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The cost of a ductless mini-split system depends on your home’s size and how many rooms you’re treating. One-room systems start at around $3,400. For most suburban homes, the price goes up to $17,000 for heating and cooling the entire house.
The price varies so much because these systems are amazingly flexible and customizable. You can use these in various ways, and each solution has a different price depending on what you need.
But, we can help you get a basic idea of how your new system will run. In this article, we’ll go over:
- How Ductless Heating and Cooling Works
- Single Room vs. Multi-Zone Designs
- Load Calculations and Installation
- Heating and Coolings vs. AC Only
But first, a word of caution.
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Can I Buy a Mini-Split Online and Install it Myself?
You’ll find top-of-the-line mini-splits for sale online, and the price will be much lower than what we quote here. But, that cost doesn’t include installation. You’ll have to do that yourself, and that may be a bad idea.
First of all, you’re dealing with several electrical components. There’s a significant risk of hurting yourself or damaging the equipment if you don’t know what you’re doing.
But, even if you’re handy, you’ll void the warranty. Read the fine print: All manufacturers void the warranties if you don’t have a certified professional put in the system and maintain it. If you don’t have the certification saying you’ve done these, then you’re out of luck should something go wrong.
In the end, the possibility of hurting yourself or having to buy a new system in only a few years — or even a few days if something goes wrong during installation — makes it not worth the small amount of money you’ll save.
Now, if you already know how these systems operate, you can skip the next part. But, knowing the nuts and bolts of it will make it easier to understand the price differences. So, we’ll go through that briefly here.
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How Ductless Heating and Cooling Works
Ductless heating and cooling uses a heat pump outside your house. Depending on the season, it transfers heat in or out of your home, depending on the season. Inside, you’ll install an air handler in each room, or zone, of the house that you’re treating.
The air handler circulates that air. It pumps in heat in the winter and dehumidifiers and removes hot air, replacing it with cool air in the summer.
We connect these components using a lineset. The set contains flexible piping to circulate refrigerant in a closed loop between the indoor and outdoor parts. That refrigerant carries the heat in and out of the house without adding ductwork or building out soffits.
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Single Room Vs. Multi-Zone Designs
The first big question is how many rooms you’re treating. This has the most significant impact on the price. You’re looking at a base cost of $3,400 to install a 1:1 system. That’s one heat pump and one air handler for a single room.
But, the increase for each room after that isn’t nearly that much. You can run multiple air handlers off a single heat pump. So, for each additional room, you only factor in the cost of another air handler plus installation. You don’t need another outdoor unit.
Many homes have one or two air handlers on the first floor. Upstairs often depends on how many bedrooms and the overall layout. Sometimes, you can get away with a single air handler in the hallway. Other times, you’ll need one in each room or one or two of the rooms.
Another option is a small ducted run. Here, we put one air handler upstairs and run small ducts only from that to each room.
This ductwork is often smaller than what you need to run through an entire house. And, since it’s only reaching a few rooms, it doesn’t take up nearly as much space.
Of course, one of the benefits of these systems is their flexibility and customization. That’s also why the price varies so widely.
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Load Calculations and Installation
That point brings us to the cost of installing the system. And, you’ll start narrowing down your choices here.
First, we do a load calculation to determine how strong of a system you need. And, we need to consider more than just your home’s square footage. Then there’s the airflow and layout, how well the home is insulated, ceiling heights. We even take into account how many windows there and their sizes.
All these factors determine how much heating or cooling your home needs and how much you might lose through small holes and openings. Too weak a system, and you’ll never get the treatment you want. Too strong, and you’ll run into other problems, including the system burning out years before it should.
Finally, we’ll get an idea of the installation process. These systems are relatively easy to put in because the linesets are small and flexible. But, we do need to figure out what it will take to do it.
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Heating and Coolings Vs. AC Only
Finally, you’ll narrow down the models you want based on what you need the system to do. For a long time in the northeast part of the country, people only really used mini-splits for cooling. The older heat pumps couldn’t handle warming a home in the winter.
But that’s changed. Now, today’s Mitsubishi Hyper Heat systems can keep you warm and cozy even when it’s negative 13 degrees Fahrenheit outside.
If you only need air conditioning, and maybe just a touch of supplemental heat, you can go with the less expensive heat pump. If you want to convert your home to ductless year-round, you’ll want to spring for a Hyper Heat model.
The good news is that all these systems are energy-efficient. So, when you replace your entire heating and cooling system, you end up paying way less each month on your utility bills.
Install a Ductless Mini-Split Near York, PA
If you’re thinking about installing a ductless mini-split in your York, PA home, call or email us here at Air Comfort Technologies. Among other brands, we’re a certified Diamond Dealer for Mitsubishi.
Starting with a free consultation, we’ll help you bring your vision for a more comfortable, energy-efficient home to life. Ductless Air Conditioning
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