HVAC expert James Smithell explains why working with a Mitsubishi ductless heat pump specialist can make a major difference in system performance and reliability. He discusses the importance of proper Manual J load calculations, correct equipment sizing, and following manufacturer rules for line length and installation to avoid issues like short cycling and warranty problems. The conversation also covers how general contractors often miss these details when installing multiple brands. Smithell highlights Mitsubishi’s strong cold-weather performance, quiet operation, and long warranties, while also addressing common myths about ductless systems and explaining the minimal maintenance required for long-term efficiency.
John Maher: Hi, I am John Maher. I’m here today with James Smithell of New England Heat Pump Company, a locally owned and family operated company with over 20 years of experience in the HVAC industry, specializing in Mitsubishi heat pumps and ductless heating and cooling systems. Today we’re talking about Mitsubishi ductless heat pumps and why a specialist installer matters. Welcome, Jimmy.
Jimmy Smithell: Thanks for having me on, John.
Deciding to Specialize in Mitsubishi Ductless Systems
John: Sure. Jimmy, why did you choose to be a specialist in Mitsubishi ductless heating and cooling systems, and what do you gain by not trying to just install every brand?
Jimmy: Yeah. I personally have been installing a Mitsubishi brand for over 20 years. I would say first and foremost, Mitsubishi stands behind that product, right? We’ve all had our problems. I would tell you at a corporate level, Mitsubishi really backs up their contractor, right? Whether it’s sending out service technicians from their side trying to figure out what’s going on. I’ve seen them come in and just replace whole systems.
So, they’ve really partnered up with their contractors and really stood behind them and always done the right thing. From what I have seen, right? Passed history, we installed over 400 plus of these units per year, and we couldn’t even roll one service van full time. So, that just goes to show you quality of this stuff. It’s amazing. I have it in my own house, in my own offices. I’m not tied to this brand by contract. I choose this brand. It’s great. It’s really good stuff.
Why do Generic Contractors Go Wrong?
John: Where do maybe Jack of all trades type of contractors tend to go wrong with ductless specifically?
Jimmy: Yeah, that’s a big one right there. I would say sizing. Sizing is everything starting with a manual J, you really have to know how to do a manual J, and you really, so that’s 50%, I would say 50% of these home visits in sizing is the manual J. We figure out what does the house need, what is it calling for? What are the homeowner’s goals? And the second part of that, which a lot of people miss, even professionals, is matching the equipment to that manual J, right?
This is a package system that does both heating and cooling. So you really have to look at, it’s high and it’s low, right? So a load calculation is going to tell you, okay, this house needs 30,000 BTUs to heat it, but it only needs 12,000 BTUs to cool it. Cool. So, now we go over to the equipment selection equipment selection, and you really have to find something that falls in between both of those marks.
What we see a lot of contractors do is just going into houses, counting rooms, and then selecting this monster compressor just because that’s how many rooms match the compressor, but the minimum is triple the house load and it just short cycles. So, I would say first and foremost, proper sizing. That’s a real heavy hitter. And second, I would say drains, condensate drains. We see them, I’m not going to say every day, but at least two a week where they’re back pitched. There’s mold, it just gets ugly, right? If they’re not drained properly, these things, it could turn into a nightmare.
What is Short Cycling?
John: You mentioned short cycling. What is that and what kind of problems can you have when you oversize a system?
Jimmy: Yeah, it’s everything. So short cycling, it’s everything bad that you’ll read about heat pumps, and these contractors really give these heat pumps a bad name. Short cycling is the system just being either over or undersized. So, just putting too much air into the room too quick, and it satisfies the unit prematurely and it turns it back on. So, you’ve got a system that’s just constantly going on and off, on and off, on and off.
And what that’s doing to, first of all, the logic bill is just turning it on and off, on and off, on and off it just causing it to go sky high. The second thing that that’s doing is not doing a proper, it’s not conditioning the space properly, right? It’s not pulling the air out and doing it even and slowly like we want it to. A lot of the times it’s causing wet walls where you see, see mold issues. It’s a complete nightmare when they’re not sized, right? Short cycling, it’s bad.
Knowledge of Mitsubishi Sizing and Practices
John: And what does a specialist know about Mitsubishi sizing and line set practices and set up that somebody who just generalizes and maybe works with a lot of different brands they might miss?
Jimmy: Yeah, us as a Mitsubishi specialist, all of my guys go through factory training. All of my guys have been in the field for many years doing this. So I’ll tell you, there’s certain rules with certain compressors. I know every Mitsubishi rule off the back of my hand and should every other contractor in my opinion. So there’s certain line lengths that we have to follow. There’s certain heights where a condenser, if you’re going to mount it, let’s say we’re looking at a brownstone and the units are going under it, there’s certain heights that are going to matter there.
Every bend that you put in the pipe is going to take away from the eventual maximum line length that are required by factory. I’m not saying the system’s not going to work. If you exceed that, you’re going to avoid your warranty and burn out the compressor. And when a professional comes out to look at it like myself and tries to file under warranty, they’re not going to allow it because it’s just not within warranty specs and manufacturer specs.
Problems with Not Specializing in One Brand
John: So, by not specializing in one particular brand, the contractor tends not to be able to memorize all of those rules. Every different brand has its own rules. And so they may be mistaking, oh yeah, we can do that. And then they forget, oh no, that’s not what MIT Mitsubishi wants for their systems.
