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Mini Split Installation in Berlin, NH

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Step 1 of 3: Equipment

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Berlin asks a mini-split to heat, not cool

Winter nights here average 8°F from December through February, and a mini-split has to keep pulling heat out of air that cold for months at a time. Homes in Berlin need heat from September through June, ten months of the year. There is almost no cooling season to speak of. Summer afternoons average 73°F, so the unit you pick is really being bought for one job.

Any mini-split installed new has to meet the federal minimum for a split-system heat pump, 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. That cooling number matters less here than the heating one. What matters more is how the unit performs on the coldest nights, since 8°F is a regular occurrence, not a rare dip.

10 months: September through June, your system heats
8°F: the average winter night it heats against
73°F: the average summer afternoon it cools against

Isometric cutaway illustration of a gray house showing two wall-mounted indoor air conditioning units in separate rooms with furniture, connected by line sets to an outdoor condenser unit on a pad outside.

New Hampshire has no state license for HVAC contractors.

There is no state list of approved HVAC contractors here, no test a contractor had to pass, and no registration number to check. Anyone can call themselves an HVAC contractor in New Hampshire. That does not mean nothing applies to this job, it means the protection comes from somewhere other than a license.

For a mini-split installation, most cities and counties in New Hampshire require a permit from the local building office and an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is what checks the installation here, not a license.

Source: New Hampshire General Court

Is a mini split worth it?: For most homes here, yes, especially as a way to add heat to a room or zone that needs it. A mini split runs on electricity, not fuel oil, so it can cut into the oil use in a house that relies on it for heat. Winters here are long, averaging 8°F on the coldest nights, so a cold-climate mini split is worth asking about specifically since not every model holds its output at those temperatures. A contractor can tell you what size and model fits the room and the budget.
How many rooms can a mini split cover?: One outdoor unit can run up to eight indoor heads, depending on the system. Each indoor head is sized to the room it heats, so the outdoor unit has to be sized for the total load of all of them combined, not just added up room by room. A contractor works this out from the square footage and layout of the house, not a fixed number of rooms per unit.
Can a mini split heat a whole house?: It can, if it is sized and placed for that from the start. A single indoor head only heats the room it is in and the ones nearby if the layout is open, so a whole house usually needs a head in each main room, all tied to one or more outdoor units. With winter lows averaging 8°F here, the system also needs to be a cold-climate model rated to keep producing heat at those temperatures. A contractor can look at the house and say what it would take to cover it.

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