We recently installed a Pioneer 12k 110 volt mini split in our Teton. If any one else does this please do yourself a favor and use flexible tubing and not copper. We used copper and it was very difficult. I mounted the compressor unit on the rear of our Teton. Built a frame for it off of chassis. Mounted the interior unit in the center of Teton blowing air toward the rear. If you have room it would be better at the rear blowing straight up unit. This 1 unit cools better than both Dometics did. We can turn it into an ice box in here. It is on a single 15 amp breaker. According to the power draw one could run two on a single 15 amp breaker. DW and I did the install and their is no labor cost involved in this. We have less than $1200 dollars in this. That is steel for rear unit, cost of unit. We will need additional freon since we used 43' of line. Unit was precharged for 20' of line. http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/glenn_west1/library/ here are some pictures of the install
Sushidog said
06:47 PM Apr 16, 2017
Thanks, Glen. That's a sweet install. I plan on mounting one to the back of a Class A (gasser) similar to what you have done.
How much clearance did you leave between the RV and the outside unit?
The installation manual stated 12" clearance from wall. I really believe one could get away with 7-8". It pulls air from 1 side and back. I'm considering trying it. If pressure rises it is too restricted. No change in pressure good to go.
Glenn West said
01:46 PM Apr 18, 2017
And yes that is the one. They have great tech support also
Howard said
02:13 PM Apr 18, 2017
Glenn,
For those that don't know what a Mini Split is, can you give a brief overview and why you decided to install one?
Sushidog said
03:08 PM Apr 18, 2017
Thanks, Glenn!
Please keep us updated on how it is working out for you after you've had it a little while. I'm sure you'll love it, for the quiet factor alone, not to mention all the electricity you will save.
Chip
Glenn West said
06:57 PM Apr 18, 2017
Howard wrote:
Glenn,
For those that don't know what a Mini Split is, can you give a brief overview and why you decided to install one?
Mini Splits and very popular in Europe and gaining here. They use no ducts. Ducts loose heat or cool. There is and outside/compressor unit and an interior/evaporator unit. Lines connect the two. One of our Dometics needed replacing and cost was comparable. Mini splits are very quiet. We had our TV turn up the 70ish volume with both units running. With the mini split we are at 20ish volume. A plus also thermostat is controlled with a remote. My Dometic is a 15k and mini 12k and it cools better. One can run 2 of these units on a single 15 amp 110v breaker. Where a typical ac/hp ether runs at 100% output or none a mini split runs as low a 20% up to 100% depending on need. I can see these running on a robust solar system. Which will be a future project. Working full time now I am forced to stay in hot humid climates since this is where the most money is for welders. Solar later when I retire.
RonC said
07:37 PM Apr 18, 2017
Just to add a bit to Glenn's post, this style of air conditioners are generically referred to as "inverter drives" ... the A.C. is inverted (yep, just like your RV inverter) and the compressor motor is driven by D.C. This makes them variable speed and a very soft start because it is a D.C. motor driving the compressor. I had two of these in our S&B before we went full time. As Glenn pointed out, they are whisper quiet ... both the inside and outside units are very quiet.
Sushidog said
08:50 AM Apr 19, 2017
As a side benefit they also provide very efficient heat too, in milder weather, sparing your propane use.
The excellent, high-efficient model Glenn chose has an SEER of 21.5 (EER of 12.5) meaning it only consumes about half as much electricity for the same amount of cooling power as a conventional roof mounted AC (960 watts for cooling and 1120 for heat).
The model I'm looking at is even more efficient, being a native 48v DC appliance. It runs directly off a 48v DC battery source, as I'm planning (8 GC-2 batteries in series) coupled with inexpensive high voltage, high wattage home style solar panels. I'm planning on between 1,700-2,000 watts as the price on these panels has dropped to less than 50 cents a watt from Sun Electronics. This unit has an incredible 21.43 EER giving a SEER of around 30! This means it only uses 560 watts (11.5 amps at 48v DC) to provide 12,000 BTUs of cooling and 600 watts (12.1 amps at 48v) to produce 12,500 BTUs of heat (provided the temperature doesn't dip below 40-45 degrees as this unit is optimized for cooling, not heating as some heat pumps are). It will work down to below freezing but the efficiency is greatly reduced when it gets that cold (going into frost prevention mode) making it for supplemental heat only. It will not replace your furnace, only reduce its use in milder weather, saving propane costs (and trips to replace it). On the down side, this super-efficient heat pump costs about twice what Glenn invested in his, so you could get two of his mini-splits for just one of these. But for off grid AC, saving not only on electricity but campground fees, generator usage, fuel and propane costs, it may be worth it to you, depending on how much you like to boondock.
