Ductless Air-Conditioner

[Ferrino]

Has anyone here installed a ductless air-conditioner unit in their garage/home? Any recommendations on models? How difficult is it? Can you just tap into an existing 110v-15A power circuit?

We had someone come out to give a quote on installing a single unit, with enough juice to cool a master bedroom. They wanted $5,000 for a Mitsubishi unit. That sounds really high and I am therefore considering DIY-ing it if it's not too tricky?

Thanks!

 

[racer1]

Last yr. I built a new house. went with radiant heat. So we put a triple head LG mini split unit. One in Master, one in living room, one in kitchen. Our kitchen is 650 sq. ft. A friend is a hvac guy. we installed all the piping in the walls when under construction. Then when done, hung the wall units. It's a heat pump inverter style...He charged me cost on units...$3900..Then some on labor. probably got $4700 bucks in all..Mine are 21 seer models. I figured I'd just get the top of the line..They are fantastic. Will put frost on the walls in summer, and last winter I tried them at 10 below zero, just to see how the heat part would work. Holy ****!, At 10 below they put out 140 degree air out the blower. I know the theory, but it still amazes me they work in that cold of weather. plus you have to walk right up to the unit to hear it. so dang quiet. I highly recommend them and will probably put one in my shop next year..I helped install mine. they are easy. $5000 sounds damn high, depending on complexity of install...You could buy one for $1000, and install yourself.

 

[Slednut]

This thread is mostly about heating and air-conditioning but it may help.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=245926

I installed a dual Mitsubishi for around $3000. Paid a friend $100 to test and evacuate. Bought it from ecomfort.com.

 

[yeldogt]

The units work very well ... the ascetics less so. I have them in two houses.

As they become more widespread the competition will drive down the per unit installation price .. currently still at a bit of a premium.

I see a lot of very poor installations ... but that is true with the regular spit systems. Understanding the installation procedure will stop you from asking for a bad location and the installer from doing the easiest.

My only concern in a shop is the dust. I have LG's and Fujitsu - and recently rented a house for a year plus with Mitsubishi ......... they all work equally well IMO. If you live in an area that requires heating ... get a heat pump unit ... you will use it.

All the manufactures must hire ex- NASA control room engineers to design the remotes

 

[Syberia]

The "hard" part will be flaring/attaching the line set if you have not done that before. Refrigerant runs much higher pressure than water so you have to be extra careful that everything is sealed up 100% tight.

Some smaller units will run on 120 volts, others will be 240. You will need to look at the unit's specs.

Sent from my Tricorder using Tapatalk

 

[CoopVA]

I installed an 18,000 btu Pioneer mini split in my garage. Cost of the system and all the tools to install it was about $1600. It wasn't too difficult and took a good 4-5 hours. Having the proper tools helps.

 

[pseudorealityx]

and last winter I tried them at 10 below zero, just to see how the heat part would work. Holy ****!, At 10 below they put out 140 degree air out the blower. I know the theory, but it still amazes me they work in that cold of weather.

140 degree air

 

[racer1]

Yep, 140. I put my pulp thermometer in the vent, with the air blowing on it. left it there few min...140 degrees..surprised the heck out of me.

 

[kaffine]

I have installed 3 and replaced 1. Fairly simple however will require a few tools most wont have. Good flaring tool (prefer ratcheting style), vacuum pump, micron gauge and a nitrogen tank as well as gauges and the adapter to hook the gauges up since they use a different fitting than most AC systems.

Since most are R410a now you wont need a EPA license. However if you do it yourself you most likely wont have a warranty on it.

Making the install look nice is the most time consuming and difficult part IMO. You can tell the difference between my first install and my last install it is much better. I have 1 Mitsubishi and 3 LG units. The one I replaced was an LG it started leaking I will repair it and reinstall it somewhere else I didn't have the parts or tools on hand to fix it but had a spare unit on hand.

Not sure if I would want one in a shop though. Depends on the type of work you do. The filters on them are not the best. I am planning on putting in a small split system in my shop so I can put in large air filters to both help filter the air and to keep the coil clean. However I create a lot of dust in my shop.

Things to keep in mind. They can pull a lot of water out of the air so it will need a place for the condensate to go. You can get pumps but gravity would be best.

It is best to keep the outdoor unit off the ground some so it stays cleaner. Thankfully they are normally fairly quiet so noise of the units isn't a major concern although I did pay a bit extra for ones that are quiet.

You can download the install manuals and read through them to see if there is anything you might have problems with. There are some limits on how the lines are run, min/max length and elevation changes considerations.

The larger units are normally 240 while the smaller ones may be 120V.

 

[Mech33]

I had a Fujitsu 12k BTU mini-split installed in the garage by a small local AC shop for $3500 out the door. I thought the Fujitsu units looked much nicer cosmetically than the Mitsubishi / Pioneer / LG / etc. I already had the 220V run to the outdoor condenser location, so the installers arrived around 9am and were done by about 1pm.