I posed a similar question last year with mixed opinion for other building,but it had ducts so I went with central air. This one no ducts, baseboard heat. --172.58.xx.xx

Let the tenants put in window bangers if its humid. --47.216.xx.xxx

I love our mini splits. They have gotten cheaper through the years, and 24,000 BTU units, enough for a large home now run just over $1,000 online. Find a local HVAC contractor looking for side work to install, My guy charges a $500 flat fee including the misc. parts for installation takes him about three hours. Good money for him. --213.122.xxx.xx

We use through-wall heat pumps with AC. Price are up, about $700. --50.82.xxx.xx

Live the Dream, I thought so too. While a swamp cooler at Lowes here is around 499, the HVAC bids I'm getting to put a new swamper in including the unit (on the roof) are 1800-2700 a piece! Last year an HVAC friend I know said he'd install mini splits for 2800 per unit. My only hesitation is that I'm not familiar with them, repair issues, or if local HVAC workers know how to work on them. But if they're that close in price to swamper (I'm sure this year slightly more $ with tariffs), I'd love to consider something that's not a tub of.water on the roof and with all the maintenance. --172.58.xx.xx

For those using mini splits, do they require much maintenance? Are replacement parts easy enough to get? --172.58.xx.xx

I don’t have personal experience with mini splits, but they are extremely popular here in Maine because they can heat and cool at a better cost than natural gas and oil. --70.20.xx.xxx

Yes but a good one is really expensive. I just got a Mitsubishi and it cost me six grand. I really want to recommend window units to you. I have a big house duplex and they installed ducts in the attic to the second floor and ducts in the basement to the first floor. The air handler is in the basement for floor one and in a closet on floor two. Is there any kind of attic there? I have also used portable roll around AC units. They have a large hose and it goes out the window through a special flat bracket that fits in the open window. It does let in a little hot air around the bracket. The first mini split I had was $1500 and it lasted five years. I have a Fujitsu on the second floor of another duplex and that was over 3K but a tech said it was very easy to repair and the manual is online. Mistubishi requires techs to be trained by them. The Mitsu is really quiet and really big outside. I am happy with it so far. My house is 700 sq. ft on the first floor and it's an 18000 btu and it's kind of overkill. I provided window units in my fourplexes. They were 5K btu and the handman placed all 16 ov the for both duplexes every spring and took them back to the basement in fall. I sold those buildings when I started to get sick and then found out I had cancer. But those 5K ACs were all that was necessary. Make sure you electric can handle it. You can try to talk the tenants into leaving them in the room in winter behind a piece of furniture on the floor. Now these minis are supposed to be able to do more than one room via a channel on the wall but I was told the tubes don't bend well and it does't really work. You can check that out with a competent installer instead of a big liar like the one who installed the Fujitsu five years ago. I hope this helps. --173.61.xxx.xx

Thanks, great details, AllyM. These are the nuances that are hard to find online. The (4) apartments are 2BR/1 1/4 BA 2 stories each, like townhome style with their own downstairs and upstairs. While I've briefly considered window units,previous HVAC bidder said it would be expensive to run and likely need more than one window unit, one upstairs and one down. Each BR has only one window so it might be unsightly and dark to block one with window unit? Maybe that's the price to pay.Hope your healing is going smooth. Good job lightening up your load. --172.58.xx.xx

I got rid of all my swamp coolers years ago, way too much maintenance and invariably they leak or the humidity causes more damage near the opening. In a couple of smaller places I framed in a hole in the outside wall and slid a window unit into the hole and put some trim around it. It's worked great, I have had to replace one unit after about 5 years. I had to shop around a little to find the right size to fit the hole in the wall but it has worked great so far and really cheap to do. --50.26.xx.xxx

I wonder if it would be legal to block the only bedroom window with an A/C unit? Removes one of the emergency exits. --73.231.xxx.xxx

Thank you Drew, I got a letter from the cancer center saying that I am now considered a survivor. If anyone has a house with ductwork they could put a mini split on the second floor and it will cool the downstairs too. At my Cute Cape Cod, I put the Fujitsu upstairs to avoid carrying AC units and noticed when the downstairs was empty and I was working on it, that the one Fujitsu upstairs was cooling the whole house because cold air settles and it was coming out of the ducts in all rooms! If the house was a SFH that would be nice for someone to know. I did add central air to it last year though in case the Fujitsu would stop working. I like to have backups and the Fujitsu actually did stop working due to a power surge from a transformer catching on fire across the street. The tech just pushed a button on the outside unit and it started right up. Their manual is online and easy for techs to find. --173.61.xxx.xx

Oh right, CDM. Problematic with no egress. And putting a window unit AC downstairs may create some other security breaches. In the neighborhood a while back, some bad dudes were going through the neighborhood pushing in window ACs and doing their bad thieving deeds. And wonderful news, AllyM! Glad to hear about your survivor status. Much more important than cooling. --172.58.xx.xx

Mini splits have fallen in price dramatically. I’d suggest not paying for a $4,000 name brand Mitsubishi or Fujitsu. We buy Chinese knockoff brand “Pioneer” brand from the “Highseer”. Website. Our HVAC guy says the guts are indistinguishable from the name branded units he installs in his day job. None have broken yet, and when one does, if my guy won’t fix it, I’ll replace the $700 exterior unit or the $300 interior head. --92.170.xxx.xxx

They do require dedicate 220, but we had that from the electric heater. --50.82.xxx.xx

When I turned over an apartment, I try to put in a new 36x36 window from Lowes in each bedroom just for AC - perfect size for a bedroom 5k btu AC unit. Cut through drywall and exterior stucco with a saw, frame it in, install dual pane window - cheaper than other solutions with a $100 Walmart window AC. Just put in a window AC for a tenant since she has been good about paying the rent in her 1 bedroom apartment - happy camper for summertime. --201.140.xxx.xx

