Spinoff to not having CAC:

I have no idea what it is called but someone at work mentioned ductless air conditioning that they saw featured on HGTV - that the system is very popular in Japan. They said it runs around $1,200 - $1,500 and is a cheaper alternative to CAC - yet more efficient, quieter, and less energy-costing than wall units.

Does anyone have this system? Does anyone know what it is called? Where do you get this system and who installs it?

Looking to see if anyone has good experiences with it, it seems like a good alternative for when we move considering the house doesn't have CAC but is a small ranch so it would work well.

Re: Spinoff to not having CAC:

We have it - got it installed 2 years ago this summer .

I LOVE it
It's called ductless mini splits, or ductless AC.
We chose that over CAC because we have an older house (1938) and i didn't want anything being torn apart to install the ducts.

it is not as cheap as you mentioned though! The price you mentione is for ONE interior unit. How many units you will need depends on how big your house is and how its set up.

We have one large unit that cools our entire downstairs. Then one unit in each of the 3 bedrooms upstairs.
We then had 2 main compressor things installed outside. In the picture below, the horizontal piece is the inside unit and it gets installed up near the ceiling of the room. It's super super quiet when on, you literally can't hear it.
The thing with a fan on it is the outside compressor.

Each unit is controlled individually so we can turn off them all but the bedroom ones at night if we want.
They also blow out hot air, so we use the one in my DS's room to keep his room comfortable during the winter when we turn the heat down in the house at night.

All total, our entire house cost around $9K.

We went with the same company that does our heating/boiler - they do all types of plumbing/heating/ac work.

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Re: Spinoff to not having CAC:

Spinoff to not having CAC:

I know someone who has it and loves it. Expensive but worth it. It's so quiet you don't even know it's on.

Spinoff to not having CAC:

Its a split system. Depends on your house. It might be a good fit or not. For my house to cool it completely I would need a compressor on each side. You also have to be ok with the unit on your wall.

Spinoff to not having CAC:

Do these units have to vent out to the outside of the house? The only exteror wall in my LR is in the very front of the house...so I don't want a vent or anything to be there.

Re: Spinoff to not having CAC:

Re: Spinoff to not having CAC:

Hmm - so it sounds good but now I'm wondering about the cost. From what people told me, it was reasonably priced compared to CAC - which is why people go with it. But it appears, by the posts, that the affordability all depends on your home style and size... my house is VERY small, it's just a little ranch. There's a den with kitchen, right next to each other, no formal LR or DR, and then just a hallway, the bedrooms, and a bathroom. Then, there's a full basement downstairs. That's it. It is about 1,100 square feet - a lil thing :)

It's so cute though, while it may be small in stature, it makes up for it with big attitude - it's scrappy jk

Anyway, I'm thinking I would only need one unit for the main part of the home and then maybe a small window old school AC for just our bedroom.

Who would I have in to assess this for me? I know the first poster mentioned their plumbing/heating/AC guy -- I guess most companies do this? I should probably call around and get some more information. They do the install too?

Thanks! I think this is probably our only option because from what I have priced out, the CAC starts around six or seven thousand and goes up.

Re: Spinoff to not having CAC:

We are getting these installed in 2 weeks. We are using apple air conditioning. We are getting 3 units for now. One for out main living area of first floor, one for the finished basement and one for my ds's room. It is costing $8900. We are getting Mitsubishi units which tend to be a little more $.

Re: Spinoff to not having CAC:

Re: Spinoff to not having CAC:

Posted by DaniRella

Posted by allIwant

We are getting these installed in 2 weeks. We are using apple air conditioning. We are getting 3 units for now. One for out main living area of first floor, one for the finished basement and one for my ds's room. It is costing $8900. We are getting Mitsubishi units which tend to be a little more $.

Did they give you a cost breakdown of how much it would be for just one?

I'm thinking they are the same size, so the same price, so three divided by that number would mean that one unit would be roughly: $2,900 and change?

Geez, it's seemingly not as cheap as I was told.

