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I'm just curious what the real details are on these ductless heat pumps? As I said above...all I hear is praise...from sales people to the people that buy them. I know many people that have purchased them, but I have not heard a single word from any of them after the fact...other than how much they love their heat pump. I never seem to hear anything on actual savings or ROI. People tell me that they work great....but it's like talking to that guy that just bought a new diesel VW and he tells you he's getting 60mpg....but in reality, the only reason he knows (or thinks that) is because the sales rep told him so...not because he actually checked and tracked it (in which case he'd find out he's only getting 50mpg).
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First off, don't worry about hurting my feelings
We're all here to help
I can't tell you how long to expect a mini-split to last, but I would guess12-15 years. $3500 sounds pretty fair if that's the whole job and you're taking care of a "great room" type addition. Installed cost can vary based on total btu's needed, number of indoor units, length of copper runs, ease of drain line runs, whether or not you want to see the refrigerant lines, ETC..
These types of systems are basically "custom built" to your comfort goals, and prices will vary greatly..
Trouble comapring these systems is they're load-based. They run to keep the settings YOU want. They are limited in their cycle rate by the rate of heat-loss that is specific to YOUR HOUSE. The house next door will be totally different looking at heat loss/gain from room to room, and that's how mini-split looks at it, not the conventional whole house temp set from one (poor) location!
Unfortunately, looking to find solid proof in numbers on standard systems - vs-mini-split is almost impossible.
What kind of MPG'S do you get driving in your car? Now tell me what kind of MPG'S I will get driving in your car? It's kind of like that, since the mini-splits are ECOMODDERS in their own right.
The seer rating system is based on constants. The mini-split's modulation is the secret to it's efficiency.
The real way to test would be to find the people who went "all in" and ONLY run mini-split after retrofitting from standard equipment, and hope that they have lots of utility reciepts to show "seasonal averages" of before and after the mini-split's installation for comparison. That could at least show you, on a house to house basis, the average savings. Good luck with that.
For the rest of us (me at least) the seer ratings speak for themselves. If I could afford it, I would rip out my furnace and go with Fujitsu's VRF system, but that's just not in the cards for me. I've got a 97% efficient 2 stage Rheem furnace that does me just fine
Thanks,
Victor