Heat Pump System Halves Heating Costs

Challenge:

Best known for its trophy Walleye and Northern Pike, Little Bay de Noc is located at the northern most part of Green Bay in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In 1936, local carpenter Walfred Lindberg built his first guest cabin on this 900-foot stretch of the Lake Michigan shoreline and started a small vacation resort called Lindberg’s Cabins. Fifty years later, his son John bought the 9-acre property from his father including seven one and two bedroom cottages. He changed the name to Lindberg’s Cove Resort.

On the chilly Upper Peninsula, the summer tourist season extends from mid-May through mid-November. For the next 20 years, with heat from 1952 oil space heaters, the Lindbergs kept five guest cabins open year-round. With the rising cost of heating oil, Lindberg looked for ways to cut his energy costs. He was spending over $20,000 a year on utility costs alone. He started by making the cabins more energy-efficient adding insulation, new windows and doors.

His greatest expense was heating oil. In the peak of winter, for the seven cottages, he was spending $1,000 for oil every three weeks. In 2006, a neighbor built a home for elder care and installed a Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) zoning system from Mitsubishi Electric Cooling and Heating Solutions, Suwanee, Ga. Impressed by its energy efficient performance and super quiet operation, Lindberg contacted Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Dealer^™ Berger & King, Inc. in nearby Escanaba, Mich.

Solution:

Aaron Berger, residential sales manager, and HVAC consultant Andy Senti, Tem Tek LLC, Lake Mills, Wis., told Lindberg about the new Mitsubishi Electric split-ductless heat pump system designed for northern climates with extremely cold winters. The equipment is ENERGY STAR^® rated and qualifies for residential tax credits, as stipulated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (also known as the Stimulus Bill). The outdoor units are rated at 22 SEER, operate as low as 56 dB(A) and boast the best heating performance in the ductless business. The indoor units are whisper quiet operating as low as 22 dB(A) – especially beneficial for hospitality installations. The system operates at 92 percent of its rated heating capacity at 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

Impressed, Lindberg was also pleased that the Mitsubishi Electric units would deliver comfortable cooling solutions for hot and humid summer months. “The cottages have never been air conditioned,” Lindberg said. “We know that air conditioning will bring us higher traffic in the summer – especially from our female guests.”

Senti explained that the system’s INVERTER driven compressor has a dry mode feature for humidity control that is key to comfort for the cooling months. The dry mode keeps the indoor coil temperature around 40 degrees while reducing the fan speed to maintain the set temperature and dry out the space.

Lindberg gave Berger approval to install a Mitsubishi Electric split-ductless system in each cottage. “Over the past nine months, the Mitsubishi Electric systems have performed outstandingly,” Lindberg said. “The summer months were a pleasant surprise: we heard from all our old customers complimenting us on the indoor comfort and quiet. In January 2010, temperatures dropped to -10 degrees. When I checked my cabin interiors, every one held a temperature of 65 degrees, just where I had set them. My January per cabin heating cost was cut in half! Mitsubishi Electric’s performance exceeded my expectations.”