Air Conditioning

I plan to write a description of how I assembled this dual zone mini split unit from Pioneer. It has a lot of basic steps that all have to come together...I compared it to reentering the atmosphere, or hitting 88 MPH the instant the lightning hits the clock tower.

I studied my options and in the end decided I should learn the hard way, pay for my own education in HVAC, rather than pay for someone to learn to do their job. I knew I would install all the units in their final resting spot but I thought I might hire an HVAC tech to pressure test the line with nitrogen, vacuum the line and then release the refrigerant. But I decided the cost of paying someone to do that would be the same as the cost to buy the tools and do it myself. The minimum tools required, if you are curious, are as follows:

Adjustable Torque Wrench: $150

2 or 3 stage vacuum pump $300

Manifold Gauge and vacuum hose $100

Schrader valve core remover tool $60

Micron Gauge $150

So, about $800 worth of tools plus hours of experimenting in your garage to learn how to do it all. I guess, I wanted to learn and I have more time than money, but I don't want to get into the HVAC business because it's basically going to a hoarder's house and moving boxes of old Life magazines out of the way so you can reach an air conditioner that has rat shit on it and then be offered iced tea with cockroaches floating in it. All so you can braze some copper lines together that were dented when a pile of dusty mannequins fell against it. I did house calls as a furniture assembly man in Los Angeles and the stories I could tell would fill a volume...gun shots, destitution, slavery, slums, broken furniture, broken bicycles. I want to be the HVAC technician of a single unit and that is possible. 

12K BTU outdoor condenser unit. Cooling and heat pump.

12k BTU indoor floor unit

12k BTU ceiling cassette unit. Yes, the in the rafters insulation is held up by perforated radiant barrier sheets.

I'm not ready to really dive into the essay but I just wanted to keep my loyal readers informed that this pandemic has not found me totally bed ridden. I think I've avoided the plague so far and found time to build an outdoor shower area and lay some patio pavers...and replace the siding along with adding insulation to three of the 4 walls of the living room. And this project with the air conditioner was not something I planned on doing because I didn't expect to be here this summer. But when the pandemic shut the national parks down my job at Yosemite was taken away. I had offers in Utah and Nevada too but they all vanished so I stayed on the dole. Then I had a 99 degree day that was hard to tolerate so I researched the shit out of mini-split units and determined I needed a ceiling unit for the living room and a wall unit for the bedroom since there are several doors between the two locations and I couldn't expect the cold air to migrate magically from one room to the other and the extra expense for a 2 zone unit that also heated was justifiable. But the combination of a 2 zone unit plus a ceiling cassette and a floor unit is not a combination that is easily purchased. I looked at many different brands such as Blueridge and Mr. Cool and Ecomfort and Pioneer and Trane and I lost count of the combinations that I had studied. Finally Pioneer had the combination at the price I could live with. I knew there would be some issues that I caused and I suspected there would be some issues the product caused. And there were some issues caused by a combination of myself and the product.

Tomorrow is independence day and I will be declaring independence from the insane desert heat when I start it all up. I had the 240V line from a 20A breaker to a pull-out non-fused disconnect...which provides power to the outdoor unit. From there, the two indoor units are controlled by low voltage control wires...RED, Black, White. 1,2,3 respectively....and correspond to their terminals is the indoor unit control panel that looks like the space shuttle.
The ceiling cassette has a mini condensate pump that requires plumbing to drain it outside on my tiki inspired window awning. The floor unit simply drains via gravity through my 14 inch adobe wall.

I had double and triple checked my lines to the point that I have taken photos of the marks that I made to show I have opened both sets of hoses, released the refrigerant through the service port and opened all of the valves. Pressure tested to 240PSI the 25 ft line and off the chart for the 16 foot line.

I think I have all the details checked and will be powering the unit on soon, testing it for cooling and heating, prior to giving a review.

I would recommend this install for someone curious about the process. I definitely recommend a homeowner installing the indoor units and the outdoor units themselves because of the time and the destruction one will probably cause. A single 240V breaker is within the abilities of a homeowner and an A/C Spa disconnect is pretty basic too. It's just a matter of getting the right size conduit and wire. I used some spare #6AWG through 3/4'' conduit because it only involves 2 wires and the smaller ground. I wish I could justify owning a conduit bender but I had to get creative with a telephone pole. Otherwise you will probably have a gap between the conduit and the wall because of where the knock out is on the circuit panel.

The tools are harder to justify to buy, You could very well get a quote of $500 to commission your unit of a two zone. Being the summer and only one HVAC company in town that I wasn't very impressed with, I didn't even bother asking what it would cost to commission these units. I knew I would buy the tools myself. The trouble with buying the tools is how cheaply made the cheap tools are and how expensive the expensive tools are. I'm not sure the expensive tools are better made since the reviews are often as bad as with the cheap tools. You buy a $100 vacuum pump that works fine, and a $300 pump that dies the first day. Or your $100 pump never pulls a good vacuum and the $300 pump gets lost in the mail. When you live in the remote edge of the world you end up buying things without ever seeing it or talking to a sales rep. The days of salesmanship are so far gone that even stores don't need to exist. They simply tell you what you need to know about a product and let you make the decision. There is no "sales".. .only shipping.

For that reason, the tool debate is extremely time consuming. But during a pandemic I have way more time than money so I dove into the debate and came out deciding to buy cheap and learn how adequate it is. If it fails then I will increase my spending budget on the theory that more expensive is more effective.

The vacuum pump is probably the most specialized of all the tools I bought. Its use is limited outside the HVAC and auto AC realm. Spending $500 on a good vacuum pump is actually getting to the point of owning the best vacuum pump in town. I could rent it out. This is the danger of moving to a worn out ghost town but wanting modern air conditioning. No one can service them so I have to learn how to do it.

I'll follow this up in a few days when I have more info on the operation of the units.

P.S. Swamp coolers are a useful device in the desert and I built one from the components and a box fan. Allegedly they only work in dry hot temps, and we had 99 degrees with 9 % humidity the other day which is actually optimal for a swamp cooler. But it still works in 40 or 50% humidity and 85. Just not optimally. It will add humidity regardless but the air flow isn't as cold.

A fountain pump in a  plastic planter box using a float valve and poly line from a nearby faucet to saturate the blue swamp cooler filter fastened to the security bars with zip ties in such a way that it blocks all air flow being sucked by the box fan  except through the saturated filter. I'm sure it could be improved on by building a better air sealant inside and out, but the basic design works to reduce the temp inside and also added humidity to stop my tongue from drying out during the night. That's a bonus.