Office heating
My office is in the basement of my house; it's been converted from a basement workshop that was later used as a bedroom. We've had quite a bit of work done -- walls have been framed and plastered; a suspended ceiling has been finished out and had lights added to it; electrical outlets have been moved; and more than 30 linear feet of counter space has been installed so I never ever have to stare at another puke-ugly piece of Staples-bought office desk again. It's quite a nice office, and I'm very pleased with it.
However, two projects remain to complete it: The installation of a floor and of a heating system. The floor I've got a handle on, and I'll get to it sooner or later. But I've been giving a lot of thought to heat, lately, because right now I'm using a radiant electric heater in the office during the cold months, which is dangerous, expensive to operate and makes me feel like I'm bread in a toaster oven after about an hour. It's just electric heat radiating off a quartz element. That thing has to go.
I think I might have a solution in the form of a ductless mini-split unit, and I'm curious if anyone has experience with them.
The rest of our house is heated in the winter using baseboards filled by forced water heated by natural gas, and one way to heat my office would be to tap into this system. I'd need to hire a plumber to install a baseboard in the office and run pipe back to the furnace. I'd also have to install a third thermostat so the office was on its own "zone."
This has a few drawbacks: It's going to cost a lot to have that plumber put that stuff in. It'll also mean some further renovation, because in order to install the baseboard he's going to need to run new pipes across the ceiling and down a wall, pulling out part of that wall in the process. Also, it doesn't do anything to cool me in the summertime, and even though it's mostly subterranean, the office can get rather sticky in high summer. Even now, it's a bit damp, with a dehumidifier running full-blast in the next room.
The most obvious advantage to a zoned hot water system is that the heat would be consistent with what's available in the rest of the house. Overall this would be the most energy-efficient solution, utilizing the system that's already present. And I could easily have installed a programmable thermostat that I could use to only warm the office when I'm actually using it.
So when I've had plumbers and HVAC people in for advice, I've asked them about installing a wall-mounted blower unit that cools and heats. There's a small window on one side of the office and I've asked if there's something that can be installed there, for instance. They've all told me no -- no such animal.
Turns out they're all wrong.
It's called a split ductless or ductless mini-split unit and as it turns out, it's something the Japanese have been using for decades. It consists of a wall-mounted air handler that you could conceivably put on just about any outside wall of your house, attached using refrigerant pipes and wiring to a condenser system outside the house. And what's great is that several models feature both cooling and heating systems, so I can kill two birds with one stone.
Drawbacks: They're certainly more expensive than a window-mounted AC unit, and they require professional installation, as you've got to wire and pipe them then charge them with refrigerant. Also, they're electric, but I bet they're a damn site cheaper than the giant toaster oven I've been heating myself with.
So, does anyone have any experience with mini-splits that they'd care to share?