Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Purchased the 12000 BTU 115V 17 SEER model, Pioneer Air Conditioner WYS012AMFI17RL Ductless Inverter+ Mini-Split Heat Pump Complete System for a small rental property I am working on refurbishing and thus far I am fairly impressed with the unit. The install was far easier than I thought it was going to be. To start with I spent quite a bit of time researching code issues and general install considerations for this type of unit as this is my first time attempting an install of a mini-split . Armed with this I set out to do the majority of the install myself to include making a custom stand from 3/16" x 1.5" aluminum angle. The only really hard part was running the electrical line and while not complicated took a little time to route properly and get all the connections right. Not overly complicated thought. I installed the main line, 12/2 UF cable, (14/2 would have worked too for those who will bring the wire size up), running it to a junction box just outside the house where I further branched to an A/C disconnect box and then on to the outside unit itself. All outside lines were ran inside of 1/2" watertight conduit with the appropriate fittings. Again, nothing really complex just a little time consuming and really hot working in the attic of the rental. Next came mounting the bracket to the wall for the inside unit and drilling the 2.5" hole through the wall for the line set to exit the house. I was careful to locate the studs in the wall and made sure not to drill into them with the hole saw. Once the hole was drilled I then set out to connect the control cable to the inside unit so it could be ran outside the house with the refrigerant line set. This step was the cause of a little confusion at the beginning. First off, the color codes on the control wire and the diagrams on both the inside unit and outside unit were all completely different! For a few long minutes it was a head scratcher and then it dawned on me that the terminals on both the inside and outside unit had stickers on the wire terminal blocks, with the inside unit having the numbers 1-3 and the symbol for ground and the outside unit with numbers 1-3, L and N for Line and Neutral. Ground was quite evident. Anyway, despite the mixed up color codes and trying to make sense of them, simply make sure that the control wire colors correspond to the same numbers inside and out. In my case the control wire was black, red, white and green. So I arbitrarily assigned Black=1, Red =2, White=3 and of course Green to ground. The next problem I had was the control wire had pre-crimped connectors on both ends that would not fit the terminal block on the inside unit so I had to cut the connectors off in order to attach them to the terminal block on the inside unit. Not a big deal, simply another minor inconvenience with the install process. The factory connectors fit just fine on the outside unit. Now moving back to the outside unit. I custom built a stand out of aluminum angle that put the bottom of the unit about 22 inches above ground level. The stand was a simple matter of fitting together the aluminum angle and bolting it together then setting the legs in concrete. 1 and 1/4 bags of Quickcrete did the job just fine for setting the legs in 8" inches in a hole dug with a set of standard post hole diggers. If you go this route be sure to level the unit front to back and side to side. All total the cost of the stand was about $65.00 including the metal, nuts and bolts and concrete. After that, most of the "grunt" work was done and I had a friend who is a recently retired HVAC guy help with the rest of the install which included leak checking and pulling a vacuum on the line set prior to release of the refrigerant. Laying out the line set was easy and did not require a pipe bender. The few bends that were put in were done gently by hand. As for the connections the factory flares were great and instead of re-flaring the lines we opted to cut the lines to size behind the flares and then use a soldered on copper coupler to rejoin the sections of copper line. (Ended up removing about 18 inches of line). Worked wonderfully with no leaks or other problems. After the purge, leak check and vacuum, the refrigerant was released, we fired the unit up and it worked like a charm! Very cold output on cool and good heat output on hot! I purchased one of the line hide kits and it worked well just wish it came with a 90 degree adapter, due to the way I have the set up I was only able to use half of the hide (for the vertical run) and will probably do like many others and get a section of plastic gutter for the horizontal run of the line set. Overall I am very pleased with the purchase, the instructions were relatively clear and easy to follow and it was generally an easy install. If you have average DIY skills and some basic tools you shouldn't have a problem installing the unit. Take the time and do a little research on the web and you'll save yourself a ton of money! I do recommend finding a HVAC professional to assist with the final install, not only does it provide a little extra piece of mind but will probably be less expensive than buying a set of gauges, a decent vacuum pump, a torch, possibly a flare kit and the other "tools of the trade". I'll try to remember to upload some photos of the completed project a little later. Thanks for reading and if you get one of these, good luck with your install!