Mrcool 4th gen Energy Star Ductless Mini-Split, White

easy DIY install - works great. produxt seems well built

I purchased this with some curiosity whether it was truly DIY and was pleasantly surprised that it was. You do have to have electrical knowledge or have an electrician do the wiring. The instructions along with some Youtube videos definitely helped. I am pretty handy overall but I found this to be pretty straight forward to install. For function it works fantastic. I have it in a very well insulated Workshop, but it maintains the temp and humidity better than expected. on a 30 degree day it was blowing 95 degree air when demanded. It did struggle when temp was below 15 and could not maintain 62 degrees at night. It was routinely going in to defrost mode and during that time it isnt heating. I was not surprised by this heat pumps routinely struggle in low temps this does better than an older mini-split system i have but still isnt a heater during very cold periods.

I thought the pre-charged refrigerant lines were well engineered. I was a little concerned about doing them without a torque wrench, but they pretty much have stoppers you can tighten to which makes it really nice. Be wary of buying the suggested amazon wall bracket as it doesn't give enough clearance to the back wall to bend the refrigerant lines in, you'll need a good 10-12" room to the wall you mount it to (the mr cool separately sold bracket give you plenty of room to work with). I'd say it took me about 15 hours (including taking time to go buy some parts/tools I didn't have), but I had a complicated line-set run than most people would. I think the unit iteslf and instructions were really good.

I purchased this unit which is 36,000BTUs rated for 1500 sq ft for my 1200 sq ft shop. It was pretty easy to install though NOBODY would use a 1/2" conduit connection from the power supply to the condenser, so it should be a 3/4" connection. Other than the crap instructions and pictures, took about 2 days or 10 hours. I am VERY capable of doing this work and will say my 1st attempt at an AC unit of any kind. Bottom line it turned right on, blows cold air despite the poor fan speed and simply is incapable of keeping my shop below 87 degrees, even on some days when it is just above 80 degrees. I did 4 tests all starting around 97, 92, 87, 95 inside and 101, 96, 94, and 83 inside. I NEVER got a reading below 87 degrees in my shop even after running for over 24 hours straight through the night when the temperature outside fell into the low 70s each night. I think I would need 4 of these units to get the workable comfort level that I was expecting. It is too bad, I cannot return it a so I am out 2 days work and $3000. Don't make the same mistake!!!!

It has been in service since I installed it almost 18 months ago. No issues whatsoever with the unit that is the18k model installed in a 24ft wide x 24ft long x 8ft tall (ceiling) garage in Glendale Arizona.I can confirm with this square footage having partially insulated walls and mostly insulated single garage door with a 2nd story above, the 18k unit is sized effectively. If you live in a lower temp environment you could get away with 12k but a hot vehicle pulled in to the garage. Will make the unit work for a few hours. In that scenario, this should be the proper size for most two car garages, regardless of the climate.Do your own research, of course. However, I did a great deal of research on mini split units all the way from Mitsubishi down to knock-off Chinese units. regardless of the manufacturer, most units are not rated for outside temperatures above 108°F, MrCool DIY’s are and they provide proof and testing on their site.So if you live in warmer climate, knock off Chinese units are not designed for high outside temperatures, and a majority of them will disable themselves when temperatures go above 105°f as they have an ambient temperature sensor on the outside unit that keeps them from overheating.I can confirm that this unit works effectively at Arizona desert temperatures over 120°f. Of course there is a large efficiency lost at that temperature but the ratings provided by the company prove this unit is more efficient than brands three times the cost.In fact, I can’t find a mini split unit on the market regardless of cost that has the same efficiency at temperatures over 115.°f.Yes, someone that is a home DIYer can install this unit themselves.However, I highly recommend you hire an electrician to run your disconnect.. everything else most DIYers should and can do. I know (and can look up) NEC and local codes. But if you cause an electrical fire by a faulty install, good luck getting a payout from your homeowners insurance. Same story if you sell your home with the unit attached and it wasn’t installed to code. And yes, running your disconnect could cost anywhere from $300-1200, but that’s life.Some have stated these units leak. My unit has not lost efficiency and I’ve monitored monthly kilowatt draw since last year and it’s pretty consistent.I did hook up a manifold gauge, and the pressure is low based manufacturer spec for target super heat.However, I assume that it was a loss in the hose or possibly initial seepage on the quick connect (I didn’t leak check after install).I read low pressure/charge as a common theme with these quick connects. I have been told the line set is charged with R410a and so is the unit. However, if this is incorrect or there was a slight seepage while in the box or during initial connect, that would explain the current levels. It’s fractionally low and probably losing 15% efficiency. You can buy small one time bottles on the Internet to charge mini splits that come with a gauge, you can pick one of these up and I recommend you do, no HVACR-EPA license needed. I haven’t charged mine since I need to move my main house split unit and I’ll wait till I buy a full R 410a tank.When the temp is below 90° outside, keeping my garage at 78°, I barely see much change in my kilowatt usage total for my home. Results may vary.. However this unit is hugely efficientI also feel keeping the garage below 100° keeps heat ingress out of my house, thereby raising the efficiency of my main unit.@@NOTE: I am also using MRCOOL’s wall mount for the unit. The unit will produce a low frequency vibration, though it comes with rubber feet, which help with mid frequency, if you will attach this to your house, you will hear the unit running when the home is quiet. For me it’s only noticeable when it’s dead quiet in the house and I’m on that side. My guess have never been able to hear it. So I’m probably neurotic. lol

Great directions and we installed it ourselves. The process went smoothly but my husband has a lot of experience with wiring, which was explained really well in the instructions. Its really depends how comfortable you are with electricity. We had to install a separate elec. panel with switch and a junction box attached to the house. One unit was enough for our 1300 square foot house with low ceilings. Its quiet and delivers consistent heat. Since its winter I'm not sure about cooling. One thing I will say is when it was really cold, 30s the unit shut off and came up with letters DF but it comes back on after defrost. The outside compressor is out in the open and we get a lot of wind. This summer we'll build a semi shelter around a few sides and over the top for shade which is recommended and I think would help with it icing up as well.