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DIY Mini splits

Twinstick

Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2020
Member Number
2020
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5
I'm looking at putting in a mini split in my basement. It's approximately 1500 sq ft, 30x50, is insulated, but not dry walled. We park in there. My wife's jeep, my car, my truck and boat. It is approximately half underground (front and side) and the back and other side are above grade. I have 2 garage doors, 1x 14ft, and 1x 9ft.

In the summer in Georgia, it's warm and really humid down there. It will get up to about 78-80 degrees, but it's so humid it makes it uncomfortable. In the winter, it gets down to about 50 degrees, and is OK to work down there with a jacket.

I'm starting to look at mini splits. It looks like for my area i would need a 36k btu unit. The electrical side wouldn't be a problem, but I'm not an HVaC guy, and don't have those tools. I've seen several DIY swtups, mainly from MRCool that have great reviews.

mrcooldiy.com

The New MRCOOL DIY Is Engineered For Comfort

The MRCOOL DIY is the only truly do-it-yourself ductless mini-split. The MRCOOL DIY series heat pumps are affordable, efficient and easy to install HVAC solutions with a clean and subtle design.
mrcooldiy.com mrcooldiy.com

Does anyone have any experience with these? Looks like the unit and everything is about $2900. So i figured i should be able to do everything for around $3500. In not sure how that compares to a traditional mini split system that a company would put in, but I'm guessing it's a good bit cheaper. Any other thoughts? Ultimate goal is to drop the humidity and the temp by any 4-5 degrees. Here's s picture of some of the space. It's my preferred hangout location in the house, and we have parties there because the space holds lots of people. Thanks for the help, Clayton.
 

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Sirch n00b! :flipoff2:


Couple people on here have done them, seem to be pretty satisfied with them.

Vacuum pump is nice, but you don't need it for some units.

When I did my whole house, I bought some adapters fo use my harbor freight vacuum pump and pulled it down to make it empty before we charged it.


Edit: why did you attach a picture of old people? Wrong tits bro.
 
I put one in my garage last year. Similar setup but northern climate. About 1800SF. Mostly below grade. West wall is exposed and has two overhead doors.

Worked great to heat in the winter. The only issue I have is the garage stays very cool to begin with and the dehumidify setting drops the temp even lower. I run it a couple hours a day and the temps are in the mid to low 60's and that keeps the humidity between 50%-60%. Just have to be careful to keep the doors closed up. With every at those low temps if the doors would be open for any amount of time the hot humid air would condense on everything.

With your temps it seems like it would work well.
 
I have mini-split for my office.

It does a good job cooling but it does not do as well with removing humidity.

I use a stand alone dehumidifier along with it and that works fantastic.

Have you thought about using a stand alone just to keep the space dry?
 
There's a ton of markup on these, I'm getting "mirage" brand 12k from Mexico for $435. Maybe it's up to 500 now, dunno

Not that that really helps you, but to know you can search a little deeper for wholesalers


Is that 1500sqft wide open? It'd kinda suck to lose all that cool air when a car pulls in


I wouldn't be surprised if these things have a 3 year life span with heavy use, at 435 each, I'm not concerned, replace as needed

At 3k I'd be pissed

maybe you put a couple smaller ones in and build a partition if it makes sense



Buy the "mini split adaptor" for $12 and a little bottle of "nylog" on Amazon before your install weekend


A vacuum pump and 134 gauges are needed, but you can borrow that from vatozone, or buy a set online for $150 and be the big swinging dick on your suburban street:flipoff2:
 
M92PV4U said:
Exactly, I looked at his link in the original post. Lcd readout remote control, phone application that kind of bullshit does not appeal to me.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I took a few things into consideration

The consensus is that these are all pretty much made by the same people and rebranded

The multi heads on one condenser is really neat if somebody else is paying the repair bill in 2 years, I'd lose my shit if I lost my whole house ac and had to hire a ac guy to diag it, then order slow boat parts with a best guess on shitty wiring diagrams. Flipping a house and need curb appeal? Great. Office building and can't get them to sign off on a nice system, but always budget to fix what's already there? Awesome

I put 4 12ks on my mobile home, and bought a 5th matching one as a spare I keep in the shed. I had them wired on 2 breakers, so I can lose 1 or 2, and still have 2 going

The one in my living room might have a leak, it was freezing up in 30s this winter, and doesn't seem to be pulling its weight this summer, installed October '21

It's not bad enough to put gauges on it yet, but I imagine I will this fall to be ready for winter


I'd go with a handful of smaller units, or find a low use pullout standard hvac system before paying 3k for a single mini split
 
crispins said:
I have mini-split for my office.

