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0 pointsdanielsju65mo ago0 comments

True. We have natural gas and an existing steam radiator setup though, for the two months a year window heat pumps can't keep up. The upfront investment alone would heat my house for 10-20 years.

Honestly, just piling more insulation in the attic and doing an energy audit will probably put the ROI out another 10+ years...

I'm hoping the newer window units that are being rolled out to the NYC market will be good enough to put downward pressure on the outrageous prices in the installation market. Or maybe I'll just dedicate a weekend to DIYing :P

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chongli5mo ago

There’s another alternative: a mini-split. Larger than a window unit, with a refrigerant lines you run yourself but with the actual refrigerant pre-charged inside the unit, so you don’t need to handle it yourself (which usually requires a license).

Mini-splits tend to be much cheaper than full installations.

mikepurvis5mo ago

I looked into the precharged DIY option and the lengths just didn’t work out for what I needed in my space. I ended up paying a licensed installer C$12k to put in a three head system (two conventional, one ducted), and then a separate guy $5k to do the ducting for the bedroom level.

It would have been nice to do it as one, but the HVAC firm didn’t want to get their hands dirty with my wacky ducting plan, and the duct guy wasn’t licensed to charge the refrigerant lines.

bluGill5mo ago

The systems where you need to get a epa license are cheaper. The license is appearently easy to get.

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dzhiurgis5mo ago

2k NZD to install minisplit vs 160KWh per winter month to heat my bedroom. Thats about $150 in power or 16 yrs to pay itself at COP 5. Or install 1 additional $130 solar panel to make about 650 KWh per year.

Makes sense for living room tho.

chongli5mo ago

Oh you live in New Zealand! Where I live (Canada) if you don’t heat the entire house then the pipes freeze and burst and then the whole house floods.

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0 pointsdanielsju65mo ago0 comments

True. We have natural gas and an existing steam radiator setup though, for the two months a year window heat pumps can't keep up. The upfront investment alone would heat my house for 10-20 years.

Honestly, just piling more insulation in the attic and doing an energy audit will probably put the ROI out another 10+ years...

0 comments

chongli5mo ago

Mini-splits tend to be much cheaper than full installations.

mikepurvis5mo ago

It would have been nice to do it as one, but the HVAC firm didn’t want to get their hands dirty with my wacky ducting plan, and the duct guy wasn’t licensed to charge the refrigerant lines.

bluGill5mo ago

The systems where you need to get a epa license are cheaper. The license is appearently easy to get.

1 more reply

dzhiurgis5mo ago

Makes sense for living room tho.

chongli5mo ago

Oh you live in New Zealand! Where I live (Canada) if you don’t heat the entire house then the pipes freeze and burst and then the whole house floods.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse