Pondering a mini-split, for the living area. I'd entertain whole house conditioning, but not sure it's in today's cards. Also looking into going from hot water baseboard to the heat pump.

Here's a layout of the living space (~865sqft). 2x4, insulated, exterior walls, and 8' ceilings (pretty standard ranch w/ a length addition). Floors and ceilings insulated. Windows were replaced w/ new construction, about 6yrs ago.



I only see 2 spots for a wall unit (Living wall West of fireplace and Dining's NE corner). How well would this distribute air through the given space?

Will a heat pump work in the winter by you? I think they get less efficient as it gets colder.

Another option might be the ceiling mounted cassette type of indoor units like the Mitsubishi MLZ line
They are narrow enough to fit between joists, low profile and quiet.
I have a dual zone unit in a part of my house that we renovated and they work awesome.



Regarding the winter heating issue, I can't speak for the other manufacturers but the Mitsubishi unit I bought will operate at full capacity down to 5 degF and will operate with reduced capacity down to -13 degF.

If the mini split is going to be your only source of heating/cooling, with only 2 indoor units, and as many walls and doors as you have, you are definitely going to have cold/hot spots unless you are able to install some means to circulate the air. Another option, although it will be more involved would be installing a ducted mini split. This would give you supply vents in all of your rooms and likely a common return. That should eliminate the extreme hot and cold spots.

This ^^^
But I will add that the ceiling cassettes & ducted units kill the SEER rating.

OP, I would certainly try to get one in the kitchen before I did the dining room, you will want cooling in the kitchen and the air exchange coming from both directions will help cool the dining room. Keep in mind that line sets can be as long as 65 ft for most units. I have a minisplit upstairs with a 65' line set that runs diagonal through the attic in order to just barely reach the indoor unit. Condensate will be your issue; cannot tie into sanitary drains (otherwise the kitchen would likely be easier).

Btw, where is the rest of your house? Down the hallway I assume?

@SigOwner_P229

I looked at cassettes, but only thought about them for the bedrooms, if I went that route. My biggest concern would be the condensate, as mentioned. I'd need a condensate pump, for each one, and run to a dedicated drain? This would be difficult, just because of the cut-up nature of the house. I'd probably have to pump it over to, and make an outside drain, the inside corner where the kitchen meets the pantry. Over the pantry is a flat roof w/ zero access.

If I put a unit next to the fireplace and another in the kitchen, would I want them pointed towards one another, to make a kind of circulation loop? Or would I want to put it on the wall between the kitchen and dining room? They would both blow "down the hall". Would I just split the total btu in half (2 - 9kbtu units) or like a 7 in the kitchen and a 10 or 12 in the living? Would you make them work as a single zone, since the circulation flow is so open?

@98Redline
Yes, the rest of the house is down the hall. Just like a typical ranch.

The MLZ units have an internal condensate pump and sump. You only need to supply a line for them to pump that condensate outside.

I really don't think 2 cassettes or even wall units are going to get it done for that layout. The rooms are too segregated in order have enough air exchange to keep temperatures from varying wildly room to room. 3 units would likely work (Kitchen, Dining room, Living room) but a 3 zone unit is going to be much larger BTU wise than you require for your heat load.

Another factor to consider with the ceiling cassettes is the direction of your joists. If the joists are running East and West, then that is the only orientation the cassettes can be installed (they have to fit between the joists).

If you have some attic space I would seriously consider a ducted mini-split installation. It is the only way I can see that you will be able to get heating and cooling somewhat evenly to all of the rooms.

@SigOwner_P229 Where did you get your info that a ceiling cassette kills the SEER rating? The dealer I dealt with did not mention it nor was there any mention of it in the system documentation or spec sheets.

By comparing specs on the numerous offerings from Mitsubishi, Fujitsu, and Daiken last year when I installed 3 of them.

The "normal" wall hang units from those 3 are all available in SEERs around 30 (Mitsubishi exceeds 30, Fujitsu was 29ish, and Daiken was 26 or 27 I think). The cassette offerings IIRC are in the low 20s or high teens. I was baffled by it, but didn't question it much. I suspect the reason is bc the unit is outside the conditioned envelope therefore thermal losses are true losses and the air path into the cassette units is longer so more "duct" loss. That is the only thing I could come up with for WHY the listed SEERs for those was much lower.

I ended up going with Mitsubishi MSZ-FH09NA/MUZ-FH09NA units for the high SEER. We liked the look of the cassettes but I I believe the SEER dropped to 22-23ish to switch out the MSZ evaporator to the cassette evaporator and it was something like $600 more (parts only, I installed myself). It wasn't worth it just for aesthetics, we had plenty of wall-space, just didn't like the looks of the wall units much. However, if you don't have the wall-space then you don't have the wall-space.

I have a 1 ton on order to use on my 3-season porch to extend it a little longer.

When it cannot keep the room warm  or cool enough I just stop using the room.

Depends on your definition of "kill".

Cassettes are available with SEERs in the 20's.

Right, like I said, high teens low 20s. vs the 30.5 SEER of the wall units I got.

That being said, a quick review of current Mitsubishi offerings has a 12kBTU cassette @ 27 SEER. I'm certain that wasn't an option last year when I bought mine. Outside of that one, the highest SEER cassette I saw was 24.6.

The 27 is definitely less "killing" than I was faced with when making a decision, but it's still significant.

The condensation is always an issue with mini splits.
The mini condensate pumps are noisy and problematic.
Always outside walls and gravity drain.
IMHO

Mr. Newtons gravity has not failed yet.

You may have to pour some water with bleach
through the hose once in a while to keep it clear.

I convinced my brother, when he needed a inside wall install, to drop a 3/4” pvc line into the crawl space.  With that a standard condensate pump could be used to get the water outside.  If the pump failed there was hardly any consequences and the pumps are cheap.

run the lineset into the attic from an eave or the gable end, drill the top plate of the interior wall from in the attic, cut a hole for "left side" installation, fish your lines down, that will keep your flare connections serviceable and not buried behind sheetrock. move the drain tube for left side installation. run the drain up from the basement, up the same wall, using 3/4 PVC, or 1", it tells you in the manual what size PVC the drain hose will poke into. and run the PVC to a condensate pump, or run it outside if you can. you could mount a condensate pump in the basement, and run both drains from each unit to that one pump, if you cannot get proper pitch for outside draining.  

i did all that for mine, but with no condensate pump, i ran the drain pipes into a bay in the floor joices, and ran it outside.  

its a decent amount of work, but the install will be better, cleaner, and you can position them in better locations.

id mount one in the center of the living room interior wall and one on the exterior wall in the dining room, to the right of the window. put the unit outside there, run one lineset into the attic, and mount the dining room unit with the lines poking out the wall as you normally would. get line hide covers.