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Edited April 1, 2024
at 12:08 PM
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Various MRCOOL DIY Minisplit sale at Costco with F/S - (12k BTU - $1249, 18k BTU - 1699, 24k BTU - $1999)
MRCOOL E Star DIY 4th Gen 12k BTU Ductless Mini-Split Heat Pump Complete System 115V/60 Hz
https://www.costco.com/.product.4000043469.html
$1249
MRCOOL E Star DIY 4th Gen 18k BTU Ductless Mini-Split Heat Pump Complete System 208-230V/60Hz
https://www.costco.com/.product.4000043443.html
$1699
MRCOOL E Star DIY 4th Gen 24k BTU Ductless Mini-Split Heat Pump Complete System 208-230V/60Hz
https://www.costco.com/.product.4000040670.html
$1999
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I nearly bought the DIY unit so I wouldn't have to mess with a vacuum, but now I'm glad I went that route to save money and learn along the way. You got this!
The install for this can be very involved but it will really depend on your situation layout and skill level. If you get a 120v/15' hose unit that you can plug in to a standard recepticle, mount the head on the wall, drill a hole and shove the lines outside, then mount the unit on the siding or a concrete pad outside the wall, this install will likely be pretty easy.
It also be a pain as well though once you get into the 240v units if you aren't set up for it. I'm an electrician by trade and it took me 50 hours to install mine. That involved quite a few steps:
-Coring a 3" hole through brick, running lines up and through my garage and out the side wall.
-Setting up a chain-fall to hoist the condenser into the air, plus buying wall brackets and placing backing board in the walls with lag bolts to make damn sure it was solid.
-I bought the line gutter kit to give it a really clean install, highly recommend it.
-Run 1/2" conduit from my panel to a junction box outside the house, through the garage, to a disconnect under the unit.
-Installed 30 amp breaker and pulled 2 circuits a neutral and a ground, 10awg. The condenser doesn't need the neutral but you need a service gfci recepticle within a reasonable distance of the condenser unit. Plus it's been great having a plug out there now.
Sorry for the long ass post but take a few minutes with a pen and paper and a measuring tape before starting a project like this. What length of lines are you getting, how are you going to hide them? (coiling them up neatly behind the condenser is fine) What kind of walls are you drilling through, where is the condenser mounting, what voltage system will you need?
A 3" masonry core bit, wall brackets, gutters, EMT conduit, disconnect, hose and conduit supports, wire, chainfall; that's all things I hadn't anticipated but were made possible by my sponsors Amazon next day shipping and repeated trips to Home Depot heh.
Wish I knew how to host pics because it turned out great though. Good luck and safe installs everyone 👍
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Any idea when they will switch over to whatever is next?
Anyway, the mrcool stuff is basically the opposite of "pro" installs because the charge is stored in the line sets. To use only mrcool condenser and air handlers, you'd need to evacuate the charge from your mitsubishi, then replace all the mitsubishi eqpt with mrcool, then recharge the system. Kind of a major job for diy.
Last, if you have mitsubishi it was almost certainly installed by a licensed pro and has a ton of warranty service left on it, since you get no warranty from mitsubishi unless you're one of their certified installers, so nobody in their right mind would self-install their equipment. It's a big step to dump their equipment after you've paid for their warranty. Maybe there's something else about your setup that could be improved rather than junking the whole system?
I also want some of the IRA money, but just make enough to not get my central air unit replaced free, but 50% off will help a great amount.
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I also want some of the IRA money, but just make enough to not get my central air unit replaced free, but 50% off will help a great amount.
I also question future repairability. The average Joe isn't going to have the tools or knowhow to be debugging a leak - given the DIY nature of this product, does anyone find HVAC techs basically refuse to work on them or make it painful ($$$)? I already own a Cooper Hunter minisplit that I inherited from the previous owner, apparently he bought it online and had a moonlighting commercial HVAC guy install it. Long story short I've had to have a HVAC tech over here 3 times in the past 2 years to debug a leak, and HVAC tech time is not cheap (considering that they spend a LOT of time just hanging out pulling a vacuum, for example). I get the feeling he looks down on these types of systems, and honestly I don't quite blame him, at least my scapegoat is that the previous guy did it, not me!
I also question future repairability. The average Joe isn't going to have the tools or knowhow to be debugging a leak - given the DIY nature of this product, does anyone find HVAC techs basically refuse to work on them or make it painful ($$$)? I already own a Cooper Hunter minisplit that I inherited from the previous owner, apparently he bought it online and had a moonlighting commercial HVAC guy install it. Long story short I've had to have a HVAC tech over here 3 times in the past 2 years to debug a leak, and HVAC tech time is not cheap (considering that they spend a LOT of time just hanging out pulling a vacuum, for example). I get the feeling he looks down on these types of systems, and honestly I don't quite blame him, at least my scapegoat is that the previous guy did it, not me!
My point was, you install this DIY then next year something goes wrong and needs a tech to service. Is it tough to find a tech willing to work on customer DIY equipment?