Weather!

[azurelunatic]

We had a 3 hour power outage due to high winds on Sunday. It happened less than 5 minutes after we got all the big computers shut down safely. Not the fun kind of event.

We used the offline time to do some physical preparation for the impending mini-splits install, plus the over-bins shelf in the kitchen.

The weather has been windy enough that most of them are still not back on.

Comments

[emceeaich]

I look forward to hearing your experience with a mini-split system.

I'd like to replace the gas furnace with a heat pump or a mini-split.

[azurelunatic]

We were a little surprised to learn that installing central air conditioning that took advantage of the existing ductwork was going to be more expensive than this four-headed ductless heat pump. The outdoor unit is (I think) a smidge in excess of what the four heads need, which is fine. The guy said that in this case the gas furnace would become our backup heat, and we'd have more details on how to make that work further into the process. We're getting a big unit in the living room/dining area, which will blow into the kitchen somewhat (and there's a kitchen door that can be closed to keep any cooking heat in there on hot days), smaller units in the two occupied bedrooms, and an even smaller one in the media room/guest room.

This does not include any climate control in the basement, but I figure we could potentially use the furnace if we do need to heat that (the duct situation is Really Something; there's a switch on the branch that feeds the dining/living room vents that diverts to the north end of the downstairs, and the whole system does not have as much air going upstairs as it might because there's an uncloseable vent RIGHT ON THE FREAKIN' FURNACE that means it's losing a chunk of pressure right out the gate.

The separate units are remote controlled, but we should be able to teach Uncle Simon/Captain Illyan/Mr. Alys (our IR pucks, who can command a small army of devices if they want to) how to manage things, which means we can start doing fancy things with the Home Assistant. We haven't taken the step yet of asking Castle Heterodyne to actually turn on the AC, but it does advise us when it would be a good idea to. (Interior temperature at head height is over a threshold and exterior temperature is not cooler. Uncle Simon has a sensor.) I wouldn't want to actually have Castle Heterodyne controlling the temperature until/unless we get door and window sensors so we don't try to control the entire outdoors, and even then we don't give fire to the wifi and don't give wifi to the fire.

[azurelunatic]

One winter later: it would have been good to have it operating at full capacity, as there was a leak that required inspection and recharging (twice! they didn't find it the first time!) but after that point, it's been pretty reliable about keeping the inhabited zones of the house warm.

We'll see how it does when it comes time for swapover to cool.

[emceeaich]

We've getting an electrician to come in and have a look at the wiring to see if we can support the split system in the next week.

[azurelunatic]

Excellent!