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You’re all about saving money, which is why you’ve strongly considered ditching your current HVAC and upgrading to a ductless mini split system.

Before you can decide with confidence though, you must know what kinds of heating and cooling costs you’re going to incur if you get a mini split system installed.

For instance, does it cost more to heat your home with a mini split or to cool it?

Well, for starters, a mini split can cool and warm a home a lot more economically than a traditional central air conditioner or heater.

As for how much it costs to cool and heat using a mini split, it’s about the same.

For a standard ductless mini split system that runs on 1,758 watts and has an output of 6,000 British thermal units or BTUs that you’re paying on average $0.13 a kilowatt-hour or kWh to run, the cost of operating a mini split to heat or cool would be $0.23 an hour.

If you run the mini split for 10 hours a day, that’s $2.3 a day.

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You think you’ve found mold on your ductless mini split. You can barely believe your eyes though. There’s no way that mold of all things can develop on the components of your mini split…right?

While it would be nice if that was true, it isn’t.

Mold prefers dark, humid, and warm conditions. A ductless mini split system checks off all those boxes, especially when it comes to the internal components like the wires and coils.

Once mold develops, it tends to spread. What could have begun as a small mold issue on the inside of your mini split system will soon spread to the outside.

By then, the sight of mold is a dead giveaway that you have a fungi problem.

Mold can appear in all sorts of colors, including black, green, white, and gray. Depending on the color of your mini split, detecting the mold visually shouldn’t prove too challenging.

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When you wake up in the morning, your mini split is on and running. When you come home from work or school later in the day, your mini split is still on and running.

Of course, when you get ready to go to bed as well, your mini split is running.

Now that you’ve noticed your mini split’s operational frequency, you can’t exactly un-notice it. Is it normal for your mini split to run so much or should a mini split ever shut off?

Mini splits run quite frequently and possibly even–as it seems to you–all the time.

This isn’t going to be the nightmare on your energy bill that you think it may be, though.

You have to remember that a ductless mini split system is a lot more energy-efficient than traditional HVAC such as furnaces or central air conditioning.

A mini split will heat or cool according to preselected zones so the house doesn’t needlessly receive hot or cold air when and where it doesn’t need it.

If your mini split is running freq

After your traditional HVAC system had yet another issue that necessitated a pricy repair, you’ve finally gotten fed up and are exploring other options.

You can’t believe that you have never looked into ductless mini split systems before, as they seem to be the solution to all your woes. However, you can’t help but wonder how safe a mini split is.

Ductless mini splits are regarded as quite safe and carry no more risk than your traditional HVAC systems like an air conditioner or furnace.

One risk that you may worry about is the unit overheating and possibly being very hot to the touch, enough to be injurious.

That won’t happen with a mini split system. Ductless mini splits feature two main components: the compressor, which goes outdoors, and the air-handling unit, which goes indoors.

Even if your mini split is blowing out warm air, the air-handling unit never gets so warm that you could get hurt if you happen to touch it.

Another risk is

You're soon going to get a ductless mini split system installed in your home. You’re very excited, as you’ve heard countless good things about how mini splits can make your home more energy-efficient and save on your energy bills.

However, mini splits are such a big switch from traditional HVAC like furnaces or central air conditioners that you can use a bit of guidance.

Here are some handy rules of thumb for ductless mini splits.

Select a Location for the Compressor Wisely

The condenser or compressor is the outdoor component of your ductless mini split system.

The compressor collects air, cools or warms it, and–through a series of wires–sends it to your indoor air-handling units, where the air comes out into your home comfortable and pleasant..

A compressor can only work as well as where you place it.

You must have a slab of concrete poured for the compressor if your yard is mostly lawn or lawn and dec

You envisioned several places that the indoor air-handling units of your ductless mini split system would go. After speaking to your mini split technician, they mentioned clearance, which you’ll admit, you hadn’t thought about.

What kind of clearance requirements does a mini split require?

That’s something that varies based on the model of mini split. Let’s begin by talking first about the clearance of the indoor air-handling units and then the outdoor compressors.

Indoor Air-Handling Unit Clearance

The air-handling units are installed in your home or commercial building according to how many designated zones you select.

The air-handling units must be positioned in such a way that they allow for the full range of airflow when in use. If your mini split is blowing only half the cold or warm air it should, then that can make the unit seem inefficient when it really isn't.

Another consideration when selecting where the indoor

In the summer, you greatly enjoy taking some of the rooms where your central air conditioner doesn’t cool well and making them iceboxes via window air conditioner units. However, the worst part about owning a window AC is draining the condensate.

After reviewing your spending on your utility bills, you realize that your current heating and cooling solutions are costing you a lot of money.

You’ve been thinking of making the switch to a ductless mini split system for a few years now, and now might be as good a time as any to do it. However, before you do, you have to know if you’re going to have to drain a mini split all the time.

Mini splits, like many types of cooling solutions, will indeed produce condensate that has to drain.

So how does a mini split drain, you ask? It has its own built-in condensate drain, so you needn’t buy a separate drain for your mini split system.

As the condensate drains from the mini split, it usually travels downward, such as

You’ve had it up to here with your high energy bills month after month. You’re ready to make the switch to something more energy-efficient such as a ductless mini split system, but admittedly, you don’t have much room around the house.

Outside, where the compressor will go, your yard is spacious enough. You’re much more concerned with the placement of the indoor air-handling unit. Unless you can put your air-handling unit above a door, then you’re not sure what you’ll do.

Can you install a mini split above a door?

No, it’s not recommended that you install a mini split air-handling unit above the door.

Why not? Well, it’s not terribly energy-efficient, for one.

Imagine this scenario. You keep a door closed, such as in a bedroom. In that bedroom is your air-handling unit, which is installed right over the door.

The room gets nice and cool (or warm, it all depends on your preferences) with the door closed. Then, t

Your old furnace has finally kicked the bucket. You had kind of known this was going to happen, as, over the past several winters, the furnace had given you indications that its time was drawing to a close.

While you were expecting your furnace to die sooner or later, you were not expecting a new furnace to cost so much. You hadn’t been in the market for a furnace for 20 years, and you’re surprised at the prices of today’s furnaces.

Perhaps it’s time to consider another heating solution instead, you think. You’re somewhat familiar with ductless mini splits and are always interested in learning more.

Can a ductless mini split system act as a suitable furnace replacement?

Many people only think of ductless mini splits as a cooling solution, but that simply isn’t true. A mini split can provide heating just as much as it does cooling.

Rather than cool the air that the compressor or condenser collects, as is what usually happens with a mini split, the

You’ve heard so many things about ductless mini splits, and your neighbor recently got one installed and hasn’t stopped raving about it.

That said, for as long as you’ve owned a house, you’ve always used traditional HVAC systems such as a heater or furnace or a central air conditioner (or maybe even window units). A ductless mini split would be a big change, and you’re reluctant to make the jump.

Are mini splits really a good idea?

They most certainly are, so let’s talk about the benefits of ductless mini splits now.

Energy Efficiency  

Everyone is all too aware of their carbon footprint these days. You try to reduce your carbon footprint whenever you can by recycling and not wasting water, but there’s more you could be doing.

Your HVAC units are sucking up so much more energy than you realize. By upgrading to a ductless mini split system, you’re making an eco-friendly decision you can feel good about