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What Mini-Split did you use, and Why?

I just finished building a duplex from the ground up. Each side is 800sqft. To small for the usual packaged units I put in most of my rentals. Decided to go with pioneer mini split artic version. Supposed to heat down to -13°f. Each is 24,000 btu and good for 1000sqft. $900 each on webstruant.com. Comes with 16ft line set. I rented a vacuum pump from O’Reilys to pull vacuum. All the auto parts places have them. Already had gauges. I used the 16ft line set that came with the unit. I didnt reflare. It comes with copper gaskets with some kind of coating that is supposed to prevent leaks.. It was a lot easier than it looks on YouTube.. have been running for a week and very satisfied so far. For the bedrooms I put in room to room transfer fan in ductwork to bring the conditioned air from living/kitchen into the bedrooms. That fan is on a thermostat in one of the bedrooms
 
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Found this site from another thread, posting the following article because I think it's relevant here. I hope his opinion about pioneer being ewwww is grossly incorrect.
airconditioningarizona.com

Mitsubishi vs Fujitsu vs Daikin vs Gree

We compare Mitsubishi vs Fujitsu vs Daikin vs Gree in this 4-way shootout between four of the most popular ductless mini split heat pump systems in Phoenix
airconditioningarizona.com airconditioningarizona.com
 
as for torquing the line sets, I didn’t buy the crows foot stuff cuz I’m ”Cheap” so I simply tightened them up. The bigger line I tightened up harder. I was careful not to overtighten the 1/4” line to not crack the flare. Vacuum held for 1.5hrs so I suspect no leak. Also used soapy water after cracking lines open and shutting them, then again with soapy water after fully releasing refrigerant
 
Wow, the Gree is over twice as much as I paid for the pioneer. I really hope it’s not “you get what you pay for”..
 
I’m seeing a 22 seer for the gree.. the pioneers I got are only 18seer which was fine for a rental. My central unit at my house is only a 16 seer
 
sunshine_eggo said:
I got my dad the 18000BTU MRCOOL DIY for his 2S2P garage (2 cars wide, 2 deep) so he and my brother could install it themselves. The only thing they didn't do was the electrical work. They weren't comfortable with it.

He's thrilled with it. His only complaint is that the 4' CFL fixture near the unit interferes with the remote.

EDIT: And he's too much of a self-admitted Luddite to bother with setting up the wifi access... :p
Click to expand...
Luddite … that’s funny…?
 
42OhmsPA said:
Found this site from another thread, posting the following article because I think it's relevant here. I hope his opinion about pioneer being ewwww is grossly incorrect.
airconditioningarizona.com

Mitsubishi vs Fujitsu vs Daikin vs Gree

We compare Mitsubishi vs Fujitsu vs Daikin vs Gree in this 4-way shootout between four of the most popular ductless mini split heat pump systems in Phoenix
airconditioningarizona.com airconditioningarizona.com
Click to expand...
He's a HVAC guy. His opinion is likely worthless. These guys gatekeep haaaaaaaard. And I say that as a guy that bought Mitsubishi. They rank slightly below ambulance chasing lawyers in my opinion and vote party line. Most of them anyway.

He also cherry picked the models of the ones presented making the outcome be what he wanted it to be. Must be more markup on on Gree.
 
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Cheap 4-life said:
as for torquing the line sets, I didn’t buy the crows foot stuff cuz I’m ”Cheap” so I simply tightened them up. The bigger line I tightened up harder. I was careful not to overtighten the 1/4” line to not crack the flare. Vacuum held for 1.5hrs so I suspect no leak. Also used soapy water after cracking lines open and shutting them, then again with soapy water after fully releasing refrigerant
Click to expand...
The dedicated crowsfoot is the only thing that I didn't buy. I did however, buy a Icon flex torque wrench (useful in other applications) and already had crows foot sockets. Some math is required with doing it this way; I'm no @Hedges, but it's pretty straightforward.
 
Wow! The mini split is coming via FedEx in 2x boxes, like usual. Amazon estimated it would be here between the 19th-22nd. I was really hoping for the 19th because I could work on it over the weekend. But I checked tracking on FedEx website and its out for delivery today the 16th!

Can't beat it!
 
Lt.Dan said:
Wow! The mini split is coming via FedEx in 2x boxes, like usual. Amazon estimated it would be here between the 19th-22nd. I was really hoping for the 19th because I could work on it over the weekend. But I checked tracking on FedEx website and its out for delivery today the 16th!