Still a lot less than CAC.

Hmmmmmm.

Re: Spinoff to not having CAC:

Posted by allIwant

Posted by DaniRella

Posted by allIwant

We are getting these installed in 2 weeks. We are using apple air conditioning. We are getting 3 units for now. One for out main living area of first floor, one for the finished basement and one for my ds's room. It is costing $8900. We are getting Mitsubishi units which tend to be a little more $.

Did they give you a cost breakdown of how much it would be for just one?

I'm thinking they are the same size, so the same price, so three divided by that number would mean that one unit would be roughly: $2,900 and change?

Geez, it's seemingly not as cheap as I was told.

Still a lot less than CAC.

Hmmmmmm.

no breakdown for one but to do 2 rooms it was 6400. I don't think it would be equally divided by 3 because you have to factor in the cost of the compressor.

Spinoff to not having CAC:

DaniRella--is there a reason you won't do CAC? I think a Ranch is one of the easier types of houses to install.

I would get a few quotes if you haven't already--they might surprise you. I got a few quotes that were less than I expected. Still more than we can pay right now, but not significantly more than the prices I am seeing on these ductless systems.

Re: Spinoff to not having CAC:

Re: Spinoff to not having CAC:

When we got CAC, I asked about it. Totally depends on the house. For certain capes, for ex, it may be cheaper or the only option b/c there often aren't 1 foot x 1 foot spaces to run ducts from attic to first floor and/or basement. My house is a ranch and we have CAC ducts in every room, including bathroom and basement, and it cost us a total of $6100 after rebates. But I know people who couldn't get CAC b/c of house shape and got the "ductless" (which really does have ducts, but they're much smaller) and love it. Still puts holes everywhere.... just smaller. Best is to have a company that does CAC come evaluate and tell you what they'd rec and why.

Spinoff to not having CAC:

Can anyone recommend any companies that do this? Also, do any of them finance?

Re: Spinoff to not having CAC:

We just bought a ductless air conditioner system this past weekend from Jays Appliances in Levittown. They were having a great sale but I think it was just for the holiday weekend.

We got a 22,000 BTU Frigidaire brand unit -- delivered and installed for $2499. They offered us a credit card that was 12 months interest-free. We declined because we had the money up front but it seemed like a good option.

We worked with Gary -- great guy.

Spinoff to not having CAC:

thanks- i'll def check out jays.

Spinoff to not having CAC:

To me ductless is nothing more than a glorified wall/window AC. Its a single unit that sits in a single space. Its going to cool your house no different than a wall AC. Great in the room its placed in, not so great in other rooms.

A true CAC system has ducts in every room which evenly cools the house. I have CAC for my first and second floor, and I have a ductless unit for my finished basement (it was too difficult to run CAC ducts to my basement).

If you have a choice, I would go CAC over ductless every time, unless its absolutely impossible to run ducts in the walls for your CAC.

Spinoff to not having CAC:

Is cac about the same price? Dh has it in his head that ductless is cheaper

Spinoff to not having CAC:

Ductless is definitely cheaper. Its about 3000-5000 PER matching unit. But again it only covers one area.

CAC runs anywhere from 8000-14000 but can cover your entire house if done correctly.

Re: Spinoff to not having CAC:

ok, dh claims its too hard to do CAC in a cape so thats why ductless is better.
dont know if that's true or not.
gonna check out jaes and call apple. anyone have any other companies i should check out?

Re: Spinoff to not having CAC:

Spinoff to not having CAC:

Can you tell me quotes when you get them please. Dh just bought up having ac installed whether it be ductless or central. We have a small ranch too.

Re: Spinoff to not having CAC:

We have CAC for most of our home, but the top floor needs an extra boost so we are having this mini-split system installed.

Our quote was $2900 for the unit + install. The install is a bit more than we expected because it's the third floor and we require additional copper pipe to travel from the main unit outside up the side of the house and into the area to be cooled.

After it's installed, I can give you more info because our guy is coming highly recommended from a friend.