Senville AURA Series Mini Split Air Conditioner Inverter Heat Pump, 12000 BTU, Works with Alexa, Energy Star, White

So I live 20 minutes south of Boston for climate reference. Bought a 12k aura series unit first week of December 2024. My house is oil heat with forced airabs about 800sqft. I am an electrician and I have a Freon license so I install mini splits occasionally. I was curious if these actually saved people money considering how expensive electricity is and how cheap oil is. Now I installed this second week of December it’s is current my first week of April, so I have full months of January and February electric bills (coldest months here). Also have national grid (most expensive electricity you can have unfortunately) and my Jan bill was up $140 and Feb was up $120. Now both of those months were very cold single digits in F(that’s when heat pump works hardest). But now march was around 30 degrees and bill was only up $40 (from my understanding pumps don’t work as hard when not battling the freezing temps). Heat is kept at 71 and I NEVER turned on my oil heat once all winter. Even with my expensive electricity it is much cheaper to run this then oil and don’t need to rely on a truck in the winter to fill you up. I’m very impressed a single 12k btu head heated my whole house all winter for about $400 total. My house was built in the 60s so not super “tight” but does have blown insulation in walls and attic and has a very open concept. This is an honest review from a real cheap person. Would recommend 100% and if you get cheap electricity it’s a no brainer.

