Quote:
Originally Posted by Debfrommaine
(Post 1780035)
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.
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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.
