Three years ago I added 1”foil backed foam boards 4’ x 8’ sheets to my attic wall. I have a high ceiling in the living room. The pink panther’s battens had about 3” air gap’s I could see the drywall. I used the foam board to ease the insulation back in to the drywall. My electric bill is down by 2/3rds. I also did my room over the garage. Insulation is key. Thanks for your input on the HVAC you have.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Very cool. You're welcome.

@thisisyourcaptainspeaking2259

Жыл бұрын

Attic wall? I cannot imagine what you're describing.

I have 3 senville units I just installed couple months ago. We are in fingerlakes of NYS. We got down to -3 degrees over Christmas, my units still performed perfectly. Was able to keep house at 72 no problem. Older place built in 1950. Same situation, only 2×4 walls. So far so good.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

That's awesome!

@motomike1197

Жыл бұрын

I have a senville mini split in the top of my barn and it did pretty good also. It was like - 39 with windchill and it stayed about 63 i. There. Im going to put 2 units with 3 zones and do away with my 3 ton OLD unit as well.

@Ka_Gg

Ай бұрын

Thanks for the review. How much did you utility bill decrease by. I am "fixing up" (making livable) a pretty old house. Furnace is 20 years old and AC was stolen so I'm thinking about mini split.

I installed one on my RV. It's the Pioneer 9k model. I love it. It's so quiet and very energy efficient. Got the WiFi adapter with it too.. and can turn it on and off and set schedules from anywhere with an internet connection. I'm a Truck driver and can preset it to be warm or cold before I get home. Will get it powered by my solar system this summer.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

That's awesome!

iPhone can record screen out of the box! No need to find an app. Settings-> control center, then toggle “screen recording” to add it to your screen

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the heads up. I am not a very tech savvy guy.

Also in ETX, I have a Mr Cool 24k dual head unit on a 1000sqft barndo and a 12k on a separate office space. Both did great during the cold snap. Couldn’t believe it

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

They are amazing machines.

We have them and love them Thank you

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Awesome! You're welcome

We've had our Mitsubishi HyperHeat for going on 5 years. It will still heat our house, even when outside temps are -20 F. We love it!

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

That is awesome!

I too have Mini Splits. Did not really get to see the efficiency during the worse conditions of the winter storm that we just encountered. I live in rural Tennessee and it was 0 degrees outside but the power company was having all kinds of problems keeping the power so we could NOT run our mini splits. Thank God I have a 18,000 btu Mr Heater and a 30,000 BTU Mr Heater in the living area. We would have been in serious trouble without the backup source of heat. I also have no water inside my house right now plumbing pex lines are frozen ! Luckily I have water to a frost free spigot outside where I can obtain water. But back to the mini splits they are very nice I have 4 heads within our house. They are Mitsubishi's I really like them and they do seem to be pretty efficient. I have R-38 insulation in the walls and ceilings in a barndominium. Glad you made the video to inform folks. The mini splis off a way to keep temps within different areas at different temps or tun the individual heads off. That is a really nice feature.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Wow, glad you had those backup heaters! That could have been bad without them.

Mathias Wandel has an excellent video with his usual great data and analysis

When we were building our house, we rented a house. The house was built in the 40s, hardly any insulation. The entire house had just one of those heaters. The living room was warm, but the rest of the house was very cool. It finally gave out so our landlord replaced it.

As an fyi, optical thermometers aren't accurate enough for precisely measuring system performance, only for approximation.

I just installed a 18,000 BTU Mrcool yesterday. I bought it used, it's a 3rd gen. and it works great. Temp outside is 72 degrees so it's hard to tell much just yet. It did drop the bedroom 600 sq. ft. to 63 degrees in about 20 min. The heat pump works great also...

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

That is awesome. Glad it worked great

Our house has a 3 ton Traine. The walls are R19, the attic is R53. I had all the interior walls insulated during the build as well. We keep our house at 68 and my dad keeps his apartment (connected to our house) at 72. Our heat A/C is one unit, but it’s split so the apartment can have its own temperature settings. I believe our highest bill was $140 and we’re builders every 2 months. Our home is 2220 sq ft.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Nice!

We have a 2100 sq ft split level home. It had original cadet heaters throughout, which are not efficient. I had been wanting to get a mini split for years and we finally ordered a MrCool DIY 24K BTU unit in June 2021. We wanted a 36K BTU unit, but they were sold out. My husband installed it in July and wow...what a difference!! It isn't able to keep temperatures 100% consistent throughout the house, but we knew that when we bought it. A single air handler simply can't realistically reach rooms that are far away from it. The closer to the air handler you are, the more drastic the effect, but it really does help to keep the whole house warmer or cooler in general too. We feel it was a great investment! Might look at replacing it in the future with a bigger unit that has multiple air handlers.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

They are amazing little machines.

