MRCOOL DIY Mini Split, Seriously, I Think...

[Spdstr280Z]

84deg??? thats just nice beer drinkin weather in these parts .!
I dont hit the overhead fans till its 90.

Well, we're a bunch of pansies here in the states....

It's funny actually, it has been in the mid to upper 90's around here for the last few weeks, I order an A/C unit and it cools down. Still, those two pics are an our or two after sunset, and it is still hot an humid in the garage. I would be fine around 80 without the humidity. I keep the house at 70 or 72, the garage I'm thinking 78 or so will be fine.

Jason

 

[RacerX10]

I just ordered a MrCool 36k DIY unit to cool my 40x40x16 shop. It's insulated pretty well, and 1/2 the shop has a 10' ceiling. Pretty high pitched roof, but I'm thinking that won't matter much since heat rises.

Looks like I'll be the one giving these MrCool units a torture test

Will report results as soon as it arrives / gets installed. I'm planning to install the unit on the "right" wall high and center. That will keep the area under the upper floor more cool, I'd think, and still cool off the high-bay area too.

Shop has a lot of shade .. usually stays about 10 - 15 degrees under outside hottest temperature.

I'm less confident about it's ability to keep this place warmish in the winter, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

I paid ~ $2000.00 for the unit from Ingram's (before the video discount thing). I was quoted $5,000.00 and higher to get the local HVAC thieves out to cool this place.

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Yeah, really thought your metal building was going to be a challenge, but looks pretty well insulated. The high ceilings were the driver for me to go to an 18K unit. Jealous of your space, that's a nice size.

Jason

 

[RacerX10]

So I'm not terribly happy with Ingram's water and air right now. Placed an order for that 36k unit Friday morning, but the total was over the daily charge limit on that card by a couple hundred. Instead of calling me to get that sorted out, they sold the one I ordered to somebody else, then they ran out and now I can't get one for weeks (probably).

 

[Spdstr280Z]

So I'm not terribly happy with Ingram's water and air right now. Placed an order for that 36k unit Friday morning, but the total was over the daily charge limit on that card by a couple hundred. Instead of calling me to get that sorted out, they sold the one I ordered to somebody else, then they ran out and now I can't get one for weeks (probably).

Wow, yeah that would not make me happy. Guess they just saw it as "declined" from their end, but still I would expect them to call and sort out it out. Hopefully new stock is in soon, if you still want to buy from them.

Jason

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[RacerX10]

Wow, yeah that would not make me happy. Guess they just saw it as "declined" from their end, but still I would expect them to call and sort out it out. Hopefully new stock is in soon, if you still want to buy from them.

Jason

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The email that they sent me 5 hours too late indicated that they knew it was a problem with the balance limit. They get return codes when they send in the CC number that lets them know what the issue was.

Apparently, they aren't expecting more units in until well into September.

No bueno.

 

[paranoid56]

So I'm not terribly happy with Ingram's water and air right now. Placed an order for that 36k unit Friday morning, but the total was over the daily charge limit on that card by a couple hundred. Instead of calling me to get that sorted out, they sold the one I ordered to somebody else, then they ran out and now I can't get one for weeks (probably).

so the main issue is you knew that you were over the limit and now are mad at the company? how about just use a card that has a proper limit lol

 

[bullnerd]

so the main issue is you knew that you were over the limit and now are mad at the company? how about just use a card that has a proper limit lol

I don't see where he said he new he was over.

 

[justinjoyal]

See post #44

 

[PoorOwner]

I noticed Home Depot sells these too now so maybe if you guys are not happy with the eBay or ingrams order from Home Depot for fast delivery.

 

[RacerX10]

so the main issue is you knew that you were over the limit and now are mad at the company? how about just use a card that has a proper limit lol

I ordered a part, there was a problem with the transaction, and they didn't honor my order. You can view it however you like, but that's what happened. It was a simple thing to fix, and they didn't bother to get in touch with me about fixing it and failed to deliver what I'd ordered.

I think they have some good people at Ingram's, but in this instance they did not provide good customer service.

That said, I'll still probably order from them as soon as they have one in stock, unless I can find it somewhere else sooner.

