Have you ever thought about changing the central air conditioner?

[jkk04]

 

[CliffordK]

Heat pumps are good.

For the rural people in places that have plenty of water at a shallow depth, then the water based heat pumps are supposed to be more efficient than air based heat pumps.

However, I haven't used AC for many years. But that all depends on where one actually lives.

 

[fatjay]

A mini split is seldom a replacement for central air. Do not make the mistake of doing this.

Central air systems tie into the duct work that go to each room in your house, including bedrooms, bathrooms, basements, on multiple floors. A minisplit has a head on the other side of the wall where it was mounted.

These two things are not the same, and are seldom interchangeable.

 

[CliffordK]

It would depend on the house. I have an acquaintance that got a mini-split installed in her double-wide. She likes it. I think she has electric oil heaters in the bedrooms.

But, that is different than a 2 story 3000 sq foot house.

 

[fatjay]

That's why i said seldom. I have a minisplit I installed in my house, 24k btu. I have a split level with it on the main floor. I have radiators so I have no duct work. It does the first floor, down to the ground floor. I still have window units upstairs in the bedrooms. I'm looking to get a 3 head unit installed upstairs down the line, but I have other plans first.

But I'd be super irritated if someone told me I could replace my whole house central air with a minisplit, and believed them, then my bedrooms were a hundred degree's in the summer.

 

[Langanobob]

A heat pump sales guy tried to sell me on a heat pump replacement for central heating. It was not a mini split, it was a central heat pump unit. Didn't do it though, mainly because the duct work in this old place is not very efficient and would need reworking to make the heat pump worthwhile.

 

[seville009]

I have two minisplits in two south facing bedrooms on the second floor.

Those two rooms are on the opposite end if the house where the furnace and a/c is, so they are long runs.

In the summer, those two rooms get the full sun all day long; the house a/c didn’t help much, and it made no sense to decrease the thermostat in the whole house just to get yhose two rooms comfortable.

 

[LouNY]

I have two 36,000 btu multi splits on my home one has three inside heads the other has four inside heads. It was an expensive system but it gets heat or AC well distributed in my home. I should have had a head unit installed in the main bath also and didn't.

 

[hube2]

We are talking about air sourced heat pumps in the OP.

Do not replace your central AC if it is still running and the only reason you want to replace it is AC. For AC only you will not see any real savings over what you have. Savings is realized by using it for heat.

If you need to replace the AC because it is at the end of its life, then replacing with heat pump is a good idea.

I have a 24k BTU ducted heat pump. There is no savings for AC in the summer, but in the winter I am paying 20% of what I was with my fuel oil fire furnace.

 

[JJT]

I have two minisplits in two south facing bedrooms on the second floor.

Those two rooms are on the opposite end if the house where the furnace and a/c is, so they are long runs.

In the summer, those two rooms get the full sun all day long; the house a/c didn’t help much, and it made no sense to decrease the thermostat in the whole house just to get yhose two rooms comfortable.

We had the same issue here with the two south bedrooms being too warm while the rest of the house was nice and cool. The fix for us was to leave the fan on 24x7, that equalized the entire house.