Does anyone know anything about wall mounted heating/ac?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

1. You might look in to ductless "mini-splits" that are becoming more popular here.

Sanyo, Mitsubishi and LG make them as do other manufacturers. Home Depot even sells them now.

It's an efficient heat pump system that runs copper lines containing the refrigerant to individual wall or ceiling mounted "zone" blowers that are controlled by remote control. The heat pump will cool or heat. Heating has some limitations in cold weather below, IIRC, 15 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat pump loses efficiency and goes in to "emergency" setting and heats air by heating element which is not efficient.

The system is great for retro-fits in older homes without established ducts. Not to mention ducts are notorious energy vampires. I've read 30% efficiency can be lost in ducts. Probably more if the ducts are run outside the building's air-conditioned/heated envelope as in crawl spaces and attics.

I'm seriously considering this option for my central AC as my unit is pretty old. I live on the third/top floor of a 100 year old condo building. Heating and cooling without breaking the bank has been a challenge. We recently added blown in cellulose (thanks to cash credits from our natural gas company - BTW, you should look in to credits for all this mentioned. Furnace , insulation etc.) and we also eliminated some un-insulated ducts and added direct vents off the main trunk line that we buried in insulation - this was done to eliminate ductwork - especially ducts in a hot/cold crawl space. Again, keeping your ducts in the building envelope is important.

I figured I would use the system for all cooling and most heating - keeping our 10 year old furnace for back up on sub 15 degree days.

The only real draw-back I see with the system is the sub 15 days. Depending on your climate, that might be an issue.

The pluses are - highly efficient heat pump, zoned system and no ducts needed.

Some people might not like having the unit on the wall. But I think I can pull it off because I have high ceilings.

I would take a look at it were I in your situation. Either way, look at your gas and power companies for credits. I was astounded the amounts that were out there. We, as a building, got a $3200 credit from out gas company to insulate the whole building attic/crawl. Our end was $1000. It made a huge impact on both comfort and our heating and cooling bills.



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