Under contract on a place with baseboard heat and a pellet stove as primary heat. No duct work in the home. Is installing ducts a viable option at this point or should I be looking at mini-splits? With two condensers (8 evap wall mounted units total) I could cover every area, but I personally think they’re ugly hanging off the walls. I’d have to have lines run anyways, so what’s a bit of duct work at that point?  Thoughts?

There are alternatives to the surface mount wall evaporators. They made ceiling cassettes, slim wall units, etc.

Personally, I like the idea of mini-splits in homes w/o ductwork. They are efficient and affordable. One distinct advantage I tend to like is that a failure doesn't mean the whole house becomes unbearable. Inevitably, HVAC normally fails in extreme weather and Murphy's Law says it will happen at 1 PM on a Saturday, after all the parts places and service companies are closed. With a central unit this means it may get pretty unbearable; with mini-splits your home is still comfortable and putting a fan in the doorway to the room w/ the failed unit can improve comfort there. Another advantage is the benefit of shutting down single rooms w/o having to close vents (and throw off the airflow balance).


That being said, with an open floor plan you can go with fewer, larger units to reduce costs. Obviously putting one in every room of a closed-plan house can be costly, probably on-par with the cost of a central unit plus duct installation.

There are high velocity HVAC units that use 2" ducts.  They work, more or less, like traditional forced air HVAC but the ducting is small enough it can be run through existing walls.  I have an uncle that installed one of these systems a decade or so ago.  He is really happy with it.  

Compared to a mini split, you won't have the big fan unit in every room but you also won't have the zone control that comes along with a mini split either.  No idea on cost breakdowns.

Mini splits, more efficient and the concern about having it hang on the wall is really not that bad.  After a while you don't even notice them.  Benefits are not duct loss, quiet, zoning, variable speed and very efficient.  As long as you can manage condensate they are the way to go.

Much would depend if baseboard is electric or hot water.

if you have electric baseboard heat and are in a cold climate then a minisplit will pay for itself quickly. If you are handy and have tools you can install them yourself too. Pretty easy.

I bought a dual head 18000 btu Senville unit off of Amazon and installed it myself. Right around $1900 installed which includes wiring, breaker, conduit, disconnect switch, wall mount for unit, line set covers, etc.

Been running solid for 2 years now and love it. I have a fairly open floor plan and just use some floor fans to help move air into the other parts of the house. As it gets colder I will use a basic floor heater to supplement my computer room but it runs very little to help out. 4 months of the year I turn it all off and run my hydronic coal boiler for heat when it is really cold here in PA, that also keeps my basement warm and dry.

Summer I will supllement a room with a 5k btu windo ac unit and it works fine.

I shopped around for a company to install a minisplit and they all wanted $8k +. I figured i could do it myself and if I get 5 years out of it, trash it and install another cheap unit then I am still ahead.

Keep in mind this is not my forever home but this method of a minsplit and supplementing rooms with window unit ac or floor heaters has worked very well. My electric bill stays very cheap.

If I was in a home I planned on being in long term I would not hesitate to install minisplits around the house. I dont think I would do 4 and 5 head unit systems though. I would place a few 2 head system units around the place as needed.

Call around and ask what maintenance costs on eight heads and two condensers.

I’m guessing this is a single story ranch with no basement.

I would install a ducted Mitsubishi heat pump for the three bedrooms and two baths and a second ducted Mitsubishi heat pump for the main living area. Hyper Heat if you’re somewhere where it gets cold. If it gets really cold then a few KW of auxiliary heat.  First unit in a bedroom closet and the second one suspended horizontally in the garage.

That’s my initial thought until you provide some details on the house.

A few ducted mini-splits might be another option worth considering, using each attic-mounted evaporator to feed a few adjacent rooms.

You'll still have some ducting to install, but it would all be relatively small, short-distance stuff - No need to run huge ducts the entire length of the house.

It also gives you some ability to control temperatures by zone.

Those are for mounting where they can be serviced from below. The ones I’m referring to look like a traditional split system air handler.

I’m thinking of initially doing a 4 head unit upstairs (3BR’s and one in the bonus room) and then a second 3 head downstairs (Living Rm, kitchen, 4th BR). Another option may be to run a 4 head downstairs as the house has a very large garage and I may pour a gun room on the existing slab. Would be nice to have AC in there to control the humidity.

@laferty  How did the install go?  I haven’t read up on it but I’m a DIY type person by virtue of being cheap (not with quality but when it comes to paying others what I can reasonably do myself).

2 story....large garage.

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Sacrifice half a bedroom closet for an air handler and run ducting in the attic.  The air handler in the closet will be much more serviceable than one in the attic. Make sure they install an emergency drain pan under it. Downstairs could be done with recessed ceiling units if there isn’t a way to put another air handler in the garage with ducts in the crawl. Whatever you do I would recommend separate condenser units outside for upstairs and downstairs. Wall mount units attract dirt and are time consuming to clean, plus you have much better air filtration options with the air handlers.

Do you have any crawl space or attic space to run ductwork?
Looking at the pic hard to tell.

i can tell you right now, get a quote on both central and 8 head mini split.
youll be very surprised on the price difference.
when your doing that many mini splits, the equipment costs add up fast.

Bought an Amish built house, 2 story.
Elec baseboard and Wood/coal stove in basement.
Window AC units in summer.

Added heat pump in '97,
Ran duct down center of attic with runs to each room.
Still use big window unit AC on first floor.
Elec baseboard, woodstove, bake a lot on first floor.

High velocity HVAC or mini splits.

I used both over the years in residential
and commercial applications.

We used High V units to cool large racks of equipment.

Mini-spits to cools communications rooms attached to SCIFs.