mini split air conditioners

Hi.  Anyone know of an experienced installer in the area?  Thanks


Charles C. Dae, Inc. in South Orange  973-951-8584  

Experienced and reasonable.


Speer Air put ours in for us.  Nothing but good things to say about them.


Make sure whoever you use shows you how to perform periodic cleaning of the indoor unit.  So many of them shut down due to being dirty or having the condensate drain pipe clogged up. 


Marty Spangle installed ours last year. Very fastidious and completed on schedule. Whenever I have question he calls me right back. 

http://spanglebrothers.com/


thanks for all the Information. May I ask how much it cost to install?  Thanks!


$4,000 for one on bottom floor.  It ain't cheap.  Sadly, mine doesn't cool as well as my $300 window AC.


krugle said:
$4,000 for one on bottom floor.  It ain't cheap.  Sadly, mine doesn't cool as well as my $300 window AC.

 I've had the opposite experience.  My ductless units (Fujitsu Halcyons) are much better than my old window units.  They cool better and they are infinitely quieter.  An added bonus is that, while the units were expensive, they are cheaper to run.  

You can run multiple units on one compressor so I think there is an economy of scale.  The per unit cost of multiple units is substantially cheaper than the per unit cost of one.


Klinker,  

Really?  How many units do you have to cool your bottom floor?

Yes, much quieter, do love that.


krugle said:
Klinker,  
Really?  How many units do you have to cool your bottom floor?
Yes, much quieter, do love that.

 The set I am looking at has 6 heads.


thanks so much. So for one unit per floor and I have 3 floors any ballpark as to how much that would be?  And does the 4000 include everything it takes to install?   Thanks again


krugle said:
Klinker,  
Really?  How many units do you have to cool your bottom floor?
Yes, much quieter, do love that.

 We have 2 units on the first floor, 3 (one in each bedroom) on the second and 1 in the attic. Two compressors outdoors.

The whole thing cost about $13,000 but that was a couple of years ago.


krugle said:
Klinker,  
Really?  How many units do you have to cool your bottom floor?
Yes, much quieter, do love that.

 We added a single ductless unit to replace 2 window units for our ground floor and the difference is night and day - the ductless does a much better job. It was a few years ago and I don't have any information easily available as to how many BTU we went with or who we used, but it was a great upgrade for our house.

I grew up in Phoenix, and one of the hardest things to deal with out here is - ironically - the summers. I had never seen a window unit until I moved to NYC and I've always been shocked at the state of air conditioning out East!


qrysdonnell said:
I grew up in Phoenix, and one of the hardest things to deal with out here is - ironically - the summers. I had never seen a window unit until I moved to NYC and I've always been shocked at the state of air conditioning out East!

 So very true.  I grew up in California and have lived in the South as well but the most unpleasant summers I have ever endured have been hear in the Northeast. Inadequate AC combines with summers temps that, like the students of Lake Wobegon, are consistently above average to make a miserable Florida like miasma of the months of July, August and, increasingly, September.  

Adding the ductless AC has gone a long way towards making summer time endurable.


great information thanks everyone!


I have a small mini split, 12,000 BTU/hr, 120V, that has died and is not repairable.  I decided to buy a new one from the Home Depot web site that was very reasonably priced.  I assumed I would be able to hire a local HVAC tech to install it.  But now everyone I call has refused the job.  They only install systems that they sell.  I've been referred to the Sears repair department, but I'll be paying per hour repair prices, which will quickly negate the savings I got from the new unit.  Anyone know a company who will do this?



Rob_Sandow said:
I have a small mini split, 12,000 BTU/hr, 120V, that has died and is not repairable.  I decided to buy a new one from the Home Depot web site that was very reasonably priced.  I assumed I would be able to hire a local HVAC tech to install it.  But now everyone I call has refused the job.  They only install systems that they sell.  I've been referred to the Sears repair department, but I'll be paying per hour repair prices, which will quickly negate the savings I got from the new unit.  Anyone know a company who will do this?