Chip
AlwaysOnTheRoad said
05:01 PM Sep 2, 2018
What made the copper line set a challenge to work with ? I haven't seen a flexible line set yet. For my install I should be able to run the lines under the trailer. Then come up through the floor to the indoor unit. One year update ? Thanks Glenn !
-- Edited by AlwaysOnTheRoad on Sunday 2nd of September 2018 05:02:28 PM
Glenn West said
08:49 AM Sep 3, 2018
What made it so bad was where I ran the lines. Anyway, we love this unit. We have decided to purchase a 30k mini split 3 head unit. Will use ceiling cassettes units. Mount 2 where rooftop units were. Enlarge opening. Keep current kitchen unit.likely do this this fall.
AlwaysOnTheRoad said
08:52 AM Sep 3, 2018
Wow very cool. That is a large system for a rv. Total btu ?
Looking to do a 9000 btu to run off solar and batteries. Small trailer 18x7 21 foot overall.
Glenn West said
09:16 AM Sep 3, 2018
Will be capable of 36k. Current unit is 12k and the two cassettes will be 12k each. We can run each separately. We are 40' long. Each head has its own remote. I feel the 2 cassettes will be enough but already have the wall unit so keeping it. If DW does any heavy cooking it will put cooling directly into kitchen.
Or for roughly the same power consumption (560w) you could get this native 48V unit which produces 12,000 btus and avoid the inversion loss of inefficiently converting to 220AC and back to 48v DC again to power the compressor. www.geinnovations.net/HSAC_Productline.html Of course this unit is not cheap either, (more even than the Fujitsu linked earlier) but neither is a giant solar and battery bank. You would save expense and possibly more important, weight by going with a smaller 48v battery bank, less high voltage solar panels, and smaller wiring. A single 45 amp MPPT solar charger should be sufficient for up to 2,400 watts of solar, if you build a 48v system for your AC and other 120v needs (with an appropriately sized 48v inverter charger of course).
Food for thought.
Chip
Bellio said
02:39 PM Sep 11, 2018
just take a hammer and notch the ground so the legs of ladder are even, run an extension ladder up. if you look closely at the ground in front of condesner you can see where they notched the ground.
These ones are easy. when you got a home built on mountain side and theres like 15-20' of crawl space and you got to hang ducts. lol...notch ground then set your extention ladder against the floor joists, theres like a 1" lip that your ladder rests on but the further you go up the more that thing flexes and the closer you are to dropping off the lip and falling down. Ah that sh*t sucked, strapping like that every 3'. I dont miss that kind of work.
Glenn West said
03:14 PM Sep 11, 2018
Sure you posted in right place?
alflorida said
07:13 AM Sep 14, 2018
What do you cover the unit with when you travel. I can see lots of road grime getting into the unit when you travel, especially on wet roads.
dovenson said
12:58 AM Oct 4, 2018
Nice upgrade. Mini splits can be economical to install.
Glenn West said
10:32 AM Oct 7, 2018
Sorry for late commenting. Had no issues with road grime. Washing units out is required maintenance. I am planning a complete mini split system this fall. Completely remove all standard ac and all mini split. Use cassettes in roof. Same location of roof as factory acs. Will protrude 4" above roof. This will allow solar to go flush with them so no shading problems.
We recently installed a Pioneer 12k 110 volt mini split in our Teton. If any one else does this please do yourself a favor and use flexible tubing and not copper. We used copper and it was very difficult. I mounted the compressor unit on the rear of our Teton. Built a frame for it off of chassis. Mounted the interior unit in the center of Teton blowing air toward the rear. If you have room it would be better at the rear blowing straight up unit. This 1 unit cools better than both Dometics did. We can turn it into an ice box in here. It is on a single 15 amp breaker. According to the power draw one could run two on a single 15 amp breaker. DW and I did the install and their is no labor cost involved in this. We have less than $1200 dollars in this. That is steel for rear unit, cost of unit. We will need additional freon since we used 43' of line. Unit was precharged for 20' of line. http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/glenn_west1/library/ here are some pictures of the install
How much clearance did you leave between the RV and the outside unit?
Is this the model you have? www.highseer.com/ultra-high-seer-inverter-mini-split-ductless/ductless-mini-split-heat-pump-wys012am22.html
I'm thinking about installing this 48v DC heat pump that I can run off batteries/solar: www.geinnovations.net/HSAC_Productline.html
Chip
The installation manual stated 12" clearance from wall. I really believe one could get away with 7-8". It pulls air from 1 side and back. I'm considering trying it. If pressure rises it is too restricted. No change in pressure good to go.
