Mark_P
New Member
Hey guys, new user here. I'm in a similar situation as this individual was a few years ago on this thread.
My wife and I are looking to get mini splits installed in our cape cod house which is in central NJ by the shore, is 1300 sq ft (on paper), is on slab, has 2 (100 and 150 sq ft) bedrooms upstairs, and has 2 more (100 & 200 sq ft w/ low ceilings) bedrooms downstairs along with the living room / kitchen area (350 sq ft). The house is a bit drafty, probably because the insulation in the attic / kneewalls is garbage, and there is an unfinished utility closet that essentially acts as a bridge between the kneewall/attic unconditioned zone and the upstairs hallway conditioned zone.
We were about to go with 5 indoor units, which was going to be pretty over sized, but most contractors were pushing us that route. The best plan was a Mitsubishi set-up with (4) 6,000 BTU units for the bedrooms and (1) 12,000 BTU unit for the main living area. Even that would have been quite oversized, but we were hoping that the inverter technology would have allowed them to module down enough for our small zones. Quotes were around $15k-$20k which is a bit of a shock, but you get what you pay for, right?
Now, one company proposed to us an alternative solution, which would be one 18K head downstairs (in the main area, pointed in the direction of the 2 rooms) and one 12K head upstairs (in one room, pointed at the door and right at the other room), with room on the outdoor unit for a 3rd head to be added on if need be. The contractor says it's not ideal, but is enough capacity to cool the whole house, the heads can modulate down to 4.5k and 4k BTU respectively, and the cooling will hopefully circulate through all the rooms.
We're leaning to go with this contractor because a) the contractor is one of the most reputable in the area, b) they seem to be very knowledgeable and were the easiest to converse with, c) they'll redo our insulation in the kneewalls / attic and seal off / insulate the utility closet from the unconditioned zone, d) they'll get us $4,000 back in rebates, guaranteed in the contract (bringing it down to a $8,500 job including the insulation), and finally e) my wife doesn't like the thought of having a big indoor head in each room, aesthetically.
Side-note: they suggest going with the Carrier mini-split, which is a cold climate model. I'm sure they're biased, but they told me they prefer it over Mitsubishi for parts availability, warranty, support, etc. I imagine it brought the cost down, too.
Back to the 1-zone-per-floor set-up; I figure we'll need to leave our doors open most of the time and run the ceiling fans (we've got 4 downstairs and are going to add 2 upstairs) to help the air move around, but could that even be enough to normalize the temperature across all rooms?
I'm also wondering if added a return vent above each bedrooms door frame and/or at the bottom of the door would help as well when doors ever need to be closed.
Any other feedback would be appreciated!
My wife and I are looking to get mini splits installed in our cape cod house which is in central NJ by the shore, is 1300 sq ft (on paper), is on slab, has 2 (100 and 150 sq ft) bedrooms upstairs, and has 2 more (100 & 200 sq ft w/ low ceilings) bedrooms downstairs along with the living room / kitchen area (350 sq ft). The house is a bit drafty, probably because the insulation in the attic / kneewalls is garbage, and there is an unfinished utility closet that essentially acts as a bridge between the kneewall/attic unconditioned zone and the upstairs hallway conditioned zone.
We were about to go with 5 indoor units, which was going to be pretty over sized, but most contractors were pushing us that route. The best plan was a Mitsubishi set-up with (4) 6,000 BTU units for the bedrooms and (1) 12,000 BTU unit for the main living area. Even that would have been quite oversized, but we were hoping that the inverter technology would have allowed them to module down enough for our small zones. Quotes were around $15k-$20k which is a bit of a shock, but you get what you pay for, right?
Now, one company proposed to us an alternative solution, which would be one 18K head downstairs (in the main area, pointed in the direction of the 2 rooms) and one 12K head upstairs (in one room, pointed at the door and right at the other room), with room on the outdoor unit for a 3rd head to be added on if need be. The contractor says it's not ideal, but is enough capacity to cool the whole house, the heads can modulate down to 4.5k and 4k BTU respectively, and the cooling will hopefully circulate through all the rooms.
We're leaning to go with this contractor because a) the contractor is one of the most reputable in the area, b) they seem to be very knowledgeable and were the easiest to converse with, c) they'll redo our insulation in the kneewalls / attic and seal off / insulate the utility closet from the unconditioned zone, d) they'll get us $4,000 back in rebates, guaranteed in the contract (bringing it down to a $8,500 job including the insulation), and finally e) my wife doesn't like the thought of having a big indoor head in each room, aesthetically.
Side-note: they suggest going with the Carrier mini-split, which is a cold climate model. I'm sure they're biased, but they told me they prefer it over Mitsubishi for parts availability, warranty, support, etc. I imagine it brought the cost down, too.
Back to the 1-zone-per-floor set-up; I figure we'll need to leave our doors open most of the time and run the ceiling fans (we've got 4 downstairs and are going to add 2 upstairs) to help the air move around, but could that even be enough to normalize the temperature across all rooms?
I'm also wondering if added a return vent above each bedrooms door frame and/or at the bottom of the door would help as well when doors ever need to be closed.
Any other feedback would be appreciated!
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