We'll be using these in our house we're building. Walls will be R35 spray foam, and attic will be R60 loose fill. The one drawback is that they are electric-only. So, if you have a catastrophic weather event, your power might be affected. Would need a backup generator to be completely safe.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Sounds like a great hyper-insulated house. We are on solar and have multiple backup options.

I've got the Mr. Cool central ducted mini split system and it did fine down in the 10Fs when the arctic blast hit. Rarely used aux heat. I was amazed. The unit that was set to 72, did that happen to be a Mr. Cool? One thing I've noticed with the Mr. Cool minis, is they tend to have a moving target of a set point, they seem to hover in the 2-3F degree range from the set point. I ditched the supplied controller on mine and went with a Honeywell VP 8K therm, maintains set point perfectly.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Cool. Yes the unit set to 72 was a Mr Cool.

Great info on the performance of these units. It would be interesting to know, exactly, how much heat (kwh) you're getting at the head unit inside for those kwh you're putting into the unit, at those low temps. I'm sure its better than a simple baseboard, but how much better?

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Cool. It would be interesting to find out that info. Not sure how I could do that though.

The computer system controlling the unit's defrosting is the key; modern technology at its finest.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely! It is some great tech.

I think you confused COP with HSPF. They are not the same, and no heat pump puts out 14.75x the energy it takes in. A good ground source heat pump does a COP of 5, and an air source is lower.

Always wondered why not put heat pump in the celler.so it could use the ground temperature ?

Good vid. I use Senville 9000BTU mini-spirt HSPF5 7.8/HSPF4 10 on 7 x 14 cargo trailer + whole house 3yr old, Lennox 4-ton forced-air, HSPF 10.20, heat-pump for the house. I've seen both work down to 25F (as low as it gets' for us) to maintain 75F so they work but power use goes way up. The whole house unit struggles to raise the temp with 25F outdoor from 70F nighttime to 73F daytime. If you ever find a power vs temp curve - that would be of interest :)

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Thank you. Yep, my old 3 ton struggled at 32°f. It was terrible.

I bought that exact Innovair from Signature Solar over a year and a half ago. Hoped to get it installed last spring. But as usual didn't get to it. So hoping this spring will get it installed. They have one that can run strictly on solar panels no inverter or battery needed. Can also run on grid power or both. Might get one of those also...... Jeff

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

I have seen those EG4 inverter mini-splits. I am curious about them. Maybe I will contact them about one.

@JWTX

Жыл бұрын

@@CountryLivingExperience Well keep me updated if/when you do.!

Sorry I'm late I can't wait till I get my mini split

I have ecoer 3ton heat pump for Central air heating and cooling also a gas furnace and I still think that it is cheaper to run the gas furnace since the electricity is around 19 cents per KW and the gas it less than a $1 for a therm .

These thrive on the differential. It’s super cooled refrigerant, many climates are potentially going to be less cool than it. If that is what you mean by “taking heat from the surrounds” then yah, i guess. Thermodynamics 🤷🏼‍♀️

They don't work well in Minnesota. You will need a backup source unless you want them to operate at 1 to 1 at an average of 10 degrees. I've got Fujitsu Halcyons at 13. Don't EVER buy Fujitsu. I've got 42,000 BTU in an efficient house. At 0 degrees average outside temp they put out about as much as 6 people exhaling at each unit and the house will be 50ish degrees, and if it gets cooler, forget it. You WILL NEED a backup heat source, so don't get rid of your natural gas, or be ready to buy a bunch of space heaters. So, If you get up North, be careful. I will never break even based on expected life and required service (at least on Fujitsu). Good luck!

@gonnfishy2987

7 ай бұрын

Surprises me only because fujitsu are the jujitsu of inverters etc. personally, my experience with daikin heatpumps is that even in the low 10s (°c) is that you’re more likely to get into bed to stay warm. I spent last winter testing it against using the fireplace. Even if it was capable of keeping the warm, the electric use would be ludicrous

It got down to -10 degrees here in the Ozarks and our mini splits worked all the way through this cold spell. I am a bit undersized so the house did get down to 63 degrees but it was extremely cold.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Awesome! 63 is still very good in light of the horribly cold weather we had.

@Ka_Gg

Ай бұрын

What brand mini splits?

WOW, you folks keep your house cool, My thermostat is always set to 75, I have a portable HVAC and the heat pump stop heating when the temp outside reached 45 degrees :( . and only heats to a max of 77 degree. I need a mini split

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

I have been told I keep my house too warm...lol. These mini-splits are amazing for sure.

