expired Posted by LovelyCheetah | Staff • Apr 11, 2023
Apr 11, 2023 4:21 PM
Item 1 of 5
Item 1 of 5
expired Posted by LovelyCheetah | Staff • Apr 11, 2023
Apr 11, 2023 4:21 PM
Costway 18000 BTU Mini Split Air Conditioner w/ 19 SEER 2 Heater
+ Free Shipping$605
$948
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Couple notes on mini-splits
* These are DIYable but not 'DIY'. The truly 'DIY' ones ship with a special lineset that is sealed, so you just install the lines then open up the valve on the compressor to let the refrigerant out. The ones not marketed as DIY come with the refrigerant pre-charged in the compressor but you need to vacuum the air out of the lineset. It's not super hard, you need a rotary vane vacuum pump and manifold (plus a 5/16 mini split adapter) which runs maybe $125 total, and you want to use a decent quality torque wrench with crow's foot on the fittings, plus Nylog and/or FlareSeal. The fitting is a copper flare and if you get it wrong you vent a bunch of nasty refrigerant to the atmosphere and have to pay "F U" rates to a HVAC tech to come fix it and recharge it.
* One area they get you is lineset length. Most are capable of going up to 25 ft but a lot of the budget models only do 13-16 ft. If you can mount it on an exterior wall and are on the first floor (or a second floor able to install a wall bracket to raise the compressor a few feet off the ground), the shorter lineset is usually fine. But get 25 ft if you've got a 2nd floor ground install or need to complicated line routing
* SEER rating tends to range from 17 to 23. For reference a standard residential air conditioner is usually 14, and a fancy one might be higher. This is about mid-pack.
* For whatever reason, 120v ones tend to be more expensive than 240v. Only 9k and 12k BTUs are available in 120v, the 18k and 24k ones need too much power. The wiring is the same, both voltages require a single run of 12/2 Romex for 9k/12k BTUs. But the 240v ones need a dual pole breaker so if you've got limited space in your electrical panel or are installing a bunch of small ones, 120v is nice. This is an 18k BTU so not relevant.
* Aside from that another major differentiating feature is if you have Wi-Fi enabled app control or not.
These units come with the indoor and ouitdoor units, the power cord and lineset connecting them, and usually a condensate drain tube and a gasket for the wall penetration. In addition most people will need to buy / budget for
* Electrical connection. You run power from the breaker to the outdoor unit, the indoor unit connects only to the outdoor unit. You're also supposed to have an outdoor disconnect (either a switch or a contact that pulls out) near the unit. So expect to buy a breaker, Romex to get to the outside of your house near the unit, a disconnect box and a flex conduit 'whip' with individual stranded wires for the connection from the disconnect to the unit.
* Stand. You'll want either a freestanding pad or legs for the outdoor unit to rest on, or brackets to attach it to the side of your house. It's ~75 lbs usually so getting it any higher than chest height on a bracket is tough for a DIYer. It needs to be about a foot away from your house and a foot or so clear to either side. In front of it usually should be like 6 feet without major obstructions
* Lineset covers. The lineset is insulated and they may include some tape to wrap it in, but it's hideously ugly. Lineset covers are plastic covers that look kinda like gutter downspouts.
So while this is a good deal, don't forget that in your first mini split you'll want to budget about $250 for the tools (vacuum pump, manifold, 5/16 adapter, Nylog/FlareSeal, torque wrench, crow's foot, holesaw) and for each mini split you install you should probably budget about $200+ (lineset cover $60-80, stand/brackets $50-100, breaker $10-25, wiring $10-infinity, disconnect box $25, whip $25)
I really don't know of any pros in my area that work well with minisplits, these have a lot of things that are quite different from the central units typically used around here, and the pros don't want to be bothered with it.
There's a previous post on this thread with great details about what tools and such are needed for an install. Just off the top of my head, here are some other pointers to keep in mind...
1- Do NOT allow for the copper to be soldered/welded anywhere, especially not if the tech doesn't also run nitrogen through the copper while applying heat. Central units have semi-functional filters that can prevent the oxidation that welding causes to make it to the compressor, minisplits don't. This shortens their life considerably, but you wouldn't notice it right away.
2- If you need to cut your lineset to size only use proper mini-split specific flaring tools to make the flares of the copper. Ideally with a clutch system that prevents over squeezing (hence distorting) the flare. Also, don't make the mistake of too short of a lineset (the manual will tell you the minimum length) since this causes issues with the symptom being noisy refrigerant expansion sounds in the indoor unit.
