Diy mini split air conditioner install

[woodtickgreg]

I know this isn't wood working but I also know a lot of folks have unconditional work spaces. So I thought I would show the process of installing one of these systems.
I got an 18,000 btu unit. The air handler goes inside the space and the compressors goes outside.

They supply a template to mark the mounting holes and also for the large
3 1/2" hole that the lines pass through. It's going to just fit above the window perfectly with enough clearance for the cover lid to open for cleaning the filters.

I had to offset the mounting plate so the large hole missed the studs for the window framing.

The mounting bracket is screwed to the studs, I also used some plastic anchors where there wasnt a stud.

It will be nice to have full use of the window again all season. The inside air handler just hangs on the top of the bracket and then snaps in place on the bottom.

 

[woodtickgreg]

I picked up a 3 1/2" holesaw and started to bore the holes for the plastic sleeve that goes thru the wall for the 2 lines, drain hose, and communications cable to pass thru. I used a 12" x1/8" bit to drill a pilot hole at a slight downward angle so the sleeve will be sloped down incase any water gets in the sleeve from condensation or whatever it will flow outside the wall and not inside.
Inside hole done. Next I went outside to drill the other way.
I had three sectikns to drill through and just missed the brick. I had to chisel some of the brick but not much.
Now the bad news. The walls of my house are so thick the sleeve didnt go all the way through. Its about 2 1/2" short. No one else makes a longer sleeve in 3 1/2" and I've already bored the hole.

So I had a piece of 3" thinwall sewer pvc pipe that is almost exactly the same size. I just have to glue the inside flange on.

Inside flange slides right over it.
There is a slight gap but whatever glue I use will fill the gap. I'm thinking even a 25 year siliconized caulk will work just fine.
The outside flange is exactly the same size so I'm going to have to get creative to make it fit. Maybe I'll slot the pipe to compress it so the flange will fit over it.

So that's as far as I got today after a couple of hours after work. Most of that time was spent searching online for a solution.

 

[trc65]

Improvise, adapt, overcome....

As I was reading along, my first thought was to just swap it out for some PVC.... Glad to see you found something workable.

Im assuming the brick is just a half wall there? I was thinking your whole exterior was brick and you'd have to drill through that.

 

[woodtickgreg]

Improvise, adapt, overcome....

As I was reading along, my first thought was to just swap it out for some PVC.... Glad to see you found something workable.

Im assuming the brick is just a half wall there? I was thinking your whole exterior was brick and you'd have to drill through that.

The brick goes all the way up to the trim. I just drilled through the trim since the inside unit is mounted so high.

 

[trc65]

The brick goes all the way up to the trim. I just drilled through the trim since the inside unit is mounted so high.

Gotcha!

 

[woodtickgreg]

I had a half day at work today so I went and picked up some glue, gorilla type, lol. It's white so it shouldn't be visible when cured. I don't think you'll see any of this sleeve once it's installed anyway.

Liberally glued the inside and filled the gap. I then scraped it flush with a razor blade.
I applied glue to the other end as well a few inches in and then wiped off the excess.
I cut this prece of pvc plenty long so once its thru the hole I can mark it and cut it off to length.

Well that's it for today, now I wait for the clue to cure, at least 24 hours.

 

[2feathers Creative Making]

If the outside piece is exactly the same size as your PVC pipe, how about a coupler for the PVC to outside connector?

 

[woodtickgreg]

If the outside piece is exactly the same size as your PVC pipe, how about a coupler for the PVC to outside connector?

It needs to sit flush with the outside surface. A coupler will not fit in the hole.

 

[2feathers Creative Making]

With that being thin wall, then, how bout heating the end and compressing it with a sleeve and about 3 or 4 ideal clamps until it reaches the proper diameter. The ideal clamps should allow you to use you screw gun to tighten while the pipe is hot. A piece of 4 inch stove pipe would make a great sleeve.

 

[woodtickgreg]

I'm going to make some relief cuts around the top half and it should fit just fine. No one will ever see it and as long as the bottom is smooth it will drain as it's supposed to. There is a cover that will go on the outside after the lines are passed through it.

 

[2feathers Creative Making]

Yeah, each cut will give you an eighth inch slack so with thin wall that shouldn't take too long. By the way, the thin cutoff wheels on a grinder do a smash up job of cutting siding and PVC thin wall without the shattering associated with circular saw cuts. I was using one a couple weeks ago to cut PVC trim rings for porch posts without a single incident

 

[2feathers Creative Making]

This is on my wall in the living room. I still need to drill and connect it...

 

[woodtickgreg]

It's the next day and the glue has set up. So I cut the pipe to length and the cut slots with a dremel and a very thin cut off wheel. Buzzed right through it.

The outside flange slipped right on and i glued it in place. I smoothed the glue on the inside too.

Now the next problem is the trim is about 3/4" proud of the brick. The kit that I got to hide the lines and wires needs to sit flat. I think a piece of plastic trim 4" wide will work, I'll tapcon that to the brick.

This is what the line cover looks like.

I need to fill that gap.

This is the first piece that will go on and then I'll feed the lines through and hang the inside air handler.

Blue tape to seal the hole until the glue dries.

Getting closer to actually hanging the inside air handler and moving on to the outside compressor and electrical hook up.

 

[2feathers Creative Making]

1x4 PVC Looks right to me.

 

[Wildthings]

My son and I just installed 2 at his house. One in the master bedroom and one in the garage turned into gym.