It does a good job cooling but it does not do as well with removing humidity.

I use a stand alone dehumidifier along with it and that works fantastic.

Have you thought about using a stand alone just to keep the space dry?
Click to expand...
I have thought about a dehumidifier, but got pretty interested in making it cooler as well. I could still do that.

The space is wide open. I couldn't really partition it do to its using virtually the entire space for parking.

Raising the doors and losing the air is a concern of mine too. I don't really know of a way around it other than being diligent on closing them.

Lastly, if i could find a setup for $500 i would buy it today. I'm guessing it would be a wholesale deal?

Edit to add: how critical is it to have the se things sized appropriately? By most info I've read, a 36k does about 1500 sq ft.

I'm guessing i just can't magically get by with a 12k, or say a 24k? I'm only trying to lower temps by maybe 4 degrees and remove humidity.
 
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Projectjunkie said:
, or find a low use pullout standard hvac system before paying 3k for a single mini split
Click to expand...
This would be my route if I was the op.

Controlling the unit from the control panel is a big plus for me, I don't want to be relying on applications and remote controllers to operate the system.
 
M92PV4U said:
This would be my route if I was the op.

Controlling the unit from the control panel is a big plus for me, I don't want to be relying on applications and remote controllers to operate the system.
Click to expand...
I have no desire to do this. I would rather not install AC vs. putting another big unit in. I thought the app controlled would be OK. I really like the MyQ stuff for my garage doors, aba use it a lot.
 
Twinstick said:
I thought the app controlled would be OK. I really like the MyQ stuff for my garage doors, aba use it a lot.
Click to expand...
www.homedepot.com

MRCOOL DIY 4th Gen 36,000 BTU 3-Ton ENERGY STAR Ductless Mini Split Air Conditioner and Heat Pump with 25 ft. Install Kit 230V DIY-36-HP-230C25 - The Home Depot

The MRCOOL 4th Generation DIY 36K BTU, 18 SEER Ductless Heat Pump is 1 of the most powerful single-zone systems offered in the DIY Series. This complete system has the heating and cooling performance to cover an area up to 1500 sq. ft. while still being able to achieve an 18 SEER efficiency...
www.homedepot.com

That unit comes with a remote control (I think they all do,) it comes with a bracket, mount it on the wall. It's going to work the same as other thermostats, except it's wireless and you have to change the batteries. Apps are nice but it's not like you don't have a fall back.
 
My Mr. Cool came with a remote and bracket. It's mounted to the mall and works just like a regular thermostat. Every mini split I have seen operates that way. I haven't seen one with a wired thermostat.

The app is super handy. I use that most of the time. I don't run the unit 24x7 so I can turn it on and off from anywhere. Set schedules, set timers.
 
I have a Mr Cool 36K BTU in my 3 car garage with 12' ceilings. It's been keeping up just fine in 95°-100° temps with about 100% humidity. I don't regularly open the garage doors but when I do I turn on "turbo mode" for about 15 minutes and it seems to work fine. It does suck down a shitload of power though. :laughing:
 
I have the Mr Cool unit in the shop. Been in there for 4? Years. Works great, heat pump works good down to about 5*. Install was real easy, plug and play.
 
I had almost the exact same setup about an hour north of atlanta. (Main difference was the ceiling was not insulated, walls were poured and about 2/3 above ground.) Drive under basement 1500 sf house on top.

I cut in a 6" air damper just off the hvac unit. It did not fully condition the space, but it kept it dryer and comfortable in the summer(probably 75ish degrees) and winter. I would open the damper in the summer and leave closed in the winter usually because I am hot natured.

It was like this, allowed some air to pass still when closed which really helped keep humidity down.
 
Just a heads up, after having mine in since last August I just pulled the filters and was amazed at how dirty they were so keep an eye on them!
 
Thanks for the info.

I haven't done anything yet, but i think I'm going to order it next week. I think I'm going to go with a senville brand off amazon. Between that one, and Pioneer (I think) from home depot. They're about $1200 or so. I already got a set of gauges and access to a vacuum pump. Hopefully ill have it in in the next month or so.
 
I put a Mitsubishi unit in my living room a couple years ago. It does really well until it gets below freezing, then we kick on the pellet stove. Cost was just over 3K. The unit came charged and the line set was about 12 foot long. Took us about 4 hours to install.
 
Twinstick said:
Thanks for the info.