@litag6143

Жыл бұрын

@@CountryLivingExperience Isn't it funny how different people like different temperatures? I keep my thermostat set on 64/65. Once in a while if I get cold I will bump it to 66, but then I'm too hot. At work they crank the heat, so I keep a fan handy! My house was built in the 60's & very drafty, but I stayed warm. The furnace is original to the house, so I'm lucky it still works. I did buy some sweatshirts this year & wore them everyday. I'm about 6 hours north of you in Oklahoma.

@thisisyourcaptainspeaking2259

Жыл бұрын

Try 72 degrees if you can stand it, heat pumps work pretty well at that setting.

@Wisepati

Жыл бұрын

Wow 75 is very warm you must really have a big budget for electricity. When it is about 10° outside 68 inside feels really good. And too much heat can dry out your air and furniture.

I would like to try these in the garage we just built. I am just not sure about the technology. We got down to -35F windchill close -50. I don't expect it to be super warm but have to be able keep above freezing during a time like this.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

That is very cold. I don't think they are rated to go that low. I think the max on many of these is -20F

I installed a 12k minisplit in my garage where my battery banks are and set it to 62 degrees , in normal times its warms using around 750-850 watts . On Thursday when the temps went from 50 dergrees to 7 degrees in maryland the thing jumped up to 1500 watts and was struggling to maintain 62 .. it is very drafty in the garage and i have issues to address hopefully after i address those issues it will balance back to 750-850 watts

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Yep, it is all about the insulation and air intrusion.

Very informative! I had always wondered how these Mini Splits would do in single digit temps. Color me impressed! I'm convinced these are the way to go. Was the Innovair unit self contained (pre-charged lines) like the Mr. Cool units for DIY installation? Thanks for sharing 🤠

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

They are pretty amazing. The Innovair has the refrigerant inside the outdoor unit but the lines are not pre-vacuumed (charged). I had to hire a friend of mine who is an hvac tech to vac the lines for me and let in the refrigerant. I did everything else.

Have you seen the new DC mini-splits from Signature Solar. They can be used without an inverter. Straight from PV to mini-split, no conversion loss either. Maybe just have small PV array just for powering those during the day, so your batteries get to charge up fuller. 24000BTU only takes 7-8 panels. Lot cheaper than batteries.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

I have. They look cool and the concept is interesting. I am thinking of how I can use one on my homestead.

I didn't know it gets that cold 🥶 in Texas are the Mini splits ur only source for heating seems to be doing a good job keeping it comfortable

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

It sure does but not very often. I do have a wood stove for backup but the mini splits were working great.

@diysolaradventures7894

Жыл бұрын

@@CountryLivingExperience that's very good to hear I can't wait to finish installing minds I messed up the first line set so I'm waiting on the new line set to get here.

They can work at much lower temperature than that. There is still heat in negative temperatures. Awesome little units.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

They are truly amazing

@AaronMOwens

Жыл бұрын

Innovair is on my radar, they are rated to provide 80%+ heating capacity at -22 degrees. I have LGRED mini-splits and they are only rated for 68% at -13

Just to make sure I am not mistaken. So you're saying all 3 of those mini splits, running at the same time, use less electric than the single heat pump?

Last December I replaced my 25kw electric heat strip furnace with 3 mini-split units. When they all operate at the same time they work at 3.5kw That means I can run all my mini-splits for 7 hours straight for every 1 hour of the old furnace.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

That’s awesome!

Pls tell us which bran of the 2 that you have would you purchase again after you’ve see their performance. Seems that the innovair claims Breyer numbers but the Mr. Cool performance was better. Correct?

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Performance of both is great but the MrCool is more widely known and if you have problems, their technical department is much bigger and more capable of helping you. Plus, they are the only brand that is truly DIY.

Was wondering if you kept your wood stove going as well? We have a Daiken mini split in our very poorly insulated garage conversion and that thing is a beast! Inside we added a wood stove that heats the house find most of the time but we did have to use some heat from the HVAC during the worst of the cold but the stove kept it from having to run continuously and never catching up until very early in the morning when of course the wood ran out. We aren't as DIY as you but totally want to add a couple of these for just the areas that we use the most.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

We did fire up the wood stove for a while since it added that nice cozy wood heat. Same for us....the wood heat just allowed the mini-split to get a rest and shut down for a bit.

COP of gas burning furnaces is a max of 97%. As in, $1 of energy in, 97 cents of heat out. The electric furnace is 1-1. Most modern heat pumps are way more efficient, losing efficiency (closer to 1-1) at 0F.

