Adding a mini split in a rental?

[Jeff Gammon]

Hello Bigger Pockets community! My wife and I are just getting started on our real estate journey, and this is my 1st time posting in the forum. We live in the Dayton, OH area. We have recently moved out of our home due to a family medical issue. We plan to hold our primary residence and rent it out. We will most likely be doing a long term rental. My PITI is around $650 and rents are currently around $1,600 in my area. We've owned the house for 20+ years and have great equity in the house, which was built in 1997. We do have a HELOC on the property with available funds.

The attached 2 car garage was converted to living space by the original owner. It has no ventilation or ductwork in it. We have been told it would be difficult and expensive to try to run ductwork into the room due to the vaulted ceiling in the room the former garage is attached to. For 20 years we have dealt with space heaters (of various types) for heating the room in the cold OH winters, or just ceiling fans for cooling in the summer. Neither of those options are extremely efficient or effective. We have discussed adding a mini split in that room. If we add a mini split, we will also need to upgrade our electric panel, as it is currently full. My question is this, would the cost of upgrading the panel and adding the mini split make sense for a rental? Are there any considerations for either upgrading or not upgrading in this situation when we plan to have renters in the house?

Thanks in advance for your time and suggestions.