Choosing the Right AC Unit: Excel Air Vs. Ideal-Air

[Bad Habits]

Looking for the right AC unit for my 10x13x8 flower room I'm building. Room will run 5400 watts (9 600's), completely sealed.

Using the worksheet on this page, I determined that my BTU needs for the room would be at about 39000.

http://hydroinnovations.com/pdf/12082011-CoolingSystemChart.REV.1.1.pdf

Using the very liberal formula of 6000BTUs per 1000w of light, I come up with 32,400.

Meeting somewhere in the middle of these 2, I figure a 3 ton unit should be sufficient (36k btu).

So, now I'm narrowing down my choices between what I can get at 2 of the hydro stores here in town.

Ideally, I would like the unit to also have a heat pump to heat the room at night, as it can get a bit cold (about 40f at night in winter now).

I would also like to have it be a model that requires no technician to install it ("plug and play" type).

I think I have 2 main candidates, and some others I am taking into consideration.

1) Ideal-Air Mini-Split - 15 SEER Heat Pumps - $3335.95

https://sunlightsupply.com/p-14464-ideal-air-mini-split-15-seer-heat-pumps.aspx

2) Excel Air systems XL Series 3 ton - $4350

http://www.ehydroponics.com/excel-air-systems-xl-series-air-conditioner-30-ton-.html?&cid=128

I think I can get the 1st one for about $2670 with discount, and the 2nd one for about $3850 with discount.

My friend at the hydro store said that the Excel is a much more reliable brand and that its reliability is well worth the higher price tag.

Other options for 3 ton units:

3) IDEAL AIR COMMERCIAL PORTABLE AIR CONDITIONER 37,000 BTU -$3350 (could probably get it for $2670)

http://www.ehydroponics.com/ideal-air-commercial-portable-air-conditioner-37000-btu.html?&cid=128

although I've heard the portable units aren't nearly as good overall

4) FUJITSU AIR CONDITIONER 36000 BTU MINI DUCTLESS - $3595 and needs a $400 line set as well. Could probably get both for $3195

http://www.ehydroponics.com/fujitsu...uctless-doesnt-include-line-set.html?&cid=128

I've heard the Fujitsus are reliable, however that model doesn't appear to be a "plug and play" model and I assume it has to be installed by a HVAC technician, which is something I want to avoid.

All these are models I can get here in town, which is preferable. However, I'm also open to the idea of ordering a unit online.

Any input or suggestions for my criteria???

Thanks everybody

 

[Bad Habits]

oh yeah, and I forgot to mention I will be running the lights open with reflectors (not air cooled).

 

[the gnome]

i wouldn't buy a mini split form the groshop sites
check out go ductless, personally I would get a mitsu

5000btu per 1000w does fine for un-cooled bulbs
I run 6000w and have a 32,500btu/15seer mitsu,
it does the job very well thisalso cools ballasts(mags) in the room and accessories like dehuies etc etc
i took the temp of the mag ballasts and they were 145-1602F
a 39,000btu is to way big for a 5400w gro and can cause you probs
unless you plan on adding more bulbs stick with the ac sized for what you plan on running

the mitsu itself running 5000w for last month and adding another 1000w bulb for the last 2 wks of the month came to an amazing
less than $90.
i have extremely good insulation, around R-40 walls-n-ceiling that helps to get those low bills

 

[Mister_D]

How well insulated is your grow? What are the hottest outside temps you are likely to experience? Depending on your answers to these questions you may want something slightly larger than 36K. Also I'd strongly recommend you get two smaller a/c's (say 18-24k btu each) over one large unit. That way if one unit should fail your room won't cook, or have to be completely shut down while you wait on a replacement.

I second getting a mini also. Mitsu, friedrich, and LG are the brands I'd be looking at.

 

[the gnome]

Also I'd strongly recommend you get two smaller a/c's (say 18-24k btu each) over one large unit. That way if one unit should fail your room won't cook, or have to be completely shut down while you wait on a replacement.

a back up unit its great insurance as said above
getting a quality unit is also good insurance.
and if you have a long more narrow room 2 units helps kill any hots spots

 

[username474]

grow light express has 3ton ideal air for 2600$ I use the same
one for 10k non aircooled. I will need another 1 ton for summer.
They last for a few years from my understanding. Very easy to
install by yourself.

 

[Treetroit City]

I'll add that in a well insulated and sealed room, you will be needing a dehumidifier. In my situation the dehuey provides all the heat I need at lights off.