My 24K MRCOOL diy was putting out 115’f air at 25’f outside. Pretty insane. I live in Tyler so somewhere near you I think you said.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Wow! That is awesome performance. Yep, I am a bit south of Tyler.

@LeuCustomKnives

Жыл бұрын

@@CountryLivingExperience let me know if you’re up to having a visitor sometime! Not sure if you can send messages on KZread

So are your 30kwh eg-4 battery bank enough to run all your electrical needs plus those two heat pumps for a 24h period?

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

I have 46kWh now and it is just enough for 24 hours with the caveat that I was not doing laundry, cooking a lot, or taking 4 hot showers. It is about power management.

You say you moved from Michigan to Texas I'm right here in Toledo Ohio it sucks here cloudy for a whole month straight barely any solar at all but I'm holding on I'm trying to move somewhere down south myself eventually.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Certainly more cloudy back there but many people make it work.

What was your bilk on the coldest month?

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

We just installed them. We are not in the coldest month yet. I also am on solar so it is mostly free.

So by kicking up the thermostat you are encouraging the units to run more.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Only at first

Keeps my home warm to -30 c. Coldest i seen here

@CountryLivingExperience

6 ай бұрын

Awesome!

I have a question about my mini split I bought a couple months ago the indoor wall unit when I place the fan motor on high it's not what you call high at all it has 3 settings pow medium and high right but high ain't nothing u can feel another thing I noticed it does blow real hard on high pass the remote setting of high if you have it on maximum heat setting between 80 and 85 degrees it blows very hard but when I try to put it on 70 to 75 77 or something it doesn't blow hard where you can really feel it it's like the high setting on the remote it's not high at all when it comes to blowing it's very low

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Not sure what your question is exactly. Sounds like the high fan is not working.

@diysolaradventures7894

Жыл бұрын

@@CountryLivingExperience the low medium and high setting on the remote with the fan symbol does work but it's speed is like very low now the fan does blow fast and real hard when do you set your room temperature when u first turn it on but once it reaches room temperature that you set it on the fan speed drops rapidly it's brand new out-of-the-box if you turn just the fan on without the heat pump or air conditioner then the fan blows hard on high nice and strong but when you hit heat it's Lois way down and only blows hot when it went to

How much do those mini splits cost? The ones that you bought are two different brands? Which one do you think did the best job and where did you get them?

@joannenickell5096

Жыл бұрын

The prices depend on where and when you buy them. We bought our MrCool 24K BTU unit June 2021 and by the next year, the price had gone up significantly (over $600).

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

The Innovair 9k was $1300 from Sig Solar signaturesolar.com/innovair-mini-split-ac-heat-pump-9000-btu/?ref=countrylivingexperience and the MrCool 12k was $1800 from Lowes. The 18k MrCool dual zone was $2900. I got that one from Chill Mini Splits. So far they work equally as well as each other. No difference.

I'm running my whole home on just 5 350w panels lol and this mini split will be here Wednesday my biggest problem are the clouds and I only have four 120ah 12v batteries as 16 Lifepo4 cells in 24v a lil under 6000kwr but these clouds here in northwest Ohio is making this a struggle.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

That is a tiny system. I think you are going to need to upgrade by a lot.

@diysolaradventures7894

Жыл бұрын

@@CountryLivingExperience I'm going to but I may have to move because I really have nowhere to put the extra panels I'm in the inner City so I'm trying to stack up on mostly the batteries

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

@@diysolaradventures7894 Ah, I understand.

they are great systems and super quiet but keep an eye on your inside blower drums because they will get dust and mold caked up in them and not blow air as efficient. After a year of using mine I noticed that one was not blowing very hard and looked up in there with a flashlight and it was a mess.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the heads up

What are you using to measure your power consumption?

@joebass5163

Жыл бұрын

Appears to be Emporia Vue. I have the same setup.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

It is an Emporia Vue. We did a video about it here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/iaugzZaiaZvRY5c.html

Are you working in your profession of architecture and what is that in single-family housing or commercial? I’m within 100 miles Northeast Texas.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

I still do single family residential design on special occasions. I have worked in all facets of the profession.

Mines been running great are ur mini splits your only heating source?

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Mine are running great as well. I do have a wood stove. I like to use that for just the main space because of the feel of the wood heat.....very comforting.

@diysolaradventures7894

Жыл бұрын

@@CountryLivingExperience I noticed on my mini-split just running the indoor fan part circulates the heat really well in here without the outside part running at all if your wood burning stove is making it nice and warm then your mini-split head units on fan mode should circulate that heat

How many KW of battery storage do you have? Curious how big you would need to go to have 3 days of off grid power only?

