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Heating & Air Conditioning

Very bad mini split install

10 years ago

One of my customers had just received her new little metal building that she's moving into. Not a big house...maybe 20'wide by 50' long. She is in her late 70's and her old house was falling down but she was able to get the money together to get this little 2 bedroom fully furnished home. It has a 3 zone mini split in it and she called me when water started leaking everywhere from one of the bedroom unit. I took these pictures of it.

I told her she should contact the company she bought the little house from first to see if they can fix this crappy install... and if they wont do anything, i'd try and help.

Pretty sad

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Comments (4)

JHZR2
10 years ago
Looks pretty lousy, but what appeared to be the cause of water all of a sudden starting to leak?

While lots looks poor there, dirt and foreign objects come to mind...
fluffybunnysui
Original Author
10 years ago
Im pretty sure it's low on gas. Her main unit in the living room is a 12,000 btu that was flashing a code. I don't want to mess with it since i didnt install it...... untill i get the go ahead from the company that sold it to her.
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energy_rater_la
10 years ago
not minisplit related but...
a metal building with metal studs & fiberglass
batts...she is going to have one heck of a
utility bill.
what I've learned over the years is how
highly conductive the metal studs are
to the point of derating the fg batts to very
low R-values.

heat/cold transfers very well from shell to
studs. in my hot/humid climate the
wall studs condensate through the sheetrock
in the late summer. with paneling ...which is
thinner..I'd worry about this issue in this small
house.

the only way we get these homes to perform
is to thermally break the walls by putting
a foam sheathing board next to studs, under
metal siding...and roof. well...there is always
foam in the studs/rafter bays but the sheathing
is a less cost install.

at 1,000 sq ft and two ton minisplit...with all
the openings in the paneling tha should have
been sealed during the install of the minisplit...
I'd run lowest speeds, and seal each opening
in the paneling..at each ahu.

what is the location of the house?

best of luck.
fluffybunnysui
Original Author
10 years ago
Its located deep in S.Texas. It actually has 3 indoor units, 2-9000btu's and 1-12,000btu, so 2.5 tons total. Her complaint isnt that it doesnt cool well, its that the house is less than a year old and 2 of the 3 indoor units are not working properly. I believe also that they framed the inside with 2"X4"'s insted of metal studs. If you look closely at the 1st, 4th & 5th pictures, you can barely see the wooden studs behind the paneling.

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