Ive procrastinated enough its time to start looking into a mini split. Youtube university has given me a general DIY but im calling on the masters at Gj to give me some feedback. My shop is a metal building thats 1200sqft. The studs run 4' on center for the most part. I assume Im going to fabricate some time of wall anchor for the ac unit going into the shop. How much plumbing is there typically between the condenser and the evaporator? Id like to mount it off the ground south facing side of my shop that gets the most shade. Id like some feed back. What do you guys have?
Mini Split Air conditioners
- Thread starter DeeDubz
- Start date
I think it will be noisy mounted on the side of a metal building.
I'd put the outside unit on a small slab right by the building, run the lines and electrical service through the wall down low and then up the wall to the indoor unit.
I'd put the outside unit on a small slab right by the building, run the lines and electrical service through the wall down low and then up the wall to the indoor unit.
MushCreek
Well-known member
I would mount it to a stand, not on a slab. The ones I've installed (four) have the valves at the very bottom, which would make service difficult. I mounted one to the wood framed wall of my barn, and you can hear it inside. I should have made a free-standing, ground mounted stand. The connections between inside and outside consist of two insulated refrigerant lines, a control wire Usually 14/3), plus a drain hose or pipe. If bundled together, figure on a 3" hole.
If your studs are 4 oc use some Uni strut to bridge accross the studs and mount the fan using that.
outside pour a slab and make some feet or a bench so it sits a little higher you could build a Uni structure bench or some 4x4 or 4x6’s or weld up something
control wire low volt
2 line sets
electrical w/ disconnect
drain line
is about it
just make sure you can get replacement parts for the actual unit - name brand or buy locally - same guy should sell parts and the unit
set the units Temporally ( mock up ) and then figure your in between runs
outside pour a slab and make some feet or a bench so it sits a little higher you could build a Uni structure bench or some 4x4 or 4x6’s or weld up something
control wire low volt
2 line sets
electrical w/ disconnect
drain line
is about it
just make sure you can get replacement parts for the actual unit - name brand or buy locally - same guy should sell parts and the unit
set the units Temporally ( mock up ) and then figure your in between runs
Metal-Marc
Well-known member
Keep the lines as short as possible.
You think so? I don't think so. Mine is mounted on the side of a metal building and it's quiet.
pcmeiners
Well-known member
I am up north east, mounted mine on legs off a slab due to snow/leaves. 12k very high efficency Fujitsu, heats and cools my 36x30 fully insulated shop very easily. Glad I did not mount the condenser on the garage wall, there are some sound frequencies which can be heard inside ( barely) when the unit runs at full. If wall mounted it would be noticeable.I ran my lineset within my stick wall, fair amount of work. Running lineset on the outside of the wall is child's play, just follow all instructions and best practices, no shape bends, and flare carefully.
Notgrownup
Well-known member
I built y own stand to keep it off the ground to keep it clear ofwater splash and grass clippings.
I think im going to pour a slap. Ill put some metal blocks under it to keep give me room to service and clean. I think im going to mount it on the south facing side of my shop. It has the most shade. The problem is it will really only cool one section of my shop. But thats where I mainly do most of my work. Instead of it running the length of the building it will be running the shorter end *30ft.
pcmeiners
Well-known member
From one of my previous posts......
"Personally I do not care about the Seer rating, my heat use is far greater than my air conditioning needs, HSPF in my climate and COP are more important At the moment I do not have AC in my attached home. I have a 12k Fujitsu unit cooling my 36x30 garage so I leave the door open and it is also cooling my1800 (correction) 1350 squft attached home to a comfortable level (temporary until I get my other heat pumps in). Surprises me is the amount of water it produces. "
PS The garage minisplit is managing to cool the garage and the attached home which is 51 long x 26.5 wide, with an offset hallway, bed rooms at the furthest end.
Why will a minisplit not cool your entire shop?
"Personally I do not care about the Seer rating, my heat use is far greater than my air conditioning needs, HSPF in my climate and COP are more important At the moment I do not have AC in my attached home. I have a 12k Fujitsu unit cooling my 36x30 garage so I leave the door open and it is also cooling my
PS The garage minisplit is managing to cool the garage and the attached home which is 51 long x 26.5 wide, with an offset hallway, bed rooms at the furthest end.
Why will a minisplit not cool your entire shop?
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I'm no pro at A/C. I've only installed one, 36K Mr. Cool. I did it all myself and it was straight forward. It's been amazing, 30X40X12 wrap insulated, NTX, West facing 10' Door, it has it's work cut out for it. I had sort of special needs on the mounting as I wanted the outside unit on the N wall and the water sheds that way, I also park a trailer tight to the building, so it had to be up off the ground and have a way to keep the water shed from pouring into it. I hung the interior head off the main center truss support, I welded the bracket straight to it. The outer unit I hung on the out side wall, down from the upper girt and secured to the middle girt on the frame I constructed. I used the supplied isolators on the feet of the unit to the frame and got 4 more for where the frame mounts through the R panel to the girt. It's almost silent inside and out. The two units are close together and the supplied lines are just tucked in behind the unit coiled up as they were from the factory.
LG
LG
Attachments
I bought a Pioneer mini split for my old house. I think the factory lineset was something like 16'. I needed a longer run so I ordered a 25' run. This meant I needed to hire someone to add a bit more gas to the system. No problem since I also needed them to evacuate and test the system before I ran it. The only part I was unhappy about was I underestimated the size I needed. I would certainly do the job again if I had that need again.
Hellpig
Well-known member
Just put a 12K Pionee in December and ordering an 18K next week.
Come with 16' lineset, but units are factory charged to handle up to 25'.
I didn't test, just pulled a vacuum for an hour and let her go!
So far, so good, very happy.
428PI
Well-known member
I just stacked mine on solid concrete blocks and put anchors into top blocks.
CapriMikeC
Well-known member
I have a pair of Senville 24K units, both attached to the wall of my 30 x 50 x 12 metal building. The outside units are very quiet. From inside, I don't hear them at all. Even outside, I have to be within about 25 feet to hear them. Some people seem to think these are like the old window A/C units that would shake the house?
As Dig suggested, use some strut to attach the inside unit across the inner studs. I have some pics in a thread here.
As Dig suggested, use some strut to attach the inside unit across the inner studs. I have some pics in a thread here.
Metal-Marc
Well-known member
ratflinger
Well-known member
Should have read the install manual. Up to 25' is covered by the factory charge, hope you didn't pay too much for the startup.
What ever length I needed, it was beyond the factory charge and additional refrigerant was required per the factory manual. I installed it 8 years ago in a different house so I probably didn't remember the lengths correctly.