The window unit comes out of a 1905 sash at eight in the morning; the mini-split is cooling by four

What changed in this category, and why it matters now

Two things shifted under mini-splits recently. In 2023 the efficiency rating system moved to SEER2, which tests equipment under more realistic conditions and gives lower-looking numbers for the same hardware; a rating from an old brochure and a rating on a current one are not comparable. Then in 2025 new equipment moved off R-410A to lower-global-warming refrigerants. Both changes mean the mini-split you price today is a different machine from the one your neighbor bought in 2019, and old stock at a discount is not the bargain it looks like.

What has not changed: the mini-split remains the best tool for a house without ducts, and Palatka has more of those than almost any town its size. The North and South Historic Districts hold dozens of blocks of frame houses from the 1880s through the 1920s. Palatka Heights has more. Out at the lakes, cottages and fish camps were built for a fan and an open window.

Heads, condensers and the brand question

• One head per lived-in room, not one per house. A single head in a hallway cools a hallway.
• Inverter-driven units, which all current Lennox mini-splits are, because they run long and slow and pull humidity out of a frame house that leaks air at every sash.
• Heating capacity that covers the freeze nights. Mini-splits heat as well as cool, and a modern one carries a 1920s house through a 28-degree night without the floor furnace.
• A condensate plan. Each head drains; in a house on a crawlspace we route the drains outside rather than under the house, where Putnam’s ground moisture already does enough damage.

The install, hour by hour

8:00. The crew pulls in from Palm Coast and walks the house with the owner, confirming head locations marked at the estimate. Window units come out; sashes that have not met their sills in years finally close.

8:30 to 11:00. Wall brackets go up on interior walls. A three-inch hole is bored through the exterior wall behind each head, angled for drainage, and the line sets, condensate lines and control wiring run through painted covers down the clapboard to the outdoor unit’s location. On a historic house we route along existing trim lines wherever possible.

11:00 to 1:00. The outdoor unit is set on a wall bracket or a raised pad, high enough to stay above standing water in a yard that has flooded before. Line sets are connected, pressure-tested with nitrogen and pulled into a deep vacuum.

Book a ductless estimate

1:00 to 3:30. Electrical: a dedicated circuit from the panel to a disconnect at the outdoor unit. Older Palatka panels sometimes need a breaker space or a sub-panel, which we identify at the estimate so it is not a surprise. Heads are hung and connected.

3:30 to 4:30. Refrigerant is released, the system runs in cooling and then heating, each head is checked for temperature and drainage, and the owner learns the remote. By the time the afternoon heat peaks, the parlor is 74 degrees and quiet.

After the first day

A mini-split asks for a filter rinse monthly and a professional cleaning of the heads and the outdoor coil once a year; oak pollen in spring and the dust that drifts in from the mill and the fields load those filters faster than most owners expect. Cook’s installs Lennox ductless systems and services every brand, with no after-hours charge.