13 degrees in Chicago

Tinman

The wind chill is at 0 and the new Mitsubishi HyperHeat heat pump is performing as advertised. I was a little worried as this is our first HyperHeat install but I couldn't be happier and so are our customers. We used one 3.5 ton outdoor unit with one branch box and five indoor heads for a church office building. I also recommended they keep the electric heaters in place for the rare below -5 days.

jacobsond

Its amazing how good these heatpump minis have gotten. I have a Panasonic. I usually let it run in heat until it gets to around 10 degrees or a little less. Specks say -4 it can go to,but I kick on the boiler at about 10 degrees or a little less to provide more even heating. Saved about 300gal of propane so far this winter. I'm in ND so -20s are not unheard of. Not sure which brand is the best but these things are great.

Tinman

One of my daughters lived in Fargo for a few years. I thought Chicago was cold!

jacobsond

Those of us that grew up here dont think its cold until it hits -0 or so. Then after it hits -20 it just doesn't matter anymore. The weather people just keep saying wind chill warning. We hear bla bla bla tell me something I dont know. Mini splits are showing up more and more. Lot of hot water heating in the old houses. With the mini split heat pump systems getting a lot better now we can bet better AC plus get some more efficient heating in the transition heating/cooling months. With my wife in the winter anything over 70 in the house is hot. Bedroom at night is 63. In the summer the AC needs to cool to 68. The Panasonic can sure do the job so far.

njtommy

I really love these new heat pumps. I have a single zone Fujitsu in my sun room even when it is 0 out side it can maintain 68f no problems.

I know a few people who heating their houses for close to 8 years now just on mini splits. They are older Sanyos so once it drops to 10f the house gets a bit colder but never under 65f. I'm sure when the day comes to replace them they will be going with a low temp unit.

ChrisJ

njtommy said:

I really love these new heat pumps. I have a single zone Fujitsu in my sun room even when it is 0 out side it can maintain 68f no problems.



I know a few people who heating their houses for close to 8 years now just on mini splits. They are older Sanyos so once it drops to 10f the house gets a bit colder but never under 65f. I'm sure when the day comes to replace them they will be going with a low temp unit.

68F?
That's crazy talk!

Fred

ChrisJ said:

njtommy said:

I really love these new heat pumps. I have a single zone Fujitsu in my sun room even when it is 0 out side it can maintain 68f no problems.



I know a few people who heating their houses for close to 8 years now just on mini splits. They are older Sanyos so once it drops to 10f the house gets a bit colder but never under 65f. I'm sure when the day comes to replace them they will be going with a low temp unit.

68F?
That's crazy talk!

Not crazy. I keep my house at 68 all summer too.

ChrisJ

Fred said:

ChrisJ said:

njtommy said:

I really love these new heat pumps. I have a single zone Fujitsu in my sun room even when it is 0 out side it can maintain 68f no problems.



I know a few people who heating their houses for close to 8 years now just on mini splits. They are older Sanyos so once it drops to 10f the house gets a bit colder but never under 65f. I'm sure when the day comes to replace them they will be going with a low temp unit.

68F?
That's crazy talk!

Not crazy. I keep my house at 68 all summer too.

Hmmmm.
@Fred are you trying to be funny?

Fred

ChrisJ said:

Fred said:

ChrisJ said:

njtommy said:

I really love these new heat pumps. I have a single zone Fujitsu in my sun room even when it is 0 out side it can maintain 68f no problems.



I know a few people who heating their houses for close to 8 years now just on mini splits. They are older Sanyos so once it drops to 10f the house gets a bit colder but never under 65f. I'm sure when the day comes to replace them they will be going with a low temp unit.

68F?
That's crazy talk!

Not crazy. I keep my house at 68 all summer too.

Hmmmm.
@Fred are you trying to be funny?

Absolutely not. 68 is my "go to" temp from May through Mid October.

ChrisJ

Fred said:

ChrisJ said:

Fred said:

ChrisJ said:

njtommy said:

I really love these new heat pumps. I have a single zone Fujitsu in my sun room even when it is 0 out side it can maintain 68f no problems.



I know a few people who heating their houses for close to 8 years now just on mini splits. They are older Sanyos so once it drops to 10f the house gets a bit colder but never under 65f. I'm sure when the day comes to replace them they will be going with a low temp unit.

68F?
That's crazy talk!

Not crazy. I keep my house at 68 all summer too.

Hmmmm.
@Fred are you trying to be funny?

Absolutely not. 68 is my "go to" temp from May through Mid October.

So all of the threads of people jumping all over me for wanting 70F in the summer, and you didn't say a word?

Thanks bud.

@Stephen Minnich You just love that 61 microns don't you?

jumper

A trick to make warmer A/C setting comfortable is running a dehumidifier. 76° can be comfortable if you get the humidity down.

Gordy

ChrisJ said:

Fred said:

ChrisJ said:

Fred said:

ChrisJ said:

njtommy said:

I really love these new heat pumps. I have a single zone Fujitsu in my sun room even when it is 0 out side it can maintain 68f no problems.



I know a few people who heating their houses for close to 8 years now just on mini splits. They are older Sanyos so once it drops to 10f the house gets a bit colder but never under 65f. I'm sure when the day comes to replace them they will be going with a low temp unit.

68F?
That's crazy talk!

Not crazy. I keep my house at 68 all summer too.

Hmmmm.
@Fred are you trying to be funny?

Absolutely not. 68 is my "go to" temp from May through Mid October.