It's currently sub zero temps where I'm at and the lowest my room drops is 70 degrees during lights out.

Btw, I'm cooling 5000 watts plus a Santa fe with a 24000 btu Freidrich breeze which is a plug n play. This is in a 12x13 sealed, open hood room in a pole barn with no heat other than the lights and the ac compressor which is mounted in the barn.

 

[HUGE]

I can speak on the fujitsu 36clx1. It is super sweet. Plenty of power to cool 6k. Operats very quietly. Almost silent during the winter. Has a low ambient design so it won't freez up if it gets cold outside like most other units. Does need custom line set and they must pe vacuum ed for install.

 

[Bad Habits]

First off, I had a couple of questions related to the mini splits.

1) I'm assuming the part of the unit that is outside of the house has to have an external socket to plug into? My house currently doesn't have any, and I'm just trying to do some planning for when my electrician comes next week.

2) Does the outside portion of the unit have to line up with where the inside portion of the unit is on the wall? Outside of the room I'm growing in, there is an outbuilding that is the same length of the room with about 1 foot between the outside wall of the house and the wall of the outbuilding. Obviously the condenser wouldn't be able to fit in the that space, but can I put it next to the outbuilding, and run tubing from the condenser to the inside unit? So basically the tubing would go to the right of the condenser along the house wall, and then up to where in the inside unit is. Sorry if this is confusing.

3) I assume I need a concrete slab to put the condenser on? Currently there is only grass/soil on the exterior of the house.

4) Does the condenser need to be covered from above to protect it from rain/snow/etc? My roof only extends about 6 inches out from the wall at the edge, so that obviously wouldn't cover the condenser.

Now that I have that out of the way, let me explain how I came up with the my BTU needs from this worksheet http://hydroinnovations.com/pdf/12082011-CoolingSystemChart.REV.1.1.pdf

9 600w lights x 2400BTU = 21,600
9 electronic ballasts x 1500BTU = 13,500
1040 cubic feet room x 2.4BTU = 2496
60 pint dehuey x 30BTU = 1800
which comes to 39396 BTUs. They also have you calculate the BTUs required for the room with no equipment running, which is an additional 4750 BTUs, for a total 43,245BTUS. Does this seem a bit exaggerated for 9 600 lights in a sealed 10x13 room????

Using the the liberal heuristic of 4000BTU per 1000ws of light I would get 21,600BTUs...

Being more conservative and using 6000BTUs per 1000ws of light I would get 32,400BTUs...

This is why I thought I would meet somewhere in the middle and a 3 ton (36kBTU) unit should be sufficient?

I live in an enviornment that averages about 80-90f in the summers, and 30-50f in the winters. It is also a very rainy climate.

Definitely interested in some input on this!

i wouldn't buy a mini split form the groshop sites
check out go ductless, personally I would get a mitsu

5000btu per 1000w does fine for un-cooled bulbs
I run 6000w and have a 32,500btu mitsu,
it does the job and my bill for a month for it is between $80-$90
this will account for ballasts in the room and accessories like dehuies etc etc
a 39,000btu is to way big for a 5400w gro and will cause you probs
unless you plan on adding more bulbs stick with the ac sized for 5400w

I was reading from a hydro site that the grow-brand mini splits are better because they are designed to basically be run 24/7, whereas the normal commercially units aren't designed to be run that constantly and thus are more susceptible to fuking up. Is this complete marketing BS???

Also you're saying a 39kBTU is way too big for 5400w, whereas the poster below be is saying I might wanna consider larger than a 36k unit. Seeing how I broke it down above, what do you think?

Thanks for the response man.

How well insulated is your grow? What are the hottest outside temps you are likely to experience? Depending on your answers to these questions you may want something slightly larger than 36K. Also I'd strongly recommend you get two smaller a/c's (say 18-24k btu each) over one large unit. That way if one unit should fail your room won't cook, or have to be completely shut down while you wait on a replacement.

I second getting a mini also. Mitsu, friedrich, and LG are the brands I'd be looking at.

walls and ceiling of the room are standard house insulation. Gonna seal off the door, and there is one window in the room I'm gonna mount a board of and put sound board/caulking around the edges.

RE temps, see what I wrote above.

RE 2 smaller units, I think this would look particularly suspicious considering it is a very small 660 square foot 2 bedroom 1 story house. No real way to explain why I have 2 AC units in such a small space to neighbors, etc, so I think 1 unit would be much less attention-drawing.

