It Lives.... Finally!

NY_Rob

It took about a month to complete due to rain every weekend... but I finally got it operational yesterday!

LG 36K BTU outdoor unit / 41K BTU heat
18K BTU indoor unit
12K BTU indoor unit
7 K BTU indoor unit
110ft total lineset

24hr Nitrogen pressure test @ 400PSI was completed Sunday afternoon at 3pm.

Started triple evac Monday morning....

After first 1000 micron and second 500 micron drawdown/nitro purge... the final evac got down to 200 microns in 40min...

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After 58 min I pretty much reached my pumps limit...

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Needed to put a fan on the pump... it was getting hot....

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Closed the core remover tool valve and shut off the vac pump- started the 30min rise test at 205 microns..

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18 min in at 245 microns....

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25min in at 265 microns...

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31 min in at 275 microns...

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70 micron rise in 31min.
Cracked service valves after 31min....

NY_Rob

A few miscellaneous photos from the project....
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Jamie Hall

Nice. Very very nice!

NY_Rob

Thanks Jamie.....

Checked my surveillance system.. I started trenching the 240v line on 4/21. Got completely washed out a few days so that set me back some

hvacfreak2

That turned out nice , those are a lot of work especially by yourself.

NY_Rob

^ yeah, you got that right... I worked like an animal Sat in the 90deg heat! Once I got to the outdoor unit- I put up an umbrella... it helped a lot. It was brutal on the south side of the house.

If you want to stop by and see it in person... I'm off exit 62

SuperJ

What's the minimum capacity in cooling?

NY_Rob

^ 34K BTU cooling, 41K BTU heating.

LG model LMU36CHV.

SuperJ

NY_Rob said:

^ 34K BTU cooling, 41K BTU heating.

LG model LMU36CHV.

I meant how much turn down does it have? 34k BTU is max cooling, can it turn down to say 0.5ton BTU cooling?

NY_Rob

^ oh sorry.... the minimum cooling is 8,400BTU's.

NY_Rob

The LG indoor units are pretty nice... they have WI-fi connectivity through a LG app.
We have a problem where my mother's aid (comes and bathes her 2x a week) sets her A/C to 65F then leaves with it set at 65F so now mom is freezing. The LG app now lets me see her current A/C settings on my phone no matter where I am and I can easily make changes to the settings.

Life is Good

mikeg2015

Nice install. I almost went that route. Wish I had for my upstairs so it was zoned.

NY_Rob

Thanks Mike,

I've been wanting to do this for two years now... glad it's finally done.

All the rooms where I installed the new indoor units were already covered by conventional A/C's... but now I have the availability of 41K BTU's of heat via the new mini-split in case my boiler ever goes out. Mr. Murphy warns reminds us that your boiler will fail on the coldest day of the year... and on a holiday weekend if it can

Funny thing is... even though it's June, I've used it several times for quick heat. It went down to 49F here last night... it was 67 indoors this morning. It took the indoor unit just 25min to bring the room up to 72F.

Fred

And Smith says, Murphy was an optimist!

Robert_25

Nice job - it is clear you have some time in that install. You will of course enjoy the AC, but I think you will also find it is a very economical way to heat your house in the shoulder seasons.

NY_Rob

Thanks Robert....
I've already used the heat function a few mornings just to take the chill off vs. firing up the mod-con. A very nice option to have.

Had lots of good advice from the pros here during the install. Don't think I would have attempted the start to finish job by myself without their help!

rbeck

You did a nice job and don't take this the wrong way and not bashing your skills or work but personally I would not want all those tubes all over the outside of my home.
On a different note anybody have any experience with the new Bosch AC inverter I believe it is called.

NY_Rob

Thanks @rbeck...
I'm not crazy about the lineset covers either, but unfortunately I didn't have much choice with the lineset placement.
I needed to install three indoor units and two of them were on that side of the house... so that's where the compressor landed. There was no perfect location for it- as you see I had to go thru/around that bay window and inside the soffits for the one run... it took almost two full days just to get that one run done. I look at it this way... the front of the house is still clean and the back of the house is still clean... that side is semi-concealed from the street so you really don't see the lineset's when you're driving past.

The last lineset cover parts came in Monday... I'll finish the back of house covers this weekend and post some photos.

NY_Rob

Added 3oz R-410a yesterday as needed to makeup for total lineset exceeding 98' factory precharge.
+12' * .22oz = 2.64oz

FWIW- it was 62F outdoors at the time I was working on the system.

Setup.......

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Scale......

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After adding 3oz R-410a (it was 62F outdoors)....

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Gas pressure running.....

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Liquid pressure running....

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Gas static pressure 5min after shutdown...

NY_Rob

Just wanted to followup with some "then and now" photos...

First pic is from mid May when I installed the mini-split.
Second photo is from today 8/15/2018.
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ratio

What's all that green stuff? Can't hardly see the mini split!

ChrisJ

Very nice.

Have you had any unexpected issues?

NY_Rob

ratio said:

What's all that green stuff? Can't hardly see the mini split!

That's our veggie garden... tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, peppers, okra, etc... you know- the good stuff!

NY_Rob

ChrisJ said:

Very nice.



Have you had any unexpected issues?

Hate to jinx myself, but it's run 100% perfect so far, the indoor units are significantly quieter than my 5yo Panasonic mini-split indoor units (which are pretty quiet to begin with).

The hottest day of the year was 98F outdoors and the downstairs 18K BTU indoor unit had no problem maintaining 75F indoors.

Not that I'm looking forward to the winter, but I plan on trying out the heat feature once we get some below 20F temps... just to see how it performs.

NY_Rob

Ug.......

Just got a phonecall from my kid then my wife on my other line at work! Seems we have a little "separation" problem in the upstairs bedroom.

Two months ago:


An hour ago:



F..........!!!!!

NY_Rob

Guess I should shut the system down and close the master service valves before attempting re-mounting.

System pump-down too?

NY_Rob

TYJ... no damage was done, no refrigerant leaks or crimped linesets. Closed the 3-way valves just in case... but no leaks.

Remounted the wall plate- this time hit two studs with 4x 2.25" screws and fender washers.. it's going nowhere after this!

I think my daughter saved the day by placing the fallen unit on that folding barstool to relieve strain on the linesets and prevent kinking. Used it last night overnight.. no error codes, etc.