Heating and cooling can be a challenge in a multi-family home, which are commonly converted from single-family homes. As a result, there is only one thermostat to regulate the temperature throughout the two units. This leaves one tenant in control of the heat for the whole house. On top of that, a converted home does not have good air flow, which leads to uneven heating and cooling.

That’s why this Somerville, MA homeowner was ready to switch to an HVAC zoning system. When she called NETR, her two-family home had steam heat, there was a single thermostat for the entire house, and, in the summer, she used window air conditioners.

Both these heating and cooling methods are inefficient and end up costing more money in monthly energy bills than other systems. In this case, the homeowner’s energy bills eating into her investment and apartments were never a comfortable temperature. The hot and cold spots were especially troublesome for the third-floor bedrooms since the thermostat was on the second floor.

Fortunately, we corrected the uneven heating in this home and provided better air conditioning, too. Best of all, our solution costs less in energy bills each month.

Problem: A two-family home in Somerville, MA had low-efficient steam heating. There were hot and cold spots on the second and third floors and a single thermostat controlled both units.

Solution: We installed a Mitsubishi ductless heat pump with five ductless units for heating and cooling.

Zoned HVAC with Ductless Installation

We installed a Mitsubishi ductless heating and cooling system in the home. Ductless ACs allow us to create different zones, so our homeowner and her tenants can control the temperatures in their individual apartments. The new system is more efficient than the old one which helps our client spend less money each month to heat or cool the home.

This is all possible because of how the ductless air conditioners and heat pumps work. As the name suggests, there are no ductwork or vents. Instead, forced hot or cool air enters each room through the whisper-quiet wall units. Each ductless unit is mounted on the wall in a different room, or zone, in the home. The major difference between the ductless HVAC system and other methods is that each unit works independently from the others. Every zone has a thermostat for the ductless unit in that space and it is controlled individually from every other zone.

Now, the homeowner and her tenants can set their own temperatures. Each ductless wall AC turns on until it reaches the programmed temperature and then it turns off — even if the units in other zones are still working.

We installed five zones of ductless heating and cooling for this home in the first-floor kitchen area, living room, and master bedroom, and then in both upstairs bedrooms. This Mitsubishi ductless HVAC system gives the tenant and homeowner flexibility independent of each other. If someone prefers the bedroom a little cooler than the rest of the home, they can set the thermostat in that room to a different temperature than the others without messing up the temperature throughout the home.  

Installing Mitsubishi Ductless Hyper-Heating

Installing ductless systems is much easier than putting in the ductwork required for other HVAC systems and it is less expensive than other solutions. This is due to how the treated air reaches the indoor units from the condenser. We installed a Mitsubishi Hyper-Heating heat pump outside the home, which works as a furnace and air conditioner. Depending on the thermostat, it delivers forced hot or cool air to the home through small, flexible piping. The piping is just a few inches in diameter and can bend easily.

By contrast, ductwork is metal and at least a foot wide, so it takes up a lot of space. Custom ductwork in older or converted homes can be expensive and hard to design without compromising the beauty of the home or leaving some places unevenly heated or cooled.

Mitsubishi ductless heating and cooling systems are much easier to install. We run that small, flexible piping through the walls, without having to tear anything open.

In the case of this home, that flexibility was very important for the third floor: a converted attic with a sloped ceiling. There was a crawl space and very little space at the edges of the room where the ceiling almost meets the floor.

Installing ductwork in these areas would have been very difficult and expensive to design. Even after all the time and money, she might not have gotten the heating or cooling she wanted. Fortunately, the unique space wasn’t a problem for us. We just ran the piping inside the walls between the studs and the crawl space gave us more area to use since the piping fit so easily inside it.

Saving Money with Ductless Air Conditioning

Installing a ductless HVAC system is a big investment. After all, it’s a new central heating and cooling system for an entire home. Fortunately, we found ways to bring that cost down for this homeowner, and thanks to its energy efficiency it will, in time, pay for itself in savings!

Mitsubishi ductless HVAC systems are some of the most energy-efficient options on the market today. They are Energy Star-certified, which means they meet government standards that show they use less energy than similar products.

In this case, the ductless zones will deliver heat using less energy than steam and use less energy in the summer than the old window air conditioners. Less energy consumption means lower energy bills each month. 

Ductless Savings

This kind of upgrade also results in upfront savings as energy companies offer rebates to homeowners who install energy-efficient systems. We found this installation qualified for two rebates for our homeowner. One came from Mass Save, a collective of energy suppliers in Massachusetts, who offered a $500 rebate. The second rebate was significantly higher: The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center provided a $2,500 rebate for installing an efficient HVAC system that uses clean energy. In all, our homeowner got $3,000 back toward installing her ductless system.

A Mitsubishi ductless HVAC zoning system takes efficiency even further because each area has its own thermostat so that all the zones do not have to run simultaneously, as with a centralized system. Instead, the individual ductless wall AC units treat the areas of the home separately, so the units in naturally hotter rooms won’t run as frequently as the rooms that once stayed cool all winter.

Now, for the first time, this two-family home has even heating and cooling in both apartments. Each apartment has its own thermostat, the homeowner lowered the monthly energy bills and received a big cash rebate for the upgrade!

Do you want a better and more cost-effective and efficient option for heating and cooling your home? Contact us and we'll design the perfect Mitsubishi ductless HVAC solution for you!

Converting a house into a two-family home is a great investment. You can treat it as a profit-making property with two tenants. Or, you can live in one apartment while charging rent for the other.

To make the most of it, you need to run the house efficiently. The less you can pay in energy bills, the more money you make. However, converting a home often makes your HVAC system less efficient. This happens for a few reasons.

