Wall-mounted or multi-zone heat pump: which one?
A wall unit for an open area, a multi-zone as soon as there are floors or closed rooms: how to choose and how many zones to plan.
A wall-mounted heat pump (mini-split) connects one indoor unit to one outdoor unit. A multi-zone connects several indoor units, one per zone, to a single outdoor unit.
When a wall unit is enough
- An open area: a bungalow main floor, a condo, a one-room cottage.
- One specific room: basement, finished garage, office, a bedroom that runs cold.
- A supplement to existing heating.
When to go multi-zone
- The house has several floors: heat from a main-floor unit reaches closed upstairs bedrooms poorly.
- You want to cool the bedrooms in summer.
- You want one outdoor unit instead of two or three.
How many zones?
In practice: one zone per occupied floor, one more for a finished basement, and an extra one for a large house or distant bedrooms. The calculator splits your load by floor and suggests the matching combination of Kanartic indoor units.
DIY either way
Kanartic wall units and multi-zones both come in DIY versions: pre-charged line sets and quick connectors, no refrigerant handling.