So all of the threads of people jumping all over me for wanting 70F in the summer, and you didn't say a word?

Thanks bud.

@Stephen Minnich You just love that 61 microns don't you?

That would have helped?

ChrisJ

jumper said:

A trick to make warmer A/C setting comfortable is running a dehumidifier. 76° can be comfortable if you get the humidity down.

76°F at 30% is tolerable, but I wouldn't say comfortable.

72-74 is ok.

All winter my bedroom is 64° and I sleep with a large fan on medium.

Fred

Gordy said:

ChrisJ said:

Fred said:

ChrisJ said:

Fred said:

ChrisJ said:

njtommy said:

I really love these new heat pumps. I have a single zone Fujitsu in my sun room even when it is 0 out side it can maintain 68f no problems.



I know a few people who heating their houses for close to 8 years now just on mini splits. They are older Sanyos so once it drops to 10f the house gets a bit colder but never under 65f. I'm sure when the day comes to replace them they will be going with a low temp unit.

68F?
That's crazy talk!

Not crazy. I keep my house at 68 all summer too.

Hmmmm.
@Fred are you trying to be funny?

Absolutely not. 68 is my "go to" temp from May through Mid October.

So all of the threads of people jumping all over me for wanting 70F in the summer, and you didn't say a word?

Thanks bud.

@Stephen Minnich You just love that 61 microns don't you?

That would have helped?

If you look back on your earlier post, I think you will find I said I keep mine at 68. There were a couple responses that said it couldn't be done, that a 20 degree difference from outside temps was the max. I thought "OK , I still keep mine at 68 and it's not worth a long drawn out argument. Come spring 68 it is and 68 it will be" and I might add I don't have any issues with humidity either but I just base that on my own comfort level. I don't bother checking the gauges to determine if I should be uncomfortable.

Tinman

I've never seen 61 microns on a system before so, yes, I like it. Roger Maris is going to have share 61 with me now.

ChrisJ

Stephen Minnich said:

I've never seen 61 microns on a system before so, yes, I like it. Roger Maris is going to have share 61 with me now.

I'll have to see if I can get down to 61 when I vacuum my system in a few months. I've got a feeling I won't get below 100-200 before giving up though.

Tinman

There's no giving up in HVAC.

ChrisJ

Stephen Minnich said:

There's no giving up in HVAC.

Canucker

Stephen Minnich said:

There's no giving up in HVAC.

I thought there was no crying in HVAC?

Gordy

Depends........

Canucker

> @Gordy said:
> Depends........

You're not putting in @ChrisJ 's air conditioning, are you? Haha

Gordy

I don't think anyone is. It would be like trying to work with a parrot on your shoulder, a cat rubbing your leg, and a dog licking your face

LionA29

Impressive! Mine won't be good below 40-45°.
But 0° amazing improvements.

smithfan

I'm a noob when it comes to heat pumps, but what do you do when you get 3 feet of snow? Do you have to keep the units outside snow free?

BobC

Snow can be a problem, the outside unit has to be able to breathe. When any serious snow is expected, I shut the unit down and cover it, when the snow stops and I clear any snow that might block the outside unit I remove the cover.

Bob

ChrisJ

Bob Bona_4

The inverter ductless hp's are supposed to be up on stands for drainage during defrost, and to tolerate some average snowfall. The super low ambient models have an electric cable in the base pans.

I do them a lot, in bonus rooms etc as the sole heat source, southwestern CT. Yet to have a complaint about not keeping up.

BobC

My outside unit is on a stand that is about 16" tall but that area has seen over 5 ft of drifted snow some winters. This btw is one reason why you need a backup source of heat in this climate.

Bob

Bob Bona_4

That's a good amount of lift, Bob. And some serious drifts! Snow fencing help?

ratio

ChrisJ said:

Ha!

Its been working fine up until today no problem how fast can you get it fixed how much??? I cant afford that you guys are trying to rip me off I read on the internet how you guys are CROOKS and take advantage of people Im calling the bbb!!!1!

<sigh>

BobC

The unit sits on the south side of the house. When we get a nor'easter the gale force wind soar over the house and drop the snow as they clear the structure. The only thing that would work would be a shed roof. I'm a block off the ocean so the winds here can be a little extreme during a good storm.

In Feb of 2015 we had one storm that dumped 34" of snow and that resulted in a drift that was close to 8 ft, it completely covered my back door. That was the worst I've seen in my 36 years in this house, we set a record for snow that winter -110", in this area the houses are on small city lots so there just isn't anyplace to put that amount of snow.

Bob

njtommy

Lots of snow or even freezing rain is not good for heat pump performance. Even tho the ductless style heat pumps shut down the indoor fans while they go into defrost. I've seen a lot of people build little roofs over them to help along with high wall mounts.

Stole this one off of google.

LionA29

@njtommy do they actually collect a lot of snow?I don't believe the snow amount would be that critical. But that's to be determined

njtommy

@LionA29 When it's snowing out the snow just gets sucked into the coil and starts to block it. It just makes the unit go into defrosts more often. That's all.

jacobsond

Where I'm at we usually dont get much more than 24inches of snow all winter. Thats from November to march. We do get the cold with many days of high temps below zero. Ive always said you dont have to shovel cold. The mini heatpump has done great this year. I never expected not to have to run the main furnace until Xmas and just most of Jan. So far the HP has been handling the heating in Feb. Without the HP I was using 200gal of propane a month. I have used 300gal so far this winter and expect not to get another load of propane until November.