Hello, Would like to know how many BTUs (for 1 wallmount system)would I need for two floors of 690 sqfeet (each floor). The Unit will be on the 2nd floor in the middle between 2 bedrooms and a washroom (over washroom door facing master bedroom). It will be a dual split system. ------------------------------------- Also would like to know which is a safe reliable cost efficient brand, example of wall mounted (split systems) air conditions I've heard of: Fujitsu (they give 10 years warranty parts and labour) Mitsubishi (6 yrs parts and labour however been making them longer) Daikin (6 yrs parts and labour) Igloo York Carrier Grey All about the same price... ----------------------------------- Finally, is it better to get a dual system (with heat pump), from my understanding they are almost the same price and the advantage is that it has a variable BTU which may save some $$. Since the heat pump will be at the higher level then it wont heat as much however it is coming at about the same price. Then again more electronics in a system more chances of malfunctioning sooner? Thank you, Stelios

i'm purchasing a home in southwest florida that had the ac unit stolen. it was a 3 ton unit and i had a hvac guy tell me i needed a 4 ton unit (and therefore must also replace the 3 ton handler....an expense of 4,800$ for everything). the house is 2,000 sq ft, 15' cathedral in the living room and 10' everywhere else. can i get away with a 3 ton unit or should i go with the 4? money is tight and i would like to go with the 3 ton if i can get away with it. ps. the house faces south, has one window on the west and 2 on the east. shading is minimal. but if i have ceiling fans in every room, will this change the size of the unit needed? thanks in advance.

I know nothing about why your home is not set up for central air. I can speak knowledgeably about split a/c units. We installed them when we lived in Thailand. They are remarkable, in that they usually feature a dehumidify setting, to get the moisture out without making it too cold, as well as a cooling setting. If they worked at 17 degrees from the equator during monsoon season and hot dry season they ought to work well in Washington state. We went with small units in each bedroom, so that we were only cooling the area we were in, and one larger 20kbtu unit for the entire downstairs.

I’m almost six months pregnant in Virginia- my geothermal powered central AC is just about the only thing keeping me sane. The heat has become a trigger for migraines this pregnancy so any day 90 or above, which is all of them right now, I try very hard to leave the house as little as possible. When my in laws purchased the home we now own in 2007- yes 2007- it had cold water in the kitchen from a 20ft hand dug well that drained directly back out an open pipe in the wall, an outhouse, and one light bulb in the living room strung on an open wire hanging from the ceiling. It was occupied in this condition until a year before we purchased it. In this case the owner was a piece of crap who rented it to addicts who didn’t know and couldn’t afford better. But previously a lovely family of 10 lived here until about 1980 without electricity or plumbing. We’ve added all the modern plumbing, real well, septic, geothermal, heat and AC, electric etc. The in-laws thought they’d have to demo the house and start over, but it turns out asbestos is really good at preserving stuff, so they were able to save the original 1840 log structure. There’s a big hullabaloo in our area right now because there are areas and homes without proper water. After Emancipation, the previously enslaved people created their own communities, often small and very rural. Those little villages are little more than a collection of homes at a crossroads but now they are on properties that aren’t being approved for septic systems- in flood planes or not large enough to support leach fields. The homes have been passed down through generations but few updates have been made- lack of resources and lack of accessibility, and if we’re being blunt, lack of concern for African American villages that many people didn’t even know existed. So now the county is in process of creating special exceptions for these areas and getting funding for running utilities from the nearest available infrastructure. To their credit, our Board of Supervisors approved the funding very quickly once the issue was raised but it’s not an overnight process.