Heck of a Mini Split Deal

[WinnisquamZ]

Curious how the Low Cost mini splits are handling this heat and humidity


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[Wiezy]

Originally Posted by WinnisquamZ

Curious how the Low Cost mini splits are handling this heat and humidity

We've got a pair of Ductlessaire 12ks and they are working quite well, keeping the humidity down in the 40-60% range and the temperature in the mid 70s while only using 8kwh per unit during the day yesterday (That's about $1.20 per unit for the day in NHEC prices).

[mswlogo]

Originally Posted by WinnisquamZ

Curious how the Low Cost mini splits are handling this heat and humidity


Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

Working fantastic.

Don’t know what we would have done with out it.
We would have had to stay in MA.

We are both working from home at the lake.

We had a nice breeze on a lot of the hot days which was really nice outside even when it was pretty hot.

I love hot humid weather. But my wife just can’t deal with it any more due to health issues.
And dogs shed like crazy this time of year and get itchy. With A/C running they were fine.

[uschisk]

We purchased and have now installed the minisplits - but although we planned to order a set with precharged lines we did not 😫. So - now we need to find someone who can cut/connect the lines and take care of the vacuum etc - wondering if anyone else has done a partial diy? Looking for recommendations. Thank you!

[Biggd]

Originally Posted by uschisk

We purchased and have now installed the minisplits - but although we planned to order a set with precharged lines we did not 😫. So - now we need to find someone who can cut/connect the lines and take care of the vacuum etc - wondering if anyone else has done a partial diy? Looking for recommendations. Thank you!

This is a big problem today as every contractor is slammed. If you choose to do a job yourself you better be able to do the complete job.
They have so much work so they are going to service units that they have install before taking any DIY customers. You can't blame them, there's so much work and only so many hours in a day to do it. Good luck!

[mswlogo]

Originally Posted by uschisk

We purchased and have now installed the minisplits - but although we planned to order a set with precharged lines we did not ��. So - now we need to find someone who can cut/connect the lines and take care of the vacuum etc - wondering if anyone else has done a partial diy? Looking for recommendations. Thank you!

I thought I was initially getting precharged lines too. They actually are not precharged, the are just pre-evacuated. That didn't stop me from finishing though

I did not have to cut and flare lines. But I did it years ago and really not that hard. Just buy the right tools (maybe rent some). A tubing cutter and a flare tool.

Evacuating the line was a little tricky, but not that bad once I understood how it all worked. You can buy pumps for around $100.00 on Amazon.

You need a vacuum gauge (ideally a good one so you can detect leaks in a reasonable time span).

And a valve, make sure it's the correct one. Typically designated made for mini splits.

There are Video's online, but I found them not quite right.

Once lines are hooked up, you attach the proper valve (I think I linked it above in a post).

And you turn the knob IN (that opens the schrader valve), it's a little counter intuitive.

Run the pump with the Vacc gauge. Probably 30 minutes or so until it's down to spec for a sustained amount of time.

Once it's low enough, keep the pump going and back the knob on the valve out. That closes the schrader. Don't remove anything or turn off the pump.

Now you open the freon valve, and your done. As soon as you do that it locks the schrader valve. Now you can turn off the pump and remove the valve and cap it.

If you managed to get the mini split in, you can do the lines. It's not hard and if you watch a pro do it, you'll kick yourself in the butt thinking you should have done it.

But watch a few videos to get a feel. But none I found quite uderstood how it works. Except one Pro did, but he had a rather elaborate setup that was way over kill. But he did know what he was doing.

All you need is a Valve, Gauge and Pump.
Flaring tool and cutter is probably $15-$20 each. I'm sure there are good videos on that.

Here is a good video on cut an flaring. That's a really nice flaring tool, probably way more than $20.00 one I have

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze7HCWcwnrI

Here is the video of the guy knowing what he is doing on evacuation, but way overkill. You don''t need to take the Schader valve out. Nor do you need the tools to allow it. If you are a Pro it might save some time (pump down faster). You just need a $10.00 valve. All you are doing it getting the moisture out of the lines by pumping them down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9uohbYDuRs

Oh one other thing. Mine came with pre flared lines. The lines lengths are matched to how much freon is precharged in the system. If you run lines longer or shorter now you raise the complexity a notch and you have to add or remove freon. So if your lines are preflarred don't worry about the excess length. There are videos on that too. Basically if you add say 10 ft you have to add so many ounces with a formula and you do it by weight. I didn't have to get into that. All I had to do was connect and pump them out.

[Cow Man]

The main thing in our decision to go with mini splits is that living on an island we had to factor the delivery charges of the fuel being used. Assuming you didn’t run afoul of shoreland regulations, you could cut, split, and stack firewood but most of the trees on Cow are conifers with the attendant creosote problems. Clearly firewood is a losing proposition if you must pay to have someone handle it or don’t have the desire to do it yourself. It does nothing for cooling.

Propane and oil in any useful quantity needs to be delivered by a contractor.

Solar and wind power aren’t ready for primetime as a total solution. So, the mini split with electricity delivered by wire is the clear winner for hassle free fuel delivery.

But what happens if the electricity goes out? You could run a generator but then you have gasoline or propane or diesel fuel storage and maintenance issues. The best solution I have found but not yet implemented would be a Tesla or similar battery system kept charged by the grid or a solar array. They only last a day or two if charged by the grid, but a solar array can stretch that out to a week and that should cover most outages. I’m sure there are some rebate offers for this alternative energy equipment but haven’t gotten that far down the road yet.