Do you have any experience with those brands? when I was doing research last night an HVAC guy was saying that the LGs fail all the time and are pieces of crap.

if you have a long room cooling will be more efficient w/2 units
along with having a back up unit its great insurance
getting a quailty unit is also good insurance

room is 10x13x8 foot ceilings, so it really isn't long.

grow light express has 3ton ideal air for 2600$ I use the same
one for 10k non aircooled. I will need another 1 ton for summer.
They last for a few years from my understanding. Very easy to
install by yourself.

How long have you owned it for? Friend at the hydro shop was saying the Excel was much more reliable than the ideal air.

So you installed it by yourself? I'm not the most "handy" of people unfortunately.

I'll add that in a well insulated and sealed room, you will be needing a dehumidifier. In my situation the dehuey provides all the heat I need at lights off.

It's currently sub zero temps where I'm at and the lowest my room drops is 70 degrees during lights out.

Btw, I'm cooling 5000 watts plus a Santa fe with a 24000 btu Freidrich breeze which is a plug n play. This is in a 12x13 sealed, open hood room in a pole barn with no heat other than the lights and the ac compressor which is mounted in the barn.

Planning on using the Ideal-Air 60 Pint dehuey.

How do you like the Freidrich so far? How long have you had it?

I can speak on the fujitsu 36clx1. It is super sweet. Plenty of power to cool 6k. Operats very quietly. Almost silent during the winter. Has a low ambient design so it won't freez up if it gets cold outside like most other units. Does need custom line set and they must pe vacuum ed for install.

Yeah I wanted to avoid having any HVAC people coming out is possible, especially considering I'm installing it in the dead of winter...

 

[the gnome]

First off, I had a couple of questions related to the mini splits.

1) I'm assuming the part of the unit that is outside of the house has to have an external socket to plug into? My house currently doesn't have any, and I'm just trying to do some planning for when my electrician comes next week.


it has to be hard wired to A 220V 30a breaker, a disconnect box close to the unit is a good thing and code in many places


2) Does the outside portion of the unit have to line up with where the inside portion of the unit is on the wall? Outside of the room I'm growing in, there is an outbuilding that is the same length of the room with about 1 foot between the outside wall of the house and the wall of the outbuilding. Obviously the condenser wouldn't be able to fit in the that space, but can I put it next to the outbuilding, and run tubing from the condenser to the inside unit? So basically the tubing would go to the right of the condenser along the house wall, and then up to where in the inside unit is. Sorry if this is confusing.


it doesn't have to line up with the inside unit,
the instruction will tell you your side/top-back free clearance
spaces, they can fit into some fairly tite spots i didn't think would work, pick your unit and you can downloads instructions in PDF format online


3) I assume I need a concrete slab to put the condenser on? Currently there is only grass/soil on the exterior of the house.


yes, you can buy one with your unit and it needs to be fastened down to it or whatever it sits on. it has to be solid
the wind or a big dog can knock it over and big probs can result


4) Does the condenser need to be covered from above to protect it from rain/snow/etc? My roof only extends about 6 inches out from the wall at the edge, so that obviously wouldn't cover the condenser.


no, but my instruction recommended in not be install in hi wind areas but my instruction man.
don't kno why on that one.....


Now that I have that out of the way, let me explain how I came up with the my BTU needs from this worksheet http://hydroinnovations.com/pdf/12082011-CoolingSystemChart.REV.1.1.pdf

9 600w lights x 2400BTU = 21,600
9 electronic ballasts x 1500BTU = 13,500
1040 cubic feet room x 2.4BTU = 2496
60 pint dehuey x 30BTU = 1800
which comes to 39396 BTUs. They also have you calculate the BTUs required for the room with no equipment running, which is an additional 4750 BTUs, for a total 43,245BTUS. Does this seem a bit exaggerated for 9 600 lights in a sealed 10x13 room????
some things can't be taken tit for tat, like ballasts....
mag ballasts in my room run 140ish-164F,
i have a digi ballast that runs 105F tops... 30% difference
your dehuey will put out a lot of heat in the nite cylcle but will be offset by the AC coming on because of the heat and in turn further taking moisture out of the air....
taking that a step more a gro room is in constant flux from day to day and week to week....
its more important to make sure your covered with AC needs than too much as every HVAC has told me.




Using the the liberal heuristic of 4000BTU per 1000ws of light I would get 21,600BTUs...

Being more conservative and using 6000BTUs per 1000ws of light I would get 32,400BTUs...

