I had to go back and see exactly what you were replacing. Bet you are glad to be getting off the oil (I assume prices are fairly steep in your area). Also nice to get rid of the oil tank as well as replace furnace and ac with one integrated unit.
Been reading the manufacturer’s docs. This thing is really a computer, complete with dip switches for tuning. I’ve been dialing it in and going through the ducts in the basement and sealing up leaks. So far so good.
Don’t necessarily mean to revive a two month old thread, but its somewhat relevant. Summer got away from me once again and I’ve been gone for a while. I installed a water to air heat pump this spring. We wanted it mostly for air conditioning, but heating is a bonus. We got some prices on mini splits and I about fell off my chair when I saw the quotes. In their defense, the layout of the house is challenging and it’s on a slab, so nothing is easy. What I ended up getting is called a Well Connect, made not far down the road in Alpena, MI. It uses 3 GPM from the house well and discharges the water outside. I realize a ‘pump and dump’ system isn’t practical everywhere, but I’m in the land of artesian wells and my well dumps 5 GPM 24 hours a day whether I use the water or not, so here it makes sense. I did have to run ductwork (insulated duct in the attic) and cut in register boxes and returns, which was the worst part of the install. Second worst part was digging a trench for the discharge pipe, but thankfully I’m on sand, so digging was easy. I went the DIY install route since I love punishing myself, and if someone was going to crawl through my attic and cut holes in the ceiling, I’d rather it be me. I’ve been using it exclusively for heat since mid April, and cooling when needed this summer. Using info from the data logger they included, I’ve spent about $125 on electricity for heating and cooling in 6 months, including estimated pump power usage. I didn’t notice any change in the electric bill this summer vs having two window shakers running last summer, but the house was a lot more comfortable. For heat, it’s great for the ‘shoulder seasons’. I’m not sure how much we’ll use it when the temps get below 25 or so. Would probably switch on the NG boiler and fire up the wood stove when cold really sets in. At this point, NG has a bit of a price advantage over electric, but the boiler standby losses during this time of year add up - the boiler is in an insulated utility room out in the garage, so the standby losses don’t end up in the living space. My electric utility had a $1500 rebate, and with the other federal tax credits, I got this system with all the ductwork for about 40% of what the mini split system would have cost.
I've never heard of such a thing, that sounds like an interesting system. I did a quick search and found out it is in the category of geothermal - pretty cool technology. Mini split prices started exploding last year when they became efficient enough to become popular. Plus, that was the time that metal and other materials were becoming scarce resources because of the whole supply chain fiasco (that is still going on). Add to that the quick rise of wages and shortage of workers, so instead of dropping in price with popularity, the prices could do nothing but go up.
I stumbled across the Well Connect company in the magazine that the local electric co-op sends out. I was a bit skeptical, but they provided a lot of info, a list of references to call, and none of the references I called had anything bad to say. I signed the papers at the end of March and they had a price increase going into effect on April 1, so I either beat the clock or it was a good sales tactic. I had a couple questions when I was doing the install, called in and they transferred me to their head of engineering and he clarified some info in the install manual. That beats the usual 800 number customer service treatment. I was pretty much sold on a mini split system, but wall space is a premium (lots of windows), and the ceiling mount cassette units were pricey. And as I mentioned, the layout is challenging. The house was originally a small cottage that was added onto a couple times. I looked into an air to air heat pump that uses a high velocity mini duct system, and that was even more expensive than the mini splits, but would have been more ideal from an aesthetics perspective. I also found out that the electric co-op can provide a second meter for the heat pump and that would get me a lower rate. Have to do some math on that one as it’s only a 3 cents/kWH difference and I’d have to get an electrician to do that work. Payback might be a while, and I’d almost rather put that money towards solar.
24OCT22 Just checking back in. We installed a pretty big heat pump ac mini split system this year. It has 2 outside units with 2 ea (4 total) inside units. The cottage has one outside unit and three inside units. The ac portion worked well and the bills were lower than the ol window ac units (5 total). So far, the heat has been great! The electric bill was up 40 bucks for last month but I haven’t turned the furnace on yet either and we started it last year 1October. I’ll report more as the Vermont winter comes on but so far with frost and low 30 ish overnights, all has been a comfortable 70 roughly inside both houses. We haven’t (other than one time) fired up the Lopi wood stove in the living room yet. I did add an electric ceiling Heater/light/ventilation blower to the lower bathroom as it doesn’t have heat until the boiler starts up. I had installed radiant heat in the upstairs. Everyone here is happy with it also. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
10DEC22 It’s 17 degrees outside this morning. The heat pump in the kitchen I just checked is blowing a steady 101 degrees output of heat. Inside temp is a comfortable 69. I did get my first fuel oil top off this week after turning on the furnace(s) 1NOV. With 45 gallons (cottage) and 49 gallons (farmhouse) that’s less than half of what we burned last winter for November. Electric bill went up about 100 bucks for both so the savings appear to be there. I need to sit down at the desk and work out the costs when I get time. Still happy with the systems. Nothing to report bad so far. Lenny Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Glad it is working well for you. That is a great trade off - $100 electric bill versus 45 gals of oil (which around here would be about $225 after the recent price drops). What brand of system did you go with?
Progress here has been slow but steady. The outside unit has been installed and it is connected to 3 separate units inside. 2 "floor mounted" mini splits in the upstairs bedroom & office. Floor mounted in quotes because they're actually on the wall but down towards the floor. The third unit is in the basement attached to the ceiling and some of the ducting is connected but not everything. A friend of mine has been getting it done piecemeal on Friday's after work so I've got another Friday or two before it's all squared away. Early impression- when I flip it on in the upstairs the units work impressively. I'm hopeful that things will be just as good in the downstairs. Our wood stove will take up the lion's share of the heating through the winter, with the thought that the heat pump will pick up the slack in the shoulder season. Once all is done I'll include a few photos.
Curious as to why those two units are mounted closer to the floor. Did you stay with ducting (or maybe a portion for the main)? What brand did you go with - I have so many questions
The make is Daikin - so far so good. The splits in the upstairs are the so called floor mounts because we have a cape cod styled home so the ceilings are pitched with a 36 inch knee wall. A normal wall mounted unit would have looked kind of silly. The main floor does have the regular ducting so we're sticking with the typical forced air registers and doing a new return. But we tore out the old ducting and installed new sealed / insulated ducting b/c the old stuff was garbage.
3FEB2023 Southern Vermont USA I did a pretty big upgrade on my farmhouse and cottage in 2022 going to mini splits with heat pump. I was a bit skeptical about them being able to maintain any heat. So I have to say, I’m pretty impressed. Here’s the current output and the temperature outside. It’s accurate. I live across from the airport this number pulls from.
I shut mine down in November with the high electric rates, wrapped it with a tarp and killed the power so no one could accidentally turn it on while wrapped. Id be curious though how it would handle this cold as its rated at 100% 5 degrees and high heat at -13 degrees.
