Switched from oil furnace. Ducted m-series 3 ton hyper heat. The system is super quiet. MA, 1450 sqft split level , built in 1960

Hi folks, wanted to share my experience with the TCL Q-Series H12W4KWH 12,000 BTU inverter window heat pump. As far as I can tell it's the only true heat-pump window unit you can actually buy right now, since GE discontinued theirs. I got it from Zoro for around $700. That's expensive for a window unit, but any mini-split costs more than this before you even get to installation.

TL;DR: True heat pump (no resistance strip), idles around 300W maintaining temp, peaks ~1,300W, held my ~1,000 sq ft first floor at 70°F through nights in the upper 30s. ~7 kWh over a 12-hour night. Very happy so far.

Size and install

The unit is huge. Double-check your window dimensions before ordering, and plan on a support bracket — it weighs over 75 lbs. The included install materials are pretty good: foam to seal the accordion sliders, etc. That's worth spending time on, since the biggest downside of any window unit is a leaky install.

It looks nice enough — blends into the background about as well as a giant window unit can.

How it heats

This is a real reverse-cycle heat pump, no resistive backup strip. TCL rates it at 100% heating capacity at 47°F and 72% at 5°F, with heating operation down to −6°F. It hasn't gotten truly cold here yet, so I can't speak to below-freezing performance firsthand — that's manufacturer spec for now, not my measurement.

What I have measured, via a smart plug and Home Assistant:

• Modulates down to ~300W when it's just maintaining temperature. 10W when it is just blowing its fan.
• Peaks around 1,300W when it's really pushing
• This week it got down into the upper 30s overnight and the unit was putting out 110°F supply air with ease.
• My living room is ~400 sq ft, open to the rest of the first floor (just shy of 1,000 sq ft total). The unit held the whole space at 70°F through the night, no problem.
• The build in sensor consistently reads about 2F lower than my remote sensors.
• I have an automation bump it to 72°F around when we wake up, and it gets there without much effort.
• Overnight usage: about 7 kWh over 12 hours of mostly modulating

Noise

It's not mini-split quiet — no window unit is — but you kind of forget about it when it's not at full load. The one thing I notice is vibration against the window frame; if you spend more time than I did on foam and insulation around the unit, you'll get a better result. My eventual plan for the unit is a through wall framing for an addition i am doing. One quirk: in heat mode it doesn't seem to care much about the fan speed setting, it just moves the air it wants to move. In cooling mode on low fan it's actually pretty quiet.

Overall I'm pretty impressed with it so far. Happy to answer questions.

Recently had 3 companies come out and give quotes on a heat pump installation. We live in New England and have a 3000sq ft house and use 1000 gallons of oil/ year. All 3 installers told me that most customers regret getting heat pumps and wish they hadn’t switched. Upgrading 2 air handlers and new HP ranged from $35-$45k. They also said that upgrading to HE propane wasn’t a great idea as most units only last 10 years and I’m better off staying with oil. $16-$20k separately for HE furnace. With the astronomical quotes and feedback, I’m honestly more confused now than ever. How do people pay for this? Do that many people regret upgrading?

I'm trying to swap my gas water heater for a heat pump model, but a contractor came out and told me I need at least 33 inches of horizontal clearance. My current unit (URG140T6N) is in this "cubby" in my garage that measures 78" tall x 26" wide x 24" deep, open on the front.

The contractor was measuring to install a Richmond Encore 50 gal hybrid (10E50-HP5S30).

The only clearance information in the manual says 0" clearance on the sides and rear and 6" on top.

Has anyone done a tight install like this? Are there other models that could fit this space?

Hi all, so after getting back a couple quotes for a heat pump system & duct work in the $40k range we are trying to spec it out ourselves. We do have a friend that is able to run duct work for us but they don't usually deal with the compatibility of the electronic units.

My question is will a Mitsubishi 36,000 BTU H2i® Hyper-Heating outdoor inverter condenser work with a Mitsubishi Multi-Position ducted indoor air handler (both linked below)?

Home info: 1350 SF 2x4 construction ranch in southern Maine with new double paned windows.

Outdoor unit: https://gotductless.com/products/mitsubishi-mxz-sm36nlhz-36-000-btu-smart-multi-hyper-heating-unit

Basement unit: https://voomisupply.com/products/36000-btuh-multiposition-indoor-unit-svz-kp36na