 Did you try Speer Air? They might be willing to install the unit. 


You should be able to get an installer through Home Depot.


StarbellySneetch said:
You should be able to get an installer through Home Depot.

 

Nope.  Tried that.  Home Depot outsources their installations to AJ Perri.  AJ Perri only installs equipment that they furnish, even if they source it through Home Depot.  I had conversations with both Home Depot and AJ Perri, and they both declined to help.



Rob_Sandow said:
 
Nope.  Tried that.  Home Depot outsources their installations to AJ Perri.  AJ Perri only installs equipment that they furnish, even if they source it through Home Depot.  I had conversations with both Home Depot and AJ Perri, and they both declined to help.


 Too late to return? Home Depot is usually pretty good about returns. You might have to settle for store credit, but still...



jimmurphy said:


Rob_Sandow said:
 
Nope.  Tried that.  Home Depot outsources their installations to AJ Perri.  AJ Perri only installs equipment that they furnish, even if they source it through Home Depot.  I had conversations with both Home Depot and AJ Perri, and they both declined to help.
 Too late to return? Home Depot is usually pretty good about returns. You might have to settle for store credit, but still...

 

Tomorrow I'm calling the manufacturer.  If they can't help me, I'm returning it. 


Safetyfirst: Let us know who you used and your rating of their work. Thanks!


Rob_Sandow said:


StarbellySneetch said:
You should be able to get an installer through Home Depot.
 
Nope.  Tried that.  Home Depot outsources their installations to AJ Perri.  AJ Perri only installs equipment that they furnish, even if they source it through Home Depot.  I had conversations with both Home Depot and AJ Perri, and they both declined to help.


 Home Depot outsourced a shed that I bought and the job was totally botched. I had to hire someone else to redo and finish the job. 


Jasmo said:
 Home Depot outsourced a shed that I bought and the job was totally botched. I had to hire someone else to redo and finish the job. 

Home Depot is not the place to go for these things.  You never know who they use.


truth said:
Safetyfirst: Let us know who you used and your rating of their work. Thanks!

 Unfortunately I won’t be doing this anytime soon $$$$$


safetyfirst said:
thanks for all the Information. May I ask how much it cost to install?  Thanks!

 My neighbor’s home is 1,800 sq feet.  They were looking at a system with four units and were quoted $13,000.  We’re not in Essex county, but we are in NJ so pricing shouldn’t be that different than out by you


I've priced buying just the system and it looks like the $13k represents about a $9-10k markup. It's quite a lot.


mrincredible said:
I've priced buying just the system and it looks like the $13k represents about a $9-10k markup. It's quite a lot.

 This quote was for installed, and I think also included some electrical work needed to support the system.  Also, they have a brick house, so that adds a layer of difficulty.  


My mom wanted a simple exhaust vent added in her bathroom and she also has a brick house.   They said that cutting through brick is doable, but nowhere near as easy as a wood house


spontaneous said:
 This quote was for installed, and I think also included some electrical work needed to support the system.  Also, they have a brick house, so that adds a layer of difficulty.  


My mom wanted a simple exhaust vent added in her bathroom and she also has a brick house.   They said that cutting through brick is doable, but nowhere near as easy as a wood house

Yeah I should have acknowledged that.

You need to run electric to wherever you have an internal unit. Plus a 230V line to the compressor itself. Finally you need coolant supply and return lines to each internal unit from the compressor. This can involve a lot of drilling and patching!

The biggest issue though is you need someone to fill the coolant lines with refrigerant and purge all the air. It takes a trained HVAC specialist to do that. That's one thing an otherwise undaunted DIYer like me can't handle, but finding someone to do just that part of the job is nigh impossible. A large A.C. installation is a lucrative job for an HVAC company so they're not going to do just the one part.


In my neighbor’s case they decided that maybe window units weren’t so bad after all, at least for the time being 


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