[Debfrommaine]

Thinking about purchasing above unit 15K BTU was recommended for small lanai. Called Chuck Farrell and he is now referring to Kalos Air Conditioning, no longer doing mini splits.

Anyone out there have experience with the Trane/Mitsubishi unit from Lowe's?

Thanks for any input.

[brianherlihy]

don't du it

[JSR22]

We have an LG split in our lanai and it is terrific. I like keeping the windows closed and having heat and air makes the room usable year round.

[Debfrommaine]

Who was your installer?

[JSR22]

We purchased the unit from DeSanis and the did the installation. They service it yearly.

[kathyspear]

We had a Mitsubishi unit up north to cool a third floor townhome loft that was basically unusable several months of the year. Installed 4 or 5 years ago for about $4k. Worked great.

kathy

[erojohn]

We have Mitsubishi split. Munn’s did ours. You will love it. We did insulation Above lanai that helps too. We got estimates from suncool and Munn’s liked. Munn’s proposal for installation better. They also did the electrical. You will need that. So consider that in quote. They are super quiet and will reduce load on your main unit. I think the seer was around 22.

[Beachykeengifts]

We have it in the garage and LOVE it. Works great. Had it done by Sunkool.

[davephan]

I wouldn’t guessed that it would be expensive to cool the garage, unless you only use it when you’re working on something in the garage.

I don’t know if anyone installed a mini split in their master bedroom. That would make a lot of sense to keep it cooler at night in the master bedroom. On less hot and humid nights, you might be able to run just the master bedroom mini split.

Having a mini split also gives to some redundancy if the central AC fails. You still have some AC in your home that you can blow around with fans, while waiting for your central AC to be repaired or replaced.

We rented a vacation home that had a mini split in the lani and master bedroom, and we thought that was a smart idea to add the mini split AC units.

[Dust Bunny]

I have Mitsubishi split system and it works well with remote and sweep fins. You should do he math to determine the right size. Not sure how to di it go to You Tube.

[neilbcox]

We bought our Mitsubishi unit from Kalos. The price was below $5,000. Great product and great service!

[virtue51]

We just enclosed the lanai and installed a Mitsubishi unit. M & S Air Conditioning installed the unit. The electrical was included in the pricing. The workers were professional and knowledgeable. Highly recommended M&S. You will want to install insulation above your lanai. The phone # 352-314-5004.

[laportjm]

Are these units economical when having acrylic windows in lanai? thank you,

[MandoMan]

Originally Posted by Debfrommaine

Thinking about purchasing above unit 15K was recommended for small lanai. Called Chuck Farrell and he is now referring to Kalos Air Conditioning, no longer doing mini splits.

Anyone out there have experience with the Trane/Mitsubishi unit from Lowe's?

Thanks for any input.

That price is far too high!

My girl friend lives in rural New Jersey, in a 200 year old stone farmhouse. When she moved in, it was unbearably hot and humid inside, due partly to springs that run through the basement and partly to a south facing sunroom with 30’ of windows that soak up heat. She couldn’t afford an AC system that could cool the whole house without transforming it. I convinced her to put in a dual Mitsubishi system. Installed, it was $6,000. (This is NOT a do it yourself project, due to the careful calibrations needed.) There is one outside unit. It’s so quiet that I have to get close to know it is running. There is a blower head in the sunroom (10x30’) that also cools the kitchen and another in the master bedroom above it, which has 12’ of French doors and two windows. They work off the same outdoor unit. She has oil baseboard heat but avoids using it.

The two units in the house are very quiet, not much louder than regular forced air AC ducts in your house. You have to pay attention to know it is on. We’ve found that those are essentially the only two rooms we sit in. We only sit in the living room a couple times a year when there are guests. Winters, the main house baseboard heat is set at 60°. We do the rest of the heating with the mini-splits in the rooms we use. Cheap! We found that the AC had a hard time keeping up if the sun was shining in all those windows. Last year I installed Levolor double pleated blinds for her, and she puts those down on occasion when the sun is too hot.

I would say that Mitsubishi mini-splits would work well IF your lanai has an insulated ceiling and if it doesn’t face south or west. If it does, you should have sun screens. If you have a ceiling fan on your lanai, even better. Running this system is SO much quieter than running a window AC, and it is also cheaper. It also dehumidifies while running, of course.

Make sure you have this done by someone who has put in a LOT of them. One or two a year isn’t enough. Find someone who does several per month.

As for cooling your garage, unless you are going to sit in there and read or something, why bother? When you drive your car into the garage after it’s been sitting outside in the sun, it’s like putting a hot restaurant stove in there. You can’t expect any AC to easily cool that. Just leave your garage door open until it cools.

You can get units that only cool and also units that heat as well as cool. They work very well at heating a Lanai’s air, but less well for the floor. My girlfriend’s sunroom is slate on concrete exposed to the outside in a state with days below freezing. The air is warm enough, but we sometimes turn on the baseboard heat because our feet get cold.

[JSR22]

Originally Posted by laportjm

Are these units economical when having acrylic windows in lanai? thank you,

Our lanai has full acrylic windows and is 30 by 13. The unit works great. Our electric bill is reasonable. We have an inground pool running 10 hours a day, keep the house at 74 n ever open the windows and our bill has nver been over $250 and many months under $200.