Ductless heat pumps cool/heat only one room or area of your home. So, if you’re planning to use ductless heat pumps throughout your entire home, you’ll need to size each unit according to the room it serves.
So how do you go about doing this?
Well, we’ll give you some general guidelines based on each room’s square footage that will help you predict what size units you’d need.
But know this: Using rule-of-thumbs to size your ductless heat pump is NO replacement for a professional load calculation. You see, a professional load calculation takes into account more than 10 different factors (instead of only looking at square footage) to determine the BTU (British Thermal Unit) output you’d need from your ductless heat pump.
Don’t worry, we’ll explain what “BTUs” are below. We’ll also explain why a professional load calculation is the only way to get an accurate sizing. But first, let’s take a look at general sizing recommendations based on square footage.
Need a professional to determine the size you need? Just contact us and we’ll send a tech right over.
To make it easier, we created a shortcut ductless sizing chart for you:
But here’s the thing: Those 3 steps above will only give you a rough estimate of the ductless heat pump size you need. This “shortcut” doesn’t take into account all the factors that affect HVAC sizing.
We’ll explain more below...
Oftentimes, we work with homeowners who used rule of thumbs (like the one described above) to size their ductless units. But after our techs perform a “load calculation” they’re shocked at how far off their estimate was.
You see, during a professional load calculation, a tech should take into consideration a wide range of factors, including:
So, do these factors really make a difference? Absolutely.
Examples of how much these factors can affect sizing:
Those are just a few examples of how only looking at square footage can lead to incorrect BTU output.
If you live in the Minneapolis area, just contact us.
We’ll send over a tech who can inspect your home and conduct a load calculation to determine the size ductless heat pump you need.