Attached 3 car garage Heating and cooling solution?

[3cargarage]

I live in the Fredericksburg area of Virginia so summers easily hit upper 90's and winter lows are easily in the lower 20's. It doesn't get much worse than that for long either way. Garage size is 36wx22dx11h.

For heat, I am currently using a Procom 30000 BTU Vent Free heater running to my in ground 500 Gallon Propane Tank. I did the math with ChatGPT and it looks like electric is cheaper by a good margin at the moment.

I doubt that the concrete slab is insulated and suspect that the outer walls are insulated. The garage doors are R-9 insulated the ceiling above is not insulated.

I am thinking of a ductless mini split install. I want to do the job completely myself without HVAC guys intervention for as long as possible. I am very good with electrical work.

Any ideas on what sort of unit is DIY and if the ductless mini split is the way to go? I don't want it running all the time. I just want it to run when I have to turn wrenches.

Thanks.

 

[kbeefy]

If you want to heat and cool a mini split is the way to go. I have a mr cool diy I installed. It works great but the thermostat/app leave something to be desired. Mine is a multi-zone, 36k outdoor unit with 3x 12k indoor air handlers. I don't have any experience with any others.

 

[dscheidt]

Any mini split is DIY if you’re willing to buy or otherwise get a hold of some tools. The only thing a “diy” version with pre charged line sets gets you is not having to pull a vacuum (and ideally pressure test, but a whole lot of these aren’t). It also takes away shortening the line, if you need to.

Finish insulating first, it will pay off very quickly, because you can use a smaller cheaper unit, so there’s up front savings.

 

[The Metric System]

Your application is perfect for a minisplit, it would be a mistake to do anything else.

The required refrigeration work is not very hard and the tools to do it right are relatively inexpensive if you want to fully DIY it.

Alternately, you could likely find a moonlighting HVAC guy to come over and pressure test and evac the system for not a whole lot of money via a CL post or similar.

 

[Skellyii]

Pioneer is pretty DIY friendly, I installed one of their units a couple of years ago in my garage. They provide videos, and they also have a kit you can use to flush the lines so that you don't need to pull a vacuum.

I can testify that the unit itself was an easy install, I can't say anything about their flush kit as I already had the equipment needed to pull a vacuum.

One other thing, because they support DIY, you still get a warranty, some other manufacturers will only warrant the unit if it's professionally installed.