Jimmy: Yeah, you got it. I mean, every brand’s going to have their own rules and their own. If we look at equipment sizing, like what we just talked about on a turn up, turn down the ratios of that system, how low it can go, how high it can go, all of that stuff changes widely from different brands. So focus in laser beam focused on one brand really gives us the upper hand to know what we got. We know we’re properly sized, we know we’re proper line lengths and bends. We’re not second guessing. We’re not out in the field going, oh, maybe this will work. Maybe will they cover it under warranty? Who knows? We’re a hundred percent when we leave that job, we’re good to go.
How to Compare Beyond Price and BTUs
John: If a homeowner is looking at multiple companies, maybe different brands of ductless systems, how should they compare them beyond just the price and the number of btu?
Jimmy: Yeah, I would say the Mitsubishi brand really speaks for itself. I would go online, do a little bit of homework on that. I think I don’t really have to sell that. It’s going to speak for itself, but I would see how long that other brand’s been in the heat pump industry. Maybe they make other things and have a big name, but not really in this market. We see that a lot. We see some heavy hitter brands coming into this industry that just don’t have the capabilities that Mitsubishi has.
So, everybody talks about a hundred percent capabilities that X amount of temperature, oh, my system can operate down to minus, minus 30, minus 20, whatever the number is. But when we look at the charts, it really speaks for itself. Mitsubishi systems are going to give a hundred percent heat, some of these systems down to minus 10 and operate down into the minus 20 ranges, still give a good percent of that compressor, just amazing equipment. If you really look at the specs and the engineering charts, it’s going to speak for itself.
Reduced Performance of Other Brand Heat Pumps
John: Amazing. So with other brands, you might end up at that minus 10 temperature. Rather than getting a hundred percent of the heating capacity, you’re only getting 70% of the heating capacity or 50% of the heating capacity. And so then that’s going to just cost you more money.
Jimmy: You got it. And it’s not going to heat the house. So again, a lot of these customers in the Boston, Massachusetts area are after these rebates and contractors are putting these in unknowingly with these engineering charts. They’re not really looking at where is a hundred percent heat. They’re just head focused on, oh, this system operates down to minus crazy. But when it’s a cold snap, like what we just had here, and the system won’t keep up, it’s because of the equipment. It’s nothing to do with anything else besides the equipment just is not size. It loses 50, 60, 70% size anything after 15 degrees. So you size a system for the load load, now you’re 50% smaller on that cold day. So it really, matters brand matters.
Myths About Mitsubishi Ductless Systems
John: Are there any common myths that you hear about Mitsubishi systems or even ductless systems in general that people should be aware of? And what do you say to those myths?
Jimmy: Yeah, I see everything. And from the good to the bad to the ugly, we tell it straight. We see a lot of contractors telling customers that they run really cheap and they don’t. Every scenario is different. If a customer has oil, we’ll run cheaper than that system. If a customer has a very high efficient, let’s just say gas system that’s modulating and all these great things, we might not run cheaper than that system.
So again, we just want to be upfront and honest with these homeowners and not try to sell ’em something that it’s not. So, I would say that’s one of the big ones is the operating cost. Customers hear this or that 40% more efficient doesn’t translate into 40% less to operate. It’s more efficient because it’s kind of creating its own energy. It’s pulling in air and using the heat or AC that’s, I shouldn’t say ac, but the cooling that’s in that air kind of just bursting it through it. But those are a few myths that I hear. Those are the heavy hitter ones. Yeah.
Are Ductless Systems Noisy?
John: What about that ductless systems are noisy? Is that something that you hear people say a lot?
Jimmy: Yeah, they’re whisper quiet. Actually, I have one running right behind me and you can’t even hear it’s, I
John: Can’t hear it at all.
Jimmy: They’re ridiculously quiet. I tell my customers to definitely go see one in person because it sounds like an oversell. If we’re telling ’em, it’s literally you can’t hear it. They always think it’s part of a sales tactic or something. They’re insanely quiet. The outdoor units, you really don’t even hear them running. They’re insanely quiet.
Ductless System Maintenance
John: What about maintenance? Does a ductless system take a lot to maintain it?
Jimmy: Nope, not at all. So these systems burn. They don’t burn any fuel, so they don’t have soot. We burn electricity, but we run on Freon, right? So it’s like they of it, like your freezer, right? It’s plugging into the wall, but Freons doing the magic there. It’s kind of like that, but much more advanced, not a lot of service. So we recommend once a year we send out our team. We go through, it’s basically like a 22 point inspection. We clean the filters, we look at the bearings, the wheels. It’s all just maintenance type stuff, typically is what we’re doing. So not a ton of maintenance, but we do recommend at least once or twice a year, depending on the use, having a professional come out and do a preventative maintenance on it. Yep.
Warranty Information About Mitsubishi Systems
John: Is there any warranty information that people should be aware of upfront?
Jimmy: Yeah, I would say look at who you’re having in your house. For a contractor, professionals like us, like myself, we’re going to be a Diamond dealer status. So we’re going to offer you the best warranties that are available on the market. It’s a 12 year warranty on the compressor, 12 year warranty on the components. So anything with the Mitsubishi sticker on it is under that 12 year warranty. And I would say make sure that the contractor is registering that equipment. That’s a big one too. So they’ll offer you all this great stuff, but it has to be registered under the homeowner within 90 days to qualify for those proper warranties. So, that’s something that the homeowner could definitely ask the contractor is, do you guys handle the warranty paperwork and that type of thing.
John: So you’ll typically handle that paperwork for the consumer so that the homeowner doesn’t have to do that themselves.
Jimmy: Our office staff handles everything soup to nuts. Yep.
John: All right. Well that’s really great information, Jimmy. Thanks again for speaking with me today.
Jimmy: Thank you, John. Take care.
John: And for more information, you can visit the New England Heat Pump Company website at neheatpumpco.com.
