I live in South Louisiana and my home is a 124 y/o cypress Acadian cottage. Until a year ago it had no electricity or plumbing. I added 600 Sq Ft to the existing 900. That's all inside with another 500 in porches.
I had a 1 ton window unit that struggled to keep the 600 sq ft addition under 80 degrees and could not lower the humidity at all. I have a real time kw/hr device and had a good baseline on the window unit.
I bought a Pioneer brand Mini Split, it's at the low end of the price range of similar units. I choose the 21 SEER, 240v model. I picked this brand only because of the extensive, albeit short term, user reviews on Amazon. I'm 3 weeks in and could not be more pleased. At wide open, it uses 32% less electricity than the window unit. More importantly, it easily cools the space, tames our brutal humidity, and throttles back to very minimal electricity usage. It appears to be a quality unit with quality fasteners, tight tolerances, and tough exterior finish. Only time will tell about the long term quality though. I have no relationship with the brand or seller other than being a happy customer.
It seems the conventional wisdom is if you're handy, you can do most of the install yourself but hire a pro to start up the unit. That's probably really good advice in most cases. For one thing, this particular unit's warranty is only good when put in by a licensed HVAC Technician.
If folks are having user experiences like I am, we're going to be seeing a lot more of these.
I had a 1 ton window unit that struggled to keep the 600 sq ft addition under 80 degrees and could not lower the humidity at all. I have a real time kw/hr device and had a good baseline on the window unit.
I bought a Pioneer brand Mini Split, it's at the low end of the price range of similar units. I choose the 21 SEER, 240v model. I picked this brand only because of the extensive, albeit short term, user reviews on Amazon. I'm 3 weeks in and could not be more pleased. At wide open, it uses 32% less electricity than the window unit. More importantly, it easily cools the space, tames our brutal humidity, and throttles back to very minimal electricity usage. It appears to be a quality unit with quality fasteners, tight tolerances, and tough exterior finish. Only time will tell about the long term quality though. I have no relationship with the brand or seller other than being a happy customer.
It seems the conventional wisdom is if you're handy, you can do most of the install yourself but hire a pro to start up the unit. That's probably really good advice in most cases. For one thing, this particular unit's warranty is only good when put in by a licensed HVAC Technician.
If folks are having user experiences like I am, we're going to be seeing a lot more of these.