Mitsubishi Mr Cool Mini Splits
 

:024:New to Florida & Mini Splits. Are these Mitsubishi Mr Cool Mini Splits energy hogs or are they pretty efficient and electrical bill friendly ? We want to close up the Lanai and set Mr Cools thermostat & forget it.. unless it is going to double our electric bill :swear:.
Any experience comments welcome.

When we had our Mitsubishi mini split installed several years ago, our electric bill did not noticeably change. We leave our lanai sliders open most of the time. The mini split took some of the load off the main A/C, so it did not have to run as much. Now all areas of the house are more comfortable.

The idea is, the air is cooled near where you need it, making them pretty efficient. Hopefully, as someone else stated, taking a bit of the load off of the main unit. Usage will increase, but our experience has been, not much. One important thing, it is my understanding that as a general rule these houses have little or no insulation above the lanai. Your installer will probably tell you this and offer to add it for additional money. I believe we paid $300. Also, while I am thinking about it, we had a realtor tell us you needed glass windows to get a permit. I don’t think that is correct.

Most of the enclosure contractors insulate the space above the lanai when they enclose it with glass.

This was a resale home. All glass sliders & mini split already in place.
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Mini-Splits are ridiculously cheap & efficient to run.

Thank you for your reply. :mademyday:

:gc:Your inquiry is somewhat confusing. Per your initial statement above, It sounds like your Lanai is not enclosed but has a Minisplit. It would seem that would be unusual. Your later post states that the Lanai is already enclosed and Mini split is already in Place.

In any event in answer to your question regarding Mr Cool and forgetting it, I would say no. There are many considerations, but all should consider the following:

How often do you use the Lanai? Dues the Lanai have overhead fans?
The Mini Split is extremely efficient in cooling and heating if sized correctly,

No reason to keep on continuing run unless used all day and then only when needed.

Agreed ... Best and smartest improvement that I done to my home .... shop around for the best price, but definitely a Mitsubishi ...Most efficient and quiet AC on the market

The mini split is an heat pump which is very energy efficient. Adding a mini split to our enclosed lanai actually dropped the price of our electric bill compared to having our main hvac system try to heat and cool our lanai.
Also, throw away the cheap remote that you control the mini split and get a real thermostat that you can program, like the newer ecobee or nest thermostats used in your home. They cost $100 on sale and I put mine in the 1st day I got the mini installed

Close up (as in close the exterior sliding doors).

In my opinion, Mitsubishi & Dalkin make the best mini-split. I used a lot of them, in commercial applications.

One of the biggest advantage of mini-splits, is the remote control. They provide nearly instant heat or air conditioning. There's generally no reason to keep them running or constantly managed ... they're not designed for that purpose, they are "on demand HVAC". In my experience, the useful life when used "on demand" is likely to be 10-12 years. Constantly managed/used, more like 6-8 years.

We bought a 3 year old home with a glassed in lanai. There was no a/c and no insulation in the attic (above the lanai). Make sure you check it out!

Before we moved down here, we lived in Norfolk 700' from the Chesapeake Bay. We had a totally glass (even the roof) four-season addition built and it had a Mitsubishi mini-split. As others have mentioned, we kept the sliding glass door open all the time. THEN, our main A/C went out one really hot day and the service couldn't come until the next day. We put a fan blowing out of the addition into the house; another one to blow down the hall; and a third to blow into our bedroom. Closed all other doors and were comfortable enough to get by until the main was repaired. Bottom line: having that separate backup came in real handy.

After the lanai, usually the most strategic place to install a minisplit is the master bedroom.

While you sleep, set it to 68 degs and leave the rest of the house at 74 at night.

I love my mini split! Munn’s installed it, and the Solar Guys did the insulation above my lanai. Worth every penny because now I have all that extra space that’s livable. And not a noticeable difference at all on my electric bill.

What is the typical maintenance on a mini-split?
Can it be done DIY?
Does the condensate line require periodic cleaning?

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...rchid=27590124

There have been several DIY threads. Also YouTube has several good threads.
https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...rchid=27590124

I'm running a two-head Mitsubishi Mini Split system that was installed by M&S—one unit is in the garage, and the other is in the main bedroom.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve learned that it’s best to set a specific temperature and leave it. I initially tried programming an on/off schedule, but I discovered that leaving the unit set at a constant temperature is more efficient.

You seem to have the most hands on experience. Adding a Mini-split to garage should only be used on demand, or managed? Not so much cost effective, but keeping a south facing garage cooler. Which is recommended especially for EVs.

We recently got turned down when trying to pull a permit to install a mini split in our lanai. We live in Marion County and they require glass windows in the lanai. Does anybody have a good alternative to the mini split to both heat and cool to make the lanai useable all year long??

I just had a Mitsubishi mini split, with the cheap remote, installed three days ago. How difficult is it to install an Ecobee to control it? I'm not even sure how I would wire it. Do I need an electrician to do this? Thanks!

