Quote:
Originally Posted by pinballlooking
They say it is good to -4 some places I see 5 deg listed some places. If it gets below -4 we just switch to natural gas heat. last year we did use it to -4 -5 but this is very strange for here. That does not happen very often here usually not at all.
I really like your unit if I lived in a colder climate I think I would get the one you got.
How do you like it?
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I'm happy but looking critically there are some things I'd change.
The new Mits models now mirror the features and slighly improve on the specs
The performance of the unit is OUTSTANDING. I spend less to cool/heat the whole house ALL year than I use to for just part of the year and a few rooms. While nat gas was cheaper and more convenient at times, I'm happy with quiet consistent performance and no heating swings while it's in heating mode.
The dehumidify only mode is very nice, I use it during off peak times to get good cooling for nickels compared to running the A/C. I'm considering installing a second to replace my standard dehumidifier in the basement that runs at 650watts continuous.
First, most of the 'fancy features' like air cleaner, people sensor, weekly schedule, etc are pretty much useless. I feel like I'm paying for marketing experiments.
-The air cleaner is approx 1" x 7" in a little slot. replacements are non-existent and those who do have them was nearly $50 for the little strip. Car air cleaners that plug in a 12volt outlet are bigger than this!
-The people sensor works, but you can't adjust it's brains. in heating mode it drops the temp by 10degrees, which makes for quite the chill when you wake up or come home and fast deadly heat like from natural gas is not how these units work. Unlike a typical HVAC remote that allows you to adjust setback amounts, this doesn't
-The remote was designed by engineers fighting over who got which button; they should of at least given it a back light, and on screen current temp and humidity - it just displays programmed temp. A big adjustment if you are use to standard US HVAC thermostats, how the Asians could fall behind here is odd.
-The interface for weekly schedule through the few remote buttons is an effort in futility.
-The motorized face is neat, but because the unit is almost always on, you don't really ever see it - it only moves when you manually turn off the unit. And it adds to another part that can go wrong -it once jammed on me after I replaced the filter screens and sent the unit into a tizzy.
I think the gree unit fits a nice niche in these models to provide the basics, and offer a better price without those frills
For those with real winters though, you need the hyper heat capability down to -15/20. Even if you don't see those temps, having the unit shut down to warm back up to 0degrees like some do is not practical if you see less than zero for 16 hours from dusk til dawn. Also impressive that the unit can just handle these temps without having issues - my car barely starts but the outdoor unit just hummed away 24hours a day all winter.
Probably the biggest gripe that you don't see people mention as far as heating goes, is the metal pinging and/or depth charge like noises.
Heating seems to be a non-use or a light use feature for most people with these units. If you run them through a real winter as the primary heat source, the units make a lot of noise as the metal expands and contracts on the indoor exchanger, and the refrigerant 'whooshes' in. The culprit is the defrost mode, which causes the internal metal to change temps drastically.
I remember the sound as a kid from having cheap electric baseboards, only not as frequent.
Not something you want in your bedroom unless you are hard of hearing.
You don't hear this much for cooling as the unit stays in a more static mode.
In cold winter, you have high heat, then a sudden change to cooling reversal for defrost with the whooshing and contraction, then after the heat ramps back up quickly to satisfy the low temps outside, and the low local temps next to the unit as it was in defrost mode cooling around it.
They need a better tech solution for the expansion noise, and quieting the refrigerant noise, or maybe there are some but they just don't include it for pricing reasons. A backup heating element strip would be nice for temp use around the defrost mode.
The second 'gotcha' is the cold winter drain pan issue outside. As the unit defrosts the water collects on the cold metal pan below and freezes. During shoulder seasons, it can eventually clear itself during daytime sunlight, less defrost.
I've had to haul buckets of hot water out there to melt the ice, as if it builds up enough, it moves into the blade area and stops the blades. I had that happen once and the unit responded well, flashed a warning code. The ice is gradual so there is no catastrophic crash. Once the blade rubs the edge of the ice, the unit shuts off the blades and tries to fast spin them, and then shuts down completely if it can get the blade speed it asks for. Also a nice safety feature.
Some units have drain pan heaters, but that is 60-100watts of constant on heating the outdoors. Reading the manuals shows they don't build much brains into the process.
Compare the 9RSLS2 with the 9RLS2H (has drain pan heater) in the HSPF spec, that is a serious drop, as expected if you run 100watts 24 hours a day for several months all winter heating the outdoors.
It seems like nobody is really using these as there only source for heat in cold winters. Many have firewood or similar that masks these issues, or a central placement that disguises the noise which would work. They also don't disclose the dramatic performance penalty of the drain pan heater if needed, as its normally an add-on product. I'm going to try putting in a 8watt strip this winter to see if its enough to keep up except maybe for long periods of sub zero.
People should be advised to install the units in as much direct sunlight hitting the pan as possible for cold winter areas - helpful in defrost too. I thought shielding it from the sun would help the cooling performance, but plenty of research has shown it doesn't, whereas winter sunlight is useful on the pan.
You also have to build a roof for it, or snow get sucked in which sends the unit into constant defrost if you have a thick heavy wet snow fall.
One final note, if you use a electric metering device to monitor usage, it must be PF power factor enabled or you'll get bad readings. The PF varies wildly on these things.