There are probably three things.
I wish I knew about mini splits before I installed mine and I wanna share those
with you today. The first thing I wanna share is a little more universal,
but basically it's how much quieter they are and how much faster they are,
especially when compared to the window unit that I used to have here.
In my shop I've had this 84 pound beast blocking half of my view and hanging
its butt out the window since the time I built this shop and I've used this as
my sole source of heating and air conditioning for this particular building
here, and it's done an okay job, but it's slow to heat things up.
It's slow to cool things down and it is just loud.
So these are all things that I haven't enjoyed about that.
Not to mention there's a danger factor, at least for my situation.
Every time I mowed the lawn,
I'd have to watch my head for that corner and the edge of that thing,
hanging out the side of the wall here. And it was always dangerous.
I have smacked my head on that thing several times. Believe it or not,
I've even cut myself because that thing is just so in the way.
So I'm glad to have that out of my life.
And ever since installing the mini split, I've noticed a few things. Number one,
I have my view back. So half my window, isn't missing over here,
which is a definite good thing. Number two,
it is so much quieter because that was an all in one unit and everything was
right there you hear the fans,
you hear the noise and it's distracting and it's loud.
I end up filming in here quite a bit.
So I actually had to turn that off while I filmed,
which would make me extra cool or extra hot,
and then I'd have to stop the camera and then turn the thing back on and hope it
could heat up,
but it still couldn't catch up quite as fast as a mini split can with the mini
split, your fan is separate, your condenser is outside.
And so you're not hearing that.
The other nice and convenient thing about the mini splits is that they're up and
they're out of the way. Now I'm not trying to make this a sales pitch.
I'm just trying to tell you kind of the night and day difference we've seen when
installing a mini split versus a window unit. The same thing applies.
We've tried heaters,
the little mobile heaters that you can put around as well as the little mobile
air conditioning units. And they are loud.
They're in the way they're inconvenient.
So the mini split has been a big win in all those aspects. Now,
the second thing I think everyone should know about is that there are a lot of
advertisements for this. Mr. Cool Third gen DIY mini split.
It's a pretty awesome product. Um,
there's a few main differences between a product like that and it's competition
of comparable specs. Now,
one of the biggest things besides those three is the price. So for example,
I ended up going with a unit called Tosot and for the 12,000 BTU 220
V unit, that one costs $920.
If you get the comparable one from Mr. Cool,
that's gonna run you $1,500. So what's the difference in 580 bucks?
Why is it so much more? Well,
there's three things that I was able to find the first one and probably most
important is that the Mr cool has what are called pre-charged lines or the line
sets that connect your indoor unit to your outdoor unit are pre-charged.
You don't have to vacuum pump them. And that's very convenient.
It's a nice thing. And I think that's a lot of what gives it, the DIY title.
Now, the fact is when I did some research,
you can actually buy a vacuum pump and the gauges and everything you need to do
this yourself in under 30 minutes for 130 bucks. I mean, that's pretty crazy.
So 130 bucks for the biggest factor of that price difference.
I'll put links in the description below to what that looks like. Now.
I actually made a video that you can check out that shows exactly how I went
through this process and it walks you through every bit of it.
So if you're interested in seeing what's involved in that,
you can see that video up here. Now,
the second thing that's different is that those lines have what are called quick
connect connections. And that is also very convenient.
It's a really nice thing basical,
instead of using two adjustable wrenches to connect your lines,
you just do kind of a slip on quick connect thing and you're sealed up and
you're good to go again, very convenient,
but it's gonna save you literally a few minutes maybe,
and not to me worth that extra price.
The third big difference is WiFi or smart capability,
basically with a Mr. Cool, it's got WiFi built in, which I think is awesome.
That is a great feature to have, and that's something I wanted for mine.
And it didn't come with wifi until I discovered that you can get something like
this. This is called the Sensibo Sky. It runs about a hundred bucks.
I just got mine the other day with a coupon 15 bucks off. So $85 for this,
and this gives me full control. I can use my, I Alexa, my Google, my Siri,
any of those. And basically I can control the temperature.
