Comments on: Dear Popville – Ductless A/C?

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 01:41:17 +0000

Definitely Damron Heating and Cooling (cdamron29@atlanticbb.net; 301-440-2221). Chris handles a lot of old DC homes, and was great; started and finished when he said he would, no unexpected costs or disappearing act. Everything works great, and he was really careful with our original trim and fixtures. He’s since installed a whole house system for my sister/BIL. Great guy.

By: pru

pru — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 14:16:24 +0000

When I was looking into AC for my old huge rowhouse, it seemed that split systems were only worth it in condos or smaller houses.
I have a high velocity system in my house, put in by Energy Systems, Inc. The ducts are very small and it does a better job than conventional AC at removing humidity. My system is not noisy at all, and that was one of my fears. I think it depends on the installation, and whether the installer placed the right sound attenuating gizmos right at the outlets.

By: ah

ah — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:35:05 +0000

OP should look into this possibility as well. High velocity systems are likely to be more efficient than split systems because they use traditional compressors, which are more efficient than lots of little ones around the house.

It may not work because of the house configuration, but often you can put one unit on the top floor/roof to serve the upstairs (with all ducts in attic) and another in the basement to serve the first floor. Minimal cutting of walls and such in that case.

By: ah

ah — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:33:30 +0000

In theory this can be done, but keep in mind that they operate off of a thermostat, and that needs to be where the unit is in order to sense the temperature.

By: houseintherear

houseintherear — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 12:22:20 +0000

They run on remote controls- my remotes work from across the house, but not sure whether they would work between floors.

By: shepherdstreet

shepherdstreet — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 02:11:03 +0000

I got a high velocity system too, also from Sila. My experience matches yours almost to the letter. Very satisfied. The house is cool, no big ducts, the unit is on the roof so not taking up yard space or making noise out there. Also, they send me chocolates every holiday season!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:09:27 +0000

Sorry, dude, but nothing lasts forever.

By: dt

dt — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:02:36 +0000

That might or might not affect the temperature (I’d think ceiling fans would be a better means of distributing any cooler air near the radiators, but still rather inefficient), but it would do squat for the humidity. I don’t know about you, but I use the AC as much to reduce humidity as to reduce temperature, if not more!

By: So, Just Sayin'

So, Just Sayin' — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 21:39:37 +0000

Wait, I thought there was a GAO report or something that basically concluded that Energy Star ratings were worthless.

By: NR

NR — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 21:09:56 +0000

Is it possible (and affordable) to set up a mini-split system so that all zones can be controlled centrally? It’s great to be able to shut off zones I’m not using, but would be annoying to have to go down into the basement (say) to do so.

Or even better, can I control the system through a web interface on an arbitrary device?