13
votes
Ground source heat pump to ductless five-head mini-split
I am looking for a heat pump system that:
- Can do ground source or water cooling
- Connects to a Mini split system
- Can do something like 3 - 5 wall mounted units.
I have already found one provider at Multiaqua, but they are redesigning their unit and it is currently not available. I hear that Dandelion seems to make something like this, but I can't buy from them. I have a quote for a conventional air-to-air minisplit system, but the cost is really high and it seems like I should at least look for some alternative.
This seems hard to find, and I'm not sure why.
As a person who was trying to find an air-to-water heat pump a few years ago, my takeaway is that, when there’s a very limited number of companies interested in an area, products become a lot more scarce. Effectively no non-commercial/industrial customers want to run ATW systems, so they barely exist.
I’d imagine something similar is going on for water or ground source heat pumps: as far as I know, that type of system is dramatically more expensive than an air source heat pump, but with relatively few advantages for a very large majority of consumers.
+1
Ground source can be done but is climate zone, soil and geologic composition dependent. And even then you need to use enough heat pumping that the efficiency gain over air source is worthwhile. For that to be true you typically have a more extreme temperature swing which can mean deeper trenches or wells for ground source driving up initial cost and payback time.
Water source exists but typically paired to a cooling tower. Might be able to get something designed if you have a pond or lake and use something like an LG Multi V unit but you'd have to figure out the water loop still.
In addition you may not always own the system so even if you can DIY it, it may be a headache for a future owner and detract from the property. If you're going DIY, consider if there is even 1 local company that could service if you weren't able to, either because you're no longer the owner or just lack of time, temporary injury, etc.
Really good point. It might also be a good idea to think of the kind of system that the future owner would like to have and buy that instead.
Like others have mentioned, this might not exist for a reason. Open or closed loop geo thermal normally works best with the proper heat pump and coil. This would require an inside unit in a crawl space/ basement and air would be distributed by a blower to ducts. I am wondering if doing a ground loop to an outside unit, and then to mini split heads would be inefficient. But I'm not sure.