[Leo55]

Hey everyone,

I'm renovating a very small house (approx. 800 sq ft) in climate zone 5 in central Ohio. The old heating system was baseboard heaters. They are out. I'm thinking to go to a ductless mini split. Here in central Ohio I will need one that can handle very cold temperatures. I'm trying to decide between the Fujitsu Halcyon and the Mitsubishi Hyper Heat. What do you guys think? Is one better than the other?

Thank in advance for any thoughts.

 

[Porsche986S]

I am no expert but have installed Mitsubishi mini splits in two different garages here in Georgia . Both were 24K and both had heat/cool . Both were/are rock solid and I would not think twice to choose them again . I am currently heating/cooling a 24x26 two car man cave garage with the mini split . The garage has 12 ' high ceilings and is insulated quite well . The mini split barely has to work to do the job , I am very happy with my choice .

Having said that when I was doing my initial research I found that Mitsubishi and Fujitsu were considered the " top tier " brands for overall quality . I assume that still is true but don't know that for a fact . If all things are equal go with the best installer because that is who you will have to deal with on install and in the future if any issues .

 

[roughneck]

Mitsu and Samsung, IMO, are king of the hill. Both have excellent tech support that will return you call quickly and offer great assistance. Both have excellent products.
Daikin offers a decent product. But not as good of support.
LG is a distant last.
The Fujitsu products I’ve worked on around here seemed decent but they aren’t very popular as a brand locally.
Hire your installer carefully. They will decide how well the system runs. And they will be the ones to service it when it goes down. I’ve seen many that couldn't diagnose their way out of a wet paper bag with a mini split.

 

[Leo55]

Thank you guys for the thoughts. Where I live it is much easier to find someone who works on Mitsubishi than Fujitsu----like if you use the Fujitsu "find a contractor near you" search, there are none near me. That being said, I can purchase Fujitsu equipment directly online. I wasn't sure if Fujitsu or Mitsubishi might be more robust for cold weather, or if it was basically a wash between them.

I'm planning to do the installation myself. Then get an HVAC person to help me charge the unit. Maybe it ought to be a separate thread, but I'd be curious to know what some of the things are you've noticed that can go wrong with an installation. My place seems fairly straightforward. It's super small, with good attic access for running the lines. I'm planning to get a unit with two air handlers.

 

[roughneck]

Just note that you’ll likely get no warranty with something you buy yourself. At the least you’ll have no labor warranty, so if it breaks the day after installation you’d have to pay the tech out of your pocket for labor costs.
First step is an accurate AHRI load calculation to determine what size equipment you need.
If you want ducted units you’ll have to run a manual D as well for duct design.
Many ducted mini split air handlers aren’t designed for much static pressure. So not a lot of duct can be connected to them.

 

[Leo55]

I've thought about that regarding a warranty. Not sure what I think yet. I am getting a quote from a place to do it, and the ballpark cost looks like it would roughly be twice what it would cost me to buy the equipment myself and install it myself. But of course if they do it, it comes with a warranty. The convenience of them doing it, plus the warranty, costs roughly as much as if you had bought a whole second unit yourself. Still thinking about it....

Roughneck mentioned a ducted unit---this unit will not be ducted. The house sits on a slab (with no existing ductwork), and I think it would be far more efficient to condition the air at the point of use.

 

[carmusic]

it is like honda vs toyota, i have the hyper-heat mitsu model, runs great but i had to mitsu service guy to replace some valve on it (3 year old unit) because it was making very high defrosting noise (valve wasnt operating correctly and pressure were too high)

It heats great but sometimes at around 0F it stops heating for 1-2 hours (dont give any errors, just blow unheated air) and it restart itself later and may run ok for few weeks again (mitsu never found out what was the issue)

 

[roughneck]

it is like honda vs toyota, i have the hyper-heat mitsu model, runs great but i had to mitsu service guy to replace some valve on it (3 year old unit) because it was making very high defrosting noise (valve wasnt operating correctly and pressure were too high)

It heats great but sometimes at around 0F it stops heating for 1-2 hours (dont give any errors, just blow unheated air) and it restart itself later and may run ok for few weeks again (mitsu never found out what was the issue)

If your having a problem with the unit I’d highly suggest getting your service technician to call Mitsubishi. Their service and technical help are second to none.
I’ve never had an issue I couldn’t diagnose when they were involved.

 

[carmusic]

If your having a problem with the unit I’d highly suggest getting your service technician to call Mitsubishi. Their service and technical help are second to none.
I’ve never had an issue I couldn’t diagnose when they were involved.

thats whats they have done multiple times, they even replaced a lot of electronics boards, mitsu service was telling the tech what to check, they passed over 8 hours on it without any fees for me