Mini split help please

[indocult]

Hey guys whatsup?

Hoping someone can help me figure out a mini split for my situation.

I need to a unit to cool 8 to 10 lamps this summer and heat things up at night in the winter. It gets up to 100+ in the heat of the summer here and I'll have lamps running day and night.
I was thinking something like 28k btu or 36k btu, not sure which to go with. seems like everyone says go bigger so it doesn't work as hard.
All I know so far is that if you get one with pre charged lines, make sure the outside unit is level and all you need is wrenches as far as tools.

been looking at the Mitubishi, LG, Fujitsu, and mr. cool so far. I know there's a mr. cool that come with pre charged lines but not sure about the first three companies.

I'm wanting to install it myself and maybe have a friend help with the heavy lifting when I need it. I know there aren't any step by step pictorials on the subject, but any pointers and tips would be greatly appreciated

 

[Speed of green]

36,000 btu will set you straight, after dehuey and accessories you are going to be glad you went with the larger unit. If you size one too large it will cycle off and on constantly, also it won't dehumidify that well because its not staying on for long periods.

I bought a 36,000btu mr.slim mitsubishi about two months ago, install was easy, but the pre vacuumed lineset is bullshit. Mine were pre vacuumed, but they just had a fitting over the end you had to undo to hook it up to the air handler and compressor.

in a nutshell buy a quality mini split, ditch the pre-vacuumed lineset and spend the extra $200 to buy the vacuum pump and gauges to do it properly yourself or find a trusty HVAC guy.

I installed everything, lineset, electrical and had my hvac guy come vacuum the lines and test everything. Cost me $100

In theory you could install everything and just have the HVAC guy come to the outside unit to do all the work and he would never know where or what the inside unit is cooling. I feel like this would be more awkward than just letting him in the grow room.

The condenser(outside unit) is surprisingly lighter than you would expect. When hanging the air handler (inside unit) mark your holes and check them twice. Also make sure the unit won't be blowing directly on your plants. The drain line must have fall all the way to where you want it to drain. The ac will pull a shitload of water out of the air.

Good luck

 

[indocult]

thanks man
how long is the drain line? I've been looking at the mr cool, a buddy has one and loves it.
Also Im not sure how to implement it, I have 2 eight light flower rooms that are split up by a wall, one runs 12 hours, the other runs the other 12 hours. It's actively exhausted but with the fan dialed way down just so everything goes through a filter and there is no stank.

so the single zone 36k btu would cool the 8... any advice on which room to put it in? the exhaust fan is in only one room and the other room exhausts into the room with the fan, so I was thinking to put it in the room without the fan, but then I don't know how it would cool down the other room when the lights aren't on..

 

[CoCoSativas]

I'm a general contractor and I agree 100% with speed of green. Forget pre charged lines. Really you can do all the installation yourself but it's so much easier to pay for someone to do it.

I used to do all my own shit and still do, but when I get to putting up a bigger op next year after I buy a place I won't be doing alot of the heavy lifting setup shit. I won't even look at a air handlin unit lol someone else is doin G that.

Anyway my point is I see both sides of the coin. Doing shit yourself is tight, it's fun and often costs drastically less but hvac guys to hook up a ac is cheap especially I'd most of it is already in place and he has to do the outside work.

If you have multiple rooms there's nothing wrong with 2 smaller separate systems. Personally I would have everything separate in case anything happens to one room the other I left without hitches.

 

[Speed of green]

thanks man
how long is the drain line? I've been looking at the mr cool, a buddy has one and loves it.
Also Im not sure how to implement it, I have 2 eight light flower rooms that are split up by a wall, one runs 12 hours, the other runs the other 12 hours. It's actively exhausted but with the fan dialed way down just so everything goes through a filter and there is no stank.

so the single zone 36k btu would cool the 8... any advice on which room to put it in? the exhaust fan is in only one room and the other room exhausts into the room with the fan, so I was thinking to put it in the room without the fan, but then I don't know how it would cool down the other room when the lights aren't on..

The MR.Cool i can't comment on as I've never seen one, i will say that the Mr.Slim Mitsubishi is extremely quiet and works flawlessly, if noise is a concern at all i would highly recommend one. The higher price tag in my situation was completely worth it.

