On Jun 21, 10:58*am, George wrote:
On 6/21/2012 9:43 AM, bob haller wrote:

On Jun 21, 7:39 am, "Ray" wrote:
I'm considering getting one of those Mitsubishi mini-split air conditioning
systems as an alternative to central AC, with a single small external unit
serving three *units inside the apartment.

This is also a heat pump.

I've been told that these systems require a lot of maintenance.

I'd be grateful if anyone could provide experience with these systems.
Thanks.

central ac will cost far less, and no individual units to service

Depends, if you live in a region (such as here) where hot water is
commonly used as a medium for heating it is pretty spendy to retrofit
duct work just to have central A/C.

Yes, from the limited info I got the impression that
he doesn't already have a duct system. In which case
the mini-splits could cost a lot less than installing
a whole central AC system. There are mini-splits
available that will run more than one evaporator/inside
unit off of one outside compressor unit. Of course the
downside is that you only are providing AC to certain
rooms.

But I think it would be wise to consider both approaches
before making a decision. There are also high velocity
AC systems that are more like a central AC system.
They use pipes that are maybe 2" to bring air to outlets
that can be located in ceilings, etc. They force air at
high speed through the smaller pipes. Used mostly in
retrofit work because they are easier to install. The eqpt costs
more,
but eliminating the need for metal duct work can make up
for it.

As for AC mini-splits needing a lot of maintenance, this
is the first I've heard of that. I don't see why that would be
as they are just very basic AC systems, nothing unusual.