 

[handymancanfixit]

I ordered a part, there was a problem with the transaction, and they didn't honor my order. You can view it however you like, but that's what happened. It was a simple thing to fix, and they didn't bother to get in touch with me about fixing it and failed to deliver what I'd ordered.

I think they have some good people at Ingram's, but in this instance they did not provide good customer service.

That said, I'll still probably order from them as soon as they have one in stock, unless I can find it somewhere else sooner.

You can buy them through Home Depot as well, but the 36K model is also out of stock with them. The price difference is small.

 

[Git]

I ordered a part, there was a problem with the transaction, and they didn't honor my order. You can view it however you like, but that's what happened. It was a simple thing to fix, and they didn't bother to get in touch with me about fixing it and failed to deliver what I'd ordered.

I think they have some good people at Ingram's, but in this instance they did not provide good customer service.

That said, I'll still probably order from them as soon as they have one in stock, unless I can find it somewhere else sooner.

I don't see how it is Ingram's fault....

Just had this happen to me with a Rock Auto order.

Costco recently switched from AmEx to Visa. I had dozens of orders with Rock Auto with my AmEx card but the first time I tried to order with the new Visa card - the transaction failed and I knew right then and there that the transaction wasn't approved. (I am sure that Ingrams has a similar system and surely there was some kind of indication that the order did not go through?)

I had to call Visa up and tell them it was me that was placing the order. I didn't blame Rock Auto - I blamed Visa

PS - They can't "honor your order" unless it goes through and is paid for (JMHO)

 

[RacerX10]

the transaction failed and I knew right then and there that the transaction wasn't approved. (I am sure that Ingrams has a similar system and surely there was some kind of indication that the order did not go through?)

according to the guy I spoke to, they processed my order at 11:00 AM, when they still had them in stock.

there was no indication that the order did not process normally, and i got a "thank you for your order" email from them within a minute or two.

at 4:30 PM, i got an email that said there was an issue with the transaction limit.

i immediately called them at 4:30, but by then they were out of stock.

so the only info i got before they ran out of stock was that the order was proceeding normally.

 

[RacerX10]

You can buy them through Home Depot as well, but the 36K model is also out of stock with them. The price difference is small.

thanks ! i'll keep an eye out there too.

 

[Spdstr280Z]

This weekend wasn't quite as productive as I had hoped, but that's the story of my life, and I'm used to it. Got the inside unit mounted at least.

Sorry, no glamour shots here, you get to see the real mess in there.

This was Saturday working around family time and meals.

Shot of some of the materials. Condenser and compressor, lineset cover, compressor wall mount bracket, etc.



I put up a backer board since I was afraid I couldn't catch studs where I needed to. As I found out later, there was more wood in the wall than I thought, would have probably been fine.



It's real when you drill holes in the wall...



You can just see that I wasn't paying enough attention when I marked for the inside wall hole. I marked the studs, but shifted the template later and drilled in the wrong spot by about an inch. No big deal, corrected, just have an oblong hole. Yes, I thought about starting over, I'm trying to forget it's there.



Ordered these telescoping wall sleeves. Turns out of you take the flange off one and screw it on the other, it will tighten down perfectly and make a nice clean install. They should sell them like this.






And a little more today...

Got the backer board painted last night, and the mount in place. Probably a few more screws than necessary, but vibrations drive me nuts.



And started feeding lineset through the holes. One of the down sides of this DIY system, there is a lot of lineset. I have seen it advertised as 25 and 26 feet. I measured 26 feet from the back of the indoor unit. Also, it is not completely clear in the instructions or videos I don't think, the lineset is attached to the indoor unit. You have to deal with it together, which is unwieldy...



Had to go to work for a while, took this pic while getting gas. Beautiful out...



I was mostly working by myself, so I got a little creative. I did get my wife to assist, but we don't always work together that well at mechanical type things. Tried to make it as foolproof as possible.

This is a stand I threw together to mount wall cabinets. Screwed to a furniture dolly with an extra support on top, we now have a rolling mini split install fixture. Oh, and duct tape, don't forget duct tape, even if it is a ductless system.



All the wife had to do was push a little and keep it from tipping as I feed lineset.