Glenn,
For those that don't know what a Mini Split is, can you give a brief overview and why you decided to install one?
Please keep us updated on how it is working out for you after you've had it a little while. I'm sure you'll love it, for the quiet factor alone, not to mention all the electricity you will save.
Chip
Mini Splits and very popular in Europe and gaining here. They use no ducts. Ducts loose heat or cool. There is and outside/compressor unit and an interior/evaporator unit. Lines connect the two. One of our Dometics needed replacing and cost was comparable. Mini splits are very quiet. We had our TV turn up the 70ish volume with both units running. With the mini split we are at 20ish volume. A plus also thermostat is controlled with a remote. My Dometic is a 15k and mini 12k and it cools better. One can run 2 of these units on a single 15 amp 110v breaker. Where a typical ac/hp ether runs at 100% output or none a mini split runs as low a 20% up to 100% depending on need. I can see these running on a robust solar system. Which will be a future project. Working full time now I am forced to stay in hot humid climates since this is where the most money is for welders. Solar later when I retire.
The excellent, high-efficient model Glenn chose has an SEER of 21.5 (EER of 12.5) meaning it only consumes about half as much electricity for the same amount of cooling power as a conventional roof mounted AC (960 watts for cooling and 1120 for heat).
The model I'm looking at is even more efficient, being a native 48v DC appliance. It runs directly off a 48v DC battery source, as I'm planning (8 GC-2 batteries in series) coupled with inexpensive high voltage, high wattage home style solar panels. I'm planning on between 1,700-2,000 watts as the price on these panels has dropped to less than 50 cents a watt from Sun Electronics. This unit has an incredible 21.43 EER giving a SEER of around 30! This means it only uses 560 watts (11.5 amps at 48v DC) to provide 12,000 BTUs of cooling and 600 watts (12.1 amps at 48v) to produce 12,500 BTUs of heat (provided the temperature doesn't dip below 40-45 degrees as this unit is optimized for cooling, not heating as some heat pumps are). It will work down to below freezing but the efficiency is greatly reduced when it gets that cold (going into frost prevention mode) making it for supplemental heat only. It will not replace your furnace, only reduce its use in milder weather, saving propane costs (and trips to replace it). On the down side, this super-efficient heat pump costs about twice what Glenn invested in his, so you could get two of his mini-splits for just one of these. But for off grid AC, saving not only on electricity but campground fees, generator usage, fuel and propane costs, it may be worth it to you, depending on how much you like to boondock.
Chip
What made the copper line set a challenge to work with ? I haven't seen a flexible line set yet. For my install I should be able to run the lines under the trailer. Then come up through the floor to the indoor unit. One year update ? Thanks Glenn !
-- Edited by AlwaysOnTheRoad on Sunday 2nd of September 2018 05:02:28 PM
Looking to do a 9000 btu to run off solar and batteries. Small trailer 18x7 21 foot overall.
It only draws 550 watts of power to produce 9,000 btus of cooling. The down side (other than the high price) is that you will need a 220v inverter to power it, losing some efficiency in the conversion process. Here's the spec sheet on this model: www.fujitsugeneral.com/us/resources/pdf/support/downloads/submittal-sheets/9RLS3.pdf
Or for roughly the same power consumption (560w) you could get this native 48V unit which produces 12,000 btus and avoid the inversion loss of inefficiently converting to 220AC and back to 48v DC again to power the compressor. www.geinnovations.net/HSAC_Productline.html Of course this unit is not cheap either, (more even than the Fujitsu linked earlier) but neither is a giant solar and battery bank. You would save expense and possibly more important, weight by going with a smaller 48v battery bank, less high voltage solar panels, and smaller wiring. A single 45 amp MPPT solar charger should be sufficient for up to 2,400 watts of solar, if you build a 48v system for your AC and other 120v needs (with an appropriately sized 48v inverter charger of course).
Food for thought.
Chip
These ones are easy. when you got a home built on mountain side and theres like 15-20' of crawl space and you got to hang ducts. lol...notch ground then set your extention ladder against the floor joists, theres like a 1" lip that your ladder rests on but the further you go up the more that thing flexes and the closer you are to dropping off the lip and falling down. Ah that sh*t sucked, strapping like that every 3'. I dont miss that kind of work.
What do you cover the unit with when you travel. I can see lots of road grime getting into the unit when you travel, especially on wet roads.