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Aloha everyone,
Everyone knows it's a little bit hot here in Hawaii, but I recently discovered something awesome, in more ways than one. We have, or until today had, the old clunky window-type air conditioning units in our house. When we remodeled, the contractors basically cut a hole in the walls of the bedrooms and main room, into which these A/C units were placed. They tried to seal up the gaps between the holes and the edges of the A/C units, but ultimately didn't do the best job of it.
My wife and I contacted a local company to request installation of a split ductless system. We got the Mitsubishi Mr. Slim system installed and I couldn't be happier. Not only is it remarkably quieter, but it doesn't dehumidify the room! With the old units, I could watch the hygrometer in my violin case rapidly approach 40% or below. Today I noticed it up just above 60%, something I had never seen, even here in Hawaii. Of course, the window in my computer room was closed, so no outside humidity was coming in.
We'll have to wait until our next electric bill arrives to see the real difference, and hopefully quite drastically so, but I'm really pleased with it, and its potential, thus far and would recommend a split ductless system to anyone considering upgrading their A/C system. Not only does it keep you cool, but it also helps protect your violin or fiddle by not dehumidifying the room.
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Between 40 and 60 is great. Hope it doesn't get more humid. It can feel very hot when it's over 60%.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Aloha @Fiddlerman,
It's settled down to around 56% humidity but has stayed there consistently over the past few days. With the old window-style unit, the humidity would kept going down and I would have to stop it for a while to let the humidity build back up. Our new system is much better and should also result in a lower electric bill as well.
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We also have a Mitsubishi Mr. Slim...it's in our "new" addition, which is a combination of office and music practice space. (I put new in quotes because we put up the structure -- a garage with a second story above -- almost 12 years ago, but we didn't get around to finishing the upstairs until recently.)
We really like the Mr. Slim unit, too, for the same reasons. It's very effective at cooling a fairly large space and it's quiet. The remote control feature is nice, too. We didn't notice much of an effect on our electric bill last summer, but then we only ran it when we were using the space, not all the time.
When the work's all done and the sun's settin' low,
I pull out my fiddle and I rosin up the bow.
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Aloha @KindaScratchy,
When I mentioned the electric bill, I as referring to the difference I expect to see in the future as compared to this past summer - really, really hot for Hawaii - while using the old windows A/C units. The Mr. Slim is much more efficient than what we had and we expect to use only 1/2 of the electricity in the future. One of the problems here in Hawaii is that HEI, the parent company of all the electric utility companies, is a monopoly and as such, has felt no desire or push to provide for power sharing throughout the islands. In other words, each individual island has to have their own redundant power supply backup, which raises our electricity bill unnecessarily. We also installed PV (photovoltaic) panels on our roof, in an effort to cut down on the bill. Unfortunately, both the power and water bills continue to rise, causing me to wonder just where in either North or South Carolina we wish to retire. Honolulu is a rather expensive place to live, and after we retire, I'm not sure we'll have the money to remain here. At least the house will be paid off by then
Honorary tenured advisor
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Ah, Hawaii. I plan on retiring there -- as a homeless person. You should be able to find me on Google Street View one of these days.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm Albright
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