BTW, I grew up in NC and live in GA, yes, I am a redneck when necessary.

Was probably a little more careful than necessary to avoid kinking the lines.



You can also see the base of the Fortress lineset cover in that pic.

And after some precarious balancing, a lot of sweating, and a bit of profanity, the inside unit is mounted.



This is what I have inside the closet. Need some insulation and more tape to clean that up some.



More tomorrow, I hope,

Jason
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[PoorOwner]

Why did you put a plywood there ? There are plenty of holes on the brackets or you could drill it exactly where the stud is.

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Why did you put a plywood there ? There are plenty of holes on the brackets or you could drill it exactly where the stud is.

You caught me editing, mostly it's there because I'm an idiot.

I probably didn't need it, but installing over the door, over the moulding, the bracket is small enough I was afraid I was going to be over a mostly empty bay. I really would have probably been fine, as I wasn't thinking about the header for the shelf there. Just would not have been able to secure the bracket "legs" at the bottom.

Jason

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[bullnerd]

Jason, I might have missed it, where did you order your unit from?

And the adjustable sleeves?

 

[PoorOwner]

Looks better that you have painted the board. i assume you have put tiny slope in the alignment of the holes from the door to the exterior wall?

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Jason, I might have missed it, where did you order your unit from?

And the adjustable sleeves?

Ingrams Water and Air...

http://ingramswaterandair.com/mrcool-seer-ductless-minisplit-heat-pump-wifi-p-22614.html

And SupplyHouse.com

http://www.supplyhouse.com/Rectorseal-83017-3-x-5-7-NFP75-Telescoping-Wall-Sleeve

Things are awesome, wish they sold them like I used them though, guess I made a $12 version.

Jason

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Looks better that you have painted the board. i assume you have put tiny slope in the alignment of the holes from the door to the exterior wall?

More than tiny, decided I wanted the indoor unit top flush with the "loft", probably a 2" drop was necessary to get under the soffit and line the cover base up with the soffit trim.

Jason

 

[bullnerd]

Thanks.

Nice job BTW.

 

[SALIV8]

Looks awesome cant wait to see the rest!!

I didnt realize the lineset came attached to the indoor unit. thanks for clarifying that.

 

[Spdstr280Z]

I guess "I didn't get to work on my air conditioning for the garage because my irrigation system was leaking" is one of those "first world problems" people refer to, but arrrgh....

Seems I'm the only one on the family who thought that a creek running down the driveway was unusual...



I did get a little time and got the rest of the Fortress base and lineset up for this wall. Even put the cover on a section to see how it looks. I got the cover sections at a local supply house so I could get 10' sections. I wanted 3.5", but they only stocked 4.5" and "that's what everybody uses.". Interestingly enough, they didn't stock the couplings, or corners, or the nifty zip tie bases. They did mention they get a lot of people asking though... Anyway, that's what the internet is for. All the other parts were ordered from SupplyHouse.com.



I really don't want to coil up lineset, so once I decided on the location for the indoor unit, I planned to go down the wall until I used up enough lineset to have a neat installation. I knew this would put me at the back corner, just not sure which side. Looks like I'll end up around the corner on the back wall, which is my preference, but may end up mounting higher than I expected due to the length of the lines. Sitting the compressor low on the same wall would still give me extra line to deal with, but I don't think I'll have enough to go around the corner and mount the unit low on the wall. Either way, I'm going to get poison oak...

Jason

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Oh yeah, a reminder on why I'm doing this. Tonight at around 9:30...



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[Spdstr280Z]

Lost the pic I had with part of the Fortress cover installed mentioned above, so grabbed another.



Have not accomplished much this week between the sprinkler leak, working late and storms. Located the wall studs and started with the outside unit wall mounting yesterday. Have school visits with the kids tonight. Thinking I may take a day off tomorrow and get to finish this up.

Jason

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[Spdstr280Z]

It's up and running !

Got busy between storms, family and forestry, and didn't get a lot of pics over the weekend, but at this point there are other threads and videos, and it looks mostly the same as those.

So far, I'm impressed. After running for an hour, the temp has only dropped 3 degrees, but the humidity has dropped 22% !