Drain hose is going to come in whatever length you order it, its just cheap plastic tubing probably 5/8" you could use garden hose or anything you like.

The website or wherever you buy this split from is probably going to try to sell you all kinds of extra shit, all you need is a proper sized breaker, 10GA wire to run from the breaker to the outside unit, 12GA wire to run from the outside to the inside unit, Your two refrigerant lines, and a drain line.

I have my drain hose running straight from the indoor unit into one of my 4x8 trays, the tray drains into a 30 gallon steralite bin that gets pumped outside every couple days. My rooms are ran Drain to waste, so this may or may not work for you.

I had the exact same cooling issue you have, i have two flower rooms ran flip flop and one big air conditioner. This is what i did.

i sealed up the rooms first off, no sense in exhausting your cooled air.. I have two fans HARD ducted exchanging the air from one room to the other. The hard duct is important as it is much more efficient than the flexible dryer-vent style.

In the A/C room the first fan sucks up cool air off the floor and blows it into the top of the other flower room, the second fan is in the opposite side of the room and exhausts the hot air right near the A/C. I have my Dehumidifier in the non A/C room right next to the second fan.

doing this my rooms stay within 1-2 degrees of each other and RH within 5% Also these fans move quite a bit of air so i only needed a couple wall fans. My carbon filter is attached to the second exhaust fan as well.

Your room size will dictate your fan size, i would guess that each room is 16x12x8 or smaller, roughly 1500 cubic foot. two 10" fans 1000+ cfm each should do it just fine, you can always dial them down.

in this picture you can see the drain line running into the tray.




Let me know if you need anything else.

 

[CoCoSativas]

The MR.Cool i can't comment on as I've never seen one, i will say that the Mr.Slim Mitsubishi is extremely quiet and works flawlessly, if noise is a concern at all i would highly recommend one. The higher price tag in my situation was completely worth it.

Drain hose is going to come in whatever length you order it, its just cheap plastic tubing probably 5/8" you could use garden hose or anything you like.

The website or wherever you buy this split from is probably going to try to sell you all kinds of extra shit, all you need is a proper sized breaker, 10GA wire to run from the breaker to the outside unit, 12GA wire to run from the outside to the inside unit, Your two refrigerant lines, and a drain line.

I have my drain hose running straight from the indoor unit into one of my 4x8 trays, the tray drains into a 30 gallon steralite bin that gets pumped outside every couple days. My rooms are ran Drain to waste, so this may or may not work for you.

I had the exact same cooling issue you have, i have two flower rooms ran flip flop and one big air conditioner. This is what i did.

i sealed up the rooms first off, no sense in exhausting your cooled air.. I have two fans HARD ducted exchanging the air from one room to the other. The hard duct is important as it is much more efficient than the flexible dryer-vent style.

In the A/C room the first fan sucks up cool air off the floor and blows it into the top of the other flower room, the second fan is in the opposite side of the room and exhausts the hot air right near the A/C. I have my Dehumidifier in the non A/C room right next to the second fan.

View Image

doing this my rooms stay within 1-2 degrees of each other and RH within 5% Also these fans move quite a bit of air so i only needed a couple wall fans. My carbon filter is attached to the second exhaust fan as well.

Your room size will dictate your fan size, i would guess that each room is 16x12x8 or smaller, roughly 1500 cubic foot. two 10" fans 1000+ cfm each should do it just fine, you can always dial them down.

in this picture you can see the drain line running into the tray.

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=65551&pictureid=1615113&thumb=1]View Image[/url]


Let me know if you need anything else.

Very nice setup. Only thing I find unusual is using cool tubes on such a large op but looks great anyway. I myself would use 2 seprate ac systems in a space so large with 2 rooms and skip the use of cool tubes.

Though the beauty of growing is we all get to make our rooms exactly how we want

 

[indocult]

I'm definitely wanting to seal things up but I don't know how to go about it without smell being an issue. I can seal up all the gaps and cracks everywhere, but I can still feel air coming in through my electrical outlets and main breaker when my exhaust is running so I don't know how to handle that.

