110V mini-splits

[redi]

I recently put a 220v LG 24K mini-split in my garage shop and couldn't be happier with the performance. Finding an installer and electrician at a fair price was the only challenge.

The project worked out so well, there is another small office at the other side of the property that could use independent HVAC and I was considering another inverter based 9K/12K 110v minisplits, as there seem to be a lot, and this would also appear to eliminate a long 220v electrical run.

Is there any inherent down side on these 110v units?

Thanks for any opinions.

 

[SALIV8]

Watts are watts. So no downside that I can see.

However, you do want to balance your loads as best possible.

 

[Bert_]

It still needs a dedicated circuit. At 120V it needs twice the size circuit as a similar unit on 240V

 

[bazar01]

My 9k btu, 115VAC Mini split I put on my camper required a 30A breaker size.
When running though, it only pulls about 12 amps.
I think you can put it on a 20amp circuit.

 

[Bobthetractor]

If you can get it installed for $1500 (including system) I'd probably roll the dice. If not, I'd think about an alternative.

Anecdotal evidence but we went on a massive spree on replacing PTAC units with mini-splits 8-10 years ago. Probably 75% were 110V. Went about five years with no problems then suddenly we'd have failures. Nearly all of them have been replaced (again) at this point. This was across multiple brands and properties (apartments). I wish I could tell you the why but so far the best we can figure is we adopted them too early in the recent wave of high efficiency and unlike a PTAC's they cant as easily be swapped by the maintenance guy. Weeding out good vs bad quality on appliances like this is extremely difficult as the model numbers change between vendors and certain parts may be the same but come from different factories and brands will license out their names (sort of like TV's).

That said, we've got old Mitsubishi and I think Hitachi mini-splits from late 90's-mid 2000's in storage/fire closets that have never broken.

 

[reader2580]

My 9k btu, 115VAC Mini split I put on my camper required a 30A breaker size.
When running though, it only pulls about 12 amps.
I think you can put it on a 20amp circuit.

A 30 amp 110 volt circuit for a 9,000 BTU A/C unit seems really high to me. I have 15.000 BTU rooftop A/C units on my RV and they only need 20 amp 110 volt circuits.