First, a single home usually has a single thermostat. It controls the temperature of the whole house. With a conversion, now one person makes the settings for both condos.

Now, the duct work usually isn’t as efficient as it once was. There are more walls and closed-off areas. Heat collects in the wrong places. This leads to uneven heating and cooling throughout the home.

Our homeowner in Somerville, MA had already begun making his home more energy-efficient. He had installed solar units to treat the second- and third-floor unit. But, he was still using gas-fired hot water steam radiator. In the summer, he used window air conditioners.

Fortunately, we had a better system for him. Now, he and his tenant can set their own heating and cooling temperatures. The new system costs less month-to-month than steam and window units. It’s also quiet and cleaner.

Problem: Our homeowner was paying too much in monthly energy bills with steam heat and window air conditioners in his two-family condo conversion.

Solution: Installed a Mitsubishi four-zone HyperHeat system with outdoor unit and four ductless units.

Retrofitting with Ductless HVAC

Ductless HVAC installation is especially popular when retrofitting a house.

Retrofitting with traditional HVAC is expensive for a two-family condo conversion. It requires new metal duct work and vents to circulate the air. It costs a lot for installers map it all out and create and install the ducts themselves.

Then, that duct work has to go somewhere. If there’s no crawl space, you may sacrifice closet space. Or, installers will build passages in the walls or ceilings. These make your rooms a little smaller.

Ductless HVAC is different. It uses narrow, flexible piping to deliver forced heat and cool air.

The piping is less than three inches around and bends. It’s very easy to run it inside your walls and ceilings. It fits easily between studs and rafters without having to tear down any walls.

That made a big difference in this home. Our homeowner retrofitted new heating and cooling to both apartments for a fraction of what new ducts costs. And, each unit controls its own temperature, resulting in another benefit.

Ductless HVAC Installation Saves Money

Thanks to new technology, Mitsubishi ductless units provide better heating and cooling than conventional systems. And, they use less energy than other HVAC options.

The ductless units are Energy Star-certified. They meet government standards proving they’re more efficient than similar systems. When they use less energy, you get charged less each month on your utility bills.

In Massachusetts, there are two groups that offer incentives for people to install energy-efficient HVAC systems. One is the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. We helped our homeowner get a $2,500 rebate for going ductless.

The second is Mass Save. They gave our homeowner a $400 for his new system. That’s nearly $3,000 in savings before he even turned on his system.

Additionally, a zoned HVAC system works smarter, not harder, than single-zone setups. Here’s how:

Each ductless unit has its own thermostat. That means you can set each one to a different temperature. Or, you can set them all the same.

Either way, each unit works by itself to heat or cool its own zone. If one room gets warm faster than others in the winter, that unit turns off. The others stay on until the job is done.

This is unlike a single-zone system like many homes have. In those cases, the entire system works until the whole house is warm enough. This often means it’s overheating certain areas and is using more energy to do so.

What’s more, with ductless HVAC you don’t need to heat or cool your entire home all at once. This is especially useful in multi-family homes.

When one person leaves for the day, he or she can just turn down their zone. That way, an empty part of the house isn’t being heated or cooled. Or, if a person wants one room cooler or warmer than the others they can just adjust that zone’s thermostat. There’s no need to use more energy for the entire house.

Clean, Quiet Heating and Cooling  

Of course, there’s more to a good HVAC system than just saving money. In particular, our homeowner wanted to use clean energy. He also wanted a quiet system. The Mitsubishi ductless unit system fits both those bills.

Outside the house, our ductless system uses a heat pump to provide heating and cooling. A heat pump works very differently than a furnace, which uses oil, gas or electricity to run.

Instead, a heat pump uses a system that moves heat around. This is different from creating heat or cool air. The pump uses just a little bit of electricity to run. It draws heat from outside in the winter, increases it and sends it in to the home.

In the summer, it does the opposite. The heat pump draws heat of the house and cools that air. Then it sends it back again.

Another big selling point for ductless units is that they are whisper-quiet. That’s a big change for these condos. The old, clunky window air conditioners made a lot of noise when they were on.

Now, however, the ductless HVAC units barely make a sound. The homeowner and his tenant don’t even realize they’re there. Well, the homeowner remembers them — every month when he gets his lower energy bills.

Do you want a better and more cost-effective and efficient option for heating and cooling your home? Contact us and we'll design the perfect Mitsubishi ductless HVAC solution for you!

This old-fashioned colonial in North Reading, MA had an old-fashioned heating system. And, that worked fine when the weather was cold. Summers were a different story, however.

No matter what our homeowners did, nearly half the house ever got as cool as they wanted it. Of course, there were some challenges here. It was a split-level, for starters. These kinds of houses commonly cool or heat unevenly. The fact that it was a large house meant heat could travel and collect in different spots.

The homeowners tried using window air conditioner units across the house, but they weren’t cutting it. The units were noisy, bulky and expensive — and they still didn’t quite do the job.

When the homeowners called NETR, they discussed with us what they already knew about Mitsubishi ductless HVAC systems. As the number-one rated Electric Elite Diamond Dealer for Mitsubishi products in New England, we were excited to utilize our experience to help them solve their troublesome air conditioning problems and get the comfort they wanted.

Problem: Five rooms in a spacious split-level colonial home with dormer windows would not stay cool in the summer. The homeowners used window unit air conditioners, but they were too loud and didn’t work well.

Solution: Installed five Mitsubishi ductless HVAC units and outdoor unit.

HVAC in Split-Level and Colonial Homes

Homes like this one can be tricky to heat and cool. For the former, our homeowners used forced hot water, or FHW, heat. This is more commonly known as radiator heat. Water gets heated in a boiler then travels up to the radiators in various rooms.