I haven't done anything yet, but i think I'm going to order it next week. I think I'm going to go with a senville brand off amazon. Between that one, and Pioneer (I think) from home depot. They're about $1200 or so. I already got a set of gauges and access to a vacuum pump. Hopefully ill have it in in the next month or so.
Click to expand...
If you don't have a tube bender rent or borrow one. Money well spent.
 
Projectjunkie said:
There's a ton of markup on these, I'm getting "mirage" brand 12k from Mexico for $435. Maybe it's up to 500 now, dunno

Not that that really helps you, but to know you can search a little deeper for wholesalers


Is that 1500sqft wide open? It'd kinda suck to lose all that cool air when a car pulls in


I wouldn't be surprised if these things have a 3 year life span with heavy use, at 435 each, I'm not concerned, replace as needed

At 3k I'd be pissed
Click to expand...
Mom had a Mitsubishi two room mini-split put in and it only lasted a few years, this in Laguna Hills SoCal, where a hot day is 85, and a cold one is 50. Super low usage, and the thing still shit the bed.

I'm looking at AC for my flat roof garage, and think I'll go with a small conventional, so that I get return air. I don't need it to be 72* in there, just not 100, so I can run it overnight when rates are cheap and it will cool down all the shit in there to 80 or so, and cars and tools and such will act like a heat sink.
 
I have a Pioneer 12,000 BTU that works great but is undersized. Looking at a 24,000 unit to replace it. Been using it hard for almost 2 years now and still working well.
 
I put one of those in for my 900 sq ft studio. Install was pretty straightforward. Knocked it out in a few hours. It’s been working great for a year now. Only time it struggled was when we hit negative digits.
 
This is what I ended up with. It's from Senville, 24k btu unit, single head. I opted for the wifi add on so I could control it from anywhere in the house. The app actually works pretty well.

senville.com

24000 BTU Mini Split Air Conditioner - Heat Pump - SENL/24CD

The Senville SENL/24CD mini split air conditioner and heat pump offers superior climate control, energy efficiency, and Alexa compatibility. Stay comfortable year-round with this eco-friendly solution.
senville.com senville.com

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The install wasn't bad. I poured the pad one day, did the electrical another, then took probably about 3 hours to install the unit taking my sweet time. It seems to work really well. Nice and cool in the basement, and the humidity drop is very nice. It has 4 modes, AC, heat, dehumidify, and fan.

All total i spent $1614.

Senville $1356
Amazon (flare kit, misc) $118
Home depot $140

Hopefully it will last a while. I appreciate the advice here, it ended up saving me a bunch over going with a Mr. Cool unit.
 
I have relatives in the HVAC trade they have tole me to avoid the mini splits because of the lack of repair parts
 
bigun said:
I have relatives in the HVAC trade they have tole me to avoid the mini splits because of the lack of repair parts
Click to expand...

For the DIY stuff? Or any mini-split?

I have a feeling that the DIY stuff is basically disposable - it has issues and you just get a new one. However, for what HVAC service costs you may still be ahead for getting a DIY one and then just planning on replacing it every few years.
 
bigun said:
I have relatives in the HVAC trade they have tole me to avoid the mini splits because of the lack of repair parts
Click to expand...
I've heard lots of arguments from HVAC tech against them, all of which fall apart when you get more than surface deep on the conversation.

Known plenty of people who had repair parts issues with major brands of central systems over the past few years. They are all unique and if there is a 6 month backorder I would rather have a mini split that can be replaced for a grand than a central system which is 10k to replace or wait.

HVAC industry is scared of change and refuses to learn new stuff. How many people I know that have non-op "smart" systems due to the techs not knowing how to set them up.
 
My brother picked one up from homodepot for $1200 out the door that came precharged. We had it installed in his daughter's shop in a few hours. Stupid simple and it flat works.
 
PAToyota said:
For the DIY stuff? Or any mini-split?

I have a feeling that the DIY stuff is basically disposable - it has issues and you just get a new one. However, for what HVAC service costs you may still be ahead for getting a DIY one and then just planning on replacing it every few years.
Click to expand...
kf4zht said:
I've heard lots of arguments from HVAC tech against them, all of which fall apart when you get more than surface deep on the conversation.

Known plenty of people who had repair parts issues with major brands of central systems over the past few years. They are all unique and if there is a 6 month backorder I would rather have a mini split that can be replaced for a grand than a central system which is 10k to replace or wait.

HVAC industry is scared of change and refuses to learn new stuff. How many people I know that have non-op "smart" systems due to the techs not knowing how to set them up.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure it was the DIY stuff
 
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