Minisplit exposure: North? East? West? South?
Does the exposure direction of the outdoor unit matter much?
If I assume a relatively sheltered install, does the exposure to Southern sun make an appreciable difference in heating efficiency? I don’t get much sun here in Southern Ontario, but the coldest days tend to be sunny ones.
I’m trying to decide to install my FH09 on the North or South wall of my main living area. Ultimately, my wife will probably get the final say based on aesthetics. (I used up my my bargaining power just convincing her to get the Mits Mini Split over a standard 13seer ducted split in my creaky old leaky ductwork). But if North exposed units are more prone to defrost issues, I might try a little hard to get the outdoor unit on a south wall, even if means a little extra lineset.
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Josh,
This discussion comes up a lot here on GBA. Briefly, the effect of the sun or shade is irrelevant. It's all about air temperature, which is the same on all four orientations.
After this message is posted, some GBA readers will post comments explaining that I'm wrong. Trust me, however. Huge volumes of air are involved, and the temperature of the air near your siding is irrelevant.
Thanks, that's what I suspected but it's good to have it validated. We get a bunch of thaws throughout the winter so snow/ice buildup isn't a huge concern as long as I'm a couple feet off the ground.
Martin is wrong!
Just kidding.
We are in New Hampshire (CZ 6) and have a mini split mounted (it's elevated) on the north side of our house (metal roof, large volumes of snow slide off and build up around house). The one thing I will say is that snow management is easier on the south side of the house, the built up snow compacts and melts quicker. During big snow years and storms, I do shovel around the mini split to make sure the snow doesn't build up. If the mini split was on the south side, I probably wouldn't have to shovel around it.
On the other hand, if you mounted on the south side, I could see the sun taking a toll on susceptible material like plastic covers for the lineset.
Overall, I'd make your decision on aesthetics and shortest lineset, but also take into account snow management and sun exposure on material.
Thanks, it sounds like snow management is a bigger concern than efficiency considerations.
Speculation, but my guess is that wind exposure has a negative effect on defrost.
Probably, I was trying to keep things normalized. But I agree, you probably don't want to subject it to horizontal wind driven snow.