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Comment by bleepblorp | Hacker News Reader

Look at the multi-zone minisplit heat pumps from Mitsubishi and Daikin. These systems support room-by-room zoning. They'll do air conditioning in any climate and can be designed to provide heat in conditions down to 5 to 10 degrees below freezing.

If you're in a climate that gets colder than that, get either baseboard heaters, or a zoned boiler system, for backup heat for when the heat pumps can't keep up during cold weather. Which option makes the most sense will depend on how cold it gets and for how long.

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Can confirm this advice - my brother does high-end HVAC install and repair work and I've spent several months with him doing the same over the last two years. Mitsubishi and Daikin are about as good as you can get for high-efficiency minisplits and are a lot less likely to fail on you in a few years than the cheaper brands.

Also a quick note on heating in colder climates - take note of what's available in your local area. Electric heating may not be the most cost effective (or most reliable) option in winter.

And also, hopefully your hvac system will last long enough that you will benefit from your efficient mini splits that 1) are efficient because you didn’t buy the cheapest one, saving you money from an increasing cost electrical rate or expensive PV system and 2) will benefit from a greening electrical system as coal and other dirtier power tech goes away

I'll add that modern heat pumps can work effectively in heat pump mode (around 4kW of heat out for every 1kW of electricity in) down to around -25c. Below that they will automatically switch to resistive heating (same as baseboard heaters).

I'm building a new house in Northern Europe (it regularly gets to -25c/-5F in winter) and will we be using a Daikin Altherma 3R air source heat pump to provide hot water, underfloor heating, and air conditioning - all from a single heat pump.

Diakin has possibly the shittiest knock off of ecobee firmware Ive ever seen. Enough to nope out of it if i see it in the next apartment. Its infuriating coming from being on a nest prior.

If you're talking about the 'ENVi' thermostat [1], it was actually manufactured by ecobee from what I understand. I know Daikin has

Honestly, all of the controls for residential mini split systems are pretty awful. My Mitsubishi system has the MHK1 thermostat [2] which is Mitsubishi specific version of the traditional Honeywell thermostat. The newer MHK2 looks a bit more modern, but honestly isn't really any different in function.

1: http://www.daikinac.com/content/residential/residential-cont... 2: http://www.nonul.mylinkdrive.com/item/MHK1.html

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