Owner Building installing Mini Splits in New Construction, Help Please.

[Xringer]

I looked at that spacing and it seems a bit tight. Seems like it would have been better
to have another 6 inches, to allow easy access and better air flow.

That Fujitsu 24RLXFW seems like it's very similar in size and operation to my Sanyos.
My guess is, RKA isn't going see any loss in efficiency at low and normal fan speeds.
But at max speed, there could be some negative impact.

What would worry me is that type of wall mount, with the base extended too far out.
It seems like getting the weight too far out from the wall attachment might cause
the 'cantilever'? effect to pull out the wall bolts...

But, I'll bet there are a million of installations in North America and Europe that have the same mounting system, and they are working pretty well..
http://www.pacificairconditioner.com...ULTI_SPLIT.jpg
http://www.splitsystemairconditioner...rmediate-2.jpg

In Asia, they hang them all over the place..
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/z...lah_diy/ac.jpg

[RKA]

Wise choice to skip on the accessories. If I had to do it over, I would have skipped on the pre-made line sets. Both lines needed to be cut and shortened by 3-4 feet anyway, and with the 5/8" line, we had to remove the insulation and slide the spring bender on the pipe to bend it. I bought a good flaring tool that made it really easy to get perfect flares without practice (having had a previous experience with a cheap flaring tool that turned into a big headache). Not sure where to source the insulation material. I know the big box stores have the insulation with the slit down the middle, but I would prefer something that is continuous all the way around.

BTW, if you need condensate hose (18 or 16mm fitment and UV resistant), I got a roll of 160 ft and only used 11 ft. You can have whatever you need at cost plus shipping. I found places online selling for $1-2/ft, plus $10 in shipping which was outrageous.

I need to draw up a thread of places I used online to source all the bits and bobbles. Hopefully I'll get time next weekend to draft it. The following site is where I ordered the lineset covers, wall sleeve, condensate tube and a bunch of other stuff. They were very good and even though they don't give you shipping charges online, their shipping fees were very reasonable. I paid about $16 for 2 72" lengths of lineset covers, elbows and end fittings, wall sleeve and the 160 ft roll of condensate tube. None of it weighed much, but it arrived in 3 separate boxes via UPS, so the shipping was certainly less than I expected.

1source2buy.com - LINESETS and SlimDuct Line Concealer System

[RKA]

Quick note on that insulation. The one's I had previously seen branded under the name Frost King in big box stores are junk (and probably not even appropriate for refrigeration applications). But I just stopped by Home Depot tonight and saw that they carry Armaflex insulation with the slit down the side. It's exactly the same stuff that was on my pre-made line sets and it's a nice quality insulation and available locally! Compared to the Frost King stuff, a 6' length was $5.50 vs. $1.60, so it's not exactly cheap.

[MaryS]

Hello All, some not so good news on receiving the mini split.

It started out well, with a phone call from the trucking company ready to deliver this AM (great we could start the install this weekend!) and they even had a truck with a lift gate, easy breezy to unload. But then a few minutes later I got another call from the trucking company because they wanted to let me know that the box (apparently the indoor unit) was in very poor condition. It was described as having been opened and retaped at some point and appeared to be very old as most of the tape was brittle and no longer sticking to the box. Also at some point the box had been torn and the equipment inside was scuffed, perhaps when it had been stacked onto the outdoor unit for shipping. The shipper said that they had received the equipment in this condition (as noted on their paperwork). They wanted to know if I wanted to take receipt of the shipment.

After some questions back and forth with the trucking company, and thieir offer to email me photos of the equipment (which I should get later today) I decided to "REJECT due to package damage". They told me that it would take between 24 and 48 hours to process it back to the company they received from.

This is unfortunate, but kudos to the trucking company for letting me know and offering to send photos. But I must say, I'm getting an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach on this purchase. Ya' see, when I bought it on-line, I called the company before my purchase to ask some questions - mostly technical ones about the differences between units. After I hung up I bought my selected unit on-line. Within fifteen minutes or so I received a courtesy call from the vendor. It was an short chit-chat and in part he made sure to tell me to inspect the package when I received it, and if there was damage, to call him right away (and then this weird statement...) and then to ACCEPT the package because he would insure it and everything would be OK. At the time of this conversation, that sounded a smidgen odd, but I didn't really expect damage - as I've received many shipments personally and in business over the past 20+ years and damage was an infrequent occurrence in my experience. The conversation ended shortly after that and I didn't think of it again until the call from the shipper this morning. So, I'm feeling a little bit exposed, with my $$$$ paid out into cyberspace and maybe I'm dealing with a company that isn't completely on the up and up ... but that's just a feeling - maybe (I hope) it will all be OK.

Out of an abundance of caution (and maybe too late on that) I called my credit card company too. I wanted to know what would happen if the 2nd shipment was damaged too, or old and apparently re-taped and I rejected it too. What would happen if I told this vendor I didn't want them to ship any more units and instead I wanted my money back. The credit card company reviewed their procedure for contesting a charge (which I've never done) and at least I know I can ... but no guarantee on the outcome depending on the vender's terms of purchase and so forth. I think it would come down to whether the rejected shipment was viewed as a request for a "refund" which the vendor doesn't do.

