Split Air con

Soldato
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Surely if that was the case then single big ducted systems would never have been created.

Mine is 4 bedrooms ducted unit, mitsubishi electric. Unit in the loft is pretty much smack bang in the middle of the house, so the Longest run is probably 5m. All outlets have insulated pipework, 3 inlets 2 in the bedrooms and 1 in the hallway. This is then connected to a large 7.2kw unit outside which also powers a wall unit in the lounge.

I had numerous quotes and all suggested the single unit for upstairs with one wall unit downstairs for the lounge. No one suggested separate loft units. I'd definitely get a second opinion.

I've only had mine installed since last October but when heating my very poorly insulated house it has never once struggled. These units are designed for much hotter climates than the UK, so it seems a bit mad to have to be so overkill.

Thanks for the info. Do you know what the reasoning is behind those inlets? I would have thought you either need an inlet in every room you have an outlet, or you just need one. But you have two from rooms where there are outlets, and one from a room which isn't directly supplied at all?

The pipework being insulated makes sense.

Oh - how thick are the ducts? And are the inlet and outlet the same?
 
Soldato
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Thanks for the info. Do you know what the reasoning is behind those inlets? I would have thought you either need an inlet in every room you have an outlet, or you just need one. But you have two from rooms where there are outlets, and one from a room which isn't directly supplied at all?

The pipework being insulated makes sense.

Oh - how thick are the ducts? And are the inlet and outlet the same?

Just need enough air coming in to feed the rest of the rooms, all inlets are fully opened whereas the 3 outlets have varying outlets. The hall is a source of "fresh" air relative to the recirculated in the two other rooms.

Inlet and outlet ducting is the same size, just the outlet is insulated, inlet is not.

They're about 4 to 5 inch diameter. Can measure properly tomorrow.
 
Soldato
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Quote of 817 to add another zen unit to my conservatory from sub zero. Getting new roof and doors in a few weeks so will see how it is with the temps in the heat of the summer before progressing. 0% vat on them following last week's announcements.
 
Soldato
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Spalding, Lincs
Just wondering if anyone can recommend a fitter for around the Spalding area?

Looking to have a dual split installed this year, should hopefully be a simple install, both units in the same position on the same wall downstairs and upstairs, and the outdoor unit can sit directly below. Budgeting around £2k fitted if that sounds about right?
 
Soldato
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Just wondering if anyone can recommend a fitter for around the Spalding area?

Looking to have a dual split installed this year, should hopefully be a simple install, both units in the same position on the same wall downstairs and upstairs, and the outdoor unit can sit directly below. Budgeting around £2k fitted if that sounds about right?

Sorry no idea about Spalding but on cost you might be about right.

I paid 2.5k for the same setup as you with Mitsubishi Zens a year ago and 1.5k for a single zen on the other side of the house a couple of months ago (each of those prices included a new outdoor unit). Installation is about half a day.

Hope this helps, and if you do it you will wonder how you ever did without it :D
 
Soldato
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Sorry no idea about Spalding but on cost you might be about right.

I paid 2.5k for the same setup as you with Mitsubishi Zens a year ago and 1.5k for a single zen on the other side of the house a couple of months ago (each of those prices included a new outdoor unit). Installation is about half a day.

Hope this helps, and if you do it you will wonder how you ever did without it :D

Thanks, sounds about right on costs then.

I already have a split unit in the cabin which I fitted myself, but don't really want to take on the job of fitting it in the house. Been using a portable AC unit in the bedroom for about 10 years now, and it's really not a very efficient way of doing it, so want a proper job. Even this time of year AC in the bedroom is needed for us, no heating on for weeks but the rooms stay so warm, plus occasions like the other night where someone down the road had a firepit going and the wind was blowing our way, so ended up sweating all night due to not being able to open windows. It's something I've wanted for a long time, and now we've moved house and settled down it's time to really think about getting it done.
 
Sgarrista
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I have booked in for 3 units to be installed upstairs in the 3 bedrooms. Total cost is coming in at 6k including VAT.

That is for 3x 2.5kw Mitsubishi zen units in black into different locations to ensure drainaway rather than needing a condensate pump in different rooms with all the outdoor units at the same location and an estimated 2 days to fit and test everything.
 
