Mr. Cool Mini Split DIY

UncleJoe

Joe
Senior User
I just put in a Mr. Cool Mini Split DIY 18,000 btu so I thought I would pass on an installation review. I just installed it so a long term performance review will have to wait.
If you have a shop in Eastern NC, like I do, you are always battling heat and humidity. I bought this house in January and it came with an RV garage that is 14x35 with 14 ft ceilings. Not as big as I would like but I decided to make this work and I have a nice basement where I will have my hand tool workshop for dovetails and such as well as my 3D printer and CNC.

So I am finishing up the conversion of the RV garage to a shop. I insulated the walls, ceiling and door and decided I need to add a mini split. After a few quotes and some research and watching a lot of YouTube I came to the conclusion to do it myself with a Mr. Cool. For those that do not know the Mr. Cool comes with the Freon or what ever chemical they are using for cooling, pre installed. No need to vacuum the lines or have the HVAC guy come out and charge the lines with Freon.

Mr. Cool has a 9,000 and 12,0000 BTU model that run on 110 and a 18,000 and up that run on 220. I chose the 18,000 which may be a bit oversized but with my 14 ft ceilings I think it will work out.

Installation for me consisted of running a 220 line out to a disconnect box that is next to the mini split condensing unit, installing the indoor part and installing the condenser. I think I have less than half a day of actual work involved in the whole thing. They have really thought this out. I can tell you this was an easy install. It can be a one man job but two just makes it easier.

You get a template to place on the wall that marks all your holes. The inside unit may take 15 minutes after you get it out of the box. We did have to drill a 4 inch hole through the 2x 6 wall with Brick on the outside. I was dreading that but the guys helping me fix up the shop suggesting renting a drill. We rented an enormous drill for $80 and drilled that hole in just a few minutes. Mr. Cool provides a 3.5 inch sleeve for the hole but it is designed for 2x6 or 2x4 with siding and was to short for 2x6 plus brick. We used 4 inch PVC with no issues. You have to be careful bending the lines to avoid kinks but the connections are easy for anyone who knows which end of a crescent wrench to hold. The manual is clear and has color photos of items like connecting the wires so it is pretty hard to screw up. Red on number 1, white on number 2, and black on number 3. How hard is that?

It took about 5 minutes to get it connected to my cell phone and now I can monitor and control the unit from anywhere. On a nippy morning I can use my phone to crank up the heat before I head out to the shop while I have my morning coffee. That is just nice.

In all the unit will provide some dehumidifying, cooling and heat. What more can you ask?

If your on the fence I hope this helps. Feel free to ask any questions. For what its worth I paid for the unit and received no compensation except it looks like when I registered the unit I get a free ball cap, ;-)

P.S. I forgot to mention how quiet the unit is both inside and outside. It is very quiet.
 

Chris C

Chris
Senior User
Thanks for the review.... I'm headed down that route soon and had seen prior discussions about that particular unit. Nice to see a hands-on review.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Nice, great narrative ! You did not mention but if the ceiling and wall are not insulated, they need to be. Also, the ceiling should be R30 Min. this will lower the elec cost by 1/2 or more. Finally if you are in to tricky you could insulate the roof with R19 then suspend a ceiling down 18"-2 ft insulate that with R19 and then add 2 fans one on each end in the void on exhaust and one to pull air in. This will make a bigger difference by alot. I did this in Georgia to my garage workshop, just depends if you have shade on the property or not, I did not.
 

Skymaster

New User
Jack
Food for thought, good choice min split. Since you have 14 ft ceilings, you can build STORAGE LOFT from 8ft up, then put a door on it. that takes a whole bunch of load off the mini and will help it work easier and lower electric bill :D :D :):):)
 

pcooper

Phillip Cooper
Corporate Member
I just installed a similar unit and am equally impressed with the performance and being quiet. I've also monitored humidity levels and they are much more controllable with this unit than my previous efforts. If you're on the fence on this, go ahead and pull the trigger, you won't be disappointed.
 

TracerRound

Larry
Corporate Member
I see a couple of different versions on the Mr. Cool website. Would this be the "DIY 3RD GEN E STAR" version that you installed?
 

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