Building a new house and shop (7 Viewers)

[1911]

@1911 well, impressed…. you are so correct. Beautiful job and clean radius…I am guessing you had no real issues on the install? Is that a plastic pad under the compressor?

I am looking forward to your review of this split system.. it has been on my list. I was looking for the ceiling cassette model and keep reading a lot about them but can’t seem to locate one a a decent price. Since the pole barn is here, I am converting the garage into a larger great room. It is about 24x26 and some of these units claim to cover that size easily, plus they are quiet and lower cost than a new central unit. I am also counting on my home a/c to just add one more duct and be enough to cool the area. That would be the simplest .

Congratulations!! The startup should go nicely

Thanks. No real issues beyond the Engrish installation instructions being inscrutable at times. This is the first time I had ever done anything like this, so I took my time and spread it out over several days so that I wasn't tired or frustrated. It helped to watch some Youtube videos of other people installing mini-splits.

It is a plastic pad under the condenser, but just to keep grass from growing right under it and to distribute the weight from the unistrut front feet. I was able to mount it off the ground by screwing the unistrut it is bolted to, on to the concrete footer of the house with Tapcon concrete screws.

You can get these in about any size you want, from 1.5 tons on up to whatever you need for a whole house.

Here's where I bought mine from; they have good prices and a large selection of brands: Buy a Mini Split Systems Online - HVACDirect.com | HVACDirect.com - https://hvacdirect.com/ductless-mini-splits.html

I went there intending to buy Mitsubishi, but the SEER rating, features, and guarantee were much better on the ACiQ brand, and the guarantee allows self-installation. There are also a lot of good reviews and happy customers for the ACiQ. That being said, they are Chinese-made like most of these things are now.

 

[PIP]

I researched my butt off before buying mini splits for my shop and house. Spoke with a family member that owns an HVAC company and a friend's brother that runs a big HVAC company as well. Got a lot of differing opinions and I was pretty surprised to hear and read a lot of negative opinions about Mitsubishi and Daikin.

My take on it is that Mits and Daikin make stuff that does what it claims to do- It says it will heat down to -22 degrees then by golly it'll make heat down to -22 degrees. But the top performance brands also make lemons and a lot of it comes to how caring the installer is. The big names don't care about self installers and they market their products to the pros with training and discounts for the pros that use them.

The off brand stuff usually doesn't actually meet the performance specs they claim, especially heating, but the reliability/efficiency can often be just as good or better than the premium brands when you buy the more vanilla units and install them correctly because they make a gazillion of them. Rumor has it a lot of the top brand's components are made in the same factories as the cheap stuff.

 

[knuckle47]

@1911 I was looking at the Mr. Cool unit for the split. They then started to advertise the ceiling cassette which for me in the pole barn saves me from obstructing any wall space. I need ALL of it and I’d even built at 2’ wide catwalk at the 9’ level on 3 sides for storage. Mounting it up in the trusses takes no space away from me.

@PIP my research just made it more confusing. My son’s in-laws live in Europe and apparently these mini-spilts are the norm And seem to do well. I do believe as you say…..installation is key. Read a few great things as well as a few horror stories on all of them

 

[PAToyota]

Rumor has it a lot of the top brand's components are made in the same factories as the cheap stuff.

This is the sticking point for me - on a lot of products any more. If something is made out of better quality components or to a higher standard or whatever metric you want to put on it, I'm willing to pay more for the quality. However, more and more often it seems that you're paying for the perceived quality of a name and basically getting the same product that you'd pay a lot less for without the name. Unfortunately, "made in the USA" doesn't necessarily mean you're getting a better product either.

Years ago, the firm I worked for did a lot of design work for the food industry. One of the peripheral things I learned was about plant ID numbers. Basically, that food products have to have an identifier on them to tell where they were produced. Among other things, this is how they can track products if there is a recall due to contamination. But you know how those recalls often are for a variety of products? Say, for example, hot dogs are recalled but there are a dozen different brands? Well, that's because they're typically produced regionally and a plant will contract out to multiple brands for production.

That's not to say that there may be different specifications by different brands for their specific product, but the house brand and the national brand are likely coming from the exact same plant using the exact same equipment.

a lot of it comes to how caring the installer is.

That is the absolute truth. No matter how good a product you have, if the installer isn't up to standards for the installation you're not going to get good results. Commissioning is the process of thoroughly verifying and proving that building systems are installed and operating according to the criteria in the original design and engineering documentation. You'd be surprised at how often commissioning shows that the equipment is nowhere near the operating specifications.

 

[1911]

My HVAC friend came over yesterday and looked for leaks in all connections with a fancy ultrasonic leak detector (didn't find any), pressure tested it with nitrogen (it held fine), vacuumed it down, and checked the charge. All good, and both units are up and running. He was impressed with the temperature differential this system puts out for cooling, but it is rated at 23 SEER. I was relieved - I thought I did a good job installing everything and cutting, flaring, and connecting the copper tubing line sets, but there is always the nagging worry on a first-time project that maybe it wasn't perfect.

