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Comment by outworlder | Hacker News Reader

> Most of these units are 220V and usually there is only one or two 220V power outlets in American homes these days and they're always dedicated to the washer+dryer.

Meh. Only relevant if you need to pull more than 15A or so. There are plenty of portable air conditioners for sale in the US and most are happy with 110V and less than 15A.

> HN is mostly a US based website

This sounds like gatekeeping. There are lots of readers from all around the world.

> Secondly - you're not hanging air conditioning units off the exterior walls of the apartment

In the US. This is not particular to Japan. In fact, I'd argue that this is the most common air-conditioner setup worldwide, with building in many countries providing supports for either split systems or, more commonly, 'window' units.

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>> HN is mostly a US based website

> This sounds like gatekeeping. There are lots of readers from all around the world.

As a non-American reader of HN, I assume things posted are about the US (or even SV specifically) unless the location is specifically mentioned.

> Meh. Only relevant if you need to pull more than 15A or so. There are plenty of portable air conditioners for sale in the US and most are happy with 110V and less than 15A.

You don't really know if people are happy with what they have. They just get what they get because that's all they can do. If your building outlaws window units, just because they have portable units - does that mean they're happy with a portable unit?

> This sounds like gatekeeping. There are lots of readers from all around the world.

American readership dwarfs every other country and region. It doesn't matter if there are "lots" of others when it's a US based website. YCombinator itself is mostly about investing in US based companies. Just look at the number it invests in in the US vs every other place. https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/ It isn't gatekeeping - I'm asking for someone to put in a more accurate title. After all - if I put "Rules of the road" up and it was Japan's rules of the road on an American website, it would be misleading. One would be expecting something relevant to the website they're reading it on (an American one!) while reading it but - instead - it isn't. Thus, bad title! It would be better to say, "Rules of the road in Japan".

> In the US.

How many times did I reference the USA in my comment? Five times. Guess I should have done six so that people wouldn't get confused about where I was talking about!

These minisplit units are typically, at least 9k to 12k BTUs, and if it a multi-zone unit it can be 24k or more.

I have yet to see a portable AC in the US that is more than 12k btus and as quiet as a mini-split.

Mini-splits are more popular now in the US, but, for whatever reason, the US is really into ducted systems.

I never understood why putting an air duct in a hot attic and an air handler in a hot garage made any sense.

You do have me curious on traffic stats for HN by country, though.

A lot of central AC installations in the USA were added to the house some time after it was built, and the heating ducts were already there, so now they are used as the AC ducts too.

Do you have any more info about this?

I am curious about the history of residential HVAC in the US.

I only really know about it in the area where I live. AC was not generally included in new construction in the San Francisco Bay Area until the 1980s or 1990s. I wouldn't be surprised if a majority of apartments in the area still didn't have AC, based on the amount of window AC units I see.

However, most homes built in this area were built central ducted heating systems since the 1950s-1960s, when there was a massive building boom. Most older homes have had central heating added as a retrofit decades ago -- even old Victorian homes. So when people upgrade to AC today, it's very common to just use the same ducts.

It's not easy to find a house with a ductless mini split AC system around here. Most homes have a single-zone central system that cools the entire house.

> many countries providing supports for either split systems or, more commonly, 'window' units.

I think that's what GP was saying about the US -- while window units are very common, split systems are relatively rare. But anyway I think most of the article wasn't specific to a split system A/C unit, or even air conditioners in general.

I have had a mini split system in my basement for 5 years and I am the only one I know who has one. They are around enough that Home Depot carries them and yet rare enough that many HVAC contractors do not have experience with them. It was a great retrofit for my basement office. However, my system is oversized. It is in the 90s F and high humidity outside and when I have the system set to 72, it makes the basement 64 degrees F and I have a space heater on under my desk since my computers don't put off nearly enough heat.

The relative humidity in my basement is 48% which is AMAZING for Georgia. That thing plus the dehumidifier makes it the perfect home office and pantry storage.

Also, I believe it is illegal to install a mini split yourself in the U.S. unless you are licensed to work with freon.

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