Mr. Cool DIY Minisplit Mini split Ac install questions. Do I have to bolt down the condenser unit?

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jaked3800

Active Member
I finally broke down and bought a minisplit ac so I can really dial in my temps during the summer months.

I was hoping to just dig out some of my mulch near the house, tamp down some gravel and add a 2ftx4ft section of pavers instead of pouring a concrete pad. Do I have to bolt the unit down and if so can I bolt it into the concrete blocks of is that not going to be strong enough?
 
bk78

bk78

Well-Known Member
jaked3800 said:
I finally broke down and bought a minisplit ac so I can really dial in my temps during the summer months.

I was hoping to just dig out some of my mulch near the house, tamp down some gravel and add a 2ftx4ft section of pavers instead of pouring a concrete pad. Do I have to bolt the unit down and if so can I bolt it into the concrete blocks of is that not going to be strong enough?
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They don’t weigh much, my central air condenser is just on a couple paving blocks and not mounted to anything. I just pulled it away from my house to pull the panels and give everything a good clean for the year and it’s super lightweight.


2B42E3FC-5F01-40F5-9CAE-DC6B8DEFD33D.jpeg
 
J

jaked3800

Active Member
The minisplit units are move rectangular so only like 18 inches width on the feet so its not quite as stable as the central air units. Still rather stable but def different.

Is that how close you keep your unit to the house or just there for your cleanup? Would def reccomend having atleats 12 inches from the side of your house.
 
xox

xox

Well-Known Member
i installed one of these at my place. the condenser id recommend sitting it on a bracket instead of pavers then you can bolt it securely to the backet. yes you will likely need a buddy to help you install this. me and a friend did the condensor one day. then the next day i had two friends one person held the air handler, the next person fed the copper lines through the house the third person stood outside and received the copper lines. the added bonus of having the unit on a bracket gives you a place to neatly coil and hang the excess copper line befor it connects to the unit. trust me get a bracket and bolt it to the house youll see what i mean when you have an extra 20 feet of line and your wondering where to put it you coil it around the bracket behind the condensor up against the house. and make sure you buy some good thread sealant i think i used pro dope its a white paste on a brush youll need two adjustable crescent wrenches to connect the lines and the correct size Allen key to open the lines and pressurize the unit
 
Nizza

Nizza

Well-Known Member
The way i like to install it is do the head first, then piping and drilling, then the condenser last. Use a stand to get it off the ground on top of cement blocks. if it is a big unit no need to bolt it down unless worries about heavy wind
 
J

jaked3800

Active Member
xox said:
i installed one of these at my place. the condenser id recommend sitting it on a bracket instead of pavers then you can bolt it securely to the backet. yes you will likely need a buddy to help you install this. me and a friend did the condensor one day. then the next day i had two friends one person held the air handler, the next person fed the copper lines through the house the third person stood outside and received the copper lines. the added bonus of having the unit on a bracket gives you a place to neatly coil and hang the excess copper line befor it connects to the unit. trust me get a bracket and bolt it to the house youll see what i mean when you have an extra 20 feet of line and your wondering where to put it you coil it around the bracket behind the condensor up against the house. and make sure you buy some good thread sealant i think i used pro dope its a white paste on a brush youll need two adjustable crescent wrenches to connect the lines and the correct size Allen key to open the lines and pressurize the unit
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Im only going to have 6 or so feet of extra line becuse im mounting it on an interior wall, was thinking I will just make the path out of the house slightly longer to account for the 6 feet.
Im not a fan of the wall mount for a few reasons, mostly the vibration/noise. Also I feel like having it only 6 inches from the wall will reduce efficiency for me being that I have a dark brown house and the sun hits in the afternoon making that surface much hotter than ambient.
 
J

jaked3800

Active Member
Nizza said:
The way i like to install it is do the head first, then piping and drilling, then the condenser last. Use a stand to get it off the ground on top of cement blocks. if it is a big unit no need to bolt it down unless worries about heavy wind
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Its a 240000 mr cool so prety good size. For cement blocks are you talking like 16x16x2 inch pavers or like cinder blocks?
 
J

jaked3800

Active Member
MikeMuffler said:
Here is what I did. Easy to level with PT shims.
View attachment 5161042
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Liking the looks of how simple this is and looks extra sturdy. But I also have a heat pump and live in the north east so worried about snow even though i wont be using the heat much at all with my co2 burner and lights keeping the temp where it needs to be. woried they would rot too, might look into if they have composite 2x4s and mount one of the stands on that.
 
M

MikeMuffler

Active Member
jaked3800 said:
Liking the looks of how simple this is and looks extra sturdy. But I also have a heat pump and live in the north east so worried about snow even though i wont be using the heat much at all with my co2 burner and lights keeping the temp where it needs to be. woried they would rot too, might look into if they have composite 2x4s and mount one of the stands on that.
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Composite would definitely be better. I figured I could replace these every couple of years. We get lots of snow and -40F here. I use this to cool year round so the snow always melts around the unit.
 
F

fatAngel

Well-Known Member
No you don't have to bolt it down. My old carrier that was professionally installed wasn't bolted on the pad and the Mr cool I did isn't bolted.
 
Nizza

Nizza

Well-Known Member
jaked3800 said:
Its a 240000 mr cool so prety good size. For cement blocks are you talking like 16x16x2 inch pavers or like cinder blocks?
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2x4x8 solid cinder blocks, put them half way into the ground and try to level them, and then the stand has adjustable feet to make the unit completely level afterward. The compressor side of the outdoor unit will compress the rubber isolaters more so you want to bolt down the lighter side harder to the stand if that makes sense. I usually level off my stand first, then I put the unit on the stand on top of the rubbers, and then make sure the reveal between the legs of the unit and the stand is the same.
 
Nizza

Nizza

Well-Known Member
jaked3800 said:
Not saying it wont work but your restricting 25% of the cooling surface area big time. Would prob get close to 10% more efficiency out of it by letting it breat a foot or so.
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You'd be surpised how close you can get a unit to a house and it still get good draw, especially because it is the inlet side of the outdoor unit
I like to set them off the house in case of repairs, thinking of someone trying to get their cats paw in there to remove the shingles and then be able to nail them in, I try for a foot or so. In the instruction manual for the mini splits I put in i think its clearance for the back of the outdoor unit is something like 4 " away lol! I would never unless I had to. I just think of someone trying to get in there and work
 
J

jaked3800

Active Member
Im ocd about equipment installs so I just ended up doing a 2ft by 4ft- 5inch poured concrete pad. Letting it cure up for a few days and will work on the electric and air handler for the time being.
 
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