Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Before purchasing the Pioneer 12,000 BTU 15 SEER mini split I had shopped around locally and had received quotes from two companies to purchase a big name brand system and have it installed. I was shocked when the quotes arrived—as much as $3800. That was way more then I wanted to spend. The problem I have is that it’s difficult to cool our master bedroom on really hot summer days. Our central air has to run constantly to keep it at 80 degrees and the rest of our house get really cool. When I found the Pioneer system, the price seemed a lot more reasonable for the problem I was trying to solve and much more in line with my budget—under $1000 for everything. First, you will need to have some decent DIY skills if you plan on installing this yourself. If you don’t plan on doing it yourself, make sure you have a HVAC company lined up before you purchase, because you will most likely have a difficult time finding one who will install someone else’s equipment. You may want to take the approach I did and do most the work yourself and hire out the final hookup, pressure test and evacuation of the lines. I found a small independent HVAC guy who only charged me $100. Another reason you may want to go this route is for the warranty. The manufacture will only honor the warranty if a licensed HVAC technician installs the unit. They require the installer to provide their license number, among other things, as part of the registration process. I also purchased a fiberglass pad to set the outside condenser unit on. It seemed like a quick and easy solution at the time. Mine arrived damaged, but I would not have used it anyway after seeing how lightweight it was. If you are trying to decide on this, do yourself a favor and just pour a cement pad. It take about 2.5 bags of 80lb. cement to pour a 24”x36”x4” pad that will work out perfect for this unit. It’s a much cheaper and all around better solution. Also with cement you have a way to anchor the condenser to the pad to assure it won’t get knocked around or tipped over. So, fist the couple minor issues I had with the Pioneer: The instructions are really bad. Between the broken English and just plain inaccurate information, my advice is to toss them aside and watch as many you tube installation videos as you can. In my opinion the install for this type of system is pretty universal. The first issue I ran into was trying to determine where to drill the 2.5” hole to run the line set from the inside unit to the outside condenser. The instructions reference measurements based on offsets from different marks on the indoor units mounting bracket. The bracket I had didn’t match the one in the documentation. I have to give kudos to Highseer technical support however, they responded quickly and had the new measurements for me the next morning. Second, the drain hose adapter for the outside unit (used when in heating mode) does not have enough clearance to allow the condenser to set on the pad without it hitting. Not sure it’s really required though, the condensate should simply drain onto the pad and run off-- so I left it off. Now, what’s to like: You get everything you need to do the basic install. My kit came with 16 ft. of insulated line set, flare leak seal (absolutely us this stuff to avoid leaks), a plastic sleeve to protect the line set as it passes through your wall, plastic vinyl wrap to secure and bundle the lines, drain tube, and power cord, a putty like material to seal around the plastic sleeve and rubber anti-vibration feet for the condenser. The indoor/outdoor components, line set and all other parts arrive in three, well-packaged boxes, making it easy to move around if you are installing this solo. The install of the AC unit took me about 4 hours, but I had ran the electric and poured the concrete pad in advance so that it would all be in place and ready to go. Word of caution: When running the line set, use a tubing bender to do the 90-degree bends on the refrigerant lines after they pass through the wall. It is an inexpensive tool and cheap insurance when compared to kinking the line. I didn’t need to use them anywhere else; the line set is easy to shape by hand as long as you are not making sharp bends. Just take your time…it is much better if you have someone to help with this part. Once everything was in place the HVAC guy came by, and it took him about 90 minutes to do his work. He cut the lines to length, re-flared the ends and connected them to the condenser; pressure tested with nitrogen, evacuated the air from the lines, and then released the 410A refrigerant. All in all it went pretty quick, 30-40 minutes of his time was just waiting to see if there were any leaks once he pressurized the system. Afterwards we powered on the unit and it worked like a dream. Both indoor and outdoor units are very quiet, in fact at times I had to get really close to make sure they were running. The 12,000 BTU Pioneer cools our 380 sq./ft. master bedroom easily. Even on the hottest 100+ degree-days the AC has no trouble maintaining 65-68 degrees (we have not tried anything cooler). Only time will tell on reliability, but so far I’m impressed with this unit’s performance. Oh, one last thing… read up on SEER ratings before you make a decision to spend a lot more money on say a 22 or 25 SEER unit. When I did the math the payback in electric savings when going from a 15 to 22 SEER (in my area and for my amount of usage) was almost 8 years. Some utility companies off rebates to consumers who purchase highly efficient appliances, so check with yours first because that could tip the scales back in favor of the more efficient unit. UPDATE: July 3, 2016: Just a quick update on the Pioneer Mini Split. We are into our second cooling season with this guy and it's still working perfectly. I've only done the general filter cleaning a few times and the unit just work great, I have not had any issues. The outside until look as new as the day it was installed too, so it's held up well so far through the snow, all the rain and everything in between. I'm really glad I took the chance on this unit, I saved a bundle over having HVAC company install a name brand system, and so far I can't imagine a name brand performing any better.