Ductless mini-split systems offer a compact heating and cooling technology that’s ideal for cottages in several ways. Besides making your cottage comfortable during cold and hot seasons with just the push of a button, mini-splits don’t need ventilation ducts. With mini-splits, the components are separated: the compressor is mounted outdoors, while the heating/cooling unit is indoors, mounted on a wall.
When mini-splits first came out, they were for cooling only. While some people still call them “mini-split air conditioners,” many units now offer dual function. A dual-function mini-split is essentially a small heat pump, with the ability to move heat into your cottage or operate in reverse when you need your place to be cooled. Instead of creating heat by running electricity through a high-resistance element, mini-splits harvest heat from the outdoors (even when it’s cold outside), concentrating this heat then delivering it to your cottage. Except when it gets really cold outside, mini-splits deliver about twice as much heat for a given power consumption compared with a regular plug-in baseboard or a space heater.
In summer, mini-splits harvest heat energy from inside your cottage, sending it outdoors. When used in this way, a mini-split has about the same efficiency as a window air conditioner. Mounting the indoor unit up high on a wall makes it work better for cooling too (mini-splits don’t need a window).
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A properly sized mini-split system can cool most cottages enough to be comfortable during summer. In winter, though, the colder it gets outside, the less efficiently a mini-split heats. Depending on the unit, you may need supplemental heat when outdoor temperatures drop. Since many cottages don’t have a lot of insulation, a working woodstove is a good supplement for mid-winter visits.
Can you install a ductless mini-split yourself? Yes, if you’ve got solid DIY skills and tools, you can. The process involves mounting the compressor outdoors (pretty easy), one or more indoor units high on an interior wall (also easy), then connecting the two with insulated refrigerant lines and bringing power cables to the unit. Some mini-split systems come preloaded with refrigerant gas, so you don’t even need an HVAC technician to do that. Others require a professional to charge the system with refrigerant so it can work.
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This article was originally published in the August 2023 issue of Cottage Life.
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