Mini Split Installation in Heber, UT
Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Wasatch County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Heber asks a mini-split to heat, not just cool
Nights here average 14°F from December through February, and homes need heat from September through June. That's 10 months a year, which means your mini-split is running its compressor to make heat far more than it's running it to make cold air.
A unit built for mild-climate cooling won't hold up to that. Any split system heat pump sold new has to meet 7.5 HSPF2 for heating and 14.3 SEER2 for cooling, but with summer afternoons only averaging 75°F here, the heating side is what actually gets tested most months of the year.
- 10 months
- September through June, your system heats
- 14°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 75°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
Utah requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is held by the contractor's business. It covers the company you hire, not a separate paper for this job. Utah does carve out an exception for small jobs. Work under $7,000 does not need a licensed contractor.
Where the job falls above that line, the license is what stands behind the work. Beyond the license, the local building office is who checks the installation itself. Most cities and counties in Utah require a permit for a job like this and an inspection once it is done. That inspection is what catches a line set run wrong or a unit set up wrong.
Sources: Utah State Legislature · Utah Department of Commerce
- Is a mini split worth it?
- For most homes here, yes, because a mini split heat pump handles both heating and cooling from one outdoor unit. Heber needs heat ten months of the year, and winter nights average 14°F, so the heat pump has to keep working hard through a long, cold season. A cold-climate model built for those temperatures is worth asking about specifically, since not every heat pump holds its output down near 14°F. A contractor can look at your house and tell you whether it makes sense next to what you have now.
- How many rooms can a mini split cover?
- A single outdoor unit can run one indoor head or several, depending on whether you install a single-zone or multi-zone system. Each head warms or cools the room it sits in, with its own thermostat, so a multi-zone system can reach several rooms off one outdoor unit. The number that makes sense for your house depends on the square footage and layout of each room, which is something a contractor needs to see in person to size correctly.
- Can a mini split heat a whole house?
- It can, if it is sized and placed to cover every room. A multi-zone system with enough indoor heads can heat a whole house the same way a central furnace does, just room by room instead of through ducts. With winter lows here averaging 14°F, the system needs to be sized for that cold, not just for a mild day, so a contractor should run a load calculation on the house before deciding how many heads it needs and where they go.