I'm always amazed at how much these costs in the US. Wild prices even for a Norwegian.

We have a two-story home half his size, but one minisplit upstairs and one downstairs would be $3-4000 installed, combined, and that's upper or top-end models.

The ones I got would easily handle a house of his size.

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dlcarrier a day ago | parent | next [-]

It's one of the more protectionist industries in the US. At least it's not as bad as elevators, where imported ones have to be taken apart, so they can be reassembled by approved contractors.

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donavanm a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Same in Australia/East Asia generally. Had a mid range daiken 3kw unit installed upstairs last summer; $2500 AUD and ~5 man hours to install including roof access and exterior wall mounting. A bigger 7kw multi head unit would have been about $6-7k AUD but required awkward attic and wall access.

Installed prices in the US are pretty silly. Theres a bourgeoning set of DIY units that come precharged. But even those are pricey compared to the rest of the world.

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Tostino 20 hours ago | parent [-]

Just FYI, there's no reason at all to buy the DIY kits over just a regular mini split. The difference is DIY kits come with the lines pre-vacuumed and with seals on the end of them. So when you finally connect everything, the lines don't need a vacuum drawn on them prior to allowing the refrigerant into them.

A vacuum pump costs about $100. Just get a regular cheap mini split and vacuum the lines yourself, and save $1,000 or more.

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donavanm 17 hours ago | parent [-]

Yeah, vaguely aware that you could diy the entire setup with refrigerant etc. But its not relevant at local prices here in AU.

One of the interesting things I noticed here is that manufacturers are providing exchangers and head units that can reuse existing pipes. Makes sense for retrofit/upgrades where running pipes through utility spaces and bulkheads is a significant labor cost.

	▲	Tostino 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Well it does absolutely affect the price if you are willing to do it yourself. You don't need to actually touch any refrigerants. They are all preloaded in all the mini splits for sale. You just need to get the air out of the lines so it doesn't mix with the refrigerant. If I were to have it installed, just about any "professional" will totally overcharge here in the US too.

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kylehotchkiss a day ago | parent | prev [-]

If there's ductwork, it's something being installed into the building that has to pass inspections. It's not just one or two holes in the walls that need to be sealed.

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magicalhippo a day ago | parent | next [-]

But the article said he used existing ductwork, and yet it ended up at $14k.

The new heat pump system cost roughly $14,500 and provides heating and cooling via ductwork that was already in place.

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amluto a day ago | parent | prev [-]

No one in their right mind runs ductwork between the interior and exterior of the building in residential installations. There’s power, possible control wiring, and two or (in exotic installations) three refrigerant pipes.

(In a more enlightened world, I think that a system with the refrigerant fully contained within the outdoor unit that uses plain water as the heat exchange fluid could make a lot of sense, and this would not change the pipe situation.)

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wesleyd a day ago | parent [-]

I believe these are called “monobloc” and they exist, but are rare in the US.

	▲	amluto a day ago \| parent [-]
		You can buy them as “packaged terminal heat pumps”. They’re very common in motels.