Mini Splits

What would be the best brand/model for roughly 600 square feet with 9' ceilings for both cooling and heating? Looking at possibly adding one to a one car garage I have that has the walls and door insulated. I am hoping this is something I could tackle myself.

I put a Mr Cool brand mini split in the house last fall, and it has been good. We use the wood stove for primary heating, but the mini split is nice for light heating and cooling. It might be enough for full heating, I haven't tried. Mr Cool has a DIY series that are easy to install for someone with basic tools, and there's no need for a vacuum pump, etc. I put a 12k size in the house which is about 900 square feet with 9 foot ceilings downstairs where the unit is and 8 foot upstairs. It's a lot cheaper to put one in yourself than to hire it done, and would be even more so if you have the HVAC equipment and skills which I lack.

My youngest sister and BIL sell Mitsubishi.
BIL installed a Mitsubishi in his man cave and house in Florida.

I wouldn't have a split unit. They are nothing but an expensive window AC with a compressor in a central location.

Split units need to be cleaned and sanitized often, just like window AC. If you hire someone to do it, it will cost you about $100 a unit.

Google cleaning split units. They sell DIY cleaning kits..

We have a Mitsubishi unit and we love it. We ve had it almost 15 years. It s been great for both heating and cooling.

Mitsubishi makes an excellent unit,and you will pay for it.Better warranty,and better dealer/installer service.You pay for that up front with them.The Fujitsu is the same unit,without the dealer service.As for the rest it's kind of like changing deck chairs on the Titanic.Look around and you will find dozens of people that hate everybody else's unit.I will NEVER go back to window units.I have a split in a rental that I installed 13 years ago,zero issues.I think it's because it is working with the clean air from inside the house,not the dusty humid air from outside.In my own house it used to run me about $60-$70.per month to run window units,now it runs about $15.per month with the splits.Mine are Blue Ridge,which are Midea,and you will find plenty of people to both love and hate them.I have three remote units in my house,and I installed and charged them myself.I have two 9000's,and one 18000.The outside unit is a 36000.

Ive never owned one but follow the RV industry quite close AND THE RV OWNERS WHO USE THEM LOVE AND RANT ABOUT HOW GREAT THEY ARE FOR THEIR RV.

Thats ONLY THEIR experience and opinion (NOT me) and Im sure others may have bad experience or hate them lol.. Do YOUR research do whats best for YOU.. To each THEIR own opinions, likes and dislikes

John T NOT a mini split user. Maybe some will Google the subject and report their findings ??

Neighbor is an HVAC guy. He swears by them. He is converting his entire hour to them.

Four mini splits in operation here, two Mitsubishi and two Pioneer. Mitsubishi are top of the line and more $, Pioneer are perfectly good units and less expensive. The Mits I have work better at really cold temps below freezing maintaining close to set point while the Pioneer are further from set point in those conditions but still keep safely above freezing.

All mini splits are really easy to install. I can take a mini from the shipping palette to installed and running in under two hours including the vacuum down and leak check.

Cleaning mini splits can be a chore for sure, how often depends on the environment. Here we rinse the filters every month or two which takes just a couple minutes.

Deep cleaning I do once a year and after doing for a few years I have settled on using an inexpensive water pick as a mini pressure washer with a plastic mortar mix tub under the mini to catch the runoff. I use commercial coil cleaner after initial pressure washing, and then give a final rinse after. Outdoor units I hose the coils every couple months and use coil cleaner and a soft brush once or twice a year.

Cleaning isn't really more than a conventional split system, with those you have to replace filters regularly, clean the outdoor unit regularly and deep clean the air handler coils periodically since there are always leaks around the filter and the coils will gunk up over time.

ETA: Another advantage of mini splits is redundancy. If one unit goes down your others still are working and can often pickup the load from the down one using a fan or two to circulate the air.

This post was edited by wp6529 on 10/19/2023 at 08:23 am.

Thanks for the replies - I actually meant to post this in the Tools forum but got a good response here.

I have 2 of them.
A blue ridge and a pioneer.
The pioneer has a self cleaning mode built in.
Only thing I do not like about them is the inside fan runs 24/7
They say it saves electricity in low mode but I am use to a fan that cuts on and off.

