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Anyone use asphalt and cork ac insulation on their mini split lines?

428PI

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Jul 14, 2018
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Location
Peabody, KS
I finally got my indoor units up in the house (a 9k in the bedroom and 18k in the dining-living room) and just got the outdoor unit (was on backorder) and the one 18k indoor unit is against an inside wall and I noticed that MrCool units use sound deadening material to insulate the lines at the indoor unit. I thought it looked similar to the insulation we would use on expansion valves when they were inside the cars interior to keep them from sweating. I thought I would use the same thing since these lines are exposed to my wall behind the unit. Will it work in the heat mode as well as cooling mode? It's good for up to 200 degrees. Bought a 30ft roll of it at Oreilly's. 2 out of the 3 guys have never heard or seen it. They just got some in. Pioneer had to ship out an adapter to convert the 18k 1/2 inch line to the 3/8 the outdoor 3 unit has. Somehow it wasn't included. We're in 95 degree weather now and could have used it a couple days ago. They claim their adapter has a copper seal washer. Can anyone comfirm? I could have picked one up at Lowes but afraid of it not sealing as it was brass against whatever the valves on the unit are made out of. (it didn't include a copper seal washer).
 
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Syberia

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Jan 13, 2014
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Perris, CA
I can confirm that the Pioneer adapters include a copper "washer" (basically just a short piece of pipe that has been flared, and is shorter than the adapter itself). I've used them without leaks.

Heat pump lines won't get anywhere near 200 degrees.

For fittings or spots where I've cut or otherwise damaged the insulation, I use the black foam pipe insulation from Home Depot, wrapped tightly with electrical tape, and then a second layer of self-sealing silicone tape. Never had condensation issues doing that.
 
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428PI

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Jul 14, 2018
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Location
Peabody, KS
I ended up using the asphalt and cork insulation on the inside unit's lines where they were exposed to the inside wall and covered with the white insulation that they wanted you to wrap around the lines. Haven't had any issues with condensation yet. I got the adapter and it did have the copper washer. Not sure the cheap adapter from Lowes would have had that. Everything working great.
 
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metlmunchr

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Sep 10, 2011
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1,280
There making a covering with lines preinsulated that has a white nubby covering that pulls very easy through holes and doesn't tear.

Being an old geezer who didn't know any ref tube insulation other than Armaflex and Thermacell, I thought that white stuff looked kinda cheesy when I opened the packages of my Pioneer units. Overall, the white insulation made a believer out of me. Much more tear resistant than Armaflex, and far more flexible than Thermacell. Good stuff.
 
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