I have a split unit in my vacation home, I love it. Granted it’s a vacation home and not getting used as much as a full time house, but I have had zero issues with it and it’s now probably 10 years old. --71.248.xxx.xxx

JKJ, awesome, do you know the brand name? --172.58.xx.xx

JR, thanks for letting me and others know that the guts are the same in the high end and less expensive units. Since I can't install myself I have to rent people to go with the unit. Buying the Mitsubishi from a HVAC company in high end Princeton NJ got me three crews if necessary and a very good tech who was here to diagnose the Fujitsu in the rental that went off after a lightning storm and press the button on it to get it working again outside in that case. So I don't have to call around to find somebody to work on something they didn't install. And that HVAC company doesn't want bad reviews online from people so they are doing a good job. So for 6K I got a whole bunch of people too. --173.61.xxx.xx

I have a meeting with my HVAC guy on Monday to go over mini-split option(s)/bid and I will see what he's recommending including brand. I reached out to one of his previous clients who he installed mini split for 4 years ago and she said it's great and that she's had very minimal issues. If all is a go, I am tentatively thinking that I will do mini-split in the most urgent unit in my 4-plex that is currently without any form of AC and let the other units ontinue with old roof swampers for now. This way I get to try it on. It's not like I have people lined up to replace the old swamp coolers anyway. HVAC companies are so slammed right now out here I've gotten either no call back, declines on the job all together, or what seem to me as extremely high bids 1800-2700 per roof swamp cooler install (and removal of old one) and a 3-4 week wait. And then I still have a stinkin swamp cooler on the roof! (Insert disgusted face emoji). --172.58.xx.xx

How long has your oldest one been operating? --70.92.xx.xx

Five years. Never had a service call yet. We use them in Maine years round. Two months for AC and ten months for heat! Only maintenance is to remove filter and rinse out twice a year. --173.209.xxx.xxx

Drew, off the top of my head I think it’s either a Mitsubishi or Toshiba but I’m not 100%. I’m heading up to NH today when I get off shift, when I get there I’ll look and let you know. But again I have not had a single problem with it and love it. --71.248.xxx.xxx

Drew, it’s a 24,000 btu Mitsubishi. Again this is just my experience, but I have had zero problems since I bought it and you could almost hang meat in the house it cools so well. I installed it myself and wired the disconnect and the unit itself. Then I had a local heating and a/c company charge the system saving myself a good chunk of money --72.224.xxx.xxx

JKJ, thanks for checking that out! Got it. And JR too. Wonderful. This is all feeling like good news. --172.58.xx.xx

I have been getting rid of my swamp coolers. They work good, but in today’s world I think they are only good for somebody who owns their own place and is handy enough to get on the roof and make repairs and maintenance themselves. My employees aren’t really insured to go on roofs and hiring contractors just isn’t worth it. I can easily replace with window or wall AC units but what might work for you would be a roof mounted RV style AC unit. I bought a place that had one of these. It’s 110v 12000 btu and works great. You can find reasonable priced mini splits, but it’s much harder to self install and as you’ve seen, HVAC guys want big bucks for their time. --174.213.xx.xx

Brian, thanks! And yes exactly as you've said. Same reasons here (getting rid of SC) I've tried to wrap my head around other alternatives including AC units, window mounted or otherwise. But being these are two story townhome style places w/out vents, I would probably need something on each floor? I will meet with my HVAC friend this week. He is retired and only does periodic side jobs; last year he floated me a good price on mini-splits if I ever wanted to consider. So we see... --172.58.xx.xx

As a poor immigrant from the farm in CoDerryWhats a swamp cooler.Seems like like you’re talking a different language,almost like the character on Fifth Avenue,we just don’t understand. Back in Derry ,they laugh when you mention AC maybe after this year they won’t.The temperature in Paris the other day was112 degrees F. Around 45 C almost never heard off previousouly. So things are changing all over the World,no matter what some people tell you..........Charlie......... --32.214.xxx.xx

CJ it's nice to see a post from you. I'm not sure what a swamp cooler is either but I think it involves spraying water which has a cooling effect when it dries. Makes me think of Legionnaires Disease though. I seem to recall that's what they were using in Philly hotel where that started. So France had some ninety degree temps about ten years ago and a lot of people died because of no AC. It's a cycle and it's back. Alaska had ninety degrees yesterday too and their hottest record temp was 85 prior to yesterday. The moon's gravitational pull controls the movement of the jet stream and air flow so I guess that's what is going on. Plus there might be some extra warm ocean waters due to undersea volcanoes. --173.61.xxx.xx

Forgot to mention that the guy who installed my Mitsubishi put the drain pipe right up to the foundation and cut it just right to go down along the wall. I checked that when I found water in the basement along that wall. He also hung the inside unit crooked. Pot smoker? But I did question him the day they installed since it was mud at the site of the installation and I had been told the pad could not be put down if it was muddy. So I guess he resented my questions and got even. I got a large piece of gutter pipe and directed the condensation draining away from the foundation. --173.61.xxx.xx

Miss Ally,glad to see you’re back too and rid of the cancer ,I got whacked with it about 16 years ago ,but now I seem to be alright,it’s just one of those bumps in the road, that we have to take in stride.Thanks for the information about the “swamp cooler”.........Charlie............there’s always water on for a cup of coffee if you decide to stop by............ or tea!....... --32.214.xxx.xx

Even though it was 112 degrees in the streets of Paris,The houses are built with a kind of Shale blocks which make them fairly cool inside. ......just similar to the cement blocks we used,but not as heavy.......Charlie................ --32.214.xxx.xx