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Single Minisplit Expectations for Entire Main Floor?

swellman
swellman Member Posts: 31
Hi, we are considering adding a single Mitsubishi minisplit to our main floor (size is flexible) but are trying to understand how much it will impact the entire floor versus one area/room.

We seem to have pretty low air circulation due to the lack of duct work (we have rads versus a furnace). On our second floor we installed one mini in each room (4 total) and with 2/4 doors open we don’t seem to get *that* much cooling of the hall area. There remains a clear temp diff from main floor to hall, and hall to any bedroom but it's surprising how cold the room feels and how hot the hall can still feel comparatively.

I’ve attached our floor plan and where we'd like to put our minisplit ideally (open to suggestions).

The question is will we feel any real improvement on the opposite side of the house? Would cooling make it to the kitchen even?


Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,696
    Unless you put some good size fans in doorways I doubt that you'll get much effect from the minisplit outside the room it is located in.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,364
    To do the main floor you probably need 3 mini splits. LR, DR and den. I wouldn't expect you need to cool the laundry room.
  • Ironman
    Ironman Member Posts: 7,537
    “Feel” is a very subjective word. What might “feel” good to one may not to another.

    If I were designing it, there would be at least two heads, preferably three.
    Bob Boan
    You can choose to do what you want, but you cannot choose the consequences.
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 5,271
    Is there a basement?

    Ducted Mini
  • swellman
    swellman Member Posts: 31
    @pecmsg - there is a basement with a furnace room. I don’t know much about ducted minis. Could you share a good example link?
  • Robert O'Brien
    Robert O'Brien Member Posts: 3,562
    swellman said:

    @pecmsg - there is a basement with a furnace room. I don’t know much about ducted minis. Could you share a good example link?

    Why not just add cooling to the existing ducted system?
    To learn more about this professional, click here to visit their ad in Find A Contractor.
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 5,271
    Heating and A/C require different velocity of air flow. Rarely can heating only ducts be used for A/C
  • swellman
    swellman Member Posts: 31
    We don’t have existing ducts of any kind. Our furnace room is for our boiler system. I take it the ducted mini then is like adding ducts with the mini doing the output?
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 5,271
    edited January 2021
    Ducted minis are an option. 2 or 3 supplies. Very low static pressure. 
    Find someone that knows them and it’s done 
  • swellman
    swellman Member Posts: 31
    @pecmsg - How much depth does a ducted mini duct take away from your ceiling space? We have pretty strict height requirements we need to maintain in the basement due to the legal apartment unit we have down there and are currently renting out. We can run some lines in places but depending on the exact minimum depth we can get away with it might inhibit all the areas we can actually run them to.