Mini Split Installation in Billings, MT
A new system here will heat from September through May and cool from July through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Yellowstone County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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Billings asks a mini-split to run nine months a year
Winter nights here average 16°F from December through February, and a mini-split has to keep pulling heat out of air that cold for months at a stretch. Summer asks less of it, with afternoons averaging 83°F in July and August. Between the two, homes here need heat or cooling 11 months out of the year, and the heating side of that job runs from September through May.
A new mini-split installed today has to meet the federal minimum for a split-system heat pump, 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. Given how long the heating side of that job runs here, the HSPF2 rating is the one worth asking about.
- 9 months
- September through May, your system heats
- 2 months
- July through August, it cools
- 16°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 83°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Montana requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Montana licenses HVAC contractors as a business, not job by job. That license means the state has tested the contractor and keeps a record of them. The state also sets a line at $2,500. Work under that amount does not need a licensed contractor. A mini-split installation runs well past that line, so this is a job the state expects a licensed contractor to hold.
The license covers the contractor. The installation itself gets checked separately, through the local building office. In most cities and counties, putting in a mini-split needs a permit, and the work gets inspected once it is done. That inspection is what confirms the unit was installed correctly, not the license itself.
Source: Montana Legislature
- Is a mini split worth it?
- For most Billings homes, yes, especially if you're heating a space that doesn't have ductwork or adding cooling to a house that never had it. Winters here run cold, down to 16°F on average overnight through December, January and February, so check that any unit you're considering is rated to keep up at those temperatures. A cold-climate mini split can still pull heat from outdoor air well below freezing, but not every model is built for it. A contractor can tell you which units hold their output at Billings winter temperatures and whether one covers your whole heating load or just takes the edge off alongside your existing furnace.
- How many rooms can a mini split cover?
- A single outdoor unit can run one indoor head or several, depending on the system. Single-zone systems heat and cool one room or open area. Multi-zone systems connect one outdoor compressor to several indoor heads, each running its own room independently. How many zones one outdoor unit can support depends on its capacity and the size of the rooms it's feeding, so a contractor will size it room by room rather than guess at a number.
- Can a mini split heat a whole house?
- It can, if it's sized and placed for the whole house rather than one room. That takes either enough indoor heads to reach every room or a layout with open sight lines between them, since a mini split has no ductwork to carry heat where the unit itself isn't. Billings homes need heat nine months of the year, September through May, with lows averaging 16°F in the coldest stretch, so the system has to be rated to hold its heat output at those temperatures, not just at mild ones. A contractor can size a system against your house's layout and tell you whether it can carry the whole heating load or works better paired with your existing furnace.