How good are the newer mini splits at heating?

[LittleLebowski]

Do they pull too much power to be practical?

 

[Gridster]

My MrCool 12k works great in heating mode. It's pulling 1280w right now on one of the first cool mornings of the fall. House is totally off grid, 4.2 kw solar, more than adequate year round at this location.

 

[LittleLebowski]

My MrCool 12k works great in heating mode. It's pulling 1280w right now on one of the first cool mornings of the fall. House is totally off grid, 4.2 kw solar, more than adequate year round at this location.

How cold is it outside when you’re heating with these?

 

[rcrracer]

ASHP

ashp.neep.org

115754 mini splits
reduce that number to 8242 by checking the box ENERGY STAR V6.1 Cold Climate
reduce further by moving the size sliders
and further by ducting selection/single zone-non-ducted-wall placement
clicking on list view reveals who gamed the system until this year, by comparing SEER to SEER2 and HSPF to HSPF2.

Edit: Basically doing that doesn't work properly. You do need to go to https://ashp.neep.org/#!/product_list/. First you must click on "list View". Then select a brand near the top of the page slightly left of center. 14 columns will appear that include before and after SEER-SEER2 and HSPF-HSPF2 to see who gamed the system.

 

[ChrisG]

I’m finally getting to use my Senville Aura 24k (-22° F) unit for heating my first level in cabin. Been in the high 30s at night here. Only other (non wood burning) source is 5-2000w baseboard heaters.

The Senville did hit 2600 watts for a few minutes when I turned it on, then it settled to 1200w for a bit. After that it was in the 16-20w range with fan blowing. Occasionally the compressor would come on and settle back down. It kept the entire floor warm. Amazing.

 

[Watts Happening]

I’ve heated my entire home with 4x Pioneer mini splits for ~4 years. No complaints, but certainly eats power cumulatively.

 

[Madcodger]

If you have enough solar, mini-splits are fantastic at heating or cooling. Even on-grid, they are generally much better than almost any other heating source, with the only better (more economical) sources being geothermal or cord wood, with pellets in the running depending on price paid. After factoring in the labor and mess of wood or pellets, and the capital costs of geothermal, mini splits are about as good as it gets. We live in Maine and have at least two sources of heat in our buildings, and our mini splits have been the primary heat source for the past two winters. They have performed well to below zero, and we've switched over to propane when it gets that cold primarily to give the propane boiler or Rinnai unit a "workout" to keep them running and make sure they're functioning if we do ever need them. We've yet to see a situation in which the heat pumps wouldn't perform well at heating.

 

[Gridster]

How cold is it outside when you’re heating with these?

The coldest Temps we normally experience are in the 20s and it functions well