ductless mini split air conditioning

[Doug]

Samsung and Mitsubishi seem to be the names you see the most when it comes to this product. Does anyone have this type of "central" air conditioning in their home? What do you think of it? The units seem well-suited to Victorians with high ceilings and big windows, but our home is a lot older, with smaller scale rooms. I wish the units were a bit shorter so that we could put one unit in each room. If we use the standard units, my expectation is that we'd put 2 units on each floor, one on each end of the house. Will the rooms with the units be overly cold and those without, too hot?

[TimT]

I installed a Goodman ductless unit in my garage/workshop. It is a 2 ton unit that both heats and cools (heat pump). It works really well (especially the A/C part).

I also have a friend who has installed several units (a couple split units) on the third floor of his old house and they work just fine. He has the Mitsubishi.

I picked mine up on e-bay at a good price. The installation is pretty straight forward. I could have easily installed it myself and just had an HVAC guy connect and vac the lines.

Good luck.

Tim

[Heath]

I plan on going the same route as you. I have no room whatsoever for duct work and my heating is/will be taken care of by hydronic radiant.

The mini-split system should work well for me because I can mount them high on a wall and hide them with a cabinet that can be closed in the off season.

Here are a couple links I found...mostly sales links though.

http://acforsale.com/online/default.php?cPath=36_38

http://www.unitedenergy.ca/products/ductless.html

My house is naturally divided into specific heating and cooling zones. I plan on trying them first on the second floor and see how much residual cool air I have drift to the lower floor. The lower floor is sort of built into the hillside so it tends to remain a more consistent temperature.

Good luck.

[Bridget]

OK....I never knew these things existed. We were going to install a central air system for our second floor this spring. We had looked at Unico & spacepak, but since we have an unfinished attic we figured we could run the ducts around the perimeter of the attic & just wall them up when we get to finishing the attic. However, if one of these systems would work & not be too expensive ( on the electricity bill side!) it would be nice to keep all of our attic space!

Our second floor is only 900 sq. ft max, so is it possible we could use ONE of these split systems for the entire second floor? Some of the manufacturers brochures show one unit for an entire house? Is this really possible? Would it be possible to use a higher BTU dual zone for both the second floor and attic? Just how energy efficient are these systems? More or less so than a central air unit? I am assuming they are better than individual window units?

Sorry to ask a million questions, I am really bad at reading & understanding those technical charts!! Thanks for ANY info. you can give. I will have to ask my husband about these when he gets home, wonder why he never mentioned them as an option.

[Heath]

Don't give him too hard of a time about not telling you. Quite frankly, these things aren't widely known about. In asia, they're all over the place, but only recently have they become more available in the US. I have a feeling the trend is just getting started.

In my opinion, I think it would generally work like those do in hotels/motels where each unit has complete heating and/or cooling control. Some even have remotes.

I do not expect any support from the local HVAC companies, but I am hoping I can find someone willing to handle the refrigeration aspects of the installation.

There are many sizes of these units and just as many capacities. Do a little web research to find out what size (BTUs) is best for your space. Bigger is not always better.

In addition, there are such things as portable ACs as well. They have little roller wheels and you just plug them in and turn them on as needed (or adjust their thermostats). These too can be a great way to save space, not clutter up your historic windows, and get cool air in the process. They do have to drain though....so keep that in mind...the humidity it pulls from the air has to go somewhere.

Cool, huh?

[wessieball]

Can somebody clue me in as to how these units operate and how big they are? I have a 1000 sq. ft. house and was thinking about a evap cooler. Can I mount it in one room and expect it to cool the whole house? Also, how much are they?

[Doug]

You're right, ductless minisplit a/c is seen more overseas, than here in the States. They are intriguing, though, especially for those of us who have water-based heating systems and no existing duct paths. (We have cast iron hot water radiators which provide fabulous warmth). Ductless minisplit a/c would seem to be the hydronic equivalent to radiators in cooling (Samsung advertises how much cleaner this kind of cooling is as compared with ducted systems). If you have a home with an attic and basement worth keeping clear of ducts and air handlers (as we do), ductless minisplit appears to be a worthwhile alternative to traditional window units, as well as to portable/rolling units (like the DeLonghi Pinguino), which we tested and found inadequate (using 2 per floor) to cool our home (which has about 1000 square feet per floor).

[rodpaine]

While most of the questions/recommendations about using a ductless system is here in the "Pre-1900" Forum, I am currently installing two Mitsubishi systems in our Post-1900 1927 Sears type home and will be documenting it on a new page in my House web site, soon. They replace two monster (185 lb) 26 year old window units, that have now rusted away.
FWIW,
-Rod

[DB]

Hi,

I installed two Samsung mini-splits in our house - one in the finished basement and one in the main bedroom. I live in SE Pennsylvania and the 9k BTU units are each perfectly sized for a 600 sq foot basement and a 200 sq foot 2nd floor bedroom.

The units are extremely efficient (21 SEER) and very quiet when working properly (both are prone to occasional rattles). I paid about $1300 over the internet for each unit and did most of the installation myself (a friend of a friend in the HVAC business charged them with freon). I got an estimate from an HVAC company for $5000 to install a single unit (including the unit) - I spent about $1550 to do it myself (unit+install) . It was difficult to find an HVAC company that marketed the mini-splits. It was very difficult to find someone willing to simply charge the unit (and not sell me the unit and do the remaining installation). You should look into that initially if you decide to go the DIY route.

One of the nicest things about the unit is that they can be placed high on a wall and they're not too bad to look at. There's nothing better than permanently removing the ugly window unit. We installed the one unit in the finished basement initially and liked it so much, we invested in the second unit for the bedroom. They make 2 and 3 zone units as well (one compressor, 2 or 3 air handlers).

We simply don't use enough of the house to justify keeping the entire house AC'd, so this option made alot of sense for us. It also seems to have virtually no impact on the electric bill, so its easy to justify turning it on even when it gets slightly warm (especially for sleeping).

Good luck.

[rodpaine]

Hi DB,
Good input, thank you. I am installing the high SEER units also, a 12k btu Mitsubishi upstairs and a 15k btu down stairs in the dining room, of our small Sears type bungelow. I just started an additional web page here, for folks who want to see what is involved. I am doing all the electrical, the Mitsubishi dealer is doing the plumbing and compressors setup. We're looking at about $6k total. Will be charging the systems and turning them on today, just in time for the small heat wave coming here in northern Virginia this weekend.
-Rod