Radiator heat has a few advantages over gas or electric. It feels fresher for starters. it heats the room through infusion rather than forced heat from a furnace. This is similar to how tea steeps into hot water. It’s also quieter: there’s no roar of a heater.

The drawback here, however, is there’s no way to use radiators to cool a home. And, in a home like this, that can be very tricky.

Here’s the problem: Heat likes to rise. When you start cooling a house, the hot air moves up from the bottom floors. Often, it gets trapped on the top floors where the bedrooms are.

In a split level, this gets trickier. In the case of this home, the main part of the house is a two-story structure with dormer windows in the attic. Then, there are one-floor living room areas on either side of the main structure.

What happens here is that the basement and those two living room areas get cool very easily. The basement is partially underground, so it stays cool. So, those two one-story areas are easy to handle.

However, this causes all the hot air to be forced into the main area. Then, it travels upwards to the bedrooms. Meanwhile, the dormer windows on the attic are letting in plenty of sunlight. That makes the very top of the house even warmer. That extra heat also affects the second floor.

To address all this, our homeowners would need much more than bulky window air conditioners to give them the climate control they wanted. We had just the thing.

Ductless Air Conditioning 

Mitsubishi ductless HVAC units were clearly the way to go in this home, since they met all of our homeowners’ needs. They’re quiet, energy-efficient and very effective. On top of that, they are easy to customize and simple to install.

A ductless mini split system works by sending forced heat or cool air up through plastic tubes instead of ducts. This makes it much easier to set up than a central air conditioning system.

The tubes are less than an inch in diameter. They can run through the wall like electrical wiring. That’s a lot easier than retrofitting ductwork to travel all through the house. It costs much less, too.

At the other end of the tubing is the ductless AC unit. We can mount these anywhere on a wall, and just connect it to the tubing through a tiny hole behind the unit. This allows us to place it in the most effective spot in the home and we don’t have to block a window to do so.

Those units distribute the heat or cool air. They’re whisper-quiet, unlike an air conditioner. At the same time, they’re also much more powerful.

Each ductless unit has its own thermostat with a remote control. This way, our homeowners can control each one separately. Even though the units are mounted high on the walls, where they work best, they’re still easy to adjust.

Zoned Air Conditioning for Cost-Effective Comfort

Those separate thermostats help create what’s known as “zoned” heating and cooling. This goes a long way in making ductless HVAC units so effective and cost-efficient.

Here’s how: a ductless system can heat or cool an entire house just like a traditional furnace or central air conditioning system. The difference with ductless is that the entire house is not controlled by a single thermostat.

Instead, each ductless unit handles one zone in the house. Since each has its own thermostat, each zone can be set to a different temperature.

This comes in handy when you know you’re not going to be in a certain area of the house. It’s great for a spare bedroom, for instance. Or, you can set the bedrooms to a higher temperature during the day, then begin cooling them down as it gets close to bedtime.

The opposite is true in rooms that get the hottest. The units in those zones can keep working to get the temperature you want while the others shut off earlier.

All that customization bring more than comfort. It also makes for lower energy bills. When you’re not using as much energy to heat or cool your entire home at once, you get charged less each month.

And, for the owners of this split-level colonial the lower cost of ductless AC was the icing on the cake. Finally, they’re getting the air conditioning they’ve always wanted throughout the house. The units are quieter and easier to use than window units. And, even with all those extra features, they cost less to operate.

Do you want a better and more cost-effective and efficient option for heating and cooling your home? Contact us and we'll design the perfect Mitsubishi ductless HVAC solution for you!

They say there’s always room for improvement. When it comes to HVAC systems in older houses, that’s often the case. That’s not to say this ranch home was ancient, but a lot has changed in the decades since it was built. Our ductless HVAC tech was here to help them move their climate control into the 21st century.

Problem: The living room wouldn’t stay cool in this Lynn, MA ranch home.

Solution: Installed a Mitsubishi mini split unit and ductless HVAC unit on the living room wall.

A New Solution to an Old Problem

This ranch home had a common problem: The living room needed a better air conditioning set up. It just wasn’t staying cool enough. A lot of times, you hear about this happening in the bedrooms. But with a design like this, it can happen in the living area too.

The reason has to do with a basic idea: Heat rises. That’s why the top floor of a home is usually hotter than others in the summer.

In the case of this ranch, the living room was technically on the top floor. Like many ranches, this one is a one-story home. But, that story is raised a little from the ground. That makes a difference.

Specifically, the living room is above the finished basement, which is usually the coolest part of the house. That means the warm air moves upwards toward the living room.

Way back when, you would remedy this with a window-mounted air conditioner. You could buy one for relatively cheap. At least, it would be less expensive than re-doing your ductwork.

However, there are some serious drawbacks to window units. For starters, they’re really noisy. Putting one in a living room means you might drown out the television or people talking.

They’re also unsightly and a bit of a pain to lug out, clean off and install every summer. Additionally, they’re inefficient, driving up energy bills.

Ductless Air Conditioning: A Better Way to Cool Off

The latest and greatest in home air conditioning is a mini split AC.. And, that’s no load of hot air. Using a ductless system gets you cooler with less hassle and even less noise.

Ductless air conditioning uses units that mount on your wall. They’re a few feet wide and about a foot thick. All in all, they don’t draw a lot of attention. You’ve probably been around them in restaurants or people’s homes and not even noticed them.

The point is, they don’t take up a lot of room. You don’t need to carve out part of your wall to mount it, nor will you block a window to put it up in the summertime.

This works because the a/c condenser sits outside, like a central air system. In fact, a ductless mini split air conditioner can treat a whole home with multiple units. Or, you can use just one unit for a specific area. 

