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yudkib t1_iuiq1e7 wrote

I had a stand-alone ducted heat pump in my last apartment and it was fine. It was an old unit which oddly heated very well but cooled very poorly (opposite issue of most heat pumps). I had ductless mini splits in the place before that and it was fine, aside from days in the single digits in a couple rooms which were basically floor to ceiling glass and needed space heaters overnight occasionally (the rooms faced South, so plenty of heat when the sun was up). Can’t blame that entirely on the heat pumps though.

The mini splits in particular do need maintenance, and their lifecycle is relatively short. 5-10 years sounds like forever but it blows by in a hurry. From an energy use standpoint, they are fantastic in summer and OK in winter. Spend more to get better units that work in lower temperatures because their efficiency falls off a cliff once they get within about 10-15* of their maximum low.

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