My mother in law and her husband are on a fixed, but reasonable income, live in a mobile home community in Apache Junction, AZ. They currently use a swamp cooler in the winter, and a couple of window mounted AC units in the summer. They would like something more akin to central AC. I know nothing about mini split systems, their advantages and disadvantages. The space is under 1000 sq feet.

I figure that you guys are better than 10 hours of google.

Last week, I finished installing my first dual zone Mr Cool DIY mini split. Installation was as easy as their videos depict. And everything went exactly according to the install directions.

The only sour part of the install was figuring out what gauge of wire and what size circuit breaker to put in. I put in two 30a skinny breakers which I think was overkill in retrospect.
After the install, I went for the test run and nothing happened at all. I got out the multimeter and tested all my electrical connections and everything seemed ok, but nothing would power up. I emailed tech support and after a few back and forths with model/serial number and pictures, the tech gave me a sheet of items to test with the multimeter, many I had already done. He finished his email with this line, "and make sure you have a dedicated circuit, no GFCI breakers and no skinny breakers." My first thought was you have got to be kidding me.
I went to HD and hot 2 new regular size breakers, switched out my skinny ones and everything started working. In my follow up I let the tech know that that information in his last line would have been really helpful in the install booklet.
As far as function, so far it seems to be working really nicely. The outside unit is very quiet, but since we are between seasons in colorado, it hasn't had to work hard so far. I did use the heat a few times and it seemed to be working good.
Tonight is gonna drop to 19 or so degrees, and even being 24 right now the heat is chugging along with no problems. I'll have to wait until may to see the effectiveness of the Air Conditioning. During the test run, the cold air was very cold so I am planning on the best next summer.
So far I would rate it as a very high success. We are cooling/heating a 1200 sq ft ground floor game room and a 600 sq foot upstairs master bedroom. The bedroom is easily handled so far, still waiting for the rest of tonight to really test the downstairs unit.
I highly recommend them. I got mine off Amazon and did all the install myself.

Assuming the trailer has what most do. An elect. Coleman furnace or similar.
We had a 3 ton AC unit added to an existing furnace that had the coil in it. Took the installer 3 hrs. including getting it connected to the panel. Cost was $3500 done and blowing nice cool air.
I think that would be a better outcome. Just my two cents.

You could probably get by with a smaller od condensing unit.

This was our first summer with a mini split in a home addition that was overworking the original hvac system. A 2 ton unit was $3500 installed and it made the house much more comfortable and brought the electric bill down about $40 a month over last years bill.

They are the ticket if you have an open area to heat/cool and don't need ductwork.

DS, curious what the sq. ft was of the area and what type of ceiling, vaulted or flat?

Thanks guys!

I heat/cool a 700ish sq foot cottage/house with a loft bedroom with one split mini unit. It doesn't get anywhere near as hot here as AZ but I can't imagine it wouldn't keep up. Heats the house fine down to -30 where is starts to struggle. Worst power bill in a year and a half was $160 and that was the week of -20 to -30 temps where it ran full tilt.

Guys it does not really help if you do not include both the sq. ft and size of the unit.

I'm a big fan of mini splits with 5 DIY installations. 1 at my office, 2 RVs,2 at my house. The biggest savings with min splits is if you can DIY. My last project was replacing a 2 1/2 ton heat pump at my house with a 9000 and 12000 BTU mini split off Amazon.Total cost was
around $2200. Works great and electric bill was down 23% from June to July. Note that July was hot as hell in TX.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
DS, curious what the sq. ft was of the area and what type of ceiling, vaulted or flat?

The addition was a 24'x30' that tied into a 2000' sq ft ranch style house with an open floor plan. Made the attached garage into a family room. Flat 8' ceiling. We used to use a big window unit combo heat/air - worked ok but was very noisy and it really made the meter spin, The mini split is so quiet it's hard to hear it running and it cools so well that the main unit central air conditioner didn't run nearly as much.

We have not used our main natural gas furnace yet this year but the mini split works great for knocking the chill off.

Here's a pic of the install.

We hace five in our home... three on one compressor and two on another and are very pleased. The three are 10 years old. the other two 8, and we've had the system checked professionally once and all was up to pair. The down side is the once a year maintenance of the inside units, which I do.... there is a definite learning curve the first time out.....I go to the trouble of pulling the blower fan out and washing it and that is a choir. This last time I could not get two of them off and I'm thinking with the right plastic drapes into a tray it might be easier just to clean while still in the unit. The coils stay clean.

We have 7 heads on two compressors.

We originally bought them for A/C.

We are using them more and more for heat also.

We turn on the gas forced hot water only it is getting really cold. The advantage of the Mini splits is we only use it in the rooms we are using.

I installed my Mr cool in the spring in my new office build. A only 400 sq ft out building, but well insulated, sealed, etc.. any power bill hit from the addition this year was small enough to be unnoticeable in the biden caused hit.

I went overkill on everything building it, so I had no power or any other issue with the mini split. It just works, cools, heats, dehumidifies whatever it needs to do and does it silently.

The one thing I learned in the research phase is that you want an inverter model, not intermittent. Just means a variable speed compressor instead of on/off all the time like your window unit. mUCH more efficient.

Had a 3 ton Mits Hyper-Heat mini split installed in May '22. Cool in the summer; heat in the winter. Couldn't be happier.

The hyper heat system will work at peak efficiency until -13 degrees Fahrenheit outside because of the cold-climate heat pump technology advances from Mitsubishi.

Bad boy stack outside.


Main floor unit. Others in the house not shown.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bald1,

I have two mini split units, and have had them for years. I love them and couldn't do without them......it does get hot here!!!