This is why I thought I would meet somewhere in the middle and a 3 ton (36kBTU) unit should be sufficient?

I live in an enviornment that averages about 80-90f in the summers, and 30-50f in the winters. It is also a very rainy climate.

Definitely interested in some input on this!.

I came up with 5000btu per 1000w of uncooled bullbs from many knowledgable IC members, this also included heat from ballast and a gas co2 gen for sealed rooms.
its not written in stone and there is leeway on that figure but if you oversize an AC *too much* for your house or your gro you can run into probs, and will be inefficient in the long run.
an HVAC guy can explain the details of why too big isn't necessarily better,
unless you plan on expanding in the future,
size the ac to the load is what Ive been told by Hvacs



I was reading from a hydro site that the grow-brand mini splits are better because they are designed to basically be run 24/7, whereas the normal commercially units aren't designed to be run that constantly and thus are more susceptible to fuking up. Is this complete marketing BS???
an HVAC knowledgable person can anwser that one better but i read if your your running a sealed room, mini's are better.
if unsealed a std split unit can have advantages over a mini...
there's pros and cons involved with it and many will prefer one over the other regardless...
again hvac/knowledgable IC'er will help in that one


Also you're saying a 39kBTU is way too big for 5400w, whereas the poster below be is saying I might wanna consider larger than a 36k unit. Seeing how I broke it down above, what do you think?

Thanks for the response man.



walls and ceiling of the room are standard house insulation. Gonna seal off the door, and there is one window in the room I'm gonna mount a board of and put sound board/caulking around the edges.

the better insulated the better for many reasons not only temp control, , i have r-40 walls and ceiling, my room is like a walkin cooler in efficenncy, my 1st bill for the ac only was less than $90 for 6000w
i expected a lot more
read some of the grow room builds and get an idea of the types of things you can do.
Prodex is amazing stuff for the price,and very thin, like a 5/16th thick. i went with prefab insulated wall panels for my room
check others builds for gtreat ideas, thirdcoast has a nice one



RE temps, see what I wrote above.

RE 2 smaller units, I think this would look particularly suspicious considering it is a very small 660 square foot 2 bedroom 1 story house. No real way to explain why I have 2 AC units in such a small space to neighbors, etc, so I think 1 unit would be much less attention-drawing.
that's your choice and you kno your situation the best.
if i could have afforded 2 mini's i would have done it.

Do you have any experience with those brands? when I was doing research last night an HVAC guy was saying that the LGs fail all the time and are pieces of crap.
i went with mitsu because of quality and reliability and reviews from a lot of people here, I don't want my ac taking a dump 5wks in flower with tens of thousands of dollars riding on it.
as long as you go with a quality unit your lowering the risk of break down, i can only speak for mitsu because i have one.
friedrich is another good one and some others as mentioned above




room is 10x13x8 foot ceilings, so it really isn't long.



How long have you owned it for? Friend at the hydro shop was saying the Excel was much more reliable than the ideal air.

So you installed it by yourself? I'm not the most "handy" of people unfortunately.
if your not handy in these area's i wouldn't attempt to do it imho.
you can tell an hvac guy all kinds of things why your doing this in the middle of the polar vortex were in now lol... tell him you got a smoking red hot deal on it, and want it done for summer because you have the extra money now... etc etc



Planning on using the Ideal-Air 60 Pint dehuey.

How do you like the Freidrich so far? How long have you had it?



Yeah I wanted to avoid having any HVAC people coming out is possible, especially considering I'm installing it in the dead of winter...

everything i posted can be debatable to a point,
you can ask 3 people a Q on the above Qs and get 4 diff answers lol,
read, read, and read some more and go with you feel is best for you.

mucho good luck and there's a ton of good people here on IC to help ya

btw... welcome aboard matey!

 

[Twisted pleasur]

I would buy a regular AC and put it in my self. Have many times. If You need a hand Ill be more then happy to guide you. You dnt need an electrician either. If you know simply how to turn a screw driver and how to read a meter you can do all of this yourself.

You can get a 5 ton ac off amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Ton-Seer-Good...B008L4UY2G/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hi_6#productDetails

This unit is pre charged for 50 ft. But I would count on 40 to be safe. You can buy your lines local and All you have to do Is buy a cheep vacuum pump and a set of 410 gauges and a little soldering kit from home depot. All things a grower with an ac should have as far as Im concerned. It not a hard job but it is a big one but well worth it. And you will have an ac know how that will last you a life time.

