Mini Split love or hate?

[zcar751]

I love walking out to my shop and it has a comfortable environment to work no mater the time of year.

I put a no name mini split in my 26x40 shop it lasted two years and the coil failed out of warranty so I weighed the repair cost to a new unit and I decided to purchase a new unit. I ended up with a Mitsubishi mini split and while the cost was a bit much it had a much better warranty or so I thought. In the first year the primary electrical board failed in December and it took until March to get a part to make the repair. Before the two year labor warranty expired the coil on the indoor unit failed and that took another six weeks to get a part. At the 28 month mark the compressor and reversing valve failed which took another three week to get resolved and $500 for labor.

So my question is are Mitsubishi's just **** or is it my bad luck? At this point I would advise anyone to avoid Mitsubishi.

 

[WildBill]

Do you have a surge protector at the disconnect? They are really sensitive to electrical spikes. I have a 3 year old Mr.Cool that has been trouble free, they have a 10 year warranty. I didn't do this but a lot of people say to buy your mini from Ingrams (https://iwae.com) because they will get you warranty parts asap. I work on 45-50 apartments that have mini splits of different brands between 8-15 years old all working fine for the most part, I think we had one or two issues over the years.

 

[justinjoyal]

You either have very bad luck and/or the systems were not properly installed.

I install a lot of mini-splits and most are trouble free and work just fine for 10+ years.

 

[American Locomotive]

It sounds like your installer is not properly evacuating the system or practicing "sanitary" HVAC practices. I suspect both of your mini-split systems had/have moisture contamination causing corrosion and acid build up.

I also second the "do you have a surge protector" comment.

 

[PoorUB]

For what it is worth, I did HVAC service and install for years and sold HVAC at a wholesaler for ten years. IMO, with the newer units you will not get a lot of life out of them, maybe ten years. If they break down they can be very expensive to repair. I had contractors needed an out of warranty circuit board for the outdoor unit and the part was about $100 less than a new outdoor unit. Luckily they still made that unit. That is another issue. From what I have seen many manufacturers change something major in their units every few years so a new unit may not replace an older unit.

They have their place, adding AC to an older home that has baseboard heat for one. I am not really fired up about using one as a main heat source for a shop, but they do work. How long is a good question.

I hear comments from guys that have one and it has run well for 15-20 years. Well, about that time they went from the dumb, on and off units to inverter controls. The older ones were stupid simple.

I should add, I have relatively cheap natural gas available. and I have an 80% furnace and a 10 SEER AC in my shop. If I did it all over again I wouldn't change a thing. As plain-Jane 80% furnace and the lowest SEER rated AC I can buy.

Here NG is less money to operate than a mini split for heat, and I don't use AC that much, maybe a couple weeks a year, so any savings from a low SEER to a high SEER unit are negligible.

 

[nicholsmf]

My 36K Mitsubishi Minisplit has been running nonstop for 3 years and 2 months except for the annual cleaning when I power it off for about an hour. No issues at all.

 

[walrus]

In Maine where the State gives huge rebates to get people off Fuel Oil Mitsubishis are know as the best splits n the market. Daiken and Fujitsu would be next although a few years ago Fujitsu coils were sieves and their rep took a hit. I have a older fujitsu and a newer Daiken in my house. Both work well but I like my wood stove better in the depths of winter like we have right now

 

[ToolsRCool]

94% high efficiency natural gas furnace for heat, and mini-split for A/C is my vote. But I like to work with the big door open when heat is not needed, so I didn't even put A/C in the garage.

I cured the high efficiency furnace condensate freeze issue by putting the soft tube condensate drain line including an S trap right in the PVC exhaust pipe of the furnace, that took care of any freezing issue, can now use it even on-demand and let the trap freeze when done, no problem. I did not want heat tape running 24/7.

I still have a hard time believing people can heat with a mini-split for less cost than natural gas. Natural gas is the lowest purchased form of energy there is. I work for Mitsubishi and get them half off, and still heat with natural gas through a high efficiency furnace. Home is 4 channel Mits mini-split, they work amazing, but do require cleaning to work best. Mount the indoor units up high so a curtain of cold air waterfalls down onto you. Do everything you can to gravity drain the indoor unit condensation though. If you must use a condensate pump, run the drain tube to just below it and into a full size furnace condensate pump where you can easily see and service it. I have used every maker of mini-pumps that fit in the indoor units, none of them are several year robust. I have not touched my furnace condensate pump in 20 years, it just works perfect, always.

