We move totally off grid in 6 to 9 months. Teach me about air conditioner options.

[Sun_Dried_Toad]

Wife and I are building a house, on newly purchased acreage. We will be living totally off grid. well, septic, wood fire heat and Sol-Ark 12k system.

it gets hot enough in our area that air conditioning becomes a necessity during the peak of summer.

in our current home, we already use solar power for several loads. OUR AIR CONDITIONING IS NOT ON SOLAR. We have the Sol-Ark set up and powered by 2440w of PV with 300ah of Trojan 1275 FLA batteries. that is 8 wired in series/parallel at 48 volt.

it works well. runs several refrigerators, freezers, TV, central hvac fan, garage door opener, and a few lights.

when we move to the new home, we will upgrade the system. my aim is to add 12 mission solar panels and 2x Fortress eFlex LiFePO4 batteries.

what are some reliable and functional air conditioning options?

we are fine with window units, if needed. however, we are having the house fully ducted for central HVAC, because we hope to be able to afford to install in a few years.

what are our options for cooling, both on our current setup (2440w w/ FLA batteries) and options for planned upgrade (4140w w/ eFlex batteries)?

home will be 1350sqft. of that, 2 bedrooms will be closed and unused, so no cooling req. mainly our bedroom which is 17'x14' and our kitchen/living room which is 17'x29' combined.

we are 'rustic' folk, who do not keep our house very cold. usually around 78° to 80° during peak summer. so we should not be running the snot out of a cooling unit.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

mini splits

 

[NVS]

Mini split air conditioners seem to be the best option. There are a lot of videos on YouTube. Most are people installing them on RVs. Just surch running mini split on solar power.

 

[Sun_Dried_Toad]

more info?

I don't know what those are (will research) and I don't know what brands to look for.

what voltage? AC or DC?

 

[NVS]

Mitsubishi makes the best unit IMHO

 

[Nobodybusiness]

Wife and I are building a house, on newly purchased acreage. We will be living totally off grid. well, septic, wood fire heat and Sol-Ark 12k system.

it gets hot enough in our area that air conditioning becomes a necessity during the peak of summer.

in our current home, we already use solar power for several loads. OUR AIR CONDITIONING IS NOT ON SOLAR. We have the Sol-Ark set up and powered by 2440w of PV with 300ah of Trojan 1275 FLA batteries. that is 8 wired in series/parallel at 48 volt.

it works well. runs several refrigerators, freezers, TV, central hvac fan, garage door opener, and a few lights.

when we move to the new home, we will upgrade the system. my aim is to add 12 mission solar panels and 2x Fortress eFlex LiFePO4 batteries.

what are some reliable and functional air conditioning options?

we are fine with window units, if needed. however, we are having the house fully ducted for central HVAC, because we hope to be able to afford to install in a few years.

what are our options for cooling, both on our current setup (2440w w/ FLA batteries) and options for planned upgrade (4140w w/ eFlex batteries)?

home will be 1350sqft. of that, 2 bedrooms will be closed and unused, so no cooling req. mainly our bedroom which is 17'x14' and our kitchen/living room which is 17'x29' combined.

we are 'rustic' folk, who do not keep our house very cold. usually around 78° to 80° during peak summer. so we should not be running the snot out of a cooling unit.

I replaced a 2002 TRANE 3 ton unit with a Mr Cool universal.
Since you have Duct work this might be the way to go.

Replaced the air handler and condenser myself.

It’s an inverter style so doesn’t have huge Lock rotor amps.

I run my house off 2 Sol-ark 12ks but I also have another 3 ton TRANE unit as well for the second floor.

I used a Microair soft start on the TRANE unit.

I paid $4500 for the MR. Cool condenser, air handler and 50 ft of No vac Lineset from Ingram Supply. That included LTL shipping.

 

[Sun_Dried_Toad]

I have researched everything everyone has mentioned so far and watched the video ( I already watch his channel, but had not seen that vid).

I cannot decide which way to go:

should I not have the home ducted and go with a ductless mini split?

or

have the ductwork installed and use the mr cool universal mentioned by biasjo?

I had our last unit professionally installed. it is a Bryant 3 ton. it was installed in our attic. we have a "Cooper home" now. I had no desire to crawl around in that dirty, rockwool insulated, cramped space.

my wife and I are pretty homestead/DIY so the entire mr. cool lineup is intriguing.

I would like to hear more from both sides. "central duct" and ductless mini.

