose to be the best during “shoulder” season like September.

It is discouraging to read your comment regarding your bill as the authorities seem to want to switch every household to electric and mini-splits suppose to have the highest efficiency.

The Oct isn’t over - the bills are a month behind? Could it be that your $300 September bill was for a/c in August?

Wonder if it wasn’t sized, installed correctly - a lot of ignorant HVAC contractors out there..
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Old 10-21-2022, 05:25 AM
 
2,710 posts, read 1,731,014 times
Reputation: 1319
Quote:
Originally Posted by L00k4ward View Post
Could you please mention the manufacturer of the split you have, how many BTUs rated and the size of your home?
The mini-splits suppose to be the best during “shoulder” season like September.

It is discouraging to read your comment regarding your bill as the authorities seem to want to switch every household to electric and mini-splits suppose to have the highest efficiency.

The Oct isn’t over - the bills are a month behind? Could it be that your $300 September bill was for a/c in August?

Wonder if it wasn’t sized, installed correctly - a lot of ignorant HVAC contractors out there..
It's Mitsubishi, not sure the size I'll have to look it up. My bills are kinda split in the middle of the month so the last electric bill was for 9/15-10/15ish. We used a little bit of AC in Sept but not as much as July or August. The heat that we used in October is the only thing that changed. We had AC on all day during the heat wave and the bill was $200.
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Old 10-21-2022, 05:43 AM
 
1,708 posts, read 2,910,549 times
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It's all rate dependent, my ranking below

1) Natural gas
2) Green firewood you dry yourself - 2-3 years in a EPA stove
3) Mini split
4) Oil (Oil/mini split might swap if oil is less than $2.50/gal, or elecric rates are over $0.2/kw)
5) Propane
6) Elec. Baseboard.

Hard to beat natural gas when all you need to do is set it and forget it, especially if you have a new high efficiency boiler. But mini splits could win out in a town with no gas and a municipal light department. Just checked littleton and they are $0.13/kw or if you want AC and to play the pricing game between oil and electricity.
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Old 10-21-2022, 02:10 PM
 
578 posts, read 570,830 times
Reputation: 485
Turns out it is not available in every town. Only those served by those utility companies.



I was looking for discounts on insulating my house, but those aren't available through my town.
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Old 10-22-2022, 06:13 AM
 
1,708 posts, read 2,910,549 times
Reputation: 2167
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cloudship View Post
Turns out it is not available in every town. Only those served by those utility companies.



I was looking for discounts on insulating my house, but those aren't available through my town.
Funny in Marblehead I didn’t qualify for anything when I had oil (and muni electric) but when I moved to a house with gas I qualified. I assume you aren’t a gas customer?
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