Minisplit review: Three months in
Well, we definitely
can't report on the air-conditioning aspects yet, but I can give you a
rundown on our minisplit's ability to keep our trailer warm. The really
short version --- it works well until exterior temperatures get down
into the single digits, but it's pretty pricey to operate.
The image at the top of
this post shows three months of energy usage from last winter (a
slightly warmer climate, but not by much, heating primarily with a wood
stove) and this winter (in which the minisplit went into operation
partway through the first month on the graph). The lower energy usage
for the third month of this year is because I had so much sticker shock
at a $300 electric bill that I kept the interior temperature around 58
to 60 most of the time during January.
Other than energy usage, I
only have a few things to report about the minisplit. Mostly it just
runs --- yay! We're extremely glad we mounted it on the wall rather
than on a pad on the ground because the defrost function creates huge
icicles below it during frigid weather. (The photo here is only the
barest edge of what happened later in the month, which I thought I'd
photographed but apparently hadn't.) I'm not sure how even a
well-drained, ground-mounted unit could keep going in the face of so
much ice.
The thermostat on our
particular unit is pretty terrible. The colder it gets outside, the
less realistic the temperature we set on the unit is (as measured by a
thermometer placed only a few feet away from the remote, which is where
the minisplit measures air temperature). The settings also only go down
to 62, which is a shame --- I'd really like a spot between that and off
to use at night.
In terms of sound ---
the minisplit is remarkably quiet. Now and then when ice is building up
on the blade, you'll hear it more than usual for a few minutes. But,
usually, it's a very dull hum from inside the trailer ---
non-noticeable.
In the end, we're very
glad we have an easy, moderately efficient electric option, but all
electric heat sources are still energy- and money-intensive. We're
looking forward to
installing our wood stove before next winter, at which point I suspect
we'll move to using the minisplit about half as much as we currently do.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Hi Guys,
Just wondering how you are able to break down the cost of your mini-split heat usage versus your hot water heater usage, since I think they are both electric. I think I read you also bought an efficient electric heat pump type of water heater as well and that it was quite loud and large, so you put it away from bedrooms. (Or am I just making this all up?? I've done that before. ;). I've read they are about 2/3 more efficient/cheaper to run than the conventional electric water heaters. If the above is true, just wondering what portion of the electric bill is for hot water. Thx kindly.