Can't beat it!
Click to expand...
Sweet. Got to love it when shipping is early.
 
Shimmy said:
I have Mitsubishi Mr. Slim's in the house, and they have one characteristic that I cannot stand which might be relevant to you: the coil temperature is too low so they do a lot of latent cooling. (Aside from the bedrooms, my house is naturally ventilated. There are no vapor barriers between the conditioned and unconditioned spaces.)

The problem I have is that sometimes I just need a lower dry bulb temperature, and there is no need to dehumidify. Many garages have significant air leaks by commission or omission, so when it is humid you will use a lot more energy than the equipment will ever benefit from.

Controls on these mini-splits leave a lot to be desired, and there really isn't a way around them.

The tiny piece of advice I will offer is that you are better off installing 2 1-ton units rather than 1 2-ton unit if you need to run the mini-splits when their loads are going to be fairly low-- just shut off one of the two units and let the inverter have maximum turn-down on the other.
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Error, wrong post somehow, why is there no delete?
 
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Solar Guppy said:
I have R40 in the garage ceiling, insulated the door panels ( $300 kit at lowes ) and have had zero issues on maintaining temperatures. I don't know "your" people, but most just throw out "be safe" numbers.

My previous home I had installed a 3 ton heat pump for a 2600 sf home, again, just had good insulation in the attic.

If you keep the sources requiring BTU's at bay, it doesn't take much to maintain a temperature. An example is a walk in freezer, they have very small units, like the size of a window AC, but they have all sides, top and door insulated.
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Lt Dan is in Tulare CA, it’s pretty common to have heat near or over 100f daily for the summer in the central valley. It’s typically “a dry heat” in the central valley, but blazing sun May into October.
As I’m sure most on this forum know, overhangs, eves, shading, structure color and design, roof material and color, and building orientation can make a HUGE difference in heat gain.
For example a straight gable roof with the tall /\ side facing sw or w can take in a tremendous amount of heat on a typical summer afternoon in the central valley. Especially any color other than white, and a steeper roof pitch gives more surface to heat up both the roof and the sun facing /\ gable wall.
So even though sq footage and insulation may be identical, the heat load can be a tremendous difference.

Again, I’m sure most on this forum know these facts, but they seem to often not be mentioned so may be a benefit for some to see and consider.
 
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I installed an LG system 18 months ago. I picked them for reputation, availability of different wall or ceiling units and efficiency. It has three zones and is mostly used for heat in winter.
 
Interesting, showing 99.99 shipping in my checkout, total 663.53 w tax.

Order Summary​

Items:$567.97
Shipping & handling:$99.99
Your Coupon Savings:-$55.00
Total before tax:$612.96
Estimated tax to be collected:*$50.57
Order total:$663.53
 
SilverbackMP said:
He's a HVAC guy. His opinion is likely worthless. These guys gatekeep haaaaaaaard. And I say that as a guy that bought Mitsubishi. They rank slightly below ambulance chasing lawyers in my opinion and vote party line. Most of them anyway.

He also cherry picked the models of the ones presented making the outcome be what he wanted it to be. Must be more markup on on Gree.
Click to expand...
Hey! We HVAC guys aren't ALL chasing the dollar!

My company focuses on quality, and customers satisfaction.

With minisplits. DURABILITY and service ease are my biggest recommendations.

I like the midea for the price and efficiency.
I like the daiken for the service and durability.

Everything else is the same until you get mitsubishi... they are the cream, but too expensive for the privilege.

Oh, I've had the most issues from pioneer.


As for leak testing...
You need nitrogen or CO2 and time...
Testing how long it'll hold vacuum is meaningless.

It needs to hold 600psi for 4 hours...
If it can't, it is leaking.
 
I got 8 Mitsubishi Zen-series minisplits around the house, usually only use 2 at a time.
Extremely silent with brilliant COP values and low energy use.
Normally my office f.ex. only uses 150-300 watts @ 230V.
Can also be had in silver or black or the standard white.

Highly recommended.
 
Supervstech said:
Testing how long it'll hold vacuum is meaningless.
Click to expand...
Why is that meaningless? If it doesn’t hold vacuum there’s a leak. Also after fully releasing the refrigerant and putting it in heat mode the psi is up around 500. That’s when I soapy water tested it. Doing the vacuum for 30min and then letting it hold for 30min and using soapy water in heat mode is the pioneer manuals recommended procedure.
 
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