Ductless mini split heating and air

[akfodysvn]

Anyone have any experience with this?

Bought a rental that is from 1912 and the furnace is ancient and the ductwork isnt really sufficient for heat or AC for the upstairs rooms.

Looking for good quality ductless mini splits that don't break the bank. Need one for each bedroom (3) and one for the main living space. Total sq footage is like 1400 ft but each bedroom is pretty small... like 120 sq ft.

I've looked for some window units to do the same thing as they are about half the price but would prefer the more efficient Mini split units

[slow84lx]

I've done a lot of reading about minisplits on garagejournal.com and other places. They are becoming quite common and many are DIY. Lots of people have had good experiences it seems. Quite interesting and I would love to have one in my garage some day.

The heating is done via heat pump so may not be adequate in really cold weather.

[Chuck_Finley]

Well, some are DIY. Here is one example: http://www.friedrich.com/products/re.../window/breeze

The reason it's DIY is because of the snap connections they use on the lineset and it cannot be more than 25 feet. Even then I don't know how they evacuate the lines and test for leaks once you snap them in place.

You can certainly buy your own on the internet, but just be aware you will need to know what you're doing in terms of proper line evacuation, leak testing etc. The one thing most people dont know is that R410a can become explosive if exposed to oxygen. That's why vacuum and purge with nitrogen is really important.

[slow84lx]

I was of the understanding that most of the DIY units have pre-charged lines. Is this incorrect?

[Chuck_Finley]

I have never actually had hands on any of the DIY units like what I linked to, so I don't know. All a/c compressors whether standard units or ductless are pre-charged with a certain amount of refrigerant unless they explicitly say it's dry. Each manufacturer will state in the service documentation how long of a lineset that pre-charged compressor will be able to handle. Most ductless units these days go up to 25 feet.

The linesets I buy from the supply house are standard acr copper that are precleaned but still must be vacuumed and such. Never come across any that are 'pre-charged'.

[naynay]

what do you do, chuck?

[KBScobravert]

I have a 2 ton split unit ductless A/C in my garage.

Came pre charged.

Gets my garage cold as a fridge even in the hot months like August.

As far as heat, if you buy it with heat pump and a seer that meets your needs, it will get the space hotter than you will want if you set it that high.

[scootro]

these things are so common overseas!

[KBScobravert]

these things are so common overseas!

They are so common for us to use on bases in Afghanistan and the like, that we had so many to service everyday it cost more in payroll and nan hours tgasn it costs to repair or even just replace them when they fail.

[jluv]

Hmmm... I need some kind of AC for the summers up here in CO. It's extremely rare for any of the houses where I am to have central heat and air. We have heat taken care of with our wood stove and base heaters, but during July and August, it can get almost 90 degrees inside of our house in the afternoon. Window units are avoided because they tend to dry out the air, and we already have single-digit humidity most of the time. I tried a swamp cooler, but it was freight train loud and didn't help worth a shit.

I would need something simple and completely DIY, because there is no one up here to hire that does that kind of stuff. I'm fairly handy, but have never worked with AC stuff, so I don't want to blow up my house.

I mainly just need it for the living room, which is roughly 750 sq ft with vaulted ceilings.

[Chuck_Finley]

what do you do, chuck?

I know a little
but hvac is not my day job.

[Chuck_Finley]

Hmmm... I need some kind of AC for the summers up here in CO. It's extremely rare for any of the houses where I am to have central heat and air. We have heat taken care of with our wood stove and base heaters, but during July and August, it can get almost 90 degrees inside of our house in the afternoon. Window units are avoided because they tend to dry out the air, and we already have single-digit humidity most of the time. I tried a swamp cooler, but it was freight train loud and didn't help worth a shit.

I would need something simple and completely DIY, because there is no one up here to hire that does that kind of stuff. I'm fairly handy, but have never worked with AC stuff, so I don't want to blow up my house.

I mainly just need it for the living room, which is roughly 750 sq ft with vaulted ceilings.

Even if you are handy enough, the tools needed to properly install a ductless unit can easily run you $1000, not to mention whatever other costs of supplies are needed such as nitrogen or refrigerant.

[jluv]

Even if you are handy enough, the tools needed to properly install a ductless unit can easily run you $1000, not to mention whatever other costs of supplies are needed such as nitrogen or refrigerant.

Well damn.

[GrayStangGT]

We have a Mitsubishi unit on our office I ordered off the internet, install was pretty simple, mount the inside unit drill a hole with the hole saw, run the lines, open the valves and hope it doesn't leak. Ours has been going strong for two years now.