I'm delighted to have found this site! I can't believe all the knowledgeable and helpful people here.

I have been running wood heat alone for 3 years now as we've been remodeling this older house. Used to have electric wall heaters which are no more. So I have been trying to take a crash course on heat-pumps and electric furnaces, but it's been discouraging for various reasons.

A couple reasons are that we live on the southern Oregon coast, so while the climate is quite mild, yet we live just 1/2 mile from the ocean so it's absolute heck on just about anything outdoors. So while standard heat pumps work well here, they just don't last that long.

Also, price is a big consideration for us right now, and it bummed me out at how expensive these standard systems are. Electric furnaces aren;t great either because they cost roughly double to run what a heat pump does. Also, our area is notorious for mold growing in ducts and such, so ducting in general was a concern.

So anyway, I heard about this ductless split-system by Mitsubishi ('Mr Slim')...the link is here:

http://acdirect.com/xcart/product.php?productid=1690

It looks perfect, except I'm wondering if this will handle a house our size? We are just 1,300 sq feet. The living room is central with the kitchen and dining room being open to it. Then there are 3 bedrooms coming off the living and dining rooms. With our mild climate I'm hoping it will do the job, but what happens if the unit is a bit too small for the house? Does it get worked to death and krap-out quickly? Again, we rarely have nights here under 40 degrees, usually the lows are in the 40-50 degree range (with high humidity).

Air conditioning is not a factor, just the heating part.

So,,,,ANY insights, advice or input positive or negative is GREATLY appreciated as I'm feeling a bit like the fish out of water on all this right now......
Thanks so very much!!......


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For what you have you dont want that duct less set up. Now the first thing is how long will you stay in this home . If 10 years go for the good stuff for sure.
Now at the temps you say there .Yes a heatpump will give you about 3 times more heat for a $1 than a electric furnace will for the same $1
Now on a heat pump you still have to get a good seer on the ac side so you have a good HSPF on the heat pump side.
Now the Trane XL15i has a set up in it for salt air. A seer of 15.10 and a HSPF of 8.05.
If mold is that bad in the duct sounds like the set up dont run the AC right to get the humidity out of the homeas it should. Could put in a U/V light in the duct.

ED

 

Ed, thank you much for the info.......why won;t that mitsubishi work for our set up? It's 1,300 sq feet in a compact configuration.....
thanks again.....

 

Look for a two stage HP this will remove lots of RH. Also look Condenser that has spine fine coil these don't rot as bad!

 

just 1,300 sq feet. The living room is central with the kitchen and dining room being open to it. Then there are 3 bedrooms coming off the living and dining rooms.

Just that one unit cant get all around in the home right. You need a unit with duct work on it.

ED

 

These heat pumps are a pretty common way to heat/cool in Hawaii, New Zealand, and a lot of Asia. Mitsubishi is a good brand. Though I think there are more efficient units from Sanyo, Panasonic and Daikin. The nice thing about them is that the condensers (outside unit) are very quiet as compared with US models. This should work for you as a chill chaser, assuming that you don't mind chillier bedrooms. The downside is that it won't really heat the place well if you get a real cold spell. They do make larger units that can run multiple splits off of a single compressor. As to the mold issue, it could happen with this unit if you don't clean the filters regularly and keep the drain clear.

My main concern would be that there aren't a lot of people in the area to install or service it. Best to speak to local dealers to find out what is working well for your region. Another alternative to consider might be a pellet stove if you are looking for cheap, convenient heat.

 

Rockchck,


I have the PERFECT thing for you and it should only cost you about 100 bucks total.

With the temperatures in the lows of 40-50 degrees try the oil filled plugged in 110V heaters that look like radiators. They are not only safe but really work good in those temps. Their easy on electricity too.
I have used 4 of them in my 2400 sq ft home in ohio here in temps as low as 20's and it is realy surprizing at how well they heat. In the 40's they would keep my home in the 70's. In the 20's they would keep my home around 60. I used 4 of them but I bet 2 would do you (maybe 3) and you can spread them around for even heat. They are indoors so salt is not a problem.


Walmart or Dollar General or Home Depot or Lowes or most any place has them for about $35.00 each. A real good value IMHO.

They should keep you like toast.

 

Hi Begreen and Jimmy - thanks so much guys for the feedback. I never considered the radiators, Jimmy, and will be looking into that. And Begreen, thanks for the tip on the dual systems. In fact, they even make 3 zones as well, though they get spendy. But the dual zone may be the ticket.
Thanks again to all.....

 

JIMMY,

If you crank these things up (say for the 25 degree days), how quickly do they burn through a 'full tank'. How large is the fuel tank, and what do you do, keep a 50 gallon drum in the garage or something?