Update in comments with pic

I bought an ACIQ Essentials 3-ton central heat pump (Model: ACIQ-36-HP-E-32) about two weeks ago, and I’m already regretting my purchase.
The crazy part? My unit hasn’t even broken down. I simply wanted to purchase an extra control board to keep as a backup in case something goes wrong in the future.
Here’s how that went:
Submitted a parts request directly to ACIQ. Their website says they’ll respond within 24 hours. No response.
Called their customer service number. They answered pretty quickly and told me the parts department was in a meeting and would email or call me back. Nothing.
Called again, same situation. Still no response.
Finally contacted HVACDirect, and they told me they could order the control board for approximately $350, but it would take TWO MONTHS to arrive.
TWO MONTHS FOR A CONTROL BOARD?
Now imagine it’s the middle of winter, temperatures are below freezing, there’s snow outside, and you have tenants depending on that heating system. Your control board fails, and you’re potentially waiting two months for a replacement?
What are you supposed to do in the meantime?
I’ve seen so many comments recommending ACIQ, claiming they have excellent customer service, great support, and that they’re a good alternative to expensive HVAC brands.
Well, that hasn’t been my experience at all.
A heat pump is only as reliable as the company’s ability to provide replacement parts when something goes wrong. I don’t care how efficient or affordable a system is if getting a basic replacement part becomes a nightmare.
I’m seriously considering returning the entire system, even though I just bought it.
My advice: Before buying an ACIQ system, call them and try ordering a replacement control board. See how quickly you can actually get one.
Because based on my experience so far, if your system breaks down, you might be on your own.
Has anyone else experienced this with ACIQ? Are replacement parts really this difficult to get, or am I just having terrible luck?

CT here, baseboard electric thats destroying our bills, no ductwork. Energize CT has ductless rebates but I cant pin down the actual dollar amount once everything lays out. Anyone done a ductless install through the program? What did the rebate cover vs what you actually paid? Trying to decide if its worth pursuing or if were better off just insulating more and living with the baseboards.

I'm waiting for a quote from a local HPWH company on a Navien 80 gallon class with recirculation pump.

What model is this going to be?

If it matters wrt distribution, the market is SF Bay Area.

EDIT: Doing my own research, I'm guessing it will be

NWP500-80 with PFFW-SS2-001

I live in Montreal and recently upgraded our heating setup. We now use a very powerful cold-climate heat pump (Mitsubishi Hyper Heat) as our primary heat source, kept at 19°C.

Because the heat pump is so efficient, our backup system—a standard 18 kW Thermolec electric boiler hooked up to traditional hot water radiators—stays completely asleep.

My main concern is that a section of the radiator pipes heading upstairs runs directly inside a finished exterior wall. Since the heat pump handles 100% of the heating, the water inside these radiator lines stays completely stagnant all winter. The basement sits around 14°C, but I’m worried about that specific hidden outside wall cavity when our classic Montreal deep freezes hit (-25°C or worse).

I was advised to run the boiler manually for 30 minutes once a month (Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar) to blast hot water through the lines and thaw out any frost in the walls.

Has anyone with a similar heat pump + radiator setup in Quebec actually experienced a frozen or burst pipe from leaving it idle? Or are the pipes usually insulated enough by the drywall cavity?

Do you have another trick?

Thank you.

Hi, just got MXZ-SM42NLHZ installed last week, and its been making a loud whooshing noise every 15-30 minutes. Is this expected? Its around 53 degrees F today and there are 2 18ks and 1 6k heads set to 65-69 degrees.

Attaching video - noise happens about 5 seconds in. Thanks for the help!

We recently moved into a new house and started renovating. We’ve opened up the ceilings and exposed the roof framing, and that’s when we discovered that the existing ductwork is poorly laid out. Some of the duct lines also need to be replaced. Our contractor is recommending that we remove everything and redo the ductwork from scratch, including installing a new air handler. The quote came in at around $30k, which is a lot more than I was expecting.

I started looking into ductless mini splits as an alternative and brought it up with the contractor. He keeps recommending a heat pump system, but I’m wondering if going ductless would make more sense, especially since the house is already torn apart for renovation. From what I’ve found online, I could buy a 3-zone mini split system for around $4k. There are several options in that range, including MRCOOL, DELLA, and CostWay. I’m estimating another $2k or so for installation, although I haven’t gotten a formal installation quote yet. Obviously, I still need to figure out what additional electrical work or permits might be required. I also don’t know how much of a difference there would be in long-term efficiency and comfort compared with a properly installed central system.

Am I being too optimistic about the cost of going with mini splits? Has anyone here chosen ductless over replacing all their ductwork during a renovation? I’d love to hear how it worked out and what unexpected costs you ran into.

I'm currently looking at options to replace our hot water heater which runs on natural gas. I'm aware of the benefits of heat pumps and was initially pretty excited to make the switch, but everything that I've seen since then is putting a damper on that excitement, to the point that now I'm thinking I should just stick with natural gas. Below is a list of my concerns. Am I wrong?

• Higher upfront cost - this is partially due to the technology in general, partially due to the recommendation to upsize to a larger unit, and partially due to less available rebates than I initially thought there might be (federal tax credits are expired and state of MI rebates only apply to electric-to-electric conversions).
• Limited to no operation savings - especially due to the local climate, there may be no cost savings with the HP unit. When I plugged my utility rates into a calculator that I found on this sub (link below), it said that the HP model would result in an additional $25/year in operating costs! I assume that this calculation is somewhat idealistic and this could actually be even worse in reality if the electric heating ever kicks in more than the advertised amount (calculator link: https://thezeropercentclub.org/water/?f=naturalGas&n=therm)
• Poor reviews - the models that were recommended by our contractor had pretty abysmal reviews, with several people mentioning needing to replace the unit multiple times in the first few years. I definitely don't want to deal with that.
• Electricity requirement - we recently lost power for a few days due to a tornado, and that type of power outage is not particularly unusual for our area. It was at least nice to be able to take showers since the water heater was still running. With the HP water heater, this wouldn't be an option.
• Noise and cooling impact during winter - I recently started a WFH job and moved my desk to the same area as our water heater (about 10 feet away). Perhaps this wouldn't be a big deal, but it's not ideal.