On startup...



And an hour later...



Doesn't look too bad up there...



And it's pumping out 49 degree air at 79 in the room...



So far so good.

Jason

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[Spdstr280Z]

After two hours...



Really sucking the humidity out of the air. Decided to stick a bucket under the drain to catch the condensate for a while after I noticed the stream that was flowing...



Jason

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[mobiledynamics]

Congrats Jason. My Mr. Slims - albit maybe about 4-5 years since installed, when I had my temp gun on it, all of them was registering blowing 60 out.

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Congrats Jason. My Mr. Slims - albit maybe about 4-5 years since installed, when I had my temp gun on it, all of them was registering blowing 60 out.

That might just be the IR gun, vs the temp probe. I tried the gun too, and it read 54.

Jason

 

[mobiledynamics]

Yeah, Maybe that's it. If I angled the IR to hit more into the squirrel cage, it did register 58-59

 

[Kaizen]

along these lines.....my daughter is living in the 600 sq ft apt that I installed mine in 2 months ago. she tells me yesterday she is going to the store to get a humidifier because her throat is dry?!?!?! I had to sit her down and explain her need to have the apt at 70 degrees 24/7 is doing it. kids........

so you boys down south should really like the dehumidifier part of these units.

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Walked out this morning to see how comfy it was in the garage before I went to work. Compressor is on the back wall and I couldn't hear it running, well ****. Went to check, sure enough, not running. Surge suppressor has an annoying green light, so we have power, hmmm... Walk inside, not hot, but not comfortable either. ****. Look at the thermometer, hmmm, 75 degrees and 60% humidity, ****... Oh, wait. Of course, since I installed A/C this weekend, we now have the coolest night in several weeks, only 70 this morning. I just left the unit at 76 and in whatever mode it came on in. It hit the set temp, had no heat load, so it had probably been off for a while and the humidity shot back up without the unit running. Dropped the temp a couple of degrees and it is back on, blowing cold air. Hopefully it is just time to RTFM and understand the settings and this "dry" mode.

Jason

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[Spdstr280Z]

Came home after work to this...

And all this that was removed in less than 24 hours...

Pretty happy so far.

Jason

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[gtae07]

Well, it's been something like two months since I've installed mine. Still works great, except for some reason the wifi connection isn't working any more. A couple weeks ago I found that it had disconnected; restarting the unit got it to connect again. It happened more and more frequently until now it doesn't work at all. I guess it's not really that big a deal, but it's nice being able to set it to cut on ahead of time (like the night before) and not have to physically walk out and do it with the remote.

 

[maroon88iroc]

Man this is awesome, I am definitely leaning towards going this route in my 30x40 shop now. I may have missed it but I have read these systems come precharged, can you tell me what the process was to hook up the lines and charge the system? I have no HVAC experience but I am hoping to DIY install this unit.

 

[gtae07]

Man this is awesome, I am definitely leaning towards going this route in my 30x40 shop now. I may have missed it but I have read these systems come precharged, can you tell me what the process was to hook up the lines and charge the system? I have no HVAC experience but I am hoping to DIY install this unit.

You can find the installation manual online. But basically, the process was:
- Make absolutely sure your lines are in position.
- Thread the coupling nut onto the fitting of the outdoor unit. Once started, tighten it down as fast as you reasonably can until tightened.
- Repeat for the other line.
- Leak check with soapy water.
- Open the valves with allen key.
- Leak check again.
- Test run unit.
- Leak check while running.

 

[Spdstr280Z]

That's pretty much it, one note, the lineset on the pre-charged DIY units is already attached to the inside unit, so that makes it a little difficult to handle. My opinion, if you have a shop because you want a space to do mechanical work, you should have no problem with the DIY units.

Jason

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[maroon88iroc]

Thanks! 280Z you have inspired me to give it a try. I also have a 500-ish square feet man cave above my detached garage that I am considering a mini split for as well.. that is if the shop install goes smooth. You cant beat the pricing on these!

The only thing I am disliking is the 26' of line, not found of having to coil the excess line and have it take up space. Be nicer if it was a customizable length deal but I guess you couldn't get it pre-charged that way.