I can turn it on or off. I can set it to a consistent temperature.
I can tell the shop basically out here where I'm at to warm up or cool down
before I come out, Alexa.
Set, woodshop AC to 68 degrees.
The heat set to 68.
Any of those sorts of things for a little add on like this. Very cool.
So what it comes down to is you're paying $580 more for these three differences,
but I just don't think they're worth 580 bucks. If I can basically pay,
let's say, you know, 230 bucks at most for those three differences,
then I get to keep that other 350 and that's money in my pocket.
So I'm definitely gonna go with something a little more affordable and take care
of those things myself. Now,
the third thing I think a lot of people don't realize before getting a mini
split is that there is a lot of electrical work involved in doing this.
This is not something that you can just plug into the wall. For example,
a lot of window units I know you can actually just plug into a standard 110 volt
outlet. That is not the case here.
Even my window unit that I've been using this whole time,
I actually bought it while I was building this shop so that I could run a 220
volt wire,
which is what it required and do the specific outlet that it needed and put that
in the shop so I could plug it in don't how much use I'm gonna have for that 220
volt, cuz it's got a kind of a funky plug, but I've got that plug.
If I want to try something else with it.
And I needed that to run that size of a window unit.
The mini split is kind of like a central air sort of thing,
but it's a ductless mini split. I mean,
you do have to have a lot of the same features that you have on a full size air
conditioning system, because it's a fairly large and capable unit.
There are a few caveats with that.
And number one is by code in the United States, you need to have,
what's called an AC disconnect, hooked up to your condenser.
Basically your condenser is that outside fan part that controls everything and
pumps the air in, cools it down, heats it up, all of that.
And near that within a few feet of that, you need to have a switch,
basically a big AC disconnect where if a service technician comes to your place
to work on it, he can just turn that off.
Whether it's a flip off or you pull a plug, remove a fuse,
whatever the case may be, and these are cheap, they cost like 13 bucks,
but that has to be there. That's electrical work that someone has to do.
In addition,
you're almost definitely gonna have to run a new circuit breaker in your circuit
breaker panel and then run that with the appropriate sized Romex cable to that
AC disconnect.
And then you use what's called a whip to connect your AC disconnect to your
condenser. Now, if this all sounds totally overwhelming, that's understandable.
And again, in my other walkthrough video, I'll show you all the steps for that.
You can check that out, but there's a lot of electrical work. Now,
the cost for all of that electrical stuff that I mentioned by the way is not
very much it's anywhere between 50 to 150 us dollars depending on your
setup.
And most of that depends on how close your circuit breaker panel is to your
condenser. And what's in between. Now,
this is not something that's specific to any one type of mini split.
This is all mini splits. Even if they're a 110 volt,
9,000 BTU, the smallest units that you can typically get,
you still need to do all the same amount of work.
It's just a code requirement in order to do this, you can't plug them in.
There's no wall outlet that you're gonna be able to throw that.
And you're not supposed to be able to do that at least within the United States,
in other countries, that may be an option, but certainly not here.
So you'll want to check with your local code to see what's involved with that
and maybe check out that other video to see if it makes sense for you and if
you're comfortable doing all that. So with all those three things mentioned,
I have to say that having installed the mini split, I love it.
And I would do it again in a heartbeat. All of those steps,
they may seem kind of overwhelming,
but there's a few things that I just wanted you to know about before you get
into a mini split and see that you can do it yourself.
You just have to be aware of what you're getting into. Now,
as I mentioned before,
I'll put links to all of the products that I've mentioned here and all of the
things we've talked about in the description.
If you do wanna look for a unit that I've trusted and that I've been using and
enjoying I'm using what's called Tosot,
and you can actually get a much better deal by buying from their website and
they'll still ship free anywhere in the United States,
but that's a lot cheaper price than buying on Amazon.
So check out those links if you're interested.
And if you have questions about installing a mini split,
leave those in the comments below and I'll do my best to help out there.
I'm Nils with LRN2DIY, thanks for watching.