 

[txvwnut]

I'm on month three of my Bosch dual zone, so far for me it's the best thing since sliced bread. I keep my sats set at 60* and just turn on my circulator fans when I'm in the shop. I've actually gotten to switch to a/c for the upstairs a couple of times and man was it great. Now just to see how it will be during our awesome summer temps.

 

[PoorUB]

I still have a hard time believing people can heat with a mini-split for less cost than natural gas. Natural gas is the lowest purchased form of energy there is.

A mini split might heat for less money in a warmer climate, but when you have temps that drop below zero fairly often, NG wins overall.

For my rates for NG and electricity right now a mini split at COP of 3 costs more to operate than NG with an 80% heater. Plus my gas rates are higher than they usually are.

 

[dcg9381]

I've installed 3 Dakins. They are all still up and running. But there is no direct support for these to the consumer.

I've seen posts on a rash of "Mr. Cool" failures and have friends with 2 year old version that failed. It got replaced, not repaired.. Dunno why as it seems it would have been in warranty.

They're definitely not as "serviceable" as standard HVAC if components fail. I'll continue to use 'em.

 

[TerryBenedict2001]

Is there anything specifically to do in order to keep the garage cool when using a mini split? Extra insulation, insulated garage doors, etc?

 

[Git]

I installed a 24k Mr Slim in Aug 2014. (I did pay a Mitsubishi Dealer $300 to commission it.) Never had a single problem

 

[HoosierBuddy]

A mini split might heat for less money in a warmer climate, but when you have temps that drop below zero fairly often, NG wins overall.

For my rates for NG and electricity right now a mini split at COP of 3 costs more to operate than NG with an 80% heater. Plus my gas rates are higher than they usually are.

NG heat/mini split seems like it would give you longer service life (in years) than mini split only.

For years I've been hearing people complain about heat pumps crapping out after 10 years or so and remembering back to when their split systems lasted twice that. ummmm.....seems like we are expecting a lot out of a heat pump if we want it to last as many years as a split system while running the heat pump 12 months out of the year.

 

[Highbeam]

NG heat/mini split seems like it would give you longer service life (in years) than mini split only.

For years I've been hearing people complain about heat pumps crapping out after 10 years or so and remembering back to when their split systems lasted twice that. ummmm.....seems like we are expecting a lot out of a heat pump if we want it to last as many years as a split system while running the heat pump 12 months out of the year.

And considering the cost of these minisplits are so cheap compared to traditional split systems you can pop in a new one every ten years and still be way ahead. My mini is going on three years old and I have no intention of fixing it unless it is a stupid simple thing like swapping out the control board. I'll just pop a new one in for 1-2k.

 

[Just_Steve]

I love all the natural gas RA RA, unfortunately a large percentage of the population has to choose between propane or electric.
NG

 

[Bert_]

I should add, I have relatively cheap natural gas available. and I have an 80% furnace and a 10 SEER AC in my shop. If I did it all over again I wouldn't change a thing. As plain-Jane 80% furnace and the lowest SEER rated AC I can buy.

Here NG is less money to operate than a mini split for heat, and I don't use AC that much, maybe a couple weeks a year, so any savings from a low SEER to a high SEER unit are negligible.

100%

I like simple and reliable. Even if it costs a bit more to operate it's worthwhile for something that just plain works

 

[bobg03]

My Mitsubishi is 8 years old, It runs often but only overnight when we get those rare teen temps. Summer it runs all day, a surge protector is a must. Summer is way longer than our usually short winter.

 

[mike93lx]

Is there anything specifically to do in order to keep the garage cool when using a mini split? Extra insulation, insulated garage doors, etc?

The device doing the cooling doesn't really matter.

All forms of HVAC benefit from air sealing and insulation and spending money to run those systems without at least some insulation can be a big waste of money.

Posting a thread with details on your garage could get you some help on where to best spend money on improvements

 

[fitter30]

Did you reuse the line set?. If so were the lines flushed with special solvent? Were the installation process followed to the letter. Pressure testing and evacuation? Electrical problem isn't on the install but reversing valve could be.

 

[bonneyman]

Matshushita (now owned by Panasonic) was a good brand when minisplits first came out. Now everybody and their brother makes them and they all seem kinda cheesey to my. JMHO.