Do you have any issues with stink at all?

one room is slightly larger at 10 x 20 x 8 and the other is 10 x 18 x 8.
Using 4 nanolux D.E. in each room, one per corner, and a row of 4 single ended vert bulbs in the middle of each.

I like your idea about exhausting both rooms to each other, I had considered something similar but I'm not sure how to practically do it if I'm going to exhaust... which I don't want to I just don't know quite how to keep the smell at bay like I said.

 

[Speed of green]

Coco sativas, I totally agree having the redundancy of two ac's is the better setup. In my situation I only have the amperage for one though.

When your exhaust is running you are creating negative pressure inside your room, so the outside air is seeping in.

I have no issues with smell and I am in a condo, neighbors on both sides with shared wall. You can walk in my front door and not smell a thing with both rooms week 8 flower. Both my neighbors are complete assholes, they would notify the city immediately if they suspected I was growing. My city has a complete ban on all marijuana cultivation, medical or otherwise.

When I say sealed room I don't mean 100% sealed. There is a sheet of 3/4 plywood over the window, and I use weatherstripping foam around the door, and a door draft thing at the bottom. The door draft keeps air from going underneath the door and moves with it when it opens and closes.

Other than that I didn't seal anything else. Been running like this for almost three years.

If you wanted to be super on top of the smell you could run one carbon filter on each fan and pack behind your outlets with ona gel.

 

[indocult]

so you just exhaust both rooms into eachother and no exhaust with no smell issues. with asshole neighbors, alright i'm intrigued. I've never ran without exhausting through a huge filter.

thank you for the pointers much.

cocosativas makes a great point point, I may look into a dual zone 48k so 24k for each room, but I like the idea of 1 36k in one room handling everything since only 8 lights will be running at a time, I feel like that would keep a much closer constant temp while using less electric while being able to scrub each exhaust

 

[CoCoSativas]

Coco sativas, I totally agree having the redundancy of two ac's is the better setup. In my situation I only have the amperage for one though.

When your exhaust is running you are creating negative pressure inside your room, so the outside air is seeping in.

I have no issues with smell and I am in a condo, neighbors on both sides with shared wall. You can walk in my front door and not smell a thing with both rooms week 8 flower. Both my neighbors are complete assholes, they would notify the city immediately if they suspected I was growing. My city has a complete ban on all marijuana cultivation, medical or otherwise.

When I say sealed room I don't mean 100% sealed. There is a sheet of 3/4 plywood over the window, and I use weatherstripping foam around the door, and a door draft thing at the bottom. The door draft keeps air from going underneath the door and moves with it when it opens and closes.

Other than that I didn't seal anything else. Been running like this for almost three years.

If you wanted to be super on top of the smell you could run one carbon filter on each fan and pack behind your outlets with ona gel.

you are fucking out of it that's in a condo? What are you on bro I've never seen anyone have such a etched out grow in a condo freaky! Lol do you even have a stove in that bitch no wonder amps is a isue.

Wow that must be pretty loud for a condo I'd be paranoid.I'm in an apparent and geek ed about my portable ac lol.

Nice grow for sure buddy. Haha very slick.

No matter what if I was to endeavor for such a large grow I'd probably use a ac per room, though I'm a one room kinda guy that flip shit is not for me. I always thought I wanted big ops but 1 lights would be the max for me more likely 8 though I'm a busted up dude who can't work anymore bad fall in construction.

I'll be interested to see what the o.p. does with the room. I still vote smaller systems. May cost a little more but if I were to do it I would spend a little more lol sell a extra pound to cover it.

You guys use co2?

 

[CoCoSativas]

I'm definitely wanting to seal things up but I don't know how to go about it without smell being an issue. I can seal up all the gaps and cracks everywhere, but I can still feel air coming in through my electrical outlets and main breaker when my exhaust is running so I don't know how to handle that.

Do you have any issues with stink at all?

one room is slightly larger at 10 x 20 x 8 and the other is 10 x 18 x 8.
Using 4 nanolux D.E. in each room, one per corner, and a row of 4 single ended vert bulbs in the middle of each.

I like your idea about exhausting both rooms to each other, I had considered something similar but I'm not sure how to practically do it if I'm going to exhaust... which I don't want to I just don't know quite how to keep the smell at bay like I said.

