Anyone reuse mr cool diy?

[Kaizen]

I just installed an LG multihead minisplit for my whole house. Thanks again to all that helped.
I removed a 1st gen mr cool diy 12k unit and intended to put it in the garage. These came with a long charged lineset. As I have the nitrogen i wanted to install it now but when i unwrapped it i found this mess. The lineset at the outdoor unit looks standard but you can see one of the lines has a split and neither has accessible fittings that i could put a new lineset to as i did on the LG.
Should i dig deeper into the head for fittings or just flare and use some kind of a union?

 

[Kaizen]

I can't believe i'm the first guy to reuse one of these in a garage?? Really want it for dehumidiing the garage as it works great for that.
Guess i'll start flaring and see where it gets me.

 

[Swervyjoe]

Bump. This something I can foresee needing to do.

 

[miketyler]

You should be fine. Both my Mr Slims were pull-out units. I supplied my own new copper lineset. Neither had split lines like yours. Was that a multi-zone unit?

 

[Kaizen]

You should be fine. Both my Mr Slims were pull-out units. I supplied my own new copper lineset. Neither had split lines like yours. Was that a multi-zone unit?

No this was a single 12k unit. the lines are split there but reconnected at some point so a single solid line at both ends. i just hacked the lineset when i took it out as i planned to just flare new lines. Did you solder one side like nondiy units have? For example the LG head units i have are soldered on that side so i just had to deal with one flare at each head and one at out door unit. Or did you flarex2 at head unit with some kind of a connector?

 

[miketyler]

I'd have to look but thought they were non-flared with compression ferrule. I don't recall doing any sweating of copper tube. I'll take a look to confirm. Still cant figure what the dual line would have been used for. Something unique to pre-charged lines? Mine are 18k and 24k BTU Mr Slims.

 

[86turbodsl]

Find a spot on both units where you have solid copper line, clean and adapt to your lineset, flow nitrogen or argon thru while you braze, evac and reuse. It's no different than any other split system other than the lineset is precharged and it has special connections to help diy. I might add a filter on the liquid line if i felt it was sitting around open for a while.

 

[Kaizen]

Find a spot on both units where you have solid copper line, clean and adapt to your lineset, flow nitrogen or argon thru while you braze, evac and reuse. It's no different than any other split system other than the lineset is precharged and it has special connections to help diy. I might add a filter on the liquid line if i felt it was sitting around open for a while.

Thanks. That was my plan. I'm just horrible at fittings and adapters. My LG came with an array so i could play and find the right ones. I'll be using new line that shouldn't be too long so hoping i can boil out any condensation and get a deep vacuum.

 

[86turbodsl]

I've found Mcmaster.com to be very very good at stocking wierd sizes you need for projects like this. Just match up your ID/OD and get to it. You'll be fine. Look forward to your results!

 

[Framton Nuttel]

I was just in a similar situation, re-installing a unit that I got used and which had the lines just cut a couple of feet from the indoor unit. It was a Mitsubishi, not a Mr Cool, but the same considerations apply.

I was also a bit uneasy reading all the horror stories about leaking flare joints, but I bit the bullet and just made two flare unions. It's worked fine for the last week or so, especially since it was an old discarded unit that was basically free.

The 1/4" line coming out of the indoor unit had a weird outer diameter so I had to modify the flare nut slightly as well as the swage block on the flaring tool.

For extra piece of mind, I applied some Nylog Blue although I don't know if this was necessary.

Agree that McMaster is the best place to find specialized connectors in specific sizes. The 1/4" line coming out of my indoor unit was actually more like 9/32" and I could not get a standard flare nut to slip over it.

I purged with MIG welding gas and didn't stress about doing a full nitrogen pressure test. It held vacuum for a few hours and that seemed to be good enough.