3- Always use Nylog compressor-safe sealant on all flare connections. Skipping this one step alone is a source of many many minsplit complaints of slow refirgerant loss.
4- Use mandrels to bend the tubing, not tubing benders. Mandrels allow you to bend the lineset without having to remove the factory insulation, and are worlds better than benders at preventing tubing collapse.
5- Always pressure test with nitrogen at near operating pressure. Most folks only pull a vacuum and wait x amount of time to determine if there's a leak in the lineset. This is much better than doing nothing, but there are many situations where a flare joint for example, can work great at not letting air into the lineset (under vacuum) but fail in the opoosite direction where the higher pressure is from the inside (during actual operation).
6- Always always install a surge protector (especially with our lightning in the area). My fave is the Intermatic AG3000.
7- Once in use, you really need to be good about cleaning your filter regularly. Once it clogs up, the efficiency drops immensely, and crud/mold forms in no time. There are some nice spray cleaners that are microchannel/minisplit safe that should be used a couple times a year. Once every 2-3 years (with very good maintenance, sooner if not or if you have pets) you should have the evaporator coil thoroughly cleaned. This might require the refrigerant to be recovered, and the wall unit removed on most model minisplits. Newer systems are finally making it so you can remove the fan from the inside and access the entire coil for cleaning while still in place.
8- Related to the point above, when powering off, always-always-always set the unit to fan-only mode and then give it a 20-30 minute shutoff time after that. This allows all of the condensation to be dried off of the air handler coils before shutoff. Not doing this allows that condensation to collect dust and form crud/mold in short order. Some modern units have an "auto-clean" shutoff built-in which does exactly what I describe here. It's just running the fan without the compressor to dry off the inside coil.
Any other questions let me know!
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Hopefully in the near future, they can make it a 1 piece system that you can place outside, use a regular outlet, and perhaps just need a few feet of 4 or 6 inch PVC pipe to supply air into the house.
Edit:
Looks like its 13ft.
Anyone know if its an inverter unit or full on/off
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank nalc
Couple notes on mini-splits
* These are DIYable but not 'DIY'. The truly 'DIY' ones ship with a special lineset that is sealed, so you just install the lines then open up the valve on the compressor to let the refrigerant out. The ones not marketed as DIY come with the refrigerant pre-charged in the compressor but you need to vacuum the air out of the lineset. It's not super hard, you need a rotary vane vacuum pump and manifold (plus a 5/16 mini split adapter) which runs maybe $125 total, and you want to use a decent quality torque wrench with crow's foot on the fittings, plus Nylog and/or FlareSeal. The fitting is a copper flare and if you get it wrong you vent a bunch of nasty refrigerant to the atmosphere and have to pay "F U" rates to a HVAC tech to come fix it and recharge it.
* One area they get you is lineset length. Most are capable of going up to 25 ft but a lot of the budget models only do 13-16 ft. If you can mount it on an exterior wall and are on the first floor (or a second floor able to install a wall bracket to raise the compressor a few feet off the ground), the shorter lineset is usually fine. But get 25 ft if you've got a 2nd floor ground install or need to complicated line routing
* SEER rating tends to range from 17 to 23. For reference a standard residential air conditioner is usually 14, and a fancy one might be higher. This is about mid-pack.
* For whatever reason, 120v ones tend to be more expensive than 240v. Only 9k and 12k BTUs are available in 120v, the 18k and 24k ones need too much power. The wiring is the same, both voltages require a single run of 12/2 Romex for 9k/12k BTUs. But the 240v ones need a dual pole breaker so if you've got limited space in your electrical panel or are installing a bunch of small ones, 120v is nice. This is an 18k BTU so not relevant.
* Aside from that another major differentiating feature is if you have Wi-Fi enabled app control or not.
These units come with the indoor and ouitdoor units, the power cord and lineset connecting them, and usually a condensate drain tube and a gasket for the wall penetration. In addition most people will need to buy / budget for
* Electrical connection. You run power from the breaker to the outdoor unit, the indoor unit connects only to the outdoor unit. You're also supposed to have an outdoor disconnect (either a switch or a contact that pulls out) near the unit. So expect to buy a breaker, Romex to get to the outside of your house near the unit, a disconnect box and a flex conduit 'whip' with individual stranded wires for the connection from the disconnect to the unit.
