Hey guys in today's video I Want to talk about two of the more popular products being sold in the HVAC residential Market here in the U.S During the making of this video, a lot of brands are coming out with side discharge units and you might say, well, side discharge units. Are you talking about a mini split where you see the fan blow out the front? It is a side discharge unit. It does have the fan blowing out the front, unlike the unitary trash can style units that we're used to seeing where the fan blows out the top, but it can replace one of those units. So where you might be used to seeing that outdoor unit, that trash can style unit, those units are now being replaced with a side discharge unit, allowing you to still have your conventional heating and air central heating inside, whether it be a furnace or air handler.

But one thing we've seen with these side discharge units being offered is a lot of them can get quite pricey and so in this video we're going to talk about two of the more budget-friendly options on the market. And of course we're talking about the Daikin fit and degree. Flex Now before I go any further. Quick disclaimer: My company, we are a Daikin dealer.

I Am going to be a little biased you might say. Well, Josh you're being biased in this video. Well, yes, I am. but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing.

I Would rather take advice from somebody that does have a favorite versus somebody that has just an opinion. They think They both are horrible or something like that, right? If you have a favorite great, tell me why they're your favorite. It's kind of my attitude on that. Let's dig into this.

Obviously they're both side discharge units. They're also both inverter systems if you don't know what that is. We recently did a video talking about what exactly an inverter system is, but in summary, it's basically unlike the systems that we're used to where they would just either be off or on. There was no in between and there were constant spikes in energy.

Every time that system would turn on, it would have a spike in energy. These inverter systems have the ability to ramp up and down and at times just barely be running on a mild day. Still keeping you comfortable. But the biggest difference that we're going to go through in this video is the fact that the agree Flex is a non-communicating inverter system and of course the Daikin fit is a communicating inverter system.

And while that matters, we're going to go through even more. The first thing is, let's talk about price. If you're comparing these two systems, maybe you've been offered them from a contractor, Maybe you're getting some bids, or maybe you've just been offered one or the other and you're curious how they match up. For the most part, the Flex is going to be less expensive on average.

However, once you factor in the rebates that the Dike and Fit comes with and some of the incentives that a lot of dealers are being offered when they are a Daikin dealer, the price is not that much different. I mean it's going to be a little less in general, but it's not so significant at the end of the day. So if you do have a contractor that's significantly higher on one or the other, that might be a red flag on the contractor, not the product. So now let's talk about your thermostat options.

If you go with the Daikin fit, you do have to go with a proprietary thermostat stat either the Daikin OnePlus or the Daikin One Touch offered by Daikin. Now, if you're watching this video in the future, there may be more options, but during the making of this video, that's your two options. And the reason is because it has that communicating technology. The system can talk to one another so the thermostat can talk to the outdoor unit.

The outdoor unit can say, hey, it's a mild day today, we don't need to ramp up and draw a bunch of energy. In contrast, the Flex is a non-communicating inverter. System still has the ability to ramp up and down, but the way it does that, the technology is monitoring more of the coil temperature or the pressures coming back from the evaporator coil. and it does not have the ability to communicate between the thermostat and the units.

Now, because of that, you would be able to go to say, a hardware store or somewhere like that and purchase a thermostat for that system. but you just simply wouldn't have that communicating technology if you're not as familiar with communicating technology. We've done other videos on that check those out. But aside from being able to communicate and ramp up and down and act different differently based on the environment, communicating systems also have the ability to have error codes if something's wrong.

And now Daikin even has their cloud system where a technician your contractor OR tech support can dial into that system and see real-time data of how that system's operating and be able to diagnose it and see if something is wrong. Next, let's talk about some of the ratings. Some of the ratings are a little higher for the reflex, so if you're considering the Seer the Hspf, the decibel levels The Reflex will be a little better on some of those ratings. Part of the philosophy when Daikin came up with the fit is they didn't necessarily want to be everybody in those ratings.

They were trying to find a system that could fit in a small hole but still have that inverter technology. So the Fit: The reason it doesn't have such a high sear rating is it has a real small coil. so it has the same technology communicating inverter technology that one of their High Seer 20 Seer systems has, but it's been compacted down down into this small unit in the old days. When I first got into this trade, we used to joke about how we could throw a one and a half ton heat pump system in the back of a car and the fit has kind of brought that back as time has gone on and Seer ratings have gone up and government minimums on efficiencies have gone up.

you've seen these systems just grow. I mean I've Stood Beside systems that were almost as tall as I am. and now you've got this fit that literally you could just throw it in the back of your car. It doesn't take up as much of a footprint at your house either, so you don't have this gigantic unit.

You could put it on wall brackets. In fact, you could put the Flex or the fit on wall brackets and get it up off the ground if you need to. And so that's something to keep in mind. So if size is a factor in what you're deciding, then the fit's going to win there.

It's also a lighter system, so getting the system in some of these places where if you have this extremely heavy unit the flex is significantly heavier then sometimes that can be ashore. I Remember talking to some of the creators of the Fit and one of the things they were concerned about when they were coming up with this product. It wasn't so much just coming up with a system that would save you money that would be better for the environment and all of that. They were also looking at things like after the unit gets thrown away decades later and it finally needs to be replaced and it's been disposed of, they wanted something that didn't have quite as high of a carbon footprint in the grand scheme of things.

