We live in a 1,200 sq ft house (3 bedrooms + living room + small guest room). Our old central AC setup was driving up winter bills, so we updated this old system and used Costway 18k btu mini splits in two bedrooms instead of running the whole system.
So far, after about a month of winter use, the house feels comfortable and our electric bill dropped noticeably compared to the previous month. We mostly heat the rooms we actually use instead of the entire house.
Now we’re debating the next step.
We could add a larger unit in the living room and possibly a small one in the guest room. The guest room is rarely used, but installing both at the same time would avoid paying for labor twice. On the other hand, the living room isn’t occupied all day either, so I’m not sure if adding more units just increases upfront cost without meaningful savings.
From a frugal mindset:
- Do you install systems for rarely used rooms to “save on installation later”?
- Or do you wait until there’s a real need?
- How do you decide when incremental upgrades stop being cost-effective?
Trying to avoid unnecessary spending while still thinking ahead.
Installed mini splits to cut heating costs, should we stop here or add more?
byu/crazyspartann69 inFrugal
Posted by crazyspartann69
1 Comment
honestly you’re already seeing the sweet spot with heating just the rooms you use – that’s the whole beauty of mini splits. i’d hold off on the guest room unit unless you actually start using it regularly, no point heating empty space even if the labor costs are tempting
for the living room though, that might be worth it since that’s probably your main hangout area. but here’s the thing – you could always start with just the living room unit and see how that affects your usage patterns and bills. maybe you’ll find you don’t need the guest room one at all, or maybe you’ll realize you want even more zones
i did something similar a few years back and kept adding units one at a time as i actually needed them. ended up saving money compared to doing it all at once because i learned what i actually used vs what i thought i’d use. the “save on installation” logic sounds good but only if you’re actually gonna use those systems within like 2-3 years max