I called the vendor to let them know I was REJECTING the shipment due to damage. After some Q from him, and some gentle pushing that "maybe the unit was OK and I should just accept it, nothing to worry about" he got the message that I wasn't going to risk accepting damaged equipment. He told me that once he receives the boxes back, that they would send another shipment out to me. I told him that my understanding was that I was purchasing new, unopened equipment (not reconditioned) and that was what I expected. If that was not the case, then he should let me know and we should not do business together. He agreed, it was to be new unopened equipment and he claimed that this damage was done during shipping. (The trucking company described the box as very beat up and old and retaped - so there seems to be some discrepancy on that point, but I didn't press the issue). He asked for the phone number of the trucking company, and after I cleared it with the trucking company, I called him back and gave him their number. I hope he doesn't pester them or anything ... the trucking company said they were OK if he called, but they couldn't do anything for him as they had to work with the company (another party) from which they had received the package.

I have to say that both the trucking company and vendor have to this point be polite and helpful. I tend to remain polite and professional when such things come up - getting upset or angry doesn't help IMO - when you're dealing with reputable people/companies. And even when not, getting upset isn't likely to help then either. I hope everything is above board, and the next shipment will be new and in good condition and we can turn our attention to installing it. In building our house over the past seven months I've had occasion to purchase more things (in person and on-line) than ever before (I'm not a shopper). I've even bought some fairly pricy items on-line, like a very good 'basement type' dehumidifier - and no problems as of yet. So I hope this goes OK too.

I just thought I would check-in in case there is something I should or shouldn't be doing based on the experiences of others who might have run into this.

Thanks,
Mary

[MaryS]

RKA, I need 15 posts on the forum before I can reply to your PM. For now, we're good on supplies/eq. Thanks for posting your experiences and source info, very helpful.
Mary

[RKA]

No problem, it sounds like you're on the right path. My experience with freight companies and damage has been zero. Once tied down to a pallet, rarely anything bad happens, so I would tend to distrust the seller. Who is it? You can check them out on resellerratings.com, but many times I've found little feedback on online HVAC supply houses unless they routinely try to scam people (mad people have a way of getting verbose!). It's also good to do a whois.com search on them and dig up info on their state's BBB website. If it turns out you need an alternate supplier, just ask for some recommendations here. I know the one XRinger used has a great reputation. I can also share the website I used. The transaction was problem free and I received fresh stock, however I did find some information linking the individual I dealt with to a defunct HVAC supply website a few years back with no so great reports on the BBB.

[Xringer]

That's strange, since this type of product most likely doesn't sit around in warehouses very much. Too much demand.
Some of the vendors I check once in-a-while seem to be out-of-stock a lot..


Your vendor might be trying to pull a fast-one, trying to get rid of a returned unit..
Maybe he got it like that from his supplier.?.

I think you made the correct move rejecting the shipment.

[AC_Hacker]

Originally Posted by MaryS

Hello All, some not so good news on receiving the mini split.

I think you did the right thing, too.

-AC_Hacker

[MaryS]

Hello All,
Long story short on our mini split that arrived at the shipper's damaged: After waiting some 10 days and the unit was still sitting in the shipper's warehouse, I had to threaten the vendor with calling the BBB to which he immediately changed his position and agreed to return my money and (finally) pick up their damaged equipment. At first he said they would pick up the unit and send a new one, which was acceptable to me. But when I followed-up several times over the next 10 days the vendor instead wanted me to accept the damaged uint, despite our first conversation to the contrary. He was wasting my time and not doing what he said he would do so in the end I had to get quite firm and demand my money back.

On Wed of this week I ordered another Mitsu 9000BTU (from a different vendor) and on Friday I got a call from them to arrange delivery for this Monday. I'm looking forward to it and optimistic that all will go well.

In the mean time, a question for those who've DIY or are familiar with mini splits.

We're planning three 9000 BTU single zone units when all is said and done. Two for our downstairs, one for upstairs. I would like to locate all three units on the far side of the attached garage on a platform we'll make. From reading here and looking over Mitsu's on-line install guide, I know there are minimum clearances from the outdoor unit (OU) to the structure. I'm wondering though if there are any concerns in 'ganging' the units together, provided I stick with minimum clearances. Will 'ganging' make the units less efficient in any way? For example, they're all throwing very cold air out (during heating season) - will ganging them make it seem like a really, really cold spot where I gang them on the platform? Or in the 'great outdoors' is this really not a concern?

Some basic questions on running refrigerant lines:

- One option is to run the refrigerant line down into the basement, then up through the floor to where it is needed at the IU. Must the refrigerent line slope from the IU continuously down to the OU? I didn't see that in browsing the install instructions (don't worry,we'll thoroughly read them before install time) but thought I had seen something like that on one of these forum posts. If that is true, I won't be able to have a basement run as one of my possible install options.

- If I can't run through the basement, I'm looking at a pretty long run through garage and living space to get to the center of the open-plan 1st floor IU location. Do any of you have installs where you ran refrig. lines through your house (like 40') to the indoor unit (IU). If so, did you run it in interior walls? In a chase? In an attic and then back into the room?

Thanks,
MaryS

[Xringer]

'ganging' the units together, might be a little problem for the one in the center,
if you went with the minimum spacing (wall-to-air input).

I would recommend keeping the air inputs about 2 or more feet from any wall.
And leave at least 2 feet between the units, so you have work space between units.

These USAF ODUs could be a little closer together.

They should have better mounts.. My wooden DIY mount is way better..


I once saw a pic of three ODUs that were facing each other, input-to-output.
Meaning the last one in line was going to get some really bad air..
It would be really hot air during the summer or really cold air during the winter!