|
Quote
:
Hello! The system comes with everything that is needed except for the electricals and the necessary tools. Electricals would include things like breaker, disconnect box, whip, wire from breaker to condenser, etc. Some specialty tools are needed, like pressure gauges and HVAC pump. The system is relatively straightforward to install, the main technical steps being electrical hookup and vacuuming of the lines with a pressure check afterwards. You can use our Kwik-E-Vac product to bypass this step as well.
|
Item 1 of 6
Item 1 of 6
expiredDerickamiles posted May 4, 2022 8:04 AM
Pioneer 12K BTU Ductless Mini Split Inverter Air Conditioner w/ Heat Pump
$585
$780
25% off
+ Free Shippingat Home Depot
Top Comments
The Pioneer unit (which I haven't installed yet) came with little bits that the LG units I installed lacked and were a PITA to find. The Pioneer manual sucks. LG has an installation manual that is excellent and most of the info is general so download that. Youtube is your friend (AC Service Tech and HVAC School if I remember right).
You get an indoor unit and an outdoor unit, lineset (meaning two "flexible" copper pipes with flare fittings ), the communications cable between the IDU and ODU (14awg 4 conductor-- this was really hard to find locally), and the . The outdoor unit has a sticker on it with useful info like breaker size (min/max) and refrigerant charge (ODU ships with refrigerant in it but only for a certain piping length).
I had an electrician install the breakers and I help him run the wiring. I had to get double 110v breakers to make space for a 220 breaker. The breaker size is printed on the ODU and then of course it has to match the manufacturer of your panel. I needed 10/3 and 12/3 conductor wiring in my area even though my units didn't need the extra wire. You need a service disconnect (these basically come in two sizes at Home Depot, 30a or 60a, and fused or non-fused ).
Other stuff I bought:
2.5" hole saw to make the holes in the walls
Liquid tight cable housing and fittings where your high voltage wiring exists the house. Comes in two sizes but the larger size wasn't that much more expensive
Nylog Blue which you put on all the flare fittings
I bought a small adjustable wrench to go with my large one because it's easy to over tighten the brass flare fittings. Fit was kinda tight near the ODU too
Things I learned:
HVAC technicians are expensive, so I did all the installation work (except breaker) and called one out to double check my work, nitrogen pressure test and vacuum which requires tools that aren't economical for one installation and it's also got quite a learning curve. I did this with my first unit.
If you can stick to the lineset length that the unit comes pre-charged for, you'll skip the step of having to add or remove refrigerant
the outdoor unit vibrates kinda a lot. I have mine wall mounted on rubber feet outside the garage under an overhang and I can hear it in the garage throbbing. If it wasn't bolted down it would walk away. The bozos who installed my original system just put it on the ground outside free standing and it had constant issues until it filled with snow and ice and died.
don't install the indoor unit over a doorway. There's lots of wood (header) up there. Oops. I have zero carpentry experience so...
Double check your wiring and then check it again. I was three days into the first install and tired and I swapped two wires on the IDU and blew out the control board on the IDU and a fuse in the ODU. I should just have had my wife check all the wiring (it's easy L1 black L2 red 3 white GND green). Control board swap was easy ($120 and a two week wait on SupplyHouse.com) and the fuse was just something from Ace, though finding it in the guts of the ODU was a pain (wiring diagram is printed on the inside of the service covers of all these units).
1/4 copper lines bend REALLY easily. If you kink one of these, you're done and need to buy another. The larger sizes are more forgiving
There's fancy lineset covers to attach linesets to the wall and cover them up but I just used large zip ties screwed to the siding and covered with plastic gutters from Ace.
insulate the condensate line and keep it off the ground. Mine was close to the ground and when weather got cold a little mountain of ice built up toward the condensate line. I cut it shorter to make sure it never plugs up.
These things rock though. I'm totally sold on them and will be installing on our other house and my mom's.
Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!
212 Comments
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
At least replacing a circuit board is pretty painless. Not sure what would happen if, say, the whole loop had to be drained for a compressor swap.
My prior experiences have all involved multiple inside units for a space that large.
Although that sounds like you're planning to use a 12K head to cool 1200 sqft, which is asking a lot. May want to hook up both heads for the full 24K, with some distance between them.
By the time your outdoor temp hits -5, their 24K BTU loses half its capacity and can only generate 12K BTU of heat.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Btw I already installed it myself and it's easier than I thought after watching a few YouTube videos. If you have questions just ask here or PM me.
This might qualify for a $1000 rebate here in Oregon via Energy Trust But it has to be replacing plain electric heat and it requires installation by a registered contractor so I'm not sure how that works if buying via Home Depot.
Then there's the ceiling height thing, although that affects heating more.
My own situation is a two and half car garage, but 13' ceiling height and no insulation, just wallboard. Wish we'd gotten it insulated while building, or at least before the wallboard...
Btw I already installed it myself and it's easier than I thought after watching a few YouTube videos. If you have questions just ask here or PM me.
is that built in, or do you need a separate module?
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
1. No matter what unit you buy, you can't just plug in. Unless you're replacing one, you'll have to run wire from your break box to a disconnect outside. Most people will need an electrician
2. I read the q and a section of this product and it does require vacuuming the pipes so essentially you need to buy the speciality tools or hire HVAC. The Mr Cool DYI product is more expensive (I assume) since this isn't required.
Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!