As the title suggests, I need to heat/cool a workshop/office area in the detached garage. What's your experience with these "ductless" heat pump things. I've heard Mitsubishi is rated the best. I'm trying to get this done as cheap as possible. Room is 244 square feet.
I've done some work on old ones, more motel room style than any of the new ones, my boss has installed a few.
They are great for small rooms and shops and the like.
I've heard the same for mitsubishi as well.
In reply to Grizz:
I'm not opposed to the old motel room style unit, because I'm a cheap SOB. How do you look for/purchase a used one of those? I've tried the list of craigs, and found nothing. Is it just that I don't know what words to search for in the listings?
Short of finding a motel that's going out of business I'm not really sure.
Although you really wouldn't save much money going that route over a new ductless because they aren't that efficient or anything.
E: Oh. Well that was easier than I thought. Just google "Motel AC unit for sale" and stuff shows up. Looks like they run about 600ish to start and go up from there.
And the price of the ductless is higher than I was thinking too. The in wall units would probably do the room you're talking with no issue, so long as you don't mind putting a fairly big hole in a wall.
Years before the Mitsubishi unit came out, I thought: Hey, why not take a large window unit, take it apart, put the compressor and condenser outside with a fan, run copper lines into the house/shop, put the evaporator with a fan on it and make a central AC out of the thing? Then I saw that Mitsubishi beat me to market. Doesn't mean you still couldn't do it with a good sized used window unit.
Mini splits are super prevalent in the middle east and Asia. I've used Mitsubishi, LGs, and Samsungs while over there. There's also a few companies that make ones multizone ones that run off the same compressor unit. The good ones come precharged and have a DC inverter which make them super efficient.
Having just helped a buddy install one on the side of his house, I don't recommend pulling the high pressure, low pressure, and drain lines through the wall. What a pain in the ass.
Subjectively the Mitsubishi worked the best. But they are rated just like normal AC units in SEERs.
The search terms you want to use are "package heat pump" for the motel type and "mini split heat pump" for the Mitsubishi type.
Some of the package units are just like a big window unit in a box you set on a base next to the building or mount on the roof and hook up with a couple of ducts. They are pretty good bang for the buck if you can run one duct to the other side of the room for some cross ventilation.
Mini-Splits are the bomb. There is a very good chance my house is going to be converted to a Multi-Split when the existing heat pump pukes.
I've installed 4 of them in the last 10 years. Three Klimaire units and a Harbor Point. I really like the Klimaire units and they have been a pretty good company to deal with. They come pre-charged so all you have to do is mount the hardware, run the lines and power, vacuum the lines and inside unit, and open the valves. It only takes a couple of hours.
The SEER ratings on the Mini-Splits are amazingly good as well. The last on I put in at my Dad's house was a 23 SEER.
Search for "ptac" to check out the motel kinda things. Seem like they're cheaper than the split units and aside from cutting a hole in the wall, should be easy to install.
Thanks for all the good information and tips guys...
Relevant bump, since I just installed one today I have a little more info on them.
It was a daikin mini split, everything together ended up being 1500ish according to my cousin.
It was really simple to put in except for the part where it's really tight so it was being a pain in the ass about getting on the wall mount. Ridiculously quiet too.
So, Owning = nice Installing = easy unless your lines decide to be peckerheads.
Flare fittings too so there's no brazing involved.
E: I forgot, they're light as hell too.
Umm, I think I have one of what you're talking about. When we made a bedroom from the porch, we picked up a $500 lg unit that goes through the outside wall, does heat and ac. The room is about 250 square feet and it will sweat or freeze you out at the right times of year. The only troublesome part was running a 220 line across the house.
6 years or so going strong. It's not used everyday, but it's never caused a problem and the remote is pretty nice.
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