In this case, our homeowner only wanted to treat a single room. So, we worked out a system that fit her needs exactly. That unit connects to the outdoor condenser thanks to a tiny, flexible tube out of sight behind the unit.

However, that little tube and the simple system do a lot. For starters, it delivers just as much, or more, cool air than older window units. And, it does so virtually silently. That’s another big advantage over other air conditioning systems. 

Saving Money with Mitsubishi Ductless Mini Splits

The cost of ductless is a final factor. That’s especially so for anyone who’s used a portable AC or window unit. Those people know just how high your electric bill can go with even just one of those in your house.

Of course, central air is more efficient than a window unit overall, but, there’s the cost and hassle of getting new ductwork put in to consider. That’s on top of the cost of the condenser. Now, you’re paying to cool the entire house. That’s more energy — and more money — for a bigger job than you need.

That’s the beauty of ductless HVAC systems. They’re as large or small as you want them to be. In this case, a mini split AC fits the bill perfectly. It works just as well as larger units, but on a smaller scale.

They’re installed without the cost and hassle of building or modifying ducts and vents andas a result, they’re priced right at any size.

Once they’re running, they’ll cost you less over time. Units like these Mitsubishi ones are Energy Star-certified. That means they meet government standards for high efficiency. This indicates they use less energy than comparable products without that certification. Less energy means less money you pay each month in energy bills.

Do you want a better and more cost-effective and efficient option for heating and cooling your home? Contact us and we'll design the perfect Mitsubishi ductless HVAC solution for you! 

What happens when you’re somewhere in the middle with your HVAC system? On one side, everything’s working perfectly. Each room is cool in the summer and warm in the winter. And, the temperature is even throughout the house.

At the other extreme, the HVAC system in your home is shot or just doesn't cut it. The whole house is too cold in the winter, and you hear the furnace struggling to keep up. You know you need to just bite the bullet and overhaul the entire HVAC system before it breaks down completely.

But, sometimes it’s not that cut and dry. Maybe the heat is good enough most of the time, but not always. Or, there are just one or two spots that never warm up. In the case of a multi-family home, that gets even trickier. Not only do you have to heat more areas, but not everyone wants the same temperature.

Recently, we worked with a property owner in Malden MA who was dealing with the middle ground for a while. He came to us for our expertise and experience with situations just like his. We were able to put the finishing touches on his ductless HVAC system.

Problem: One unit of a multi-family home was always too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer.

Solution: Add a third zone to an existing Mitsubishi ductless HVAC system to supplement oil heat.

Adding a Heat Pump to an Existing HVAC System

Even before we began working with our property owner in Malden, MA, his multi-family home had a lot of heat going into it. This house used oil as its primary heat source. In general, oil gives you more heat than gas, electric or water heating systems. That’s because it has a very high flash point. It literally burns hotter than natural gas.

As a result, oil heat can heat the same space as natural gas in less time. And, it can maintain that temperature more easily. That’s especially important during cold New England winters. However, that comes at a price — literally.

Oil heat is more expensive than gas, electric, wood or ground heat. For a property owner, that’s a big consideration. Often, the tenants don’t pay utilities directly and those costs come out of the rent. So, the less the owner pays for heat, the more profit he has.

Next is the multi-unit aspect. There’s no guarantee the people in each unit prefer the same exact temperature and some will not get the same heat as others. If the thermostat is on the first floor, for instance, the heater will turn off when that area is at the right temperature. This could leave upper floors much colder.

Then, the opposite happens in the summertime: Not every unit will need the same amount of air conditioning. When hot air rises, heat gets trapped in the upper floors while the first-floor tenant is much cooler.

For these reasons, it was a better idea to supplement the existing HVAC system rather than install a new one. This home already had the firepower, so to speak, with oil heat. It just needed some fine-tuning for the people in every unit to feel comfortable. That’s what we provided.  

Using Zoned Heating and Cooling for Multiple Units

The key to heating and cooling this multi-family home properly was zoned HVAC using Mitsubishi ductless units. Here’s how it works:

With zoned HVAC, the idea is not to set one temperature for the entire home. As we mentioned before, this can lead to uneven temperatures: hot upstairs in the summer and cold in the winter. Instead, you divide the home into zones and then heat or cool each individually.

This isn’t possible with traditional ducts and vents. With those systems, forced heat or cool air gets pushed from one furnace or condenser. There’s really no way to deliver different levels to different areas. At most, you can open or close a vent. But, that’s an all-or-nothing proposition.

Zoned heating, on the other hand, is much different. We use Mitsubishi ductless units to do the job. Each unit handles a different area, or zone, of a house. Usually, they’re separated by rooms.

What makes this work is that every unit has its own thermostat.  Just set each unit to the same temperature. Then, every unit will work by itself to get to that temperature. Some will shut off before others if they get there first.

However, what makes them great for multi-unit homes is that you can also set each one differently. Now, one apartment can be set to, say, 68 degrees in the winter while the other can go up to 71 if that person gets cold easily.

Easy Ductless Installation Offers Flexibility

To offer that kind of flexibility though, ductless units must be really complex and tricky to install, right? Well, not at all. It’s actually much easier to get these up and running than trying to run multiple thermostats and separate ductwork.

Ductless units don’t require big, boxy ducts to transfer heated or cooled air. Then, the HVAC units themselves mount anywhere on a wall. The tubing runs from the unit to an outdoor condenser. It’s as simple as running an electrical wire to connect the two.

That’s a huge advantage over older systems. You can add ductless zones to a house little by little or all at once. Either way, you don’t have to worry about major, expensive construction to redo the ductwork.

