mini splits in northern climate?
wherermyglasses
5 years ago
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fsq4cw
5 years agoarmoured
5 years agoRelated Discussions
building a new pond in a northern climate
Comments (21)Jeff, First let me tell you what a SC is suppose to do. The bottom drain is collect and remove any debri that is in the pond that is heavier than water. This heavier than water debri is moved to the SC where it is suppose to settle to the bottom of the chamber where it can be removed. They are normally setup so that the water comes into a round sc at an angle so that the water moves around the outside of the chamber until the debri falls out of the column of water. The reason for letting the debri settling out instead of removing it with a basket in front of a pump. If the debri gets into the pump will break up some types of debri. The main type of debri wanting to be removed this way is solid waste from the fish. By removing the solid waste this way the bacteria in the filter doesn't have to break down debri. This is way they are suppose to work but most do not. Most do settle debri out but not the debri that we are trying to remove. This debri is very close to the same weight as water. It is very fragile and had to see. The only way to remove this debri is for the water to move very slowly and for a long time before leaving the sc. If the water moving through the piping to the sc is moving to fast it will break this debri up. If the water is moving too fast in the sc it will not settle out. If the outside walls of the sc are not smooth they break this debri up. The shortest period of time that the water should be in the sc is 20 minutes. The water has to move from the bottom drain to the sc needs to move by gravity. As an example if the sc is 200 gallon then the max flow to the sc is 600 gph. With this flow rate then the drain is only going to remove debri from a very small area. Moving water through it faster than that the heavier debri will settle out and it will look like the chamber is working great but this is the same debri that a pump basket would catch just fine. If I had to guess I would somewhere over 90% of the sc's are not doing what they are suppose to do. This is why I seldom use settling chambers. To get an sc to work correctly then the best way is to build the pond to be a sc so that the drain can remove it from a very short distance from the drain. But this leads to other problems. Mike...See MoreHelp me plan cooling my new house/rooms with mini splits
Comments (8)If window units will keep you comfortable, then mini splits will as well, but with less noise and higher efficiency. Although window units are getting better all the time, mini splits will probably do better humidity control too. Mini splits vs. ducted systems is more of a continuum than it used to be. There are mini split ducted units that can handle more than one room. The difference, I think, is that the static duct pressure is much lower so the design approach is totally different. In a well insulated and constructed home, heat and humidity move between rooms a lot faster than through the exterior walls. That's why zoning does little good in economy measure in that kind of home. It will help you with any uneven temperature problems. Complexity, as Austin pointed out, increases with the number of units so that is a negative. Keep in mind that with more than one compressor, you throttle back to a lower output than with one large one running three. That keeps you out of the cycling mode longer and keeps humidity under control better if you are not running all three units indoors. I've posted a lot about mini splits on this forum even some this week. Take a look....See MoreCold climate air-sourced mini split heat pumps
Comments (8)I guess you are deciding whether you want heat pump or cooling only, and if heat pump, what low temperature you want to be able to use them to. My memory tells me that the cost of heat pumps was not much higher than cool-only when mine went in. The lower temperature heat pumps are going to cost more, but you may very well find that they will return more than that cost with a little calculation. The trouble with that calculation using fuel cost only is that it is significantly more expensive to operate a heat pump than resistance heaters. You'll have to be more creative to factor that in. IMO, mvthike's situation is what mini splits are made for, adding (a little) cooling to a home with established heating without ducts. There are a lot of heat only homes in climes with low cooling needs. ( A lot of them have window units running for a few weeks.) That is, of course, why the installer mentioned is "quite familiar" with that situation in the 'daks and far outside. This particular situation is complicated by the fact that the most economical heating fuel choice, for many, is not available. (Outdoor wood-fired boilers are not unheard of in that area. I bet there are dealers for those a lot closer than for the air-water heat pumps.) My memory of earlier posts combined with this one says mvthike's "overkill" response is partly due to the fact that this home is unoccupied more than it is occupied so payback with higher cost, highest efficiency, methods is going to be long at best and may reach never. Tigerdunes, I think that there used to be high wall mini splits with resistance heat. I think I saw info about them when I first started looking at them but they disappeared shortly afterwards. My understanding is that someone decided that heaters of that type with plastic cases were not a good idea. I could be all wrong about this. I do think that is available with their mini ducted equipment....See MoreMini-split or Infratech heaters for regulating temperature in porch
Comments (1)We also have a door and 2 windows that open into the house. Is it practical to get some temperature regulation by opening the home door and windows or is that not good approach and instead we should look at Mini split and/or infrared heaters? Clarification: we won’t be using is 7x24 and instead will likely use it few hours in a day and few days within a week during April - December...See Moretigerdunes
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoarmoured
5 years agoarmoured
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agomike_home
5 years agoulisdone
5 years agoDavid Cary
5 years agoarmoured
5 years agoarmoured
5 years agofsq4cw
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agowherermyglasses
5 years agoElmer J Fudd
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoElmer J Fudd
5 years agoarmoured
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoDavid Cary
5 years ago
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