Mini-Split heating/cooling

Prior to the mini-splits, we used a wood pellet furnace and we had a Toyotomi (Monitor brand previously) heater. We used about 2 bags of pellets per day and maybe a gallon (+/-) of kerosene per day. The system worked really well. Our problem came when we wanted to go to Florida for a month last year. My nephew, that lives next door, and one of my son-in-law's, that drives by the house on his way to work, agreed to keep the pellet furnace filled with pellets. 

My wife and I decided that it was time to upgrade to something that didn't require daily maintenance. One of my son-in-laws is a contractor. He had a mini-split installed in their, then new, house when he built it in 2013. They added a second two years ago, and another one in their 28' x 56' garage (with 16' ceilings) last year. He claimed I could drastically reduce energy costs for heating and cooling.

New York State has a program called NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) that, among other programs, has rebates for installing energy efficient systems. I filled out a form for them and they gave me a list of three contractors in my area, that participate in their rebate program. I contacted all three contractors. One said they only did commercial work, one came and look at it and said he would be in touch soon. Soon has never come. We saw him last June and, despite a couple phone calls, he never got us an estimate. The third guy preached Mitubishi brand (they are supposed to be the best) from the time he walked in the house. When he gave me the estimate, his estimate was for Westinghouse! He told me the Mitubishi were too expensive. It turned out Westinghouse were too. His estimate was for $28,000 !

When I was talking to my son-in-law, he told me he would talk to the contractor (in Canada) that did his work, and that he works with often through his work. I gave him a layout of our living area (about 38' x 54'). He, together with my son-in-law, worked up a system. It has three 12K "heads" on the south side of the house with a 27K heat pump (they set them up that way because not all three heads ever run at maximum at the same time) and a 24K and another 12K (separate heat pumps - we could have used one, but it was only $140 more for two pumps and if one has a problem, the other will still work). The brand is Comfortmaker, which is a Carrier subsidiary. The contractor that I got them from has an extensive inventory and carries a lot of replacement parts.

Our system has a SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating) is 22. The higher the SEER, the colder the system works. We had one day the reached -27F (with 30 mph winds) and the system was working.

We installed the system in early November. I did all the electrical work, installed the bases for the heat pumps, set the heat pumps, drilled all the holes for the lines and hung all five heads. The contractor came in and ran the refrigerant lines and pulled a vacuum on them. (He even offered me a job doing his electrical and prep work, which I quickly declined!) Counting my time, we ended up with about $11,000 in the system. We didin't get any rebates from NYSERDA, but saved a lot of money.

We love the system! As I'm sitting here, this morning, its -13F outside, but a toasty 70F inside. We keep the "great room" (kitchen, dining and living room) at 70F, the "sun room" at 60F and turn it up to 70 when we are using it and the (three) bedrooms at 68F.

Our December power bill was up about $65 from "normal" ($150 to $215), but that was not a full month. January's bill was $315 and December's was $408. I should add that our December and January bills includes a very extensive Christmas light display (10,000 lights, LED's and pixels). If I was still using pellets and kerosene, I estimate that I would be spending $12 per day for two bags of pellets and $6 for a gallon of kerosene, for a total of $18 per day or $540 per month for heating. The system will pay for itself quickly, plus we will have AC throughout the house in hot weather.

If I can answer any questions, I would be happy to. Sorry post is so long!

We heat/Cool a 3000sf area in our home, and on same meter heat/cool my workshop 30x18x12 space, unless have to go on backup resistance heat our bill has not ever crossed $300 for BOTH systems.  Have all the bills since built as evidence where only that winter coil cracked and leaked did we have to go on resistance heat, went to almost $600 for that few week period of a month.

You need to look at the COST OF ELECTRICITY in your area... WF being in NY might be in the $.25 a KW range.. Mid WEST with AMEREN might be half that.... Midwest with  Rural Elect might be $.20  KW .............. all depends on where you live and WHO supplies the power............... but the NEW MINI splits are getting really efficient.... SEER in the 20- 22 range is great !

Well, I got curious.  Live in central IL.  Apples and oranges, but heat and cool entirely with geo thermal and am on REA.  The portion of the bill for house heat and hot water was $73.50 for  this last December.  House is 23 year old and 2500 sq ft. 

Just something else to stick in your pipe and smoke it, like my daddy always said.