 

[RV10flyer]

We're totally off-grid 3+ weeks. Two 12K's, 20.64kW pv, 132kWh diy LFE, Honeywell (Generac) 10K Gen- LP. Fijitsu 9K 33SEER VS Inverter for power shed, American Standard 20 SEER 2 Ton VS Inverter- Upstairs, Am Std 16 SEER 2 Ton Single Spd- Garage, Two Step with MicroAir, Goodman 1.5 Ton 16 SEER Single Speed with MicroAir- Downstairs. 80 gal elec wh, lg & sm ref, electric range, elec dryer, toaster, microwave, tv, security lights, computers, misc. All run great on two Sol Arks. My 40 space panel is well balanced though and I dont run three electric heaters on one leg! ? I developed a few flickering LED's after the Am Std 20SEER Inv HP was installed two years ago. Also a few new LED flickers from our new Sol-Arks when starting/stopping larger loads. No big deal. Just finished second cloudy day, going on third night with no more than 5 kWh pv both days. Battery bank about 40%. We're not babying it. I wanted to see how it handled laundry, no heating with firewood, just heat pumps. We are very happy and impressed.

 

[Nobodybusiness]

I have researched everything everyone has mentioned so far and watched the video ( I already watch his channel, but had not seen that vid).

I cannot decide which way to go:

should I not have the home ducted and go with a ductless mini split?

or

have the ductwork installed and use the mr cool universal mentioned by biasjo?

I had our last unit professionally installed. it is a Bryant 3 ton. it was installed in our attic. we have a "Cooper home" now. I had no desire to crawl around in that dirty, rockwool insulated, cramped space.

my wife and I are pretty homestead/DIY so the entire mr. cool lineup is intriguing.

I would like to hear more from both sides. "central duct" and ductless mini.

This just my personal opinion and not necessarily what you should do

If I was building a home then I probably would have went with a minsplit 3 ton unit..

I just didn’t have that option.

They make a 36,000 BTU condenser unit that will accept 4 line sets of 9000 btus heads each.

9000 BTUs per room is usually quite enough.

I just figured since you had the ductwork installed you could go the route I did.

Only issue with the mini split is you have to run linesets to each room.
If they are all on outside wall not so bad.
If you have interior rooms then more of a PITA.

It’s really whatever you want.

I believe mine is 20 seer. Not sure about the mini splits.

 

[Nobodybusiness]

 

[Nobodybusiness]

We're totally off-grid 3+ weeks. Two 12K's, 20.64kW pv, 132kWh diy LFE, Honeywell (Generac) 10K Gen- LP. Fijitsu 9K 33SEER VS Inverter for power shed, American Standard 20 SEER 2 Ton VS Inverter- Upstairs, Am Std 16 SEER 2 Ton Single Spd- Garage, Two Step with MicroAir, Goodman 1.5 Ton 16 SEER Single Speed with MicroAir- Downstairs. 80 gal elec wh, lg & sm ref, electric range, elec dryer, toaster, microwave, tv, security lights, computers, misc. All run great on two Sol Arks. My 40 space panel is well balanced though and I dont run three electric heaters on one leg! ? I developed a few flickering LED's after the Am Std 20SEER Inv HP was installed two years ago. Also a few new LED flickers from our new Sol-Arks when starting/stopping larger loads. No big deal. Just finished second cloudy day, going on third night with no more than 5 kWh pv both days. Battery bank about 40%. We're not babying it. I wanted to see how it handled laundry, no heating with firewood, just heat pumps. We are very happy and impressed.

Our setups are very similar.

I also have been very happy with the 12ks.

I was entertaining the thought of getting 2 of the new 15kws when they came out just for S&Gs.

 

[robby]

I have a similar setup as what you are proposing. I have a Sol-ark 12K and three eFlex batteries plus 10KW of panels.

My suggestion is to go with multiple mini Split Inverter AC units. If 12,000 BTU is good enough then go with that, if not 18,000 in each area. You can literally buy two Pioneer units for the price of one equivalent Mr. Cool AC. Inverter AC's draw a bit more power for the first 20-30 minutes but after that they draw a lot less power.

The reason for multiple units is better load management capabilities. No need to burn power in rooms that are not in use. I also suggest a third eFlex. You will find that the third battery gets you into a kind of sweet spot where the benefit at night is more than a 33% increase in the time the system will run but closer to 40% as the batteries will be used at a lower C rating.

 

[Nobodybusiness]

I have a similar setup as what you are proposing. I have a Sol-ark 12K and three eFlex batteries plus 10KW of panels.

My suggestion is to go with multiple mini Split Inverter AC units. If 12,000 BTU is good enough then go with that, if not 18,000 in each area. You can literally buy two Pioneer units for the price of one equivalent Mr. Cool AC. Inverter AC's draw a bit more power for the first 20-30 minutes but after that they draw a lot less power.