And of of course, getting back to our scenario we were talking about a moment ago where we were saying the Flex is non-communicating It may have a higher sear rating, but because it doesn't have that communicating technology, the Fit a lot of times is going to actually draw less energy on some days. So if you've got a mild day and you've got a system that is turning on, it's barely running, it's figured out that optimal temperature. Because it's communicating, it can figure out hey, I need to stay at this capacity this many RPMs if you will and run at this low capacity, keeping the home at this temperature. Whereas even though the Flex is inverted, you still have that temperature swing in the thermostat, you have a thermostat that if you have it set at 72, it's going to need to get up to 73.

Turn on. Drop it down to 71 and a half turn off and you constantly have this up and down. You may not actually see that reflected on the thermostat. It may just say 72 the entire time, but that's how those thermostats operate and so the Fit is going to have added Comfort on that level.

Another thing I want to point out is we did a video a while back where we compared the Bosch heat pump system to the dike and fit and we talked about some of these things where the Bosch is not a communicating inverter system, it's non-communicating but the Bosch could be used in certain scenarios that the fit could not. For example, a mobile home furnace could be paired with a Bosch heat pump, whereas the Fit could not. So on that note, you might say, well, can't the Flex do the same thing? Can it do what Bosch can do and be paired with mobile home furnaces and other brands and things like that. And I was told by a rep that it cannot that it would not work if you tried to pair it with a coil on top of an electric furnace.

Another thing I'll just point out now I always get Guff on this because people will say, well, don't you know that a lot of things aren't made in the US anymore? The flex during the making of this video is not made in our country. it's imported in, whereas the fit is made right in Houston Texas Now some fits are still made overseas, but they do have an assembly line in their Factory for the fit in Houston Texas So it's made right here in the USA and for me, that makes a difference. Now we have folks that'll say well, parts are sometimes imported in and things like that I Think it's important to just point those things out, especially in today's climate. Another concern with a lot of folks when it comes to non-communicating inverter systems is humidity control.

I Know that there are a lot of message boards out there where they talk about this now. The boss seems to have a little bit more of a reputation when it comes to this front than the Grief Flex, but it's still something to point out when you're considering these systems that can ramp up and down and the humidity. based on the airflow and the humidity control, especially in a real humid climate, can sometimes be lacking based on the airflow being blown across that coil. whereas the Fit being a communicating inverter system, can just barely be running at times, still running enough to remove humidity from the home, but still saving you energy, not jumping up in capacity and drawing more energy, but also not shutting off having those humidity.

The issues: Another thing that The Fit wins hands down on is Daikin also has their Daikin One ecosystem and that has a whole array of accessories that can be paired with the fit. They have an air monitor that you can pair with it, allowing you to have real-time data and see how clean the air you're breathing in your home. It can be paired with a lot of their other accessories like humidifiers and air cleaners and things like that and of course ventilation as well. So I'm not saying that the Flex can't be paired with other accessories.

Obviously, there are thermostats on the market that have dry contacts that you could pair it with and put a humidifier or something like that on there. But to have that added control Where all these accessories were designed to work with one another and they're designed to say hey, I'm ramping up now you should do this or that I Think that plays a role in all of this as well. Maybe something you should consider. Another thing is as time goes on, We've seen updates with the Daikin one.

So these Daikon 1 Thermostats: Because they are these communicating systems that can be connected to the internet. Sometimes they can update the firmware inside of those thermostats, making the system even better and better and better as time goes on. Whereas if you've got a system that doesn't connect to the internet at all, I'm not saying the thermostat can't, but because it's non-communicating it doesn't affect the system at all. And then lastly, I'll just point out that the infrastructure is significantly better for Daikin here in the US If you need a part now, I can't say that there are all parts of the US that this is the case, but when I help folks on our guide and where I'm located, if I need a part I have multiple places I can go to.

The availability seems to be significantly higher with Daikin I Also have people I can pick up the phone if something is wrong I can pick up the phone and call them and say hey, this is going on I don't have any of that with Greek And obviously the hope and dream is that you never have issues and you don't have to pick up the phone and call for a part or anything like that or get tech support. But let's be honest, things do happen and it's just nice to have somebody that you can rely on if you need to. So ultimately, obviously I have a clear your favorite. My goal is to help you make an informed decision.

I will say that if you're not worried about some of the concerns that we've talked about in this video and you're just clearly worried about price, maybe you're not going to stay in the house very long, then maybe you might go the Flex route. But when you're talking about some of these things that the Flex does do a little better on like efficiency ratings. Once you sit down and figure out that the systems are not comparing Apples to Apples, that one is clearly better with the technology that it uses I Think that there is a clear winner at the end of the day I Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Have you bought one or the other? What are your concerns? What are your thoughts? Have you had any issues with one or the other? I Can tell you that we've probably installed just offhand.

We're not a real big company, but we've probably installed a couple hundred fits. now. We've had very few issues. A lot of the issues we've had are usually either user error.

maybe we've got to show the homeowner how to use the thermostat in this way or that way. But we don't get a lot of callbacks. We usually install them and we don't hear back in a good way. So anyway, comment down below if you have any questions or concerns suggestions I'd love to hear about that.

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