I'll try to remember to add a pic I took a quick snap

Edit



Poly the wall with white poly. Staple and tape to the wall. Cut out outlet and tape.

I have 240v and 120v in my room both with different nema plugs but I'm a contractor by trade so I still label outlets.

You can just tape outlet's well too or take them off,pUT in vapor bare, then screw back on, staple down and tape around then just poke holes for the plugs ghaha

Be inventive if you want I seen fuckers use that cellophane wrap to seal shit it's to pouruous for me but thick construction tape works great

 

[Speed of green]

Haha it started as a 4K and just grew. All my other appliances are gas. House is basically on the ocean so there is always noise from the waves to mask sounds. Every fan I have is wrapped in insulation to keep the noise down. The ac runs from 8pm to 8am, year round. I told my neighbors I'm from Alaska and can't sleep unless it's 65 degrees.

Honestly it's not that sketchy, I am my landlords worst nightmare though.

 

[CoCoSativas]

Haha it started as a 4K and just grew. All my other appliances are gas. House is basically on the ocean so there is always noise from the waves to mask sounds. Every fan I have is wrapped in insulation to keep the noise down. The ac runs from 8pm to 8am, year round. I told my neighbors I'm from Alaska and can't sleep unless it's 65 degrees.

Honestly it's not that sketchy, I am my landlords worst nightmare though.

I'm from Alaska he says.

That's a good one though. Are you from Alaska or just that creative?

 

[Speed of green]

Nah I'm from South Lake Tahoe. Cold but not alaska cold haha.

 

[CoCoSativas]

Nah I'm from South Lake Tahoe. Cold but not alaska cold haha.

That's a good one buddy. Haha well if you move Canada plenty cold and maybe some idiot might think you lived in a igloo.

Yes an American asked me where is the teepee and igloos. I imagine e it wouldn't work doing indoor growing in a igloo. Issues with wiring and heat from ligand maybe humidity l

 

[indocult]

Cocosativas-
so you recommend two smaller rather than one larger.
I'm looking into dual zones, either 2x18kbtu to match the single 36k or 2x24 because I'll need atleast 24k btu to cool 8 lights, correct?

obviously the larger would be better because it will run less, but do you think it will cool sufficiently with the two 18k units? I would still be ducting and exhausting both rooms to eachother, so it seems like that would be the same as having a single 36k btu in one room, if not slightly more efficient.

 

[CoCoSativas]

Cocosativas-
so you recommend two smaller rather than one larger.
I'm looking into dual zones, either 2x18kbtu to match the single 36k or 2x24 because I'll need atleast 24k btu to cool 8 lights, correct?

obviously the larger would be better because it will run less, but do you think it will cool sufficiently with the two 18k units? I would still be ducting and exhausting both rooms to eachother, so it seems like that would be the same as having a single 36k btu in one room, if not slightly more efficient.

Circulating the air but cooling from two sourses would be the most efficient.

Due to the gained efficiency I don't see a problem with matching your original planned cooling capacity spread overy 2 systems. Sounds to me like you have it pretty well figured out and should prove to be satisfactory at the very least

 

[indocult]

Thanks guys i went with the 36k btu dual zone, ill post pics once it arrives and i get her all hooked up

 

[Gry]

"I told my neighbors I'm from Alaska and can't sleep unless it's 65 degrees."

 

[eebbnflow]

Cocosativas-
so you recommend two smaller rather than one larger.
I'm looking into dual zones, either 2x18kbtu to match the single 36k or 2x24 because I'll need atleast 24k btu to cool 8 lights, correct?

obviously the larger would be better because it will run less, but do you think it will cool sufficiently with the two 18k units? I would still be ducting and exhausting both rooms to eachother, so it seems like that would be the same as having a single 36k btu in one room, if not slightly more efficient.

I think you would need way more than a single zone 36k btu to cool both rooms with 8 light on plus 1 room with lights off . If you use the 4000btu rule per bulb which is skimping it .( I use 5000 btu per bulb when calculating )so 8 1000s x 4000 btu is 32000btu, with 4000 btu remaining . Which isn't much to cool the off room . Add a dehumidifier with eat up that 4000btu quick . I think a 4ton would cut it for you