 

[Michael B]

Good job sir! Do you have a move in date yet?

 

[knuckle47]

@1911 great install and happy to know it’s doing everything you want it to… when you connected the tubing, I see they recommend a lubricant/sealer. Did you use that stuff? Went to the ACiq site you used…. I like it a lot…will be ordering a unit from them for the old garage being turned into a decent TV great room. My central should handle it but…we seem to be getting some hot ones and rather than strain what’s here and new, a supplement will go the distance if needed for both heat and a/c

 

[1911]

Good job sir! Do you have a move in date yet?

Realistically, probably Thanksgiving before we are actually living it it. Move-in is going to be a gradual process though, since we are currently living right next to it in the barndominium (shop building), and all of our stuff is in there too. I have already moved in my free weights and equipment, and I'm using that room, so technically it has started.

 

[1911]

@1911 great install and happy to know it’s doing everything you want it to… when you connected the tubing, I see they recommend a lubricant/sealer. Did you use that stuff? Went to the ACiq site you used…. I like it a lot…will be ordering a unit from them for the old garage being turned into a decent TV great room. My central should handle it but…we seem to be getting some hot ones and rather than strain what’s here and new, a supplement will go the distance if needed for both heat and a/c

I did use a tiny amount of Nylog Blue on the flares only (not the threads. I had never used that stuff before, but they did recommend it.

https://www.amazon.com/Refrigeratio...asket-Sealant/dp/B008HOSQQQ/ref=sr_1_1?sr=8-1

 

[greenbeast]

@1911 great install and happy to know it’s doing everything you want it to… when you connected the tubing, I see they recommend a lubricant/sealer. Did you use that stuff? Went to the ACiq site you used…. I like it a lot…will be ordering a unit from them for the old garage being turned into a decent TV great room. My central should handle it but…we seem to be getting some hot ones and rather than strain what’s here and new, a supplement will go the distance if needed for both heat and a/c

Dont want to hijack here so will make it quick. Al, it’s been couple months since installing split unit in my 25x25 office upstairs. Does great, super quiet. Lennox is what he installed, no complaints on my end.

 

[1911]

… it’s been couple months since installing split unit in my 25x25 office upstairs. Does great, super quiet.

I couldn’t believe how quiet mine is. I can’t hear the inside units or the outside condenser run at all.

 

[Waorani]

I thought most of the mini-splits were precharged. Maybe I misunderstood when I had one put in my old place.

 

[1911]

I thought most of the mini-splits were precharged. Maybe I misunderstood when I had one put in my old place.

The one I bought was. It was fine as supplied after it was vacuumed down and the condenser valves opened. It came with enough refrigerant for 50’ of line set, and I ended up using only about half that between the two units.

 

[knuckle47]

I have heard that they are super quiet… spec reads something like 35dB… Lennox is a quality unit…

Replaced my A/C about 4 years ago and planned on the garage conversion knowing the pole barn was going in… I believe it should do well . On the other hand while I have the walls open, I’m doing it anyway. We seem to be getting hotter and more humid. A nemesis of mine

 

[1911]

Doing a little bit of painting every day, mostly on cabinets and cabinet doors. I set up a paint booth to use my airless sprayer on the doors, and a drying room in the utility/mechanical room next to it. Took a few tries to get the hang of it; it's easy to put way too much paint on with the sprayer. One coat of primer and two coats of color, with sanding in between coats. The capacity of my drying rack is 19, so that's about how many I do in a day.

A photo of my drying room. The paint booth is right behind it in this photo:

 

[Michael B]

That’s a very nice color of blue.

 

[1911]

That’s a very nice color of blue.

"Dark Navy", for the kitchen cabinets. Wife picked it; for about two months she couldn't decide between 5 nearly identical shades.

 

[Michael B]

I look forward to seeing them installed.

 

[knuckle47]

I envy your circumstances and loathe them at the same time…accomplishing this dream is always monstrously rewarding and gratifying yet on the other hand adds a bit of stress trying to feel it finished and completed. In our case, since it was our existing home, every days delays would only extend the effects of take-out and re-heats

That blue will look outstanding. My wife looked along those lines a few yrs ago when we did our kitchen but we went white white white and grey. The Blue is soothing and on a sunny day the white is a bit blinding

Looking really really great. Lotta wires there too

 

[1911]

Lotta wires there too

About 1/3 of them coming out of the floor are various "media" cables; Cat5e and 300-ohm coax for internet and cell phone boosters. And some for satellite tv that we will not use now. There are also some wires for the outside lights and the garages which have not been connected to the main panel yet. That's why we haven't covered that wall with drywall yet.