8 ms·

We are running a large single head Mitsubishi ductless h2i in Montana. It easily provides most of our heating needs down to about -5F and some heat down to -15F

We are running a large single head Mitsubishi ductless h2i in Montana. It easily provides most of our heating needs down to about -5F and some heat down to -15F, we have our old propane boiler / in floor system that kicks on when its really cold. And it provided ac in the summer which we didn't have previously. There are some downsides, it was expensive to put in and the outdoor unit is loud. While it does save us money, it probably wouldn't make sense as something that will pay for itself in heating costs with current propane prices and natural gas is much cheaper if you can get it. But definitely makes sense for new construction especially when paired with a wood or propane stove for back up heat in power outages/ambiance/quick heating.

TEP_Kim_Il_Sung 4y ago
Erect sandbags around your unit, leaving about 4' or enough for servicing. Make it 2 bags wide, and 4 bags higher than the unit. This will turn the noise into a slight murmur.
- spikej 4y ago
  There must be a more aesthetically pleasing option...
  - OJFord 4y ago
    As a Briton not used to these things at all, I would think surrounding it in sandbags is the more aesthetically pleasing option.
    - jfk13 4y ago
      As a Briton, I can't help thinking that once the unit is in place, with its double-wall sandbag enclosure (including 4' service space), I won't have any garden left.
      - sirmike_ 4y ago
        Why bother building the other three walls? Wouldn’t one SB wall between the unit and the exterior wall of the building cut down the noise enough?
        jfk13 4y ago
        Well... supposing I did have a bit of garden left, I might like to enjoy it in peace without hearing a constant noise of machinery.
- micro_cam 4y ago
  It needs good air flow to work well and the noise is only really a problem inside the house in the room next to it. I may put some sound insulation on the wall at some point.
- windexh8er 4y ago
  Really? I'm curious what brand of heat pumps these are. I have two air source units. One is a whole home Carrier Infinity unit (4 ton) and a GE single head ductless mini-split. The Carrier heats and cools our entire home save for a sunroom that's not ducted which is why we also have the mini-split. I never hear either unit.
rgmerk 4y ago
How often/long does your power go out? Americans on this site always mention grid failures as a concern about electric heating/cars/whatever. While I won’t claim that power failures never happen where I live, because they do…but they’re very very rare and short enough not to care. The only exceptions are major natural disasters like hurricanes. Americans, why do you have such a terrible electricity distribution grid?
- UncleEntity 4y ago
  > The only exceptions are major natural disasters like hurricanes. Which is the same as with us Americans. My last apartment had a handful of power outages and all except one was due to weather. The exception was a transformer that exploded — which seems common as I’ve seen at least three just randomly go boom. When you get major weather events, where they are pulling in personnel from all over the nation, is when people get concerned about electric heating because it might take a while to get to them.
- micro_cam 4y ago
  It’s not bad where I am now in rural Montana but where I grew up near Seattle the power was off for a week plus most winters. Lots of above ground power lines in heavily forested suburban sprawl means lots of branches in lines every wind storm and they (private) electric co has to visually check all of them before they can turn power back on. Despite being much more rural the power coop that serves me now seems to never have an outage that lasts more then a few hours. Probally mostly because they have much less pine to check.
- leashless 4y ago
  Horrible weather. Very very spread out population. And huge spikes and troughs of infrastructure investment over decades.
- zip1234 4y ago
  The spread out housing means doing things like overhead power wires to save cost and reach further away places. Easily disrupted by fallen trees.
- 4y ago
zip1234 4y ago
Isn't propane expensive? Distributing it alone is costly as it has to be trucked to someone's house.
- zdragnar 4y ago
  Pretty much every rural community will have one if not multiple propane providers. It generally is more expensive than natural gas, but the difference isn't astronomical. Heating with fuel oil is, by comparison, much more expensive.
  - sgerenser 4y ago
    Don’t know where you live, but here in NC propane is around $3.32 per gallon[0], equivalent to $3.60 per therm. My last natgas bill was $1.38/therm, almost a third the cost. In fact, propane is much closer in cost (per BTU equivalent) to fuel oil than natural gas. [0] https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=W_EPLLPA_PRS_SNC_DPG&f=W https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=W...
    - zdragnar 4y ago
      Damn, I just got my propane tank refilled - it's a tiny 125 gallon one, mostly backup for our wood stove. We paid something like $2.40, and that's only because we didn't get a bulk discount most people get when they fill up the larger tanks sized for primary heat for a full season.
      - sgerenser 4y ago
        I suspect you're not on the east coast, average propane cost across the whole east coast was $3.41 recently: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_wfr_a_EPLLPA_PRS_dpgal_w.htm https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_wfr_a_EPLLPA_PRS_dpgal_...
    - saltcured 4y ago
      For natural gas, is that only some itemized procurement price, or full price as delivered? In the SF Bay Area, our last PG&E bill split across Jan/Feb was effectively $3.05/therm. The actual pricing in our bill reflects tiered pricing, with different tier thresholds in each month. The first tier covers up to 2 therms/day in Jan and 1.48 therms/day in Feb. The price tiers were $2.68..$3.06/therm in Jan and $2.75..$3.14/therm in Feb. The bill also described $1.37/therm and $1.44/therm procurement prices for Jan and Feb, respectively.
LazyMans 4y ago
If it doesn't have one already, look at installing a compressor blanket. This reduces compressor noise significantly. High end models generally have these already, but you can buy purpose built blankets for something like $70. No, wrapping a compressor in a blanket doesn't make it overheat. Compressors are cooled by the refrigerant running through them, not through heat lost through the casing.

