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Something I just thought of as I looked through the mini-splits on ebay.... many are only Seer 13, and these don't seem to function at temps below 15 degrees F. Make sure you get something in the SEER 18-20 or with a HPSF(?) that's as close to 10 as possible. These seem to be the ones that function best in cold weather.
I saw a 24000 BTU mini split on ebay for only $1000 but it was only a SEER 13 and couldn't function well at low temps.
I LOVE the idea of using earth tubes to feed the outdoor compressor on an air source heat pump. You get rid of any issues of mold, and in really cold environments you only have to get the temp up to around zero. Plus, you wouldn't need to trench it as far- probably a regular trencher would do the trick instead of a backhoe. Around here you have to go pretty low to avoid frost for water lines- but in this application you only need to raise the temp up to a good operating range for the heat pump. Even if you don't do it right away, keep that in mind when you mount the outdoor unit. You might want to add something like that later. I know I'm thinking about it.
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