DuctlessAire Energy Star Ductless Mini Split Air Conditioner and Heat Pump Variable Speed Inverter 220V, 25ft Installation Kit (18000 Btu 21 SEER)

I really didn't know what to expect when I prepared to install this 18,000 BTU unit, but once I got into it I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. I prepped the unit by connecting the control cable, marked and predrilled the mounting bracket holes. Once the bracket was mounted I measured for the pass thru hole and carefully drilled it with a 3" hole saw. The house is sided so it was an easy task.With my wife's help, we lifted the inside unit and passed the cable, refrigerant lines and drain tube thru the 3" hole. Hanging the indoor unit was simple and it locked in place well. Now it was on to the electrics.I was lucky. I had installed a second breaker box to run my shop and using an available 3/4" knock out, I drilled straight thru the wall and siding. I glued on a 3/4" male fitting to a short piece of grey PVC electrical pipe, fitting it thru the drilled hole and into the box. You can see from the picture how I ran the rest of the electrics on the outside. I installed a Square-D non fused 60 amp disconnect box that I bought from Amazon. I added a 3' whip I made up from left over parts from a previous job. All electrical connections were made, both at the outdoor unit and the indoor unit. CAUTION: The cable supplied with the unit had a Black, Red, White and Green set of wires. As long as you hook up the same colors to locations 1 , 2 , and 3 on the indoor and outdoor units everything will work great. I used Black on 1, Red on 2 and White on 3. The Green always goes to ground.Connecting the refrigerant lines went very well. Just be sure to have the lines meet the fittings straight on. Then hand thread the fittings down on the attachment points an tighten with 2 adjustable wrenches. Before opening the refrigerant valves, I used a vacuum pump to evacuate the lines going to the indoor unit. You will need an adapter to connect your gauges/vacuum pump to the service port on the outside unit. I also bought that from Amazon. Vacuumed the lines down to -30 for 20 minutes then shut all valves on the gauges. Left it alone for 30 minutes and there was no change in the vacuum level so no leaks. Slowly opened the refrigerant valves until i didn't hear any gas flowing through the system an then opened both valves all the way.Time for the big test! I flipped the double 20 amp breaker then went back outside and flipped the disconnect switch to on. Inside I used the supplied remote to turn the system on. To my absolute amazement, the fan started and cold (COLD) air came flowing out of the indoor unit. VERY QUIET. UNBELIEVABLE QUIET. Went back outside ad was completely amazed by the lack of noise. This thing is quiet!I'm waiting on the arrival of more of the decorative covering to complete the project. VERY happy with this unit and its performance. It's installed in a 22 x 20 uni insulated garage with a 17 x 8 insulated door. With outside temperatures in the mid 90's, it cooled it down to 70 degrees. Won't keep it that cold but it certainly did the job.You will need: mini split adapter ($12), service disconnect box ($19), vaccuum pump ($50-$75), a set of inexpensive manifold gauges ($25-50) and misc hand tools. The manifold gauges are only used to read vaccuum, so unless you're going to be doing other ac work, you don't need to get expensive ones.

Update..I've had this unit for 2 1/2 years now and it works great, zero problems, best purchase I've ever made and I wish I had done it sooner. I damaged my remote, my fault, and I messaged asking where I could purchase a replacement but they offered to send me another one for free.Update... It's been ten days now and i feel the need to rave about how great i think this unit is. If anyone is hesitating don't, you won't be sorry. I'm very cold natured and I'm always always cold, i had resigned myself to suffering in the winter but not anymore. I've had this thing cranked to 74 and the room it's in is super toasty, the rooms furthest away are warm and I'm not using fans anywhere to move the air. I've read a lot about heat pumps and when it's cold they will basically run constantly and that's ok. Everything I've read has said not to take it easy on them, set them at the temp you want, set the fan on high and leave them alone to do their thing. My electric company recently changed my meter over to a smart meter so i can see hourly and daily electric consumption. I cranked this thing to 72, let it run for a day and looked at my usage, it dropped from 37.7 kwh per day (using space heaters in just 2 rooms and the rest of the house left cold), down to 27.1 kwh a day with the whole house warm. So i turned it up to 74 let that run a day then checked it again, still 27.1. Amazing. I don't even notice when it goes into defrost mode anymore because the room is so warm. Again, hoping for the best on longevity.Original review:I've had this 18,000 unit installed for 48 hours now and I'm very pleased with it. I have a very old drafty house with poor insulation, exterior walls are brick, no insulation, floors are hardwood, no insulation. My old ducts were shot and it was going to cost a fortune to replace them so I wanted to try this instead, I like the idea of no ducts much better. This unit is meant for a 750 square ft space, oversized but necessary due to the nature of my old house, it's actually heating my entire 1300 sq ft house. Granted it's not blazing warm everywhere, I keep it low anyway, but it's doing more than I expected it to do. I would say it's very similar to my old traditional one in most ways, with the same quirks like the defrost cycle blowing cooler air, but the biggest advantage I see at the moment is the lack of a constant cold draft blowing through the house that I had with the old system. I guess with the old one, the return air was pulling air so strongly that there was always a cold breeze blowing in the winter, this one doesn't do that. Air coming out is nice and warm and the rooms feel comfortable with no cold breeze blowing, that alone makes it definitely worth it to me. Obviously it's winter so I can't speak about the AC yet but my house is much harder to warm than it is to cool so i believe it will do even better in the summer.The unit is extremely quiet, inside and out. I will definitely be adding another one.

Shipper called to set agreed upon time and unit arrived as agreed and very well packaged.The instruction book was sparse but complete and the mounting templates were perfect. It was easy to mount and install both inside and outside units.I hired a licensed A/C professional to properly connect all lines, copper and electrical. He commented on how efficient and quiet this unit is.This cools and heats better than expected. The remote is awesome since it allows us to control the temp where we are working.We like the DuctlessAire so much we will buy another, smaller unit, to cool a very warm upstairs bedroom.I had a question about the electrical wiring which was immediately answered to my satisfaction in one call.Unit is well built and I expect it will last a long time.

Ductless Aire is a nice looking unit inside and out, it does a great job of cooling and reducing relative humidity. I hired a professional company to install it, they did not have any complaints, and it was a smooth procedure. The reason I bought this 18,000 Btu rather than a 12,000 Btu unit for aproximately 500 square feet area, was because of the 18 foot high point of the ceiling, 10 Windows, and the Florida heat. The price made it easy to upgrade from the 12,000 Btu to the 18,000 Btu. We are very satisfied with this purchase. The remote has a lot of features for the users.

Finished the installation about a month ago. Installation was as expected and straightforward. So far it is very quiet and working great. I will have to see if the electrical savings pan out.I watched a couple of youtube videos on purging the system with nitrogen and vacuuming the lines. I think this is a critical step.