Soldato
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I have booked in for 3 units to be installed upstairs in the 3 bedrooms. Total cost is coming in at 6k including VAT.

That is for 3x 2.5kw Mitsubishi zen units in black into different locations to ensure drainaway rather than needing a condensate pump in different rooms with all the outdoor units at the same location and an estimated 2 days to fit and test everything.
I was planning the same and then went for a loft system :)
 
Soldato
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6k for 3 units, seems a lot.

I got 1 3.5kw installed last year for £1000
you definitely didn't get a mitsubishi zen unit in black though.

I was quoted £1100+VAT for a 3.5KW Mideai
I ended up paying £1600+VAT for a 5kw Mitsubishi Heavy Industries split (March 2021), which I believe are inferior to the mitsubishi units.
 
Soldato
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2 Nov 2013
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I posted a while back about my plans for a loft based system, and the fitter saying that 3 separate units connected to a single 10.5kW outside unit would be better than a single larger - and wanting £8k for it.
Advice on here that he was overspecifying had me going elsewhere for another quote. This guy was originally looking at a single loft unit - but has now said he too needs to move to 3 units - although his reason is that our loft hatch is too small to get the larger unit up there. He wants £9.5k though!
So I might be back to the first person, who - to be fair - did a nice job of our lounge system. A premium of about £3.5k though to get a loft system rather than wall mounted is a bit hard to swallow!
 
Caporegime
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Leafy Cheshire
I have booked in for 3 units to be installed upstairs in the 3 bedrooms. Total cost is coming in at 6k including VAT.

That is for 3x 2.5kw Mitsubishi zen units in black into different locations to ensure drainaway rather than needing a condensate pump in different rooms with all the outdoor units at the same location and an estimated 2 days to fit and test everything.

All the outdoor units? I would hope it was 1 outdoor unit, otherwise that is quite an eyesore / bodge.
 
Caporegime
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Leafy Cheshire
3 units afaik as we want each room to be controlled individually. Doesnt matter on the eyecore level, its on the side of the house that nobody can see :D

Ah ok! Just FYI, but you probably know already. If you go for a multi-split system you can control each room individually, the only thing you can't do is heat one room and cool another (so may be a non-starter).
 
Soldato
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Well. Our plans for a ducted loft system to three bedrooms seems to have gone for a burton.
Our fitter has done some more research on what would be needed, and reckons larger units to make up for the heat in the loft, inlet and outlet vents to each room, and a separate unit for each bedroom would be required to do the job properly. Resulting in a much higher price that we'd originally planned for - £4,500 for just the parts, and probably 5 days of labour.

Three wall units (fed from a single outside unit) would half the cost.

There were two main reasons for avoiding wall mounted - the aethetics, and the worry about needing a condensate pump and the noise that would add. Neither of the bedrooms has a suitable outside wall for mounting the unit, so the condensate pipe would have to go up from the unit and along the top of the wall to outside.

But to half the overall cost, maybe we can deal with both those issues!

The other option is ceiling cassettes. So he's going to look into them too. I presume that would still leave them needing a pump for the condensate though. And I think they also are going to be less efficient like the ducted system, because the body of the unit is in the hot loft.

Cassettes are the bees knees, nice light set up around them and you’re onto a winner. I only deal with daikin and mitsi so can’t say comment on other (but really though you should be getting one of the two) but the vast majority of them will have a lift up pump for a gravity drain, you won’t hear it at all. The advantage as well is that they’re super easy to maintain yourself as you can easily clean the filters as and when required. Maybe even pick up a bottle of easy fresh and spray it once a month or so for nice smell. Wall mounts you can fit an aspen mini blue or orange and have the pump itself hidden away and you’ll barely even notice the sound of it running.

Ducted units, the filters are within the duct/right at the return air (of the unit) and 99% of the time are a nightmare to get to.

The body of the ducted unit would be in the loft as well, there’s no difference to having the cassette in the roof. There is insulation around a cassette, there isn’t on ducted units. You’re more likely to get better air flow from a cassette as well as it’ll be placed in the centre of the room and therefore be able to throw the air evenly across the room. Daikin do a 360 air flow as well. Ducting has to travel through the duct and generally will only be from 1 point with the return air at the opposite side.

Having said all that, I’ve got ducted units. I would have put in cassettes but didn’t want to cut the ceiling joist to fit them.
 
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