5 ton is not over kill with those summer temps. Trust me. Its better to have to much then not enough. Ok let me know if you want to do this.

 

[Bad Habits]

everything i posted can be debatable to a point,
you can ask 3 people a Q on the above Qs and get 4 diff answers lol,
read, read, and read some more and go with you feel is best for you.

mucho good luck and there's a ton of good people here on IC to help ya

btw... welcome aboard matey!

Dude... thank you so much for typing out the answers to all those questions! Very informative, I really appreciate you doing that for a newbie. And thanks for the welcome! Hope I find a niche here on the site lol.

And man, I've already looked through your thread a few times already. Awesome setup! I'm definitely gonna have to hit you with some questions along my journey if you don't mind. I also checked out Third Coasts room last night and read 10 of the 14 pages - glad you suggested it. Haven't finished it yet, but seems like he was happy with his friedrich and it was fairly easy to install. On that note, man researching this kind of stuff takes a lot of time! I'm spending hours and hours on here every day... sometimes I feel like I'm going in circles, but there are some good gems to find as well.

I would buy a regular AC and put it in my self. Have many times. If You need a hand Ill be more then happy to guide you. You dnt need an electrician either. If you know simply how to turn a screw driver and how to read a meter you can do all of this yourself.

You can get a 5 ton ac off amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Ton-Seer-Good...B008L4UY2G/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hi_6#productDetails

This unit is pre charged for 50 ft. But I would count on 40 to be safe. You can buy your lines local and All you have to do Is buy a cheep vacuum pump and a set of 410 gauges and a little soldering kit from home depot. All things a grower with an ac should have as far as Im concerned. It not a hard job but it is a big one but well worth it. And you will have an ac know how that will last you a life time.

5 ton is not over kill with those summer temps. Trust me. Its better to have to much then not enough. Ok let me know if you want to do this.

A 5 ton AC unit seems like complete overkill for what I'm doing... 60000BTUs? I haven't seen any formulas or calculations that would suggest I would need that much cooling capacity... I'm definitely interested to hear if you think otherwise though.

 

[Mister_D]

First off, I had a couple of questions related to the mini splits.

1) I'm assuming the part of the unit that is outside of the house has to have an external socket to plug into? My house currently doesn't have any, and I'm just trying to do some planning for when my electrician comes next week.

Gnome is correct, the outside unit is hard wired directly to your electrical panel. Breaker and wire size will depend on the size of your unit.

2) Does the outside portion of the unit have to line up with where the inside portion of the unit is on the wall? Outside of the room I'm growing in, there is an outbuilding that is the same length of the room with about 1 foot between the outside wall of the house and the wall of the outbuilding. Obviously the condenser wouldn't be able to fit in the that space, but can I put it next to the outbuilding, and run tubing from the condenser to the inside unit? So basically the tubing would go to the right of the condenser along the house wall, and then up to where in the inside unit is. Sorry if this is confusing.

No. There is a semi-flexible copper lineset that connects the indoor and outdoor units. They come in varying lengths, so measure for your needs. Any excess can simply be coiled up out of the way.

3) I assume I need a concrete slab to put the condenser on? Currently there is only grass/soil on the exterior of the house.

Cinder blocks and masonry screws provide a cheap solution here. Concrete slab is preferred however.

4) Does the condenser need to be covered from above to protect it from rain/snow/etc? My roof only extends about 6 inches out from the wall at the edge, so that obviously wouldn't cover the condenser.

As long as air flow isn't being impeded, snow/rain/etc aren't an issue.

Now that I have that out of the way, let me explain how I came up with the my BTU needs from this worksheet http://hydroinnovations.com/pdf/12082011-CoolingSystemChart.REV.1.1.pdf

9 600w lights x 2400BTU = 21,600
9 electronic ballasts x 1500BTU = 13,500
1040 cubic feet room x 2.4BTU = 2496
60 pint dehuey x 30BTU = 1800
which comes to 39396 BTUs. They also have you calculate the BTUs required for the room with no equipment running, which is an additional 4750 BTUs, for a total 43,245BTUS. Does this seem a bit exaggerated for 9 600 lights in a sealed 10x13 room????

Using the the liberal heuristic of 4000BTU per 1000ws of light I would get 21,600BTUs...

Being more conservative and using 6000BTUs per 1000ws of light I would get 32,400BTUs...

This is why I thought I would meet somewhere in the middle and a 3 ton (36kBTU) unit should be sufficient?

I live in an enviornment that averages about 80-90f in the summers, and 30-50f in the winters. It is also a very rainy climate.

