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Month to month savings on mini split?

gkinaz

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2016
Messages
5
Specs: 1955 house, 1500 sq feet, 3 bed 2 small bath. Sacramento, CA. Insulated ceiling, uninsulated crawl space, gas heat, dual pane windows, average coverage, asphalt shingles, stucco exterior, Max electric bill is about $200 in summer.

This is a rental, to my parents. Don't worry, after 5 years so far its going great. The AC unit randomly pops the fuses in the attic (which are also backed by a normal circuit breaker). I've had AC people look at it, and electricians look at it with no hard diagnosis. All things considered, it's about time to replace it anyhow. The factory sticker is literally so sun damaged you can only see the bare outline of it.

I'm fully confident I can do the bulk of the mini split install. I will probably have an AC guy charge it though. An electrician will need to run 220 to the outside unit. I was quoted $7400 for a new roof unit, $9k for a split (plus more to have a roofer close the hole.) I will have to take paid time off which will give me 9 days (2 days of which will be travel.) Installing myself, I think will run me about $5k-$6k.

I think a wall unit in each bedroom and guest bath, with a cassette in the living room/den/kitchen. I considered a separate unit outside unit for that end of the house, but just more of a pain. The cassette will be the longest run of lines, the condensate line can be much shorter as it can dump to the back of the house.

Parents main concern: fiddling with the number of remotes. With that said:

MAIN QUESTION: VS. a NEW rooftop or ground unit..........what would be a percent savings with a mini split? What I will pose to my parents is: how much would it take to make it worth fiddling with remotes?

Would a mini split be...10%? 25% 50%? more efficient?

Real numbers would be a big help from anyone. Heating really won't be a big deal, but any info helps.

thanks in advance.
 
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gkinaz

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2016
Messages
5
According to that calculator, just replacing the old unit will net a 29% savings, but going to mini split will be 50% savings vs. current old unit.
 
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Jackfre

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Joined
Dec 26, 2010
Messages
4,410
Location
N CA
The supplied remotes come in a "shoe" that can mount to a wall and the remote will sit in it. Doesn't need to be moved. they are line of sight however so always hold the unit on the wall and see that it operates the unit correctly.

Did the companies who quoted you include the duct repair that the code requires to reduce duct leakage to no more than 6%?
 

theoldwizard1

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 22, 2011
Messages
43,148
Location
SE MI
I think a wall unit in each bedroom and guest bath, with a cassette in the living room/den/kitchen. I considered a separate unit outside unit for that end of the house, but just more of a pain. The cassette will be the longest run of lines, the condensate line can be much shorter as it can dump to the back of the house.
First, different brand mini-splits and different models within a given brand have different number of ports. 5 is typically the maximum, but a lot of them have <5 !

From what I have read, the ceiling cassettes are not the best, especially when try to cover a large area. Wall mounts are the most common.

You can likely get rid of the gas heat altogether.
 
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