I have installed the Tosot 2-unit heat pump. Each air handler has these ports, what are they for?

Anyone know what may be the cause for this error message “FU”

Installed 2023 and has been serviced in 24+25

New ducted heat pump was installed recently in our basement. 2.5 ton Comfortair cold-climate.

It makes this sound every time the fan turns on. I imagine we'd get used to it eventually but wondering if it's normal or can be controlled at all. The high-pitched quality of the sound means it cuts through other noise easily and is very noticeable. Stops once the fan gets up to speed.

Recording is slightly louder than actual since I placed my phone on a register. Taken from 2nd floor.

Does anyone have a similar noise or is this abnormal?

Hello, we recently installed a Pioneer mini split in a rental unit. We were having some issues with this unit, I had it checked out and we found a leak. This unit has R410a coolant.
We had the coolant replenished but that did not solve the issue. Tech is saying the condenser may be burnt as it was used while leaking and the coolant was completely replenished.
What options do I have? Looks like this specific unit has been put out of production due to phase out of R410.
Can this be repaired? Or do I have to replace both indoor and outdoor unit to make this work? Could not find the same outdoor unit for sale anywhere online

Been procrastinating on my DIY mini split project cuz the summer is nearly over, now the goal of this spreadsheet is to make comparisons easier for other people in the community. I've seen quite a few people here considering replacing their furnaces with heat pumps, so I added HSPF2 (Region IV heating efficiency) to make it easier to compare.

Other update:

Added Tosot and Zone Air based on suggestions from my previous post, all brands are alphabetized now.

As always, feel free to make suggestions, let me know if there's anything else you'd like to see added.

Access to the full spreadsheet (Google Sheet): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eGaDg8uEu7Bz4XN5f2N4pGCnNn1WlE4NDSdFI_JqIjw/edit?usp=sharing

I bought a house in 2023 (was a new build in Ireland). I have a heat pump and had it serviced by heat pump service provider (different from the original installer)

The service reported that:

• No tundish
• Drip tray not plumbed

I contacted the builder, who replied that the system was commissioned, tested and certified by the original installer before the sale was completed. They said that given the property is over three years old, they cannot accept these as original installation defects without further review.

They seem they are not willing to send the original installer to rectify this issue!

Is a tundish is important for a heat-pump?

Would be these issued considered as installation defect?

Final question (if you know the answer since it is more related to Ireland), should I contact HomeBond directly, and is this the kind of issue they might cover?

I just want to establish whether the installation is safe and correct, and what my options are if the builder doesn't respond.

In our apartment building, an LG Therma V heat pump with a buffer tank is installed. It provides domestic hot water and runs the underfloor heating on both the ground floor (EG) and upper floor (OG). However, I am not sure if the system is configured correctly.

It looks to me as if only one heating circuit is installed. Yet, in the heat pump's configuration, I see two heating circuits, and the domestic hot water is not displayed. The temperatures for Circuit 1 match the thermometers on the Grundfos pump. I cannot trace or assign the temperature for Circuit 2. I cannot adjust the domestic hot water temperature via the tablet; I can only do it directly on the heat pump itself.

I took some photos of the system and the control terminals. What do you think? Is the system configured incorrectly?

Northeast US, 22 year old Colonial style home, 2500 sqft. We just had our Bosch ducted heat pump installed a month or so ago, so we're just now starting to experience what it's like when the weather starts to get cold. So far so good! But we have one minor problem concerning the thermostat: The heatpump is single zone, even though our home has two floors. Reason being, it replaced an old central AC unit that only ever had one zone, so we're re-using the ductwork. The problem is that the thermostat is in the upstairs hallway, near the bedrooms. We spend most of our time downstairs though, so, while the heatpump dutifully does whatever the thermostat tells it to do, it's doing it based on the temperature upstairs, not downstairs where we are. Consequently, the temperature swings by 4-5 degrees downstairs. One minute it's cold, then the system finally comes on and it warms up, then gets cold again an hour later. It's not the heatpump's fault - it's just that our single-zone system wasn't designed with heat in mind.

I could get an electrician to extend the wires and move the thermostat downstairs, but that sounds expensive. I'm wondering if there's a more affordable alternative? Anybody know of a thermostat that has a remote wireless temperature sensor?

Samsung heat pump - SmartThings app. With some options in Android, you can tap the label, and it'll open options or give you a description or something, but not this one. It just enables "Speed", whatever that is. When I enable it, it greys out the temp and fan speed.

Looking to find out, since they're so new, if anyone has tried this yet? Thanks, in advance.