I got back from a trip to Texas and stayed at a place that had “mini split” or “inverter” AC units. It was 100 degrees during the day, but my cabin was at 68 when I got there. And the temp never fluctuated. It was also very quiet. There were two units in the cabin, one in my bedroom and one in the living area. I had inadvertently turned the one in the living area off, but the one in my room kept the whole place cool. They are supposed to be significantly more energy efficient than a standard AC unit. My brother has 4 of them in his house in Colorado (much larger than mine), and while they don’t need AC often, he said they don’t notice any big impact on their electric bill when they run it.
They are heat pumps so they can also heat. I am thinking of installing two in my home, one in my bedroom (which could also cool the back rooms in the house) and one in the living room/den. I’d keep my existing units as a backup or supplement. Has anybody here had any experience with them? I have to say I was pretty impressed with what I saw in Texas.
I am buying one for my addition but not yet installed. These are easy to install and don’t require additional vents installed in the attic. You can DIY install them fairly easily. You can also get multi zone systems where one outside unit can power multiple inside units.
The downside to the heat pump is they will not work when/if your temperatures drop below -10F (or something like that). So these might not be for everyone that lives in northern climates. Here in Oklahoma, it’s not uncommon for us to get -10* for a week in the winter.
Same in KC, but I am thinking of installing these as a primary and keeping my other AC and furnace as a backup/supplement. I had a heat pump (traditional AC) unit once and it served the purpose for 95% of the year.
Both. My house is 60 years old and the AC uses the furnace ducts, so it is already not as efficient as it could be. I am still looking onto the energy savings, but from what I have read and heard, the savings are pretty significant. But while I wasn’t in the cabin a lot, when I would come in during the heat of the day, the cabin (basically a tiny home with minimal insulation) was delightfully comfortable. But I was impressed because one unit in a bedroom managed to keep it that way (I accidentally turned the one in the main room off).