Which is better: Mitsubishi h2i or Fujitsu Halcyon?
Mteter70
| Posted in Energy Efficiency and Durability on
Both Mitsubishi h2i and Fujitsu got Energy Star 2013 best product ratings. But which one is better for a town house in NYC?
I cannot find any comparisons of the two anywhere. There are plenty of descriptions and specifications of each but no comparison.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of the minisplits? Thank you!
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I have a Fujitsu 12RLS2 and also a 9 installed (Halcyon). Neither one can remove anywhere near as much humidity as is stated in the specs.. I did extensive testing in Maryland humidity this summer with both of them. Working hard, both units removed about half the water claimed (claim is 3.8 and 2.7 pints/hr.). Neither unit is oversized so that they were able to easily make temperature, not run long enough, and leave water behind. I said WORKING HARD they are unable to remove water as claimed.
These units are also a total design disgrace as related to the following: The catches for the hood you have to raise to clean the filter are extremely tight and not even located near the finger holes you have to use to pull the hood out of the catches. This means you stress (bend) the hood between the two areas trying to get it loose. The finger holes are small, so that it takes all my finger tip strength just to release the hood, and it typically hurts or blows off a fingernail. That's not even to mention that you have to release two catches, one on each side of the unit, one at a time. Bad design; it could be done with one catch that doesn't hurt fingers. When you get the hood open, finally, the lever you have to pull out to prop the hood open is just as bad--tight within it's catch and small finger hole--inexcusable. Finally, Fuj doesn't provide enough space within the inside unit to accept and hide its own refrigerant lines. My installers worked far to long to try and cram the lines in so that the unit mounted up tight against the wall, and never did get it tight--another design disgrace.
Other than those inexcusable elements, the units are fine. Very impressive heating performance.
I don't know anything about the Mitsubishis--my guess would be they are just as bad in one way or another.
The Fujitsu Halcyon xxRLS2 series slightly edges out the Mitsubishi on raw efficiency, at least at the state of the models circa 2011. (They are constantly refining and updating the designs- it's a moving target.) Third party bench testing of the H2i and RLS2 1-tons was done in 2011 as part of the NEEA Northwest Ductless project, and I doubt you would ever find a more complete side-by-side comparison of those two series anywhere:
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy11osti/52175.pdf
Not covered by that bench testing, the H2i series is clearly better designed for low temp operation below +5F. The Fujitsu keeps going at those temps and beyond, but doesn't manage defrost cycles as well, and doesn't manage re-frozen defrost water at all.
The newer Halcyon XLT-H series (eXtra Low Temp Heating) is based on the RLS2, and has many ultra-cold temp design features that make it quite competitive with the H2i.
In general handling ruggedness fit & feel Daikin edges out Mitsubishi, and Mitsubishi edges out Fujitsu, but all seem nicer than most of the 2nd & 3rd tier vendor offerings I've seen close-up.
NYC rarely gets cold enough long enough that the cold-weather operation issues really count for much though- and there are many happy Halcyon owners heating with them in places that hit -10F every winter. If the coils frost up and it stops heating, setting it up to run in air-conditioning mode for 10-15 minutes is usually enough, and having to take that step is relatively rare.
FWIW: I know a 78 year old in WA who manages just fine heating her place with a 1.5 ton H2i series. The temperature control isn't a precision instrument- temps are steady, but not at the indicated setpoint, so if the average weather changes more than 15F from week to week she has to monkey with the remote a bit, but comfort levels are high, heating bills low. Estimated annual average heating coefficient of performance in her case is clearly north of 3.0. YMMV.
Thank you Dana for this response. Thank you for mentioning the XLT-H Fujitsu model. It does seem better now than the Mitsubishi. It is interesting to see that the latest Fujitsu model's Enegry Star annual use estimates are lower than a GE profile side-by-side refrigerator.
I was very happy to find that, since we are getting a lot of push-back by insisting on minisplits and firmly deciding against a natural gas based heating system.
We were inclined to go with Mitsubishi just because of their efficiency in low temperatures, but now that Fujitsu has comparable and, it seems, even better models, we will probably go with a Fujitsu.
We plan to put 5 inches of closed cell insulation on the exposed brick wall and 2inches on the wall adjacent to another townhouse.
We have installed Mitsubishi h2i units at 4 properties. Three have required call backs: one for a leaking condensate line that damaged our ceiling; one because the air handlers stopped receiving power; and one install for multiple reasons (noises and leaking refrigerant). This latter install took extensive personal time and expense to diagnose because none of Mitsubishi's certified contractors could diagnose it. Moreover, all of the refrigerant leaked, which is a potent greenhouse gas. Here are videos of the two distinct noises these units made: https://youtu.be/QdjUoMiQFUw and https://youtu.be/BdOTj4DfPl8. I wholly regret installing these. We should have installed a small diameter ducted HVAC system.