TEP_Kim_Il_Sung 4y ago

Erect sandbags around your unit, leaving about 4' or enough for servicing. Make it 2 bags wide, and 4 bags higher than the unit. This will turn the noise into a slight murmur.

spikej 4y ago
There must be a more aesthetically pleasing option...
- OJFord 4y ago
  As a Briton not used to these things at all, I would think surrounding it in sandbags is the more aesthetically pleasing option.
  - jfk13 4y ago
    As a Briton, I can't help thinking that once the unit is in place, with its double-wall sandbag enclosure (including 4' service space), I won't have any garden left.
    - sirmike_ 4y ago
      Why bother building the other three walls? Wouldn’t one SB wall between the unit and the exterior wall of the building cut down the noise enough?
      - jfk13 4y ago
        Well... supposing I did have a bit of garden left, I might like to enjoy it in peace without hearing a constant noise of machinery.
micro_cam 4y ago
It needs good air flow to work well and the noise is only really a problem inside the house in the room next to it. I may put some sound insulation on the wall at some point.
windexh8er 4y ago
Really? I'm curious what brand of heat pumps these are. I have two air source units. One is a whole home Carrier Infinity unit (4 ton) and a GE single head ductless mini-split. The Carrier heats and cools our entire home save for a sunroom that's not ducted which is why we also have the mini-split. I never hear either unit.

rgmerk 4y ago

How often/long does your power go out? Americans on this site always mention grid failures as a concern about electric heating/cars/whatever. While I won’t claim that power failures never happen where I live, because they do…but they’re very very rare and short enough not to care. The only exceptions are major natural disasters like hurricanes. Americans, why do you have such a terrible electricity distribution grid?

UncleEntity 4y ago
> The only exceptions are major natural disasters like hurricanes. Which is the same as with us Americans. My last apartment had a handful of power outages and all except one was due to weather. The exception was a transformer that exploded — which seems common as I’ve seen at least three just randomly go boom. When you get major weather events, where they are pulling in personnel from all over the nation, is when people get concerned about electric heating because it might take a while to get to them.
micro_cam 4y ago
It’s not bad where I am now in rural Montana but where I grew up near Seattle the power was off for a week plus most winters. Lots of above ground power lines in heavily forested suburban sprawl means lots of branches in lines every wind storm and they (private) electric co has to visually check all of them before they can turn power back on. Despite being much more rural the power coop that serves me now seems to never have an outage that lasts more then a few hours. Probally mostly because they have much less pine to check.
leashless 4y ago
Horrible weather. Very very spread out population. And huge spikes and troughs of infrastructure investment over decades.
zip1234 4y ago
The spread out housing means doing things like overhead power wires to save cost and reach further away places. Easily disrupted by fallen trees.
4y ago

zip1234 4y ago

Isn't propane expensive? Distributing it alone is costly as it has to be trucked to someone's house.

zdragnar 4y ago
Pretty much every rural community will have one if not multiple propane providers. It generally is more expensive than natural gas, but the difference isn't astronomical. Heating with fuel oil is, by comparison, much more expensive.
- sgerenser 4y ago
  Don’t know where you live, but here in NC propane is around $3.32 per gallon[0], equivalent to $3.60 per therm. My last natgas bill was $1.38/therm, almost a third the cost. In fact, propane is much closer in cost (per BTU equivalent) to fuel oil than natural gas. [0] https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=W_EPLLPA_PRS_SNC_DPG&f=W https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=W...
  - zdragnar 4y ago
    Damn, I just got my propane tank refilled - it's a tiny 125 gallon one, mostly backup for our wood stove. We paid something like $2.40, and that's only because we didn't get a bulk discount most people get when they fill up the larger tanks sized for primary heat for a full season.
    - sgerenser 4y ago
      I suspect you're not on the east coast, average propane cost across the whole east coast was $3.41 recently: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_wfr_a_EPLLPA_PRS_dpgal_w.htm https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_wfr_a_EPLLPA_PRS_dpgal_...
  - saltcured 4y ago
    For natural gas, is that only some itemized procurement price, or full price as delivered? In the SF Bay Area, our last PG&E bill split across Jan/Feb was effectively $3.05/therm. The actual pricing in our bill reflects tiered pricing, with different tier thresholds in each month. The first tier covers up to 2 therms/day in Jan and 1.48 therms/day in Feb. The price tiers were $2.68..$3.06/therm in Jan and $2.75..$3.14/therm in Feb. The bill also described $1.37/therm and $1.44/therm procurement prices for Jan and Feb, respectively.

LazyMans 4y ago

If it doesn't have one already, look at installing a compressor blanket. This reduces compressor noise significantly. High end models generally have these already, but you can buy purpose built blankets for something like $70. No, wrapping a compressor in a blanket doesn't make it overheat. Compressors are cooled by the refrigerant running through them, not through heat lost through the casing.