 

[woodtickgreg]

I had a half day at work so I worked on the install some more.
Electrical disconnect is mounted. Hammer drill and tapcons did the trick.

Next i mounted the wall bracket for the compressor. I used 10 redhead sleeve anchors. Over kill but thats how I roll. Big rotory hammer drill went through the brick like nothing.

The compressor is 2' off the ground to keep it out of the snow and for good air circulation

I cut the pvc trim board to length, but im going to have to remove the compressor to drill the holes for the tapcons to attach it.

I'm getting close now. Once the trim board is attached and the back side of the cover is installed I can hang the inside air handler and fish the lines through the wall.
It was 89 degrees and humid, I soaked thru a tank top with sweat.
Now I'm having some nachos!

 

[woodtickgreg]

Inside air handler is hung and the lines are fished thru the hole. I can get the cover open to clean the filters so thats a good thing.
Lines are fished thru the hole.

Back of line cover is attached to the pvc board that is screwed with tapcons to the brick.

I put a rag in the bottom of the hole to cushion the lines and then bent them into position.

Connection is made with the lineset.

Connections are wrapped with what the manufacturer calls sound deadening.

Thru hole is foamed.

Lines are wrapped with vinyl and attached with zip ties to the cover back.

Cover is finished up, came out nice and clean looking.

I'm about 80% done with this. I have to make the last 2 connections with the refrigerant lines, connect the electrical controll lines. And run power to it from the panel. Excess linset will be tucked up under the comprressor unit. So I have a little more to do yet.

I'm anxious to get the failing window unit out and get our window back.

 

[woodtickgreg]

So today I picked up where I left off. Made the refrigerant line conections at the compressor. The I wrapped the excess lines with vinyl wrap and tucked them up under the compressor. Laying them flat under the compressor keeps the air flow to the compressor unobstructed. Electrical connections where also made and routed behind the unit against the wall and zip tied in place. Black cable is from the inside air handler. Grey is 220 power from the disconnect. I ran 8 gage wire on a 20 amp breaker from the panel to the disconnect. 10 gage from the disconnect to the compressor, this is what the manufacturer sent.

All of this made for a very neat install. Mounting everything up high will also keep it out of the snow in the winter. This is a heat pump so it can also be used to supplement the furnace heat. Hear you can also see the condensate drip line sticking out on the front left.

This is how it looks when it's on, it's amazingly quiet both indoors and out.

In cooling mode it works really well, dropped the temp in the kitchen rather quickly and the cool air is flowing into the living room and also cooling that room. This is what I had hoped for. It's also a good thing to have separate systems in the house, if one fails the other works. Next year I'll install another smaller unit in our bedroom, same thing as it will heat and cool.
This is how I gave the hvac companies the finger, I saved thousands over what they wanted and it wasn't really all that hard. I worked on it for a few hours a day after work. Hardest part was all the holes that I had to drill in the brick. All the refrigerant lines where pre charged and I didn't need any fancy equipment to charge the lines. I've got about $2600 dollars into this 18,000 btu unit with the electrical wire and breaker and other hardware like anchors etc. Quotes I had from hvac companies where anywhere from 6 to 11,000 dollars for ac. That's not for a new furnace! Just ac. I'll do my own furnace before winter.
My point to all of this is if you take your time, do your homework and research you can do this. Anyone with basic hand tool skills can do this. And you'll save a ton of money. Hvac companies are just a rip off!

 

[SENC]

So today I picked up where I left off. Made the refrigerant line conections at the compressor. The I wrapped the excess lines with vinyl wrap and tucked them up under the compressor. Laying them flat under the compressor keeps the air flow to the compressor unobstructed. Electrical connections where also made and routed behind the unit against the wall and zip tied in place. Black cable is from the inside air handler. Grey is 220 power from the disconnect. I ran 8 gage wire on a 20 amp breaker from the panel to the disconnect. 10 gage from the disconnect to the compressor, this is what the manufacturer sent.
View attachment 277038
All of this made for a very neat install. Mounting everything up high will also keep it out of the snow in the winter. This is a heat pump so it can also be used to supplement the furnace heat. Hear you can also see the condensate drip line sticking out on the front left.
View attachment 277039
This is how it looks when it's on, it's amazingly quiet both indoors and out.
View attachment 277040
In cooling mode it works really well, dropped the temp in the kitchen rather quickly and the cool air is flowing into the living room and also cooling that room. This is what I had hoped for. It's also a good thing to have separate systems in the house, if one fails the other works. Next year I'll install another smaller unit in our bedroom, same thing as it will heat and cool.
This is how I gave the hvac companies the finger, I saved thousands over what they wanted and it wasn't really all that hard. I worked on it for a few hours a day after work. Hardest part was all the holes that I had to drill in the brick. All the refrigerant lines where pre charged and I didn't need any fancy equipment to charge the lines. I've got about $2600 dollars into this 18,000 btu unit with the electrical wire and breaker and other hardware like anchors etc. Quotes I had from hvac companies where anywhere from 6 to 11,000 dollars for ac. That's not for a new furnace! Just ac. I'll do my own furnace before winter.
My point to all of this is if you take your time, do your homework and research you can do this. Anyone with basic hand tool skills can do this. And you'll save a ton of money. Hvac companies are just a rip off!

Durn, those guys were greedy! Or prices have gone way up.

I had 2 2-ton mini splits put into my shop about 2 years ago... I think total cost was right around $6k.

Great work and great savings!