Summers up here are just getting to be too hot. Think of me as a Newfoundland or sled type dog, just shaped like a human.
FWIW I am running a Blaze King Ashford 30 in 1200sqft, it was installed May 2014. I cycled 8 cords through that thing every winter for a while, got by on five cords each of the last two winters and might get by with four cords this winter if the weather keeps doing what it has been doing. I do have eight cords ready to go just in case, but it has been uncomfortably hot and humid for me up here this summer for six weeks already, with no end in sight; instead of the usual two weeks of summer misery that should have ended two weeks ago.
I have two fundamental questions.
1. Where do I put the vapor barrier in new construction when I am running both heat and AC?
2. At what square footage or conditioned volume do heat pumps get up on an efficiency plateau? With pellet stoves it is around 1800-2000 sqft. With cord wood stoves some of the smaller ones can do OK now in 1500 sqft, but they also really settle in around 2000 conditioned sqft and up. Typical house size and weather for the lower 48. With these minisplits some of you folks are running it sounds like I could go pretty small for an AC area.
I am kinda toying with the idea of building the retirement home with attached shop as a cold climate building with the vapor barrier directly under the drywall, heated in the winter with humidity control and fresh air flow in the hot season, and then building a separate but very nearby shed/ tiny house sized building 200-400 sqft with the vapor barrier on the outer face of the wall so I could cool it in the summer as office and sometimes sleeping space, and not go out there in the wintertime.
3. How do you keep mold out of your insulation when running both heat and AC?
Thanks for your input, I moved up here to get away from long hot summers and it isn't working.