I am constructing a new 1500 square foot home and fired up the splits in the fall. I set the temperature to 60 degrees. This year (2022) the temperature was 25 -35 degrees, and the usage was 1000 – 1500 KW. The highest price paid for electricity was $303.07 in January. Summer charges should be about $50 per month. I have five units one for each bedroom and two for the “great room.” When finished each of the units may be controlled by a Wi-Fi app which should help lower operating costs.

Very much a fan of minis so far.

[Descant]

Originally Posted by Cow Man

The main thing in our decision to go with mini splits is that living on an island we had to factor the delivery charges of the fuel being used. Assuming you didn’t run afoul of shoreland regulations, you could cut, split, and stack firewood but most of the trees on Cow are conifers with the attendant creosote problems. Clearly firewood is a losing proposition if you must pay to have someone handle it or don’t have the desire to do it yourself. It does nothing for cooling.

Propane and oil in any useful quantity needs to be delivered by a contractor.

Solar and wind power aren’t ready for primetime as a total solution. So, the mini split with electricity delivered by wire is the clear winner for hassle free fuel delivery.

But what happens if the electricity goes out? You could run a generator but then you have gasoline or propane or diesel fuel storage and maintenance issues. The best solution I have found but not yet implemented would be a Tesla or similar battery system kept charged by the grid or a solar array. They only last a day or two if charged by the grid, but a solar array can stretch that out to a week and that should cover most outages. I’m sure there are some rebate offers for this alternative energy equipment but haven’t gotten that far down the road yet.

I am constructing a new 1500 square foot home and fired up the splits in the fall. I set the temperature to 60 degrees. This year (2022) the temperature was 25 -35 degrees, and the usage was 1000 – 1500 KW. The highest price paid for electricity was $303.07 in January. Summer charges should be about $50 per month. I have five units one for each bedroom and two for the “great room.” When finished each of the units may be controlled by a Wi-Fi app which should help lower operating costs.

Very much a fan of minis so far.

Good info. Thanks for posting. In that electric bill were there other uses, eg refrigerator, ice bubbler, web cam? Why did you heat all winter? Was all water drained? Could you shut everything down and then come out for a weekend and start the Minis heating?

[FlyingScot]

Good plan, Cow. I have solar and mini splits, and I agree that adding a Tesla or similar battery would create a good total solution in general. But you might want to consider the issue of snow on solar panels. Snow slides off my panels in 2-3 days (much faster than asphalt roof). I think this should be acceptable for your situation, as long as your panels have a decent pitch--the installer should know how long you might expect snow to last.

I do not have an app to control my Mitsubishi splits. Are you going with Mitsubishi? Is there an add on you're getting for the app, or is this a new standard feature? Thanks

[Cow Man]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

I do not have an app to control my Mitsubishi splits. Are you going with Mitsubishi? Is there an add on you're getting for the app, or is this a new standard feature? Thanks

I did go with Mitsubishi. The Installer I had did a good job but when asked about the Wifi capability it evidently involved installing a circuit board in each unit and as I have 5 splits, I found that not to be a justifiable expense. However, for roughly $25 a piece, you can get a Wi-Fi thermostat that will do everything I want it to do and operate in voice mode via Alexa and probably others. The model I got MSZ-FHO6NA offered the board as an OEM add on and my understanding is that you can add the board at anytime by yourself if you re handy or have the installer do it.

[NH.Solar]

Adding battery backup to a solar array is costly, but neccessary for a grid tied island situation. Without battery backup a solar system must shut down instantly anytime the grid fails. This is done to prevent back feeding into the grid as the linesmen are wroking on it.
Most of the newer battery backups have built in mechanisms that will instantly disconnect the home from the grid (called co-incidently, "islanding") and divert the solar power to the battery. For a mainland application the best solution currently is likely the SolarEdge EnergyHub system but it has one serious shortfall for island application, there is no AGS, automated genertor Start/Stop. If the grid is out for any length of time during a January blizzard there will be no power to charge the battery until the sun again comes out and the modules slide their snow. The system will automatically restart then but it might be too late.
There are however two excellent inverter systems that have AGS; the Outback Radian and SolArk. They were both originally designed for total off-grid installations but also work extremely well when grid tied. If there were again a prolonged outage during a blizzard the inverter would draw the power of the batteries down to a pre-set level, and then start the generator and run it long enough to re-charge the batteries. As long as there is fuel in the generator the house will never be without power ...and it will mostly be powered freely by the sun

[Cow Man]

The electric bills were all inclusive, however the house being under construction it is not anticipated the charges will remain static. The Wi-Fi thermostats will allow for fine tuning the units to heat and cool only as the room they control is occupied and lifestyle issues entry and exit times, etc., will have an impact. The bubbler and webcam were not operational as they were shut off as part of the construction schedule required. We heated all winter because we had contractors doing work during the winter. We drained the water from all outdoor plumbing and used RV antifreeze for indoor fixtures. The plan is to have a summer and winter mode so that in winter the draining to the lake waterline is automatic. I am not 100% certain and don’t have the operator’s manual with me but I believe that we could turn the units on or off at will using the remote control or app. I have owned the property for 40 years and used to visit on weekends during the summer and maybe a time or two in winter. Now that I retired it will be our permanent residence for about 7 months a year, giving me plenty of time to fix things that I didn’t have time to do in the past and incorporate some luxuries available and affordable now that were not previously., for example, the mini split has an option accessed by remote that varies the fan tilt and speed to mimic the wind outdoors making you think your house has a steady breeze blowing through it even with windows and doors shut. What will they think of next?