This property owner had been adding on little by little. The latest unit we installed was in the dining room of one of the units. We placed it above the door, where you could hardly notice it.

Ductless Heat Pumps Offer Better Heating and Air Conditioning for Less

Now, our property owner is all set with multiple zones. He and his tenants can enjoy even temperatures and customized settings and he can enjoy lower energy bills.

In this case, adding more equipment equals less monthly payments. That’s because Mitsubishi ductless units are energy efficient. They use much less energy than traditional HVAC system to get the same results.

In this case, our property owner is supplementing oil heat. That’s an expensive, but very effective, heat source. Now, he can keep that setting low. Each family in his home can adjust their own zone accordingly. That extra heat comes through energy-efficient units. Therefore, it costs him less overall.

That amounts to even bigger savings in the summertime. Fewer things drive up your electric bill like an air conditioner and a bulky window unit is can be expensive. Fortunately, no one in his multi-family house needs one anymore. Instead, they’re using their zoned units to get them to the exact temperature they require — at a fraction of the price.

Do you want a better and more cost-effective and efficient option for heating and cooling your home? Contact us and we'll design the perfect Mitsubishi ductless HVAC solution for you!

Adding a finished basement is a great way to expand the living space in your home. You get an extra room or two and usually a little privacy from the rest of the house. What you don’t always get, however, is the right temperature.

Problem: A colonial-style home in Amesbury, MA home did not have heat or air conditioning in the basement.

Solution:  Installed a Mitsubishi outdoor heat pump with a matching indoor ductless HVAC unit.

Split System HVAC Installation for a Basement

The basement of this colonial home in Amesbury, MA was spacious. It was also mostly unfinished. This made it a blank slate of sorts for HVAC installation.

When our tech arrived, there were just some carpeting and a few walls put up. The drywall was still showing and all the electrical outlets had just been installed. The rafters and insulation in the ceiling were still exposed.

You could tell the new basement was going to be used a lot. It was already separated into a few different rooms. Someone could live down here on their own, or, a few family members could use different spaces down there for different activities. 

That’s what makes a finished basement so great. It’s like adding an addition to your home without doing major construction. However, there’s one drawback: climate.

A basement tends to get colder than the rest of the house. This is mostly because it’s underground, where the air is already cooler. This means it needs heat before other parts of the house when the weather gets cold.

And, its underground location isn’t always enough to keep a basement chilled in the dead heat of summer. Add to that the fact that this basement only had two small windows, it could get stuffy without better air flow.

All this meant that the basement needed some HVAC work. What good with this new living space be if it wasn’t comfortable all year-round?

Our tech talked with the homeowners about options and prices. They already were paying a lot of money to finish the basement and the floor plan was already laid out.

This meant we had to find a solution that was in their budget. It also had to work around the new walls. For both these reasons, a traditional duct system wasn’t ideal.

To get central heating and air conditioning in the basement, the homeowners would have to work ducts and vents around the new walls. They’d also have to run lines from the furnace and air conditioner. It would cost a lot of money and take a lot of time to plan out.

Fortunately, there was a better way.

A Mitsubishi Ductless Mini Split System

The best way to keep the basement cool in the summer and warm in the winter was with a Mitsubishi ductless mini split system.

Ductless systems use wall-mounted units to deliver hot or cold air. These are sleek and skinny and can be put up just about anywhere. Air gets delivered to the units through small tubes that are less than an inch thick.

This was perfect for the large basement in this colonial home.  

With the Mitsubishi ductless mini-split system, our tech could just mount the units wherever they would work best. Then, he drilled small holes behind them and ran the tubing through the walls, which connected to a condensor outside.

Additionally, Mitsubishi ductless systems are much quieter than old-fashioned air conditioners. When it kicks on, there’s no dull roar. In a space like a basement, that sound could interfere with a television or a conversation. Not so with a ductless system.

Zoned Heating and Cooling and Rebates Save Money

An added bonus to a Mitsubishi ductless system is that they can save you money. In this case, the homeowners got some instant savings. And, over time they’ll pay less in energy bills than they would have with a traditional HVAC system in their Amesbury, MA basement.

The rebate came courtesy of Mass Save. Here, local utility companies work together to provide cash incentives for people to save energy. In this case, the homeowners received a $500 cash rebate just for installing a mini split system.

Split system HVAC is energy-efficient because it offers zoned heating. This is different from one thermostat controlling all the heating or cooling in the entire house. Not every part of a house is always the same temperature to begin with.

That’s especially true of a large colonial like this one. As we mentioned earlier, a basement is often cooler than the rest of a house. That would mean cranking up the heat for the rest of the house just to get that area warmed up.

Instead, a ductless HVAC unit warms or cools one just small area, or zone. Each unit can be programmed to a different temperature.

Now, the homeowners can push some extra heat into the basement without overheating the rest of the house. And, in the summer they can turn off the air conditioning in the basement while the other floors stay cool.

Of course, running HVAC units in new parts of the house will mean their energy bills will go up a little. But, by using an energy-efficient ductless system, that increase won’t be nearly as much as it could have been with traditional central heat and air.

Do you want a better and more cost-effective and efficient option for heating and cooling your home? Contact us and we'll design the perfect Mitsubishi ductless HVAC solution for you!

What to do when one room in your home just can’t get it right? The owner of a Garrison Colonial in Everett, MA found himself asking this question. No matter what he tried, his bedroom would always be too hot in the summer. He needed a solution that was efficient, effective and quiet. We set him up with a ductless HVAC system that delivered all three.

Problem: The master bedroom was too hot in the summertime and the homeowner didn’t want a loud air conditioner.

