Quote:
Originally Posted by johnl
Hello there!
Love the thread. I have learned a lot from everyone. Have sort of an ambitious project. I have a 2500sqft house in Connecticut and I am considering heating (and cooling) my house completely via 2 24k mini split systems. My house is a a center hall colonial w/ a family room above the garage. My questions: Will 2 24k units be enough to heat the whole house? Will the heat find itself into the individual rooms? Will switching to mini splits be a worth while investment over my current oil-baseboard heat? I will be keeping the existing heating system as a back-up. Any advice is appreciated. I am looking at senville aura 24k units.
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48,000 BTUh / 2500 = 19.2 BTHh per Square foot. Here's a typical cooling chart.
So, it seems like your two systems would cover it..
If, your insulation is good and you don't have a lot of leaky windows.
Or even just more windows than normal can be problematic.
(Unless they are south facing and give good solar gain in the winter).
Some HVAC guys will say you need 30 BTUs per sq ft.
That sounds okay to me, since inverter mini-splits can run at very low output.
(Using very low power), so it's hard to accidentally buy
too much AC or heating.
My experience with operating cost comparisons between oil heating
this house and heating with the Sanyo units, is documented in my posts.
I believe the Sanyos have cut our heating cost to down to 1/4 to 1/3 the cost of oil heating.
When the cost of oil goes up, the savings will increase.
The kWh cost is much more stable and has gone up much slower over time.
Stop heating with oil and you will save money.
But, keep the oil burner and run it once a week for 15 minutes.
It's going to be a life saver if the temps get down 2 deg F for a few days..
Or, if one of your mini-split systems fails in mid January.
In two-story houses, the heated air will flow upstairs via the stair well.
But cooling up there will be a problem.
In the summer, cooled air is going to stay downstairs.
So, with a house like this, it seems like one unit should be downstairs,
opposite the garage side.
And the second unit placed upstairs on a wall next to the family room entrance. But not too close to the stairs, since cool air will tend to sink..
The cool air from our LR unit flows nicely down into the bedrooms.
It's about 1 to 2 deg C cooler in the LR compared to the master BR.
Same with the heating. It will be warmer in the LR and kitchen,
then it is in the bedrooms.
Leaving the heat at 20 to 21C over night works fine. If it's too hot,
we just close the door part-way.
This summer, we have been cooling at 23 to 24C. Seems to work for us.
Tonight I set it for 21 and we got cold pretty fast. I wanted to dry out the house a bit..
Gota run,