We purchased the Senville SENA-18HF-Z to replace the portable heat pump/AC units we've been using in an outbuilding which houses a 280sf studio and a separate 90sf cattery room (about 3500 cf total). Those portable units, at a cost of about $400-$600 each, would last for about two years running 24/7 before quitting, not to mention having to manually select heat/cool/dehumidifier modes - a real PITA when you're dealing with extreme temperature fluctuations and animal housing. With the price of these mini-splits now so affordable, it was a no-brainer to finally make the leap when one of the portable units died again. We opted to go with Senville over the next closest contender we looked at, Mr. Cool, based on cost, energy efficiency, warranty and length of lineset (16 ft standard, longer available; Mr. Cool only offers 25 ft length).The hardest part of the installation was finding a qualified HVAC person to come out and do the final hookup to qualify for the warranty. Most companies I contacted understandably want to do the whole installation, either with systems they carry or exclusively work on (e.g., Mitsubishi and Daikin). Before pulling the purchasing trigger, I found a company who agreed to do the final portion of the installation with the system we wanted to buy, for $400. While we waited for the Senville to arrive, we ran the new electrical line and quick disconnect box Siemens WN2060U Non-Fused AC Disconnect. We also had to figure out how we were going to circulate the conditioned air into the smaller cattery side of the building, and ended up installing a couple intake fans through an inside window Achla Designs Room-to-Room Minuteman Doorway Fan and an exhaust fan Fan, Room To Room, 8 In through the wall.Our system arrived from So Good to Buy in about 2 weeks, one week earlier than the shipping estimate. Everything we needed was included (except for a 12-4 or 14-4 power cord, which we bought locally but can also buy here MINI SPLIT CABLE 25FT LENGTH), and we installed both the air handler (indoor) and condenser (outdoor) units over two days. The directions aren't great; I think the instructions assume you're an HVAC professional and know what you're doing. There was no wall template for installing the air handler bracket. They use the same directions for several systems and it's not clear what diagrams go with what since they're not keyed by model number. With a little common sense it's not hard to figure out how the units get mounted and what the basic hookups entail. Since the condenser was going to be located on the side of the studio above our parking area, we opted to rent a material lifter to safely hoist it up about 8 feet onto the brackets Outdoor Mounting Bracket for Ductless Mini Split Air Conditioner Heat Pump Systems, Universal, 9000-36000 Btu Condenser we purchased separately. The condenser only weighs about 130 lbs. but the weight is very unevenly distributed and wouldn't have been fun for two people on ladders to deal with. For the final work, our HVAC guy checked the electrical, evacuated lines, hooked everything up, released the refrigerant and checked the system for proper function. He was also prepared to bend the lineset and cut/reflare the lineset ends but didn't have to. Since the Senville needs a minimum of 10 feet of lineset, he opted to leave it as is and coil the remainder behind the outdoor unit. The big moment came when the system was turned on for the first time; we were thrilled when the studio temperature immediately dropped 15 degrees in about 5 minutes! And the cool air was nicely distributed throughout the whole room, even the loft area. There are no controls on the air handler; you must use the remote to make any adjustments. We've installed the remote and its included holder near the entrance. HVAC guy said the actual thermostat is in the air handler, and there's a convenient lighted display of the current room temperature right on the front panel. Countering the worst review here, I've not found the actual room temperature to be different from whatever I've set it to. Also, the condensor may not be the better-known Mitsubishi or Daikin brands, but is made by Toshiba and has a 7-year warranty.The system has been working fantastically for about a month now, getting us through some very warm days and a full-on 90+ degree heat spell. The air handler is completely silent, and the condenser runs quietly and without any noticeable vibration at all. We've tried the heating and it appears to work as well as the A/C; we'll find out for sure soon enough. This unit was probably a little oversized for what we needed, but I wanted to make sure there was enough power to reach into the poorly-insulated cattery side. With the room-to-room fan setup so far there's only about a 3-5 degree difference, if that. This Senville system has made a world of difference in comfort, convenience and (hopefully) energy savings for us. Now all I have to do is convince my better half to install one or two in our house!UPDATE 9/19/17: We've had to use the heater since it seems Fall has officially arrived and it works just as well as the A/C. There are no hot spots or hot air blowing - just a warm, ambient temperature. We'll see how things go this winter, but so far we haven't had to change the unit out of Auto Mode at all.UPDATE 2/18/20: Our unit continues to to work perfectly! I make sure to vacuum the filter every couple of months due to the dusty, furry conditions in the studio. It is generally set at auto 75 degrees. I have to adjust up or down a little if its cold (in the 30s) or warm (in the 80s or above) in order to keep the poorly insulated adjoining cattery comfortable. If it was just the studio alone I could literally set it and forget it.UPDATE 11/29/2024: This Senville has been working nonstop except during power outages for over 7 years! It has not malfunctioned even once, and continues to provide spot-on temperature regulation. I leave it on Auto and still tweak the temperature up or down, depending on how much moisture is in the air, which seems to affect the feels-like temperature. The only negative I can see is that the insulation around the lineset outside is breaking down. I will probably need to have someone come out and replace it. Lastly, the only other downside was my husband passing away before we could get another unit installed in the house. The takeaway? Don't wait to get it. You'll love it. But also have a backup plan if the power goes out.

I give this unit 5 stars because it heats and cools my house with no problem

Great

Took about 6 hours to install, although I already had power to where the unit was going in, so that saved time. Not super difficult, just a learning curve, as I had never done one before. Next unit would take much less time. Heats well, haven't used cooling yet. Nice controls, runs quiet, looks good. Overall quite happy.

Installed professionally in a 24x24x10 garage. R15 insulation. Heating mode works well but it’s very inconsistent and I had to install a ceiling fan to get enough circulation. At midway between floor and ceiling, it’s 10°-15° colder than the mounting height without the ceiling fan. The display temp is inaccurate and the unit doesn’t modulate enough to keep consistent temp. It runs up to 3° higher than the set temp while the actual room temp is a bit colder than the set temp. All of this is in a cold climate. At 10° to 25°f outside, it’s still cranking out enough heat to keep the garage very comfortable. It’s using about 30 kWh daily to operate which is about $3/ day for my current electric rates. Much higher operation cost than natural gas but I’ll have cooling capacity in the summer. I’m happy with the purchase but if I installed it in my home, I’d be very disappointed.Update: Seville customer service is great and they corrected part of my problem which was with the Alexa App WiFi control module. I recommend getting the WiFi control module that is not linked to Alexa.