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

I have 46kw. It all depends on your loads. What else are you running during that 3 day period?

@krautkarch

Жыл бұрын

@@CountryLivingExperience , I ran a "Simple PV Load Calculator. My Summer is highest with 50,803 watt hours a day. But I calculated (3) split units running at a total of 4,000 watts for 8 hours a day (Equaling 32,000 watt hours a day). Perhaps this is a little overkill? I am not sure if this is way over doing it or not? I am building the home with the whole bottom walk out basement utilizing composite foundation and walls with a R-22 insulation value rather than going with poured concrete. Hard to figure this one out. My Winter load is coming out to 33,614 watt hours per day, the largest of which is the LP Gas and Furnace Fan (12,000 watt hours per day). This may be overkill as well. So I am a little stuck on trying to figure out what my real needs would be. From all the research I've done, I need 3 days of battery back up. A 150KW battery bank will certainly be out of my budget. Im thinking I may be better off going geothermal at first and investing in that to keep my KW needs down, and perhaps get away with a 50KW battery storage system to build up in the future piece by piece. Grid tied seems to be the best path for now?

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

@@krautkarch You can continue to build the battery up over time. Just keep buying them when you have the cash. That is how I am doing it. I started with 3 batteries and now have 9. I am going to expand more. I can get about 2 days but that is with an LP stove and not running the dryer.

@krautkarch

Жыл бұрын

@@CountryLivingExperience , thanks for the feedback! I am curious, do you just charge the batteries , then use then just discharge them daily down to say 20% , then have the system programmed to switch to grid power once you have discharged the batteries down?

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

@@krautkarch You can to that but I am off grid and do not have AC in connected.

Do they have any kind of emergency heat package to them?

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Not that I know of. They work down to about -20°f

@larryb6759

Жыл бұрын

@@CountryLivingExperience Thanks for the quick response. I do like the concept of controlling the various zones of the house along with being able to use them on Off Grid Solar. I will be checking into these units. Quick questions, which one do you like better, Mr Cool or the one from Signature Solar? Does Signature have the option to add multiple air handlers to their condenser unit as well?

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

You're welcome. I like them both. The only difference is the Innovair is not technically DIY. You have to vacuum the lines. The Mr.Cool does not require an HVAC tech or any special equipment. The Innovair has only a single zone option.

@larryb6759

Жыл бұрын

@@CountryLivingExperience Fantastic, Thanks, Wishing you and your family a Happy and Prosperous New Tear!

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

@@larryb6759 You're welcome. Happy New Year

Sounds to me like they use a lot of electric, with my LP furnace my total KWH per 24 hrs for all electric use is 6 KWH. I'm in NYS.

some do - mine didn't and the pipes froze.

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Oh no. Don't they have a defrost mode?

When your Mr Cool takes a crap and they can't support you with tech support or parts just understand that it's a rebranded Gree unit. You can always try and get support if you can figure out which model Gree unit they just rebadged

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the heads up

@edklimas494

Жыл бұрын

That is precisely the problem with these things I had a Friedrich Breeze in a well insulated two-car garage but I use for home office the thing worked great for 6 years when it crapped out two weeks of frustrated service calls nobody could fix it nobody could get parts for it had to rip this thing out in the dead of winter and replace it with a Mr Cool unit in the meantime I was running 3,500 w electric floor heaters to maintain temperature in the building as I need the workspace so the cost initially seems great the monthly cost of electricity to operate it is really not bad but once you get into all these issues the ancillary costs the headache the replacement and of course the new units never match the space the old units came out of that's where the problems really start with these things especially when you mount the indoor units on the walls and then the replacement units don't fit the same spaces not to mention the joy of swapping this thing out when it's 5° outside that's my two cents the oil burner in my house has been working fine for 15 years with a little bit of routine maintenance every third year so up until recently it wasn't so bad except obviously now the oil costs are horrible

@MrRandyj72

Жыл бұрын

@@edklimas494 Friedrich 2 years ago was rebranding LG. I've been working the Ductless industry for the last 17 years. I've worked for Sanyo/Panasonic, Daikin, and now at Mitsubishi. If they are cheap online there is a reason. Buy the shit you truly know make their own products.

63F indoors "relatively warm" is not comfortable.

@CountryLivingExperience

7 ай бұрын

lol

ARE YOU RUNNING YOUR SOLAR?

@CountryLivingExperience

Жыл бұрын

Both solar and grid. If there are too many cloudy days, I do not have enough battery storage to last.