Talk to me about ductless mini splits, cost, efficiency and such. Got a 900 sg ft bunkhouse that I'm thinking of doing, and may expand the bunkhouse to 1400 sq ft. I'm using a 220 24,000 btu window unit now.

I’m not an HVAC guy, but I work from home and my office has one. It’s awesome. It’s quiet and cools or heats very well. Previous owners had it installed and I don’t know much about it, other than it works. It’s a kenmoore and older. My office is only 500 soft, but I also have a small mini split unit.

They work very well. They are very efficient. Up front cost is high. They require cleanig. If you buy heat cool units, they heat well to about 30 degrees. They produce heat below that but generally can not produce enough heat to maintain 70 degrees inside temp. Question?

I have a 900 sq ft bunkhouse that sometimes has 15 folks in it. Wondering how many lays in's I need, 3 or 4 and how many BTU's, 24,000 or 30,000. Don't need heat. Who makes a good unit?

Stompy I installed mini splits in my house 6 years ago and they work great summer and winter keep the filters clean and if you have a real dusty environment you’ll have to clean the blower wheel maybe 2 times a year . I bought mine from a online company called comfortup.com there incredibly easy to install if you’re a handyman i only need to have a a/c friend vac the lines for me and there very reasonable priced if you expand to 1400 sq ft I would consider a dual zone unit to give good coverage . I went with a brand called GREE I’ve hand no issues with them . There are a few other costs besides the unit. < a/c lines and electric >

Mine is a Mitsubishi and it works great.

Fixing to go to these in all my rental units. Have some concerns but I think overall it will be beneficial. They are very energy efficient.

I'm not an HVAC man either. But I know they work great and are quiet. I think Mitsubishi and Daikin are a couple of the top brands. Only downside I heard from a local HVAC man is that sometimes parts take a little longer to get than conventional central units.

Thanks guys, going to dig into this a lot more.

Sorry been busy..

Daikin amd Mitsubishi are both good leading brands. Cree seems to popular but I have no experience. As for as sizing, not know constuction and actual use of bunk house, it hard say how much you need. I can say this, if 24,000 room unit has done job, I stay close to same.

Not sure what you do for heat, but mini splits will produce heat as cheap or cheaper than nat gas.

To replace your room unit, I would go with 2 single units, 12,000 to 15,000 BTUs each. The problem I have with multi indoor units on a single outdoor unit is obsolescence. 10 years from now, if you blow a coil or have part no longer available, a replacement unit probably will not be available. Then you facing a complete change out. If you install 2 single units, and lose unit you still have one working.

These things ramp up and down as needed. So they variable output. Generally, customers set the cooling a couple degrees below what they would set a regular stat. Same for heat, set a bit higher.

You feed line voltage to the outdoor unit, the outdoor unit powers the indoor unit. You will want to use mini split 18/4 romex.

There is a unit, dont know brand, that comes with precharged lines and are geared to a complete DYI install. You tube videos on them look akward.

If you are wanting to a semi DYI, when you order equipment, order line sets, wire and line set covers. Line sets have factory flared ends and insulation. Cant build them for much less. There a dedicated drain line material, if available you might want to order some.

Before you order one, down load installation instructions, you can plan your intall from that.

If you have question, PM me.

{. If you install 2 single units, and lose unit you still have one working. } This is the reason i put in two separate units 24000 btu kitchen and living room 18000 btu for bedrooms 9000btu each most units come pre charged good up to 25ft of refrigerant line . Also mounting them on a outside wall will make your life easier not messing with condensation pumps .

We have a bunch of the Daiken units. Boy they are super quiet.

l actually have a piece of yarn taped to the swing door so i can even tell that there on they are extremely quiet

Mitsubishi units have a small green light when on otherwise it's hard to tell.

my Gree units do have led displays but I turn them off and work everything off the remote

I would go with two units as Lazyjack stated if one goes down you still have one, clean/wash the filters on a regular basis and keep an eye on the how clean the blower wheel is. Daikin and Mitsubishi are the two biggest players in the market. The stall really important, we have had to go back on other people’s installs because they didn’t leave enough clearance for the intake or around the condenser. Also keep an eye on the condensation pump the ones that come with the units and are small we always seem to have to replace them with a larger one.

Haha right. These all have a pc of ribbon hanging. It’s unreal how quiet they are

Lakhota’s right about the condensate pumps

Clearance... good point. Need to double what the manufacture state as min.
Pump...With dropped ceilings, I used the mini pumps to lift to a full condensate pump. About