Comfort for the rooms your ductwork never reached

Every metro has a few kinds of houses that central air was never going to serve well, and the Twin Cities has more than most: the boiler-heated homes of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the finished attics of 1920s bungalows, and the additions on 1950s ramblers. A ductless system heats and cools those spaces precisely, with no ductwork at all.

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The boiler house problem

A great many homes in Minneapolis, St. Paul and the older parts of Edina heat with a hot-water boiler and radiators. They heat evenly and quietly, and most owners would never give them up. The trade-off is that there is no ductwork, so central air means window units, a noisy and inefficient compromise, or an expensive retrofit of ducts through closets and soffits. A multi-zone ductless system solves it: an outdoor unit on the side of the house, slim indoor heads in the main rooms, and no demolition. The boiler stays for winter, and the ductless heads provide cooling in summer and supplemental heat in the shoulder seasons.

Additions, attics and the room over the garage

The other classic case is the room the furnace cannot keep up with. Additions tacked onto ramblers in the 1970s and 1980s, finished attics in bungalows, bonus rooms over garages in Eden Prairie and Burnsville, and three-season porches someone decided to use year-round all share the same problem: a duct run that is too long or too small, or none at all. A single-zone ductless unit gives that room its own thermostat and its own heating and cooling, independent of the rest of the house.

Garages and workshops are a growing request too, particularly from homeowners who want to work on projects through the winter without heating the space with an open-flame heater.

How installation goes

A comfort advisor visits, measures the rooms and talks through where the indoor units will go. On installation day the crew mounts the indoor heads, drills a small hole through the exterior wall for the refrigerant lines, condensate drain and wiring, sets the outdoor unit on a pad or wall bracket above snow level, connects and pressure-tests everything, and commissions the system. Most single-zone jobs are done in a day; larger multi-zone systems may take two.

Permits and rebates

Ductless installations are permitted through your city like any other heating and cooling equipment, and cold-climate ductless units often qualify for the same utility rebates as ducted heat pumps. We handle the permit and point you to the incentives your system qualifies for.

Ductless Mini-Splits questions we hear a lot

Can a ductless system heat a room in winter, or is it just for cooling?

Cold-climate ductless units heat efficiently through most of the Minnesota winter and keep producing heat well below zero. For a bedroom, addition or office they are often the primary heat source. For whole-house heating we size them carefully and keep the existing boiler or furnace as backup for the coldest stretches.

How many indoor units do I need?

One per zone you want to control separately. A single wall unit handles an open addition or a large bedroom. A multi-zone system with three to five heads can cover an entire two-story house. We walk through the layout with you and recommend the fewest heads that will actually do the job.

Are they loud or ugly?

The indoor units are quieter than a window unit by a wide margin, and the outdoor unit is smaller and quieter than most central air condensers. Indoor units come as wall-mounted, recessed ceiling cassettes or low floor-standing units, and the line set runs through a small covered channel outside. Most homeowners stop noticing them within a week.