# Ductless heating / cooling



## Dustin (Mar 5, 2013)

Anyone have any experience with these? Love ? Hate?

I currently heat 100 percent with wood, with absolutely NO backup. I have some baseboard heaters but they're barely in serviceable condition. 

My power company offers a huge rebate in the purchase of ductless heating/cooling systems...

All thoughts welcome!


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## woodgeek (Mar 6, 2013)

Guess the Green Room is a little slow today.....I have a conventional ASHP myself, but there are several Hearth.com'ers (including some mods) with mini's, who seem to like them.  In your climate, it is really a no-brainer.


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## Circus (Mar 6, 2013)

Dustin said:


> My power company offers a huge rebate in the purchase of ductless heating/cooling systems​


 Seems ideal in a temperate climate but I'm confused by the term ductless. I thought it was simply replacing a wall AC with an AC that also heated.


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## Floydian (Mar 7, 2013)

Dustin,

For lots of good info search ductless mini split's here: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/  -The blogs and Q&A are both great!

The Mitsubishi hyper heat units are about the best of the best, supplying rated output down to 5 and usable heat down to -13. 

Expect to pay $3k+ installed.

Noah


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## Bret Chase (Mar 8, 2013)

mini-splits are pretty slick...  they are bascially an AC that can be run backwards.... i.e. pulling heat out of the outside and depositing inside the home


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## Bret Chase (Mar 8, 2013)

Bret Chase said:


> mini-splits are pretty slick... they are bascially an AC that can be run backwards.... i.e. pulling heat out of the outside and depositing inside the home


 
I've seen them installed quite intelligently.... and also in bafflingly stupid manners as well...


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## pen (Mar 8, 2013)

Floydian said:


> Dustin,
> 
> For lots of good info search ductless mini split's here: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/ -The blogs and Q&A are both great!
> 
> ...


 
Had the the MSZ-FE18NA put in this summer (mitsu with hyper heat mini split, about 18k cooling and 22k heating).

I paid 2770 with tax. I received 400 back from the electric company as a rebate just this week.

pen


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## 711mhw (Mar 8, 2013)

All I've heard is good things about them, even up here in ME temps.


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## Floydian (Mar 8, 2013)

pen said:


> Had the the MSZ-FE18NA put in this summer (mitsu with hyper heat mini split, about 18k cooling and 22k heating). I paid 2770 with tax. I received 400 back from the electric company as a rebate just this week. pen


 
Wow, that seems like a great price from my research.I am building a super insulated house for my folks and was quoted $8k for (2) MSZ-FE12NA. Ridiculous!

Wood stoves and mini splits seem like a great combo, though I love my gasser+storage and warm floors.

How do you like your Mitsu so far?

Noah


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## pen (Mar 8, 2013)

Floydian said:


> How do you like your Mitsu so far?
> 
> Noah


 
For a quick summation

dislikes: Automatic fan operation

likes: everything else.

I ran it hard a few nights this winter that we went down to below zero, and it worked flawlessly. Thing uses less electric in a month as a supplement than one 6 foot electric baseboard used to for two weeks and does more work all the while.

But, I'm still in the honey moon period having only installed it the first week of July.  Give me about 10 years and I'll give you a real review!

pen


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## begreen (Mar 9, 2013)

Go with a properly sized and configured setup and it should work very well. The best systems for performance are Mitsubishi, Daikin and Fujitsu.


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## pen (Mar 9, 2013)

Floydian said:


> Wow, that seems like a great price from my research.I am building a super insulated house for my folks and was quoted $8k for (2) MSZ-FE12NA. Ridiculous!
> 
> Wood stoves and mini splits seem like a great combo, though I love my gasser+storage and warm floors.
> 
> ...


 
Shoot, yea, tooooo good a price  . 

Misread the price last night (damn hard cider), after thinking about it this morning I reread the bill, was actually 3770 with tax. 

pen


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## Bret Chase (Mar 9, 2013)

begreen said:


> Go with a properly sized and configured setup and it should work very well. The best systems for performance are Mitsubishi, Daikin and Fujitsu.


 
properly sized and configured it the trick of it....

Mitsu's are big money.... I see the Mitsu's and fujitsu's installed regularly now... In general I like them.... I am even contemplating them for my second floor...

I have also seen them installed in completely inappropriate ways.... i.e. 30+ of them installed in a 22,000+ sq foot building... in that situation... a cooling tower and chiller loop would have been far cheaper... and more efficient.... and you wouldn't have condensers... everywhere...


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## begreen (Mar 9, 2013)

Wow that is pretty lame. What were they thinking?


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## Bret Chase (Mar 9, 2013)

begreen said:


> Wow that is pretty lame. What were they thinking?


 
I have no idea.... I fought that battle... and got nowhere... in 2006....


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