* Stand. You'll want either a freestanding pad or legs for the outdoor unit to rest on, or brackets to attach it to the side of your house. It's ~75 lbs usually so getting it any higher than chest height on a bracket is tough for a DIYer. It needs to be about a foot away from your house and a foot or so clear to either side. In front of it usually should be like 6 feet without major obstructions
* Lineset covers. The lineset is insulated and they may include some tape to wrap it in, but it's hideously ugly. Lineset covers are plastic covers that look kinda like gutter downspouts.
So while this is a good deal, don't forget that in your first mini split you'll want to budget about $250 for the tools (vacuum pump, manifold, 5/16 adapter, Nylog/FlareSeal, torque wrench, crow's foot, holesaw) and for each mini split you install you should probably budget about $200+ (lineset cover $60-80, stand/brackets $50-100, breaker $10-25, wiring $10-infinity, disconnect box $25, whip $25)
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank BrettD6450
It's not designed to cool for temperatures lower than that. You do that to prevent the evaporator coil from freezing up and causing damage.
Edit:
Looks like its 13ft.
Anyone know if its an inverter unit or full on/off
Couple notes on mini-splits
* These are DIYable but not 'DIY'. The truly 'DIY' ones ship with a special lineset that is sealed, so you just install the lines then open up the valve on the compressor to let the refrigerant out. The ones not marketed as DIY come with the refrigerant pre-charged in the compressor but you need to vacuum the air out of the lineset. It's not super hard, you need a rotary vane vacuum pump and manifold (plus a 5/16 mini split adapter) which runs maybe $125 total, and you want to use a decent quality torque wrench with crow's foot on the fittings, plus Nylog and/or FlareSeal. The fitting is a copper flare and if you get it wrong you vent a bunch of nasty refrigerant to the atmosphere and have to pay "F U" rates to a HVAC tech to come fix it and recharge it.
* One area they get you is lineset length. Most are capable of going up to 25 ft but a lot of the budget models only do 13-16 ft. If you can mount it on an exterior wall and are on the first floor (or a second floor able to install a wall bracket to raise the compressor a few feet off the ground), the shorter lineset is usually fine. But get 25 ft if you've got a 2nd floor ground install or need to complicated line routing
* SEER rating tends to range from 17 to 23. For reference a standard residential air conditioner is usually 14, and a fancy one might be higher. This is about mid-pack.
* For whatever reason, 120v ones tend to be more expensive than 240v. Only 9k and 12k BTUs are available in 120v, the 18k and 24k ones need too much power. The wiring is the same, both voltages require a single run of 12/2 Romex for 9k/12k BTUs. But the 240v ones need a dual pole breaker so if you've got limited space in your electrical panel or are installing a bunch of small ones, 120v is nice. This is an 18k BTU so not relevant.
* Aside from that another major differentiating feature is if you have Wi-Fi enabled app control or not.
These units come with the indoor and ouitdoor units, the power cord and lineset connecting them, and usually a condensate drain tube and a gasket for the wall penetration. In addition most people will need to buy / budget for
* Electrical connection. You run power from the breaker to the outdoor unit, the indoor unit connects only to the outdoor unit. You're also supposed to have an outdoor disconnect (either a switch or a contact that pulls out) near the unit. So expect to buy a breaker, Romex to get to the outside of your house near the unit, a disconnect box and a flex conduit 'whip' with individual stranded wires for the connection from the disconnect to the unit.
* Stand. You'll want either a freestanding pad or legs for the outdoor unit to rest on, or brackets to attach it to the side of your house. It's ~75 lbs usually so getting it any higher than chest height on a bracket is tough for a DIYer. It needs to be about a foot away from your house and a foot or so clear to either side. In front of it usually should be like 6 feet without major obstructions
* Lineset covers. The lineset is insulated and they may include some tape to wrap it in, but it's hideously ugly. Lineset covers are plastic covers that look kinda like gutter downspouts.
So while this is a good deal, don't forget that in your first mini split you'll want to budget about $250 for the tools (vacuum pump, manifold, 5/16 adapter, Nylog/FlareSeal, torque wrench, crow's foot, holesaw) and for each mini split you install you should probably budget about $200+ (lineset cover $60-80, stand/brackets $50-100, breaker $10-25, wiring $10-infinity, disconnect box $25, whip $25)
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