In this podcast, John Maher talks with Jared Grier, owner of Cape Cod Heat Pumps, about the advantages of Mitsubishi heat pumps. They discuss features like Hyper Heat, ceiling cassette units, and the kumo cloud WiFi system. Jared explains how Mitsubishi heat pumps are ideal for retrofitting, offer strong energy efficiency, and align with sustainable energy trends. He also shares insights on the installation process, maintenance needs, and environmental benefits.
John Maher: Hi, I am John Maher, and I’m here today with Jared Grier, owner of Cape Cod Heat Pumps, an HVAC contractor in Marstons Mills, Massachusetts on Cape Cod, specializing in ductile heating and cooling technology focused on [inaudible 00:00:27] quality, professionalism. Today our topic is Mitsubishi heat pumps.
Welcome, Jared.
Jared Grier: Thanks for having me, John.
Key Advantages of Mitsubishi Heat Pumps
John: Sure. Jared, what are some of the key advantages of Mitsubishi heat pumps as opposed to traditional heating and cooling systems?
Jared: Well, Mitsubishi is well-known for really being best in class and one of the original manufacturers of mini splits. They’ve got decades of technology under their belt, so they’ve been able to innovate quite a bit throughout the years, and some would say ahead of the competition. Some of their innovations that they’ve had throughout the years, I mean, they were the first ones with what we refer to as Hyper Heat. That’s the ability of these heat pumps to be a primary source of heat, which prior to that, nobody would really venture out and do or think about. So that was something early on that they were able to come up with that other manufacturers have duplicated and replicated.
They’ve got some nice features. I mean, a lot of people will know about them as Mr. Slim, that’s the name that’s really stuck with them since inception and their mini splits. They’ve got some nice features. They’ve got these cassette units. Unlike some of the manufacturers that are meant to fit in a two by two drop ceiling grid like we might have at the office here, they’re meant to fit in a bay at your home. So instead of having to head something off to make room for the unit, we can actually just cut open your ceiling and slide this right in place, which allows it for applications for first floors with other manufacturers don’t have.
Can Heat Pumps Fit In Between Ceiling Joists?
John: So, it’s narrow enough to fit in between the ceiling joists, is that right?
Jared: Exactly. Yeah. Traditional cassette unit, I tell customers, really a commercial product. They brought it to the residential line. And this is all manufacturers, so they’re meant to fit in a two by two drop ceiling grid. Obviously residential construction. We’ve got 16 on-center studs and rafters and things of that nature. So it can be prohibitive to try to put something 24 on center in that. We can’t put them on first floors. We have space above. So it was a really innovative design when they came out with it to fit in that bay.
Now, I will say the way they make it so it can fit in that bay is that it just made it longer. So instead of being 24 by 24, these are 16 by 36 now. So they do extend out a little bit longer. But again, it makes first floor applications in an existing home possible. It does save the customer a couple bucks because we don’t have to go in there and head off a bay to fit the unit as well, so there’s some savings there.
Ceiling vs Wall Units
John: And then you’re putting it up in the ceiling as opposed to putting a unit on the wall. So that might work, especially in something like a kitchen where you might have cabinetry and you don’t really have wall space to put a unit.
Jared: Exactly. And a lot of customers like that flush mount look. Obviously, we got the wall unit right behind me here. Some customers just really don’t like the looks of that. So something that recesses and sits flat in the ceiling can be really appealing to a lot of our customers.
Types of Mitsubishi Heat Pumps
John: Are there any other types of Mitsubishi heat pumps that are available and maybe any features that Mitsubishi has that are unique?
Jared: Yeah. I mean, like all the manufacturers, they’ve got a wide variety of products, air handlers, your typical wall units, floor mount units on and so forth. They’ve got their IC sensor, which a lot of customers are pretty interested in. There’s a little sensor that sits underneath the wall unit. It actually scans the room. It scans the room, both looking for people, but hot and cold spots. You can direct the unit to either direct the air towards you or direct the air away from you.
So, maybe if you’re feeling a little hot and you want some cooling, you can have it direct the air out. Say you’re finding a little drafty, you can have it direct the air away from you, and much like that. Again, it’ll scan the room and look for hot and cold spots and direct the air to either those hot or cold spots to try to even out the temperature. So certainly a nice little feature that they have there.
And a lot of their equipment also has Wi-Fi capability. They call it the kumo cloud system. So that allows customers to remotely access this equipment, adjust it, check on it. Some of it will even give you maintenance reminders and possibly any issues that might be going on with the system. Can even give you what your usage of electricity has been with these systems. So they’ve got some nice apps or a nice app to be able to monitor your system as well.
Installing a Mitsubishi Heat Pump
John: Okay. Talk a little bit about the installation process for a Mitsubishi heat pump and how that differs from traditional heating and cooling systems.
Jared: Yeah, much like other mini split manufacturers, these are really great options for customers in retrofit applications where maybe adding ductwork might not be a great possibility, and the diversity of their line will really give us the ability to install this equipment in virtually anybody’s house or scenarios. As I said, they’re not very invasive into the home. We do have ducted versions for customers that don’t want to see wall units or floor mounts, so that is a nice feature as well. So it’s just a very diverse product line, which, again, allows us to come up with a solution for any customer’s homes. And you add in the fact that they’ve got their hyper heat that has 100% capacity at five degrees, and then we’ll continue to operate down to negative 13. So anything we might experience here on Cape, this could be a nice primary source of heat for those customers.
Maintenance and Upkeep on Mitsubishi Heat Pumps
John: What about maintenance and upkeep on Mitsubishi heat pumps? Is it a lot to maintain them and keep them working efficiently?
Jared: Well, certainly it’s not something that we recommend customers to do on their own. The one thing we will recommend customers do is every few weeks or few months, check the filters and wash those as needed. But yearly, customers do need to have us come out and clean these systems. With the inverter technology, these systems have much longer runtime than a typical HVAC system. Now, on the cooling side of thing, that means our coils are staying wet for long periods of time. And what likes wet, cool, damp dark atmospheres? Well mold and mildew. So these units, even with annual cleaning and proper operation, can develop a lot of mold and mildew. So having us come out each year and clean these units is really essential.
Why we don’t recommend customers do it is we’ve got to take the whole case assembly apart. We’ve got to bib the unit. We’ve got a sprayer that we use to really get in between those coils and those fins to make sure that we get every bit of dirt and mold and mildew out of these units. It is a service we offer. We’ve got our cake care plan also, which is a nice feature that customers can sign up for just a low monthly payments versus having to pay a large upfront fee, which also allows them to get some added benefits of priority service during the week and weekend service calls, as well as discounts on any service work that might need to be made.
Are Mitsubishi Heat Pumps Environmentally Sustainable?
John: Okay. And then, a lot of people these days are really focused on sustainability and energy efficiency. How did these Mitsubishi heat pumps align with those trends?
Jared: Absolutely. As we’ve discussed on these before, Massachusetts and specifically the Mass Save program, there’s a really large push towards electrification. And heat pumps quite frankly, if we’re going to electrify our homes and our cars and all that, heat pumps are really going to be the only economical way to be able to heat and cool our homes with that whole electrification trend. So Mitsubishi obviously being the largest mini-split brand out there really fits into that very well to allow these customers to hop on that bandwagon and electrify their homes.
John: All right, well, that’s really great information, Jared. Thanks again for speaking with me today.
Jared: Thanks for having me, John.
Information About Cape Cod Heat Pumps
John: And for more information, you can visit the Cape Cod Heat Pumps website at ccheatpumps.com or call (508) 833-4822.