Solution: Installed a Mitsubishi ductless HVAC unit in the master bedroom for cooling.

Too much heat to sleep

Staying warm in cold weather wasn’t a problem for this homeowner. His garrison colonial uses oil heat. Gas has a high flash point and provides hotter heat than gas or electric. His problem came in the summertime.

The master bedroom would get too hot. This made it difficult for our homeowner to sleep in the warmer months.

He had considered a window unit air conditioner, but wasn’t crazy about them. The window units were too loud, for one thing. He prefers silence when he sleeps. Plus, they’re not energy energy efficient.

So, he knew what he wanted but not how to get it. Fortunately, our salesman and tech were there to help him out. They listened carefully to his concerns and what he did and didn’t want. Then, they zeroed in on products that would work for him.

Together, they put together the perfect plan to get his bedroom cool enough in the summertime.

Chilling out with Ductless HVAC

Almost immediately, our team knew that a ductless HVAC system was the way to go. Putting together a custom system would give this homeowner everything he needed. And it would do so without adding any more than necessary.

A ductless system works by having cool or hot air travel through very skinny, flexible tubes. The air comes from a heat pump located outside the home. Then, it makes its way to a wall-mounted unit.

This is very different from traditional HVAC systems. Usually, gas or oil heat, or cool air, originates from a furnace or a/c condenser. Then, it travels through ductwork and into rooms through vents.

What makes a ductless system so much better is its flexibility. They don’t use ducts and vents, which makes a big difference. It’s expensive and time-intensive to design and build new ductwork in a home.

Since the air travels through thin, flexible tubing, the units can go virtually anywhere. Our techs can route the tubing inside walls without doing major work. This way, we can find the best spot for them in any room. The unit itself also covers up the very small the tubing comes through.

Finally, there’s the zoned aspect. With ductless, one unit covers just one area of the house, not the entire house. Each one has its own thermostat. That means you can set each one to a different temperature.

That’s what made this a great choice for our homeowner’s garrison colonial. With ductless, he could have a state-of-the-art HVAC system right-sized for just the one room he needed.

Why our homeowner chose Mitsubishi ductless

Finally, our homeowner knew there was a solution that fit his needs exactly, The next step was determining which exact pieces would suit him the best.

He went with a Mitsubishi ductless mode for a few reasons. First, they’re known for being quiet. That was a big factor for him.

Next, Mitsubishi ductless HVAC units are energy-efficient. This one has an Energy Star rating from the federal government. This shows it uses energy more efficiently than other models. That means savings every month on his energy bills.

That efficiency also earned him some up-front savings. Our salesman knew about rebate opportunities a system like this can get him. He made sure our homeowner knew about them, too.

Thanks to two statewide programs, our homeowner received more than $1,000 for choosing the system he did. One rebate came through Mass Save, a group of utility companies in Massachusetts. Their program offered him a $500 for installing an energy-efficient unit.

There was also a rebate from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. This group works toward using clean energy across the state. They awarded him a $625 rebate for this Mitsubishi unit.

When summer rolls around, our homeowner will sleep soundly with silent, efficient climate control. And, he’ll rest well knowing how much money he’s saving with his new system.

Do you want a better and more cost-effective and efficient option for heating and cooling your home? Contact us and we'll design the perfect Mitsubishi ductless HVAC solution for you!

 Split ranch homes are as American as apple pie. But, heating one isn’t exactly a piece of cake.

Designs like these manage to pack a lot of square footage onto a small lot. However, to do so they use some, let’s say, unique, layouts. They let you pack in a lot of people and living space but do so at the expense of airflow.

One couple was ready to remedy that. They were remodeling the first floor of their home in Everett. They wanted to save some money in the long run to offset their big investment.

Problem: Everett, MA homeowners wanted more efficient, less expensive heating and cooling for the master bedroom and living area in their split ranch home.

Solution: Install two Mitsubishi ductless HVAC units with an outdoor unit.

A split ranch re-imagined with ductless HVAC

Homes like these are the products of early suburbia. Back then, so many people left the cities that there was a housing shortage. To make up for it, developers found ways to put more homes on smaller lots.

The split ranch had a layout like most ranches. Bedrooms and living space were on the first floor with rec rooms and studies in the basement. What made this different was that much of the “basement” was actually above ground.

When you walk in, you’re at a landing with two staircases. One leads down to the basement. The other goes a few steps up to the living space and bedrooms.

This makes the first floor more like a second floor. With that subtle change comes a common heating problem: Uneven heating.

In many cases, the upstairs in a home like this is colder than the main floor. That’s because the thermostat is on the first floor. It measures the temperature there and turns off the furnace when it hits the desired temperature.

However, that usually leaves the top floor wanting. While heat rises to that floor, there’s no measure of when it’s actually warm enough. In the summer, heat rises and stays there. The air conditioner will turn off when the first-floor thermostat says it’s cool enough.

That’s why this Everett, MA couple was ready for a change. They wanted better heat for less money when they planned they’re remodeling. N.E.T.R. and Mitsubishi ductless HVAC were there to make it happen.

Ductless HVAC Units for Better Heat

The trick to heating a home like this evenly is controlling different areas separately. That’s what ductless HVAC units do best. Since they’re more efficient than other methods, they cost less to use.

Ductless systems uses individual units for heating and cooling. They don’t push forced heat or cool air along duct work and out through vents. Instead, the treated air arrived through units mounted on walls.

The units themselves are sleek. They’re less than a foot deep and a few wide. Since they don’t require duct work, you can put them just about anywhere. The air travels to them from an outdoor unit through small, flexible tubes installed behind walls.