Definitely interested in some input on this!

I use 4k btu per 600 and 5k btu per 1k as a general rule of thumb for estimating cooling needs. Considering your insulation isn't that great you might have some heat trouble on the hottest days with a 36k btu unit. You might consider getting the next size up.

I was reading from a hydro site that the grow-brand mini splits are better because they are designed to basically be run 24/7, whereas the normal commercially units aren't designed to be run that constantly and thus are more susceptible to fuking up. Is this complete marketing BS???

Complete BS. There is no substitute for a quality unit. I have several friedrich mini's that have been running for 6 years 24/7.


RE 2 smaller units, I think this would look particularly suspicious considering it is a very small 660 square foot 2 bedroom 1 story house. No real way to explain why I have 2 AC units in such a small space to neighbors, etc, so I think 1 unit would be much less attention-drawing.

In that case one unit makes the most sense. I'd strongly urge you to buy a back up unit asap.

Do you have any experience with those brands? when I was doing research last night an HVAC guy was saying that the LGs fail all the time and are pieces of crap.

I owe three friedrichs because they came highly recommended by a friend of mine that does HVAC. Mitsu's and LG were also recommended as being quality. Mitsu has a rep for being top of the line, but install and repair is kind of a bitch.

 

[Bad Habits]

Mister_D, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions!

After doing some additional research, it looks like I'm probably gonna have to further insulate my grow room a bit more. I was originally planning on just painting the walls white, slapping some panda film over em, sealing off the door and window and starting. Seems like adding in additional insulation is the way to go though in terms of making sure the ideal temps are achieved and making the AC unit more efficient?

And another one in the friedrich corner... Seems like reliable units. Did you self instal yours or have an hvac guy do it? Looks like the 3 ton units are all around 3500-4000+ after a quick google search :/ I was really hoping to get a unit with everything said and done for 3 grand or less...

Did just find this bad boy though with free shipping! http://www.minisplitwarehouse.com/3...p_Mitsubishi_Compressor/p315964_7294112.aspx#

I originally was intent on doing a self instal, but there's a possibility my buddy might hook me up with his hvac guy who supposedly practices discretion. Problem is he usually doesn't do smaller jobs like this, so we'll have to see...

 

[the gnome]

watch out BH, that's off brand mini split in that link.
its not a mitsu mr slim.
they just use a mitsu compressor in it and flash the mitsu logo nice-n-big all over.
do not get one of those.

researching before i got mine i ran across one and thought i hit a red hot deal...
after I found out it only had a mitsu compressor i read reviews,...
one in particular caught my eye.

the review was about a guy that picked one of these up,
after 2 months it took a dump(in summer of course) when an elec.chip board went out.
no hvac stores carried the part...
it had to be special ordered... from some where ASIA!
it took 6 wks.....
this is why you go with a top brand name for your gro.

Dude... thank you so much for typing out the answers to all those questions! Very informative, I really appreciate you doing that for a newbie. And thanks for the welcome! Hope I find a niche here on the site lol.

And man, I've already looked through your thread a few times already. Awesome setup! I'm definitely gonna have to hit you with some questions along my journey if you don't mind. I also checked out Third Coasts room last night and read 10 of the 14 pages - glad you suggested it. Haven't finished it yet, but seems like he was happy with his friedrich and it was fairly easy to install. On that note, man researching this kind of stuff takes a lot of time! I'm spending hours and hours on here every day... sometimes I feel like I'm going in circles, but there are some good gems to find as well.
.

glad to help, just let me kno if there's anything else i can do
and yeah man...
it take lots of time researching this stuff especially when you don't know hardly jack about it like I did .
i spent about 6 months doing my researching all the stuff that went into my room.
thirdcoast went with a friedrich which is a plug-n-play model
i forgot about that one, very user friendly and doable.
a big reason i went with the mitsu it the HVAC supply house in my area is a mitsu dealer
they have all the parts or can get them overnite

 

[Bad Habits]

great catch gnome! I didn't even see that only the compressor was a mitsu. I was so enthusiastic about what a seemingly good deal it was I almost impulsively bought it. Good thing I posted about it first *whew!*

so far, seems like mitsus and friedrichs are very good brands. Thanks for sharing man.

Bump for more input

 

[the gnome]

there's a ton of those off brand generics w/mitsu comp.on ebay.
that's where i ran across my *red hot deal*
lol... like you i was stoked finding a mr slim so cheap.

if its too good to be true.........