Mini split line routing?

[gtae07]

So I decided to roll the dice a bit and get a Mr. Cool DIY unit for the shop. For those that don't know, the lineset is a fixed 25' run, so I can't just cut them to length.

Originally I was going to place the indoor unit on the opposite side of the wall from the outdoor unit, but this would leave me with a lot of lineset left over and it's not really an ideal location. But then I got the idea to mount it on the other wall, as shown below.

My question on this location is, do the lines need to run outside or can they run along an inside wall, around the corner, and then out to the outdoor unit? I'll probably drop the condensate drain right out the side wall just to make sure it drains and to have one less thing to run.

Any suggestions on reasonable covers for the inside portion that don't cost ridiculous amounts?

 

[LS6 Tommy]

That's done all the time.

Tommy

 

[Jackfre]

You can cut the line set. In fact I would not trust the line set flares as they come on the line set. Get the Ritchie or Ridgid flaring tool and go for it. I would not cut the Lindsey less than 10'.

 

[PoorOwner]

Here is a picture of mine. You can see I break out the condensate. The reason is the lineset goes a little uphill at some point. The AC was the last thing I planned so I had to work with the wall space I have.

 

[PoorOwner]

You can see the diversitech lineset cover I have and it is mostly to protect sticks and ladder from hitting it just in case. and it goes out the wall where it does not have to cross a gutter and that would have been an eyesore outside. Picture is side ways.

 

[andre3k]

You can cut the line set. In fact I would not trust the line set flares as they come on the line set. Get the Ritchie or Ridgid flaring tool and go for it. I would not cut the Lindsey less than 10'.

I don't think you can cut the lines on the Mr Cool DIY units. They have special valves with refrigerant inside the line set. You either have to use up the excess line with a longer run or roll up the excess per the manufacturers instructions.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[Jackfre]

I don't think you can cut the lines on the Mr Cool DIY units. They have special valves with refrigerant inside the line set. You either have to use up the excess line with a longer run or roll up the excess per the manufacturers instructions.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Hmmm. Did not know that. Thanks for the correction. You cannot "coil" the excess line set. It traps refrigerant oil in the low spots. Lay the excess off in a serpentine fashion.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Hmmm. Did not know that. Thanks for the correction. You cannot "coil" the excess line set. It traps refrigerant oil in the low spots. Lay the excess off in a serpentine fashion.

Coil it horizontally...


Tommy

 

[Fixin'Stuff]

New member here, that's been lurking in the a/c forum for a while. I'm about to pull the trigger on the 18K BTU Mr. Cool DIY mini-split for my 2-car garage in the Houston area. It's hot and muggy here, most of the time. Here's a video from Mr. Cool, showing a typical installation:

If you jump to 3:20 in the video, you can see the installer just coiling up the excess line in a vertical loop. However, I haven't found anywhere in the installation manual that they address this.

It would be awesome if they offered the lineset in at least one shorter length. 26 feet is a bit excessive unless you're going to a 2nd floor. It will look pretty bad having 10 feet of lineset just coiled up and hanging from the wall.

gtae07, have you installed yours yet? Did you find a (decently priced) solution to covering/protecting the lineset?

 

[cowanrg]

I feel like I remember reading the instruction manual just last week (looking to get one of these too) and they mentioned the coiling in the installation manual). I could be wrong, but it's mentioned in a couple of their videos as well.

 

[gtae07]

New member here, that's been lurking in the a/c forum for a while. I'm about to pull the trigger on the 18K BTU Mr. Cool DIY mini-split for my 2-car garage in the Houston area. It's hot and muggy here, most of the time. Here's a video from Mr. Cool, showing a typical installation:

If you jump to 3:20 in the video, you can see the installer just coiling up the excess line in a vertical loop. However, I haven't found anywhere in the installation manual that they address this.

It would be awesome if they offered the lineset in at least one shorter length. 26 feet is a bit excessive unless you're going to a 2nd floor. It will look pretty bad having 10 feet of lineset just coiled up and hanging from the wall.

gtae07, have you installed yours yet? Did you find a (decently priced) solution to covering/protecting the lineset?

I haven't installed yet; it's getting delivered tomorrow and I'll hopefully be working on it this weekend. Current plan for covering the lines is gutter downspout.

 

[Kaizen]

I haven't installed yet; it's getting delivered tomorrow and I'll hopefully be working on it this weekend. Current plan for covering the lines is gutter downspout.

strongly recommend the cover they sell http://www.rectorseal.com/slimduct-featured/
got it and glad I did. looks like a gutter but has 2 parts so you can install it easier. snaking through a gutter I don't think would be fun. also it has a slick cap for where it comes through the wall.

yes they show it coiled vertically. I know someone else here called and they said that as well. the oil pooling is a valid point but they say its ok. go figure.
haven't gotten that far on installing mine so not sure how much i'll have left. have a concern about making a big loop and just leaving it there. seems like a hack move. thought about using a hose real or something

 

[gtae07]

Well, it's halfway installed today. Units are hard-mounted and the lineset is run but not fully secured. I tried to make the most use of the lineset but mis-estimated and wound up with about five feet of extra line. But it's too late now; I didn't want to mess with unbolting and remounting the indoor unit and redoing the drain hose outlet, so I'll just deal with it being off-center on the wall and having extra lineset. I'm going to run horizontal and back, and then uphill a bit into the outdoor unit.

The hardest part has been figuring out how to dress out the inside installation. I want to cover the lines to protect them and make it look better, but making things look good is not a strong suit of mine.

Tomorrow's plan is to finish dressing out the lines and make the connections, then fire it up.