They say that the mini splits are much more energy efficient. Different manufacturers could have different specifications.

I'm far from an HVAC expert, but I used mini-splits fairly often It used to be, large roof top units would last 15-20 years. The new ones from China last about 5 years, so it's usually a better investment to split up HVAC into smaller components. Splits work well for that application.

I don't think mini-splits were designed for the application you have in mind, but there's no reason a split wouldn't do the job. I would set it on a reasonable temp and just let it run seasonally.

Your application is different than "personal comfort". Your unit will never be used for heat.

If I were using one in a garage, I wouldn't worry about buying "the best" ... I'd look for a reasonably priced one. I'm fan of Jujitsu. I've found they're less expensive and almost as good as Mitsubishi or Dalken.

I'm guessing TV has a prohibition against "wall mounted" a/c units?

As our installer and I believe most pull a permit for “dehumidification“ installation, it would make sense that a screened lanai would not meet spec- I assumed screened from your post. I’m not sure why you would put one in that setting, but you might look into an outdoor unit like many restaurants and bars use in their outdoor spaces. Only problem is I think most of them are what you would call swamp coolers and rely on evaporative cooling, which is more a dry air solution.

Mini-Splits
 

Just got two quotes. Don't consider 8 and $10,000 ridiculously cheap.

Love ours. Hardly uses any electricity. We used Daniel's Heat/Ac About $1200 less than all others. Great install. The're in Inverness.

Mini split
 

I actually ended up buying two Mitsubishi units from air balance systems in Ocala a little over a year ago. I have not noticed a great change in our electrical usage but if anything it has gone down a little bit. We used to cool the whole house at night. Now we just close the bedroom door, turn on the mini split and have a constant cool temperature all night. Perfect. ABS gave us a great price and great service. I’ve had them out twice a year as recommended,, but I think really once a year would be fine. Highly recommend.

DIY!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvFKD95z7IM
How to Install a Mr Cool 18,000 BTU AC in Just 1 Day!

Permits needed.

I replaced one 6 months ago. Heating & Cooling Fujitsu Unit.

Your number sound high. Mine was probably a little light, as this was a replacement unit, so a lot of the work was done.

Seems ridiculously cheap, in comparison to the other options.

I agree. Daniel's installed two units in March for us. One in the lanai and one in the master. The unit outside handles both inside units. We absolutely love them.

The lanai is closed in but has acrylic windows instead of glass!

Consider running additional duct work off primary unit
 

We had an enclosed lanai BUT it was "conditioned" by having two vents added to the existing AC duct work. I thought the electric bill was still fine. We even kept the doors to the main house open. We only had to close those main doors a few times during the year on very hot or very cold days. We moved from that house and have an enclosed lanai and would just add additional duct work if we needed it. However, we just leave the doors open to the main house and the lanai stays comfortable.
My thought would be try the "leave the doors open" approach and see how that works. If still not comfortable, run ductwork (probably two vents would do it). The vents can be adjusted to allow for more or less air volume. I think the additional vents would not be cost prohibitive if you felt like a mini-split was necessary in the future. At least get the estimates.

We recently enclosed in our ~300 square foot lanai on a ~1900 square foot home. We definitely need to blow insultation above it, but I'm concerned that even with the ceiling insulated (a) the glass is single-pane (i.e. not insulated) and (b) we're adding over 15% conditioned space for our AC unit to cool. Regardless of whether or not we extended the two ducts from our living room and added vents in the lanai, we would be placing too heavy of a strain on our AC system.

Is that true? I'm curious as to what would cause more load on the AC: the added ducts or just leaving the doors to the lanai open? In either case, wouldn't the single-pane glass also be "leaking" cool air?

I'm struggling with this as the wife really wants "open living" (i.e. leaving the doors open) yet probably wouldn't like having a much higher electricity bill, our AC blowout, and/or lose years off the AC's normal serviceable life.

Update
 

We decided to close all the Lanai insulated sliders, leave ceiling fan on and set the Mr. Cool thermostat and open living room door. After running it normally, all was great for 2 days UNTIL the inside unit started dripping condensation…. I am suspecting a clogged condensation line. Is this a dyi project will someone with average skills ? What gives me pause is I can not locate the drain line OUTSIDE the house. The only thing that is in outside area is a 1/4” copper tube that goes no where…. I would think the drain line would be the larger 1/2” pvc line like the ac has.. (home built 1999)

We’ve had our 2 ton Mitsubishi mini split since 2016 and our bill didn’t change much.
Very efficient and quiet. We love it.

Our mini split condensate line is in the white pvc conduit that also encloses our A/C line set going up the wall and is visible at the bottom. I have seen them run into the top of a nearby gutter downspout as well. You’re right, most are white PVC.

thanks for the reply, I will take a look for the pump inside there.