The reason for multiple units is better load management capabilities. No need to burn power in rooms that are not in use. I also suggest a third eFlex. You will find that the third battery gets you into a kind of sweet spot where the benefit at night is more than a 33% increase in the time the system will run but closer to 40% as the batteries will be used at a lower C rating.

I agree.
I Just didn’t have that option and he said he had ductwork already. That’s why I suggested that.

If I was building a home I would use Mini splits everywhere.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

Ducted air has some “ ergonomic “ advantages imho. Nothing to look at, and you can second-coil to distribute heat from a woodstove. My opinion.
That doesn’t make minisplits less desirable. They’ve gotten very simple to install.

 

[Nobodybusiness]

Ducted air has some “ ergonomic “ advantages imho. Nothing to look at, and you can second-coil to distribute heat from a woodstove. My opinion.
That doesn’t make minisplits less desirable. They’ve gotten very simple to install.

Very true.

 

[timselectric]

Since you are still in the building process. Save your money and skip the expense of ductwork. Mini-split's all the way.

 

[BobR]

more info?

I don't know what those are (will research) and I don't know what brands to look for.

what voltage? AC or DC?

I am not affiliated with this company but have bought several systems from them.

Blueridge BM48M22C-9W-9W-9W-9W-9W 48,000 BTU (4.0 Ton) 21.5 SEER Five Zone Ductless Mini-Split Heat Pump System - Wi-Fi Capable

www.alpinehomeair.com

 

[Ampster]

I just installed an LG minisplit system in 3 rooms. I provide heat and cooling. The heat pump compressor is soft start and variable speed so they run off my inverter easily. There are head units that can be configured for ducted systems. The optimum energy saving feature is to be zoned so you don't heat or cool rooms that are not occupied.
The most most important investment you can make when designing a new home is energy conservation in the form of insulation and double pane windows.

 

[Browneye]

Fifty year old house, 3.5T central air and LNG furnace. AC quit about 8 years ago. They wanted $12K to $20 to replace everything with the old ducts, which are sealed in duct runs. Gas furnace still works great. We decided to wait.

Then wife started working from home, and summers have been warmer, so back to the project - now they wanted $15K to $25K.

Then Mr. Cool came to the rescue. Got quotes for $5500 for 2-ton Daikin, $8K for Mitsubishi. Ordered a 2-ton from Ingrams and installed it, $1500, in the main part of the house with 15' ceilings. Stucco walls have no insulation, old aluminum framed windows.
It worked so well I ordered a 1-ton for the 'east wing', master bed and bath, office, a scratch and dent unit from them for $800. Straightened out the housing, installed it, never looked back.

They blow ice cold, are silent, have a BT remote for offsite control, I would do this again new or old construction, for 10% of what a HVAC contractor wanted.

The main unit wasn't blowing ice cold the second season, called a local service tech - came out recharged it and tested, found a freon leak in the lineset where it was welded to the flex part of the line. $125. Called Ingrams and they sent out a whole new air handler under warranty. These previous units had the lineset already attached to the air handler, the latest ones have a shraeder type valve on both ends for in-field attachment. Replaced the unit, called the tech back out to test and charge to spec since more leaked out from his first visit to replacement - $125. That was three years ago. We also use them for supplemental heat when it is really cold, but mostly they are for cooling. Just outstanding.

For a whole house with multiple units I would contract with a local HVAC for installation of a competitive brand - they require lineset sizing, vac test and turn up, warranty activation. For one or two the Mr. Cool units are totally DIY, you connect the lineset, open the gas valves, and go. And they now have multi-head units available.

12K and 24K BTU condensers:

 

[Supervstech]

Ok, as a pro HVAC/Electrician speaking here, minis have a HUGE disadvantage to ducted systems.

Dirt.

The filtration in a ductless mini is pitiful. A huge part of my service time is cleaning muck from ductless minis.

Minis have the blower wheel directly in the cooling air path, so, it’s ALWAYS moist, add dust missed by he winderscreen filter, and you have microbial growth. Lots of it.
Ductless has the advantage, of zero energy lost to duct leakage, and long unconditioned chaseways, but man is the filtration an issue!

I like the ducted minis, but the SEER is lower with them… however, I can better design a quality filtration around them.

Take exceedingly large care to build your home to be as airtight as physically possible, and dust is less of a concern. Install controlled hrv filtration conditioning, and add dedicated dehumidification in, and the issues are reduced, but we humans are a dirty bunch… our skin cells alone cause quite a lot of the dust at issue here.