Mini Split Data

Abstract ordered ascending steps illustration in violet and pale lilac on white — decorative header for How We Compile These Figures

How we compile these figures

Every number on this site is derived from published manufacturer specifications by a repeatable process. This page describes that process, including the parts of it that fail.

Where the data comes from

We collect mini split listings from major retail catalogues and extract each specification the manufacturer publishes — BTU capacity, claimed coverage area, SEER2, noise level, voltage, refrigerant, weight and dimensions. Nothing is measured by us, and nothing is estimated.

Normalising units

Manufacturers state the same quantity in different ways, and voltage is the clearest case: listings say 110, 115 and 120 volts for one thing and 208, 220 and 230 for another. Electrically there are two circuits here, not six voltages, and what a buyer needs to know is whether an existing circuit will do or an electrician is required. So the six collapse to two.

Cleaning the corpus

This is the cleanest scrape on this network: zero accessory-headed listings out of 94. That is not luck. Four earlier corpora were polluted because their search terms named accessories — one EV charger scrape came back 43% adapters because “NACS to J1772 Adapter” was itself a search term. Here the terms named the product and only the product, so line sets, wall brackets, condenser pads and covers never entered the results and never had to be filtered out.

3 products were removed as not being mini splits: window units, portable air conditioners and through-the-wall systems, which are different products that answer the same search.

Where physics rules a figure out

A mini split head is rated between 6,000 and 60,000 BTU and covers between 150 and 2,000 square feet; SEER2 runs from about 13 to 30. Cells outside those ranges are measuring something else — this corpus contained a claimed coverage of 5 square feet and a capacity of 3,224 BTU. In those cases the cell is discarded and the rest of the listing kept, because discarding the whole product would lose a real unit over one bad figure.

The sizing check, and exactly what it is

The unit’s own BTU rating divided by the coverage area its own listing claims, against a rule of thumb of roughly 20 BTU per square foot. It is arithmetic on two published numbers and nothing more.

It measures internal consistency, not correctness. A unit reading 14 BTU per square foot is making a bolder coverage claim than one reading 20 — that claim may still be right for a well-insulated room in a mild climate. What the figure cannot know is your ceiling height, insulation, window area, orientation or climate, and every one of those moves the real answer, sometimes by a third. Sizing a system properly is a Manual J load calculation, and that is a professional’s job. We publish the arithmetic because the alternative is that two numbers sit side by side on a box and nobody ever divides them.

How baselines are computed

A baseline is the median of a specification within one group. Groups here are BTU class, room-size band and circuit type — each taken on its own.

That is a departure from how a larger corpus would do it, and the reason is arithmetic. 5 classes by four bands is twenty combinations, and this corpus fills almost none with enough listings for a median to describe anything.

Room-size bands are: up to 500 sq ft, 500 – 750 sq ft, 750 – 1,000 sq ft, 1,000 sq ft and up. Nothing in this corpus rates below 400 square feet — the smallest head made is a 9,000 BTU unit sold for around 450 — so the smallest band is an upper bound rather than a range, and a 250 square foot room is served by it.

A group needs at least 8 listings before a baseline is published. 11 of the 11 groups clear that bar.

What we will not publish

  • Star ratings and review counts. Not in any form, including paraphrase.
  • Exact prices. Prices change daily; a scraped price is misleading by the time it is read.
  • Estimated specifications. Where a manufacturer has not published a figure, the page says not stated.
  • Test results. We do not test, so we have none.
  • Load calculations. We publish one piece of arithmetic and label it as such. Sizing a system is not ours to do.

Known limits

HSPF2, line set length and air throw are too sparsely published to support comparison, so none is offered. The corpus reflects one retail catalogue at one point in time, and units sold through HVAC wholesalers are absent. Figures were last computed on 2026-08-28.