You can install one in a few hours and the only tool I needed to buy was a 3 inch hole saw to drill the hole for the pipes to pass through.

They sell these units as a home owner self install kit.
Yea right.
Read the fine print.
A self install may cost you 50 percent of the warranty time.

They even say no vacuum down required.
You can get a can of gas to flush the moisture out the line.
I say Yea right again.
Go to Auto Zone and get a vacuum pump and a set of gauges off loan a tool for free and vacuum the unit down.
Or for a hundred dollars you can get your own vacuum pump and gauges off Amazon.
This is the unit I have.

I went with the Blue Ridge because it didn't have that standby fan going all the time,and the warranty.They sent me a copy of it before I bought it,and self install was not a problem.My unit was precharged to take care of all three units,and about 90 feet of the lines I made up.I had 120 feet so I had to juice it up a little bit.A few ounces really.They were very clear on the vacuum thing,and on pressure testing.They wanted me to test with 200 pounds of dry nitrogen,but I didn't have any left.So I took a good vacuum,locked it up,and let it sit for 3 days.Never lost an iota of vacuum,so I called it good,topped it off,and touched it off.All work fine.

(quoted from post at 15:53:12 10/19/23) I went with the Blue Ridge because it didn't have that standby fan going all the time

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I think the full time fan is a benefit. In addition to the temperature sampling which is its main purpose, it also provides air circulation for more even room temps as well as more filtration. In previous houses with conventional ducted split systems I used ceiling fans to even out the room temp (no stratification) and it also helps in the summer allowing comfort at higher temps saving money.

Our Mitsubishi mini-split has worked well for around eight years now. They do have to be cleaned regularly, otherwise mildew and dust will build up on the squirrel cage fan and keep them from working properly.

I installed ours myself. You do need a good vacuum pump and a good flaring tool. The copper linesets are quite heavy and difficult to flare.

We have one heat pump what will run 3 air handlers, we only use 2. I couldn't be happier, ours is a Lennox and we had a dealer install it and they do the service. Deep cleaning every other year to keep the 7 year warranty intact, it is >$100. Heats at 100% down to about 0 and then it deteriorates to 0% at -15 degrees. (we have a fuel oil boiler too) AC works great and no noise. You can buy packages through Amazon, HD and Lowes and in new or a garage/unfinished building they would be easy to install. Some come with pre-charged line sets. but I would still want it checked by a professional. I would recommend one heat pump per air handler. About the same price and shorter line sets. Most are designed for exterior installation. A 3-inch hole in the exterior wall and the air handler covers it.

Why all the regular cleaning/de-molding, etc for window and split units when it is never an issue with central air units? Arent they simply a "more split" unit?

> Why all the regular cleaning/de-molding, etc for window and split units when it is never an issue with central air units? Arent they simply a more split unit?

Mini-splits suck air through the evaporator while central air units push air into the evaporator. Which means moist air is going through the fan of a mini-split. I think that's why mini-splits tend to get mold buildup on their fans.

(quoted from post at 11:41:29 10/20/23) Why all the regular cleaning/de-molding, etc for window and split units when it is never an issue with central air units? Arent they simply a "more split" unit?

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As I noted previously, there really isn't much of a difference. People think there is because the coil cleaning of the ducted split system is very often neglected, both the outdoor unit and especially the indoor air handler. There are always leaks around the filters in the air handler as well as bio-gunk that grows on the wet coils in the cooling season. They absolutely do require periodic cleaning. The associated ducts also can get quite nasty over time and are much more difficult to clean than any mini plit system.

(quoted from post at 14:19:56 10/20/23) > Why all the regular cleaning/de-molding, etc for window and split units when it is never an issue with central air units? Arent they simply a more split unit?

Mini-splits suck air through the evaporator while central air units push air into the evaporator. Which means moist air is going through the fan of a mini-split. I think that's why mini-splits tend to get mold buildup on their fans.

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have central air units built both ways....blow thru & suck thru.

> I have central air units built both ways....blow thru & suck thru.

You might want to take a look at those 'suckers'.

(quoted from post at 15:50:03 10/20/23) > I have central air units built both ways....blow thru & suck thru.

You might want to take a look at those 'suckers'.

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ep, they are still there.