To connect them, technician drills a hole no wider than two inches behind the unit. The tube comes through and connects there. The hole is completely covered by the unit itself.

This lets our techs determine the exact best places for each unit. This is very different from older duct work. Home designers have learned a lot since the 50s about effective HVAC techniques. The ductless HVAC units let you update your system without major construction — and cost — to redo your duct work.

More options for less money.

There’s also another big plus to ductless system. That’s zoned heating. Now, your whole house doesn’t get cooled or warmed based on just one spot.

With old HVAC systems, there’s one thermostat in place in your house. The whole system turns on and off according to hot or cold it is right there. With zoned heating, each ductless HVAC unit handles a different area in the home.

Each unit can turn on and off regardless of the other units. That means if one part of the house heats up faster than another, that unit turns off right away. Meanwhile, the unit stays on in the area that takes longer to heat.

This makes ductless HVAC more efficient. That means it also costs less money than other systems. Since some of the units turn off sooner than others, they use less energy.

And, since each one works by itself, you can program each unit differently. In this case, the homeowners went with two HVAC units. One is in the master bedroom. The other is in the living area.

For the most part, they both don’t have to be heated the same way. The couple is usually in the living area during the day. At night, they move to the master bedroom.

So, why keep both warm all day? With zoned heating, these homeowners can turn down the heat just in the master bedroom during the day. When it starts to get late, they turn that up and the living area down.

Now, they’re not paying to heat rooms where they aren’t spending time. When they move to another area during another part of the day, they’re not cold. The opposite, of course, occurs in the summer: They can keep the living area cool during the day, then chill the bedroom a little when it’s time to go to sleep.

When houses such as this were built, a feature like this would cost way more than regular models. Now, thanks to Mitsubishi and our tech’s know-how, it will actually cost them less month-to-month to be comfortable all year ‘round.

Do you want a better and more cost-effective and efficient option for heating and cooling your home? Contact us and we'll design the perfect Mitsubishi ductless HVAC solution for you!

When it’s time to upgrade your home, it’s also usually time to improve your HVAC system, too. That’s what the owners of a split level home in Lynnfield, MA decided to do.

They were improving part of their house, including their TV room. That area always got too hot in the summertime. They were looking for a cooling solution that would work efficiently and not require a lot more work. For them, ductless heating was the way to go.

Problem: Homeowners never had air conditioning in their Lynnfield, MA split level home. The TV room got too hot in the summer.

Solution: We installed a Mitsubishi Electric single-zone mini-split system.

Updating an old HVAC design

Split level homes became popular after World War II. That’s when more and more people moved from cities to new, nearby suburbs. Developers struggled to keep up with demand. A challenge they often faced was fitting as much square footage as they could on a small lot.

In response to this, these homes became popular. They resembled ranch homes but had extra living space over the garage. This gave people both a place to park their cars and a few extra rooms.

However, they weren’t exactly the easiest to keep cool. In a way, the first floor of a split level is kind of like the second in other homes. That’s because the basements aren’t completely underground, where they stay cool. Many times they’re partially above ground. And, there’s living space above the garage, well above ground level.  

The problem here is a simple one: hot air rises. This means cool air sinks to the garage and basement. Then, the hot air moves up to the living space — and stays there.

Of course, central air would go a long way in a home like that. But, that wasn’t really an option when many of these homes were built. Back in the 50s and 60s, the best most people could do was get some window units.

That’s especially so when it comes to older houses like these. Often, these and ranches in the suburbs were for young families or working class people. They often weren’t the people who could afford the latest-and-greatest. Having a home out of the city — and with a garage, to boot — was already a luxury.

Central air wasn’t really commonplace until the 1970s. Even then, not everyone had the money or desire to retrofit their house. Installing central air meant a large outdoor unit connected to ducts and vents inside. In some cases, an HVAC company would have to build more ductwork. That all added up to hefty price tags many people couldn’t afford.

Today, however, ductless mini-splits can provide all the comfort of central air. And, they can do it without the costly and challenging ductwork. Finally, a ductless system will save a homeowner money in the long run.

Installing a Mitsubishi electric ductless system

When it came time to upgrade the a/c in this Lynnfield, MA home, the homeowners chose us to do it. They’d read all our great reviews and knew we provided quality work and great customer service. Their job would be no exception.

From the start, it was obvious that a Mitsubishi electric ductless system was the way to go here. This was especially so because the homeowners didn’t need to cool their entire home. They just wanted more climate control in the T.V. room. In this case, a single ductless high-wall unit combined the small area of a window unit with the efficiency and aesthetic of central a/c.

That’s due to how ductless HVAC systems work. Here, cool — or hot — air comes from an outdoor unit. It travels into the house through small, flexible tubing. On the other end is a wall-mounted unit, either high-wall or low-wall. This is what distributes the air to the room.

Thanks to that tiny tubing, ductless systems don’t need big, bulky ducts and vents. All it takes is a tiny hole in the wall to run the tubing. Many times, that hole goes behind the indoor unit anyway, so you don’t even see it. 

Then, there are the indoor air handlers themselves. They’re sleek and not especially noticeable. That’s a lot different from a window a/c unit, which blocks out the sunlight. They also take a lot less room and effort than carving out part of your wall and shoving a unit in there as well.

Then, there’s how mini-splits work. For starters, they’re way quieter than old window units. Most times, you won’t even hear them at all when they’re working. That’s a big advantage, especially for a T.V. room. Now, our homeowners won’t have to crank the volume when their a/c is running.

Mini-split: HVAC sized right

Even though these systems are powerful, installing one for just one room isn’t overkill. A ductless air handler heats or cools just one area. If the homeowners wanted to treat the whole home, we would install indoor units in different areas of the home.

