Multizone minisplit air conditioning?
wyocarey00
| Posted in Mechanicals on
Can someone tell me why I can’t buy a multi-zone mini-split AC only system? Trying to find a good solution for AC for a 6-room boutique hotel in Belize. No reason to have (or pay for) heat.
Also, multi-zone systems are completely independent of each other accept for the exterior unit, correct? In other words, room A could have 2 wall units set at 72F while room B could have 2 units turned off or set at 68F, correct?
(I’m listing this under mechanicals because there wasn’t a “no question is a dumb question” section!)
thx – Mike
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Replies
Mike,
As I'm sure you know, the usual solution for hotel rooms is to install an independent ductless minisplit in each hotel room.
Minisplit manufacturers are now expanding options for this growing market, so it's possible that the equipment you seek will eventually be available. (Or maybe it already is. GBA readers?)
However, I'm not convinced that hooking up 6 hotel rooms to one outdoor unit would necessarily be simpler, cheaper, or more desirable than simply buying 6 ductless minisplit systems.
Multi-zone units still have to have a minimum load for the compressor, and in a 6-unit building you may run into performance limitations due to the lengths of the refrigerant lines.
I don't know of any cooling-only multi-splits either. The additional valving & control needed to make them heating & cooling is negligible compared to what it takes to make them multi-zone, which is probably why they don't bother with single mode units. With a stripped down nickel accounting single-head mini-split design adding a heating mode would add to the manufactured cost, but with multi-split that extra cost is in the statistical noise- it may be cheaper for the manufacturer to only support one product line instead of two.