For this split-level, we went with a single-zone installation. This is basically a smaller version of what would heat or cool the entire home. A larger system would use one or two outdoor units powering multiple indoor units. In this case, we installed an outdoor condenser attached to just one high-wall unit inside.

There’s another advantage to this: We can add on later if the homeowners want to do that. Remember, each indoor air handler works independently. That means our homeowners can consider converting their entire home to ductless down the road. They could do that all at once or zone by zone. Since ductwork isn’t a factor they have a lot of flexibility.

Saving money with ductless HVAC

Of course, the question is, why would someone decide to get rid of their old heating and air conditioning and convert to ductless HVAC? Well, energy efficiency is a big reason. And, that translates into saving money.

Ductless systems use less energy to operate than older HVAC systems. Some of this is purely technological. Manufacturers have updated old designs to work better. The Mitsubishi outdoor unit and high-wall unit we used in this home are Energy Star-certified. That means it passes government regulations showing it’s more efficient than other units.

Then there’s the zoned aspect. Each indoor unit can be controlled separately. That means you don’t necessarily have to run every one all the time. You can set each one to a different temperature. Or, you can have some turned on and leave others off. That uses less energy — which costs you less money.

Of course, for our homeowners in Lynnfield, that’s something to think about for the future. For now, they’re looking forward to relaxing in front the TV in the summertime. Now, they won’t be too hot, and they’ll actually be able to hear their programs over the air conditioning.

Do you want a better and more cost-effective and efficient option for heating and cooling your home? Contact us and we'll design the perfect Mitsubishi ductless HVAC solution for you!

Some attics are better left unvisited. They’re cramped, dark and a little creepy. If there’s no floor, just rafters and insulation, they can also be dangerous. But, that’s not always the case.

In many older homes especially, attics are large enough to be used as rooms. A little flooring, drywall and paint and you’ve got another bedroom or rec area. Of course, to make it really comfy you’ll need two more things: heating and cooling.

Problem: A colonial-style home in Essex, MA did not have heating or cooling in the converted attic.

Solution: Installed a Mitsubishi outdoor heat pump with a matching ductless HVAC unit in a third-floor room.  

Adding HVAC to an attic

Our homeowner had a colonial-style home with a sizable converted attic. It sat atop almost all of the four-bedroom home. And, its pitched ceilings gave it a wide-open, spacious feel.

However, that nice effect has a drawback in the wintertime. Remember, hot air rises. In this home, any heat that makes it to the attic goes all the way up. That can leave the actual living area quite cold.

And, in this case, there wasn’t much heat to begin with. The rest of the house had an HVAC system that worked just fine. But, it didn’t connect to the attic.

As a result, any heat up there came from the sun. Or, it was whatever made its way up from the second floor. That wasn’t a lot, and it all went to the pitched ceiling.

One option would be to extend the home’s existing forced heat into the attic. But, that would take a lot of work. Our techs would need to build more ductwork and vents. It could be done, but it would be expensive and take a lot of work.

A challenge there would be the layout. The attic was already finished, with painted walls and carpeting. We would have to rip some of that out to install venting. That would equal more work — and more money — for the homeowner.

However, a ductless HVAC system would bypass all that. We could install it virtually anywhere in the attic. This way, it wouldn’t disrupt anything. And, it could be placed in the exact spots to be most effective with a pitched ceiling.

Mitsubishi ductless in a colonial-style attic

Flexibility makes a ductless HVAC unit such a good choice for an attic with pitched ceilings. You can place it virtually anywhere without doing a lot of construction.

There are basically three parts to a ductless unit. First is the unit itself. It’s rectangular and sleek, and easy to hang anywhere. Next is an outdoor condenser unit that provides the heat or cool air.

Between those two is just flexible tubing about a half-inch wide. That’s it. No ducts, no vents. All you do is mount the unit and drill a tiny hole behind it for the tubing. The tube runs outside to the condenser.

And, all it took was one unit to handle the entire attic. We found a good spot for it where the wall meets the ceiling. It’s in a spot away from the pitched area. This way the heat doesn’t go right to the ceiling.

Another good thing about the Mitsubishi ductless unit is that it’s separate from the rest of the house. The main thermostat still controls the heating and cooling for the first and second floors. But the ductless system isn’t attached to it.

Now, our homeowners can control the attic temperature separately. This is a great advantage because the attic is often colder than the rest of the home. And, the heat travels to the ceiling.

Using the main thermostat to heat the attic would mean cranking it up so enough heat makes it up there. Then, the rest of the house would be too hot. That would be a waste of energy and money.

Instead, the attic has its own heat source. And, that heat source has its own control. Our homeowners can turn it down if they won’t be up there for a while. And, they can set it to whatever temperature they want when they use the space.

Rebates for ductless HVAC systems

There’s one more upside to going ductless when updating or supplementing your HVAC system: cash in hand.

Ductless systems are considered energy efficient. And the Mitsubishi ductless HVAC unit and condenser our homeowners chose are Energy Star certified. The certification means the unit meets government standards for efficiency.

When an HVAC unit is energy-efficient, it uses fewer resources than other models to get the temperature you want. That means your energy bills go down because you don’t use as much gas, oil or electricity.

Our homeowners won’t see any reductions because they are now treating more of their home than before. However, the method they choose will cost them less than others. And, they got a rebate for their choice.

Mass Save, a group of local utility companies, offers rebates for people who install energy-efficient HVAC systems. We made sure our homeowners knew about this opportunity. They applied and received a $300 rebate on their new system.

Do you want a better and more cost-effective and efficient option for heating and cooling your home? Contact us and we'll design the perfect Mitsubishi ductless HVAC solution for you!