Mini split recommendations

[peakbagger]

I use mine mostly for heat. It covers my entire house heating load down to about 25 F overnights. The key it just set it to one temp and leave it there. If the house and cold needs to be warmed up to higher temp it takes a long time. I crank up the wood boiler when overnight temps go below 25F

 

[Highbeam]

I use mine mostly for heat. It covers my entire house heating load down to about 25 F overnights. The key it just set it to one temp and leave it there. If the house and cold needs to be warmed up to higher temp it takes a long time. I crank up the wood boiler when overnight temps go below 25F

Just tested out the heat function today on my 24k mrcool mini to bump the home up four degrees. How do these things behave? Do you set the fan speed or leave it on auto? It was mid 50s outside and the outdoor fan was slow which I assume is because at such high ambient temperatures the heat pump easily makes full output. It will take me some time to learn how it acts like whether on a set fan speed if the fan slows to low when the room temperature hits setpoint.

It’s not quite cold enough to just leave it on heat all the time. It warms up so much during the day outside that the house would overheat.

Do you recommend just letting the algorithms take over?

 

[hockeypuck]

Just tested out the heat function today on my 24k mrcool mini to bump the home up four degrees. How do these things behave? Do you set the fan speed or leave it on auto? It was mid 50s outside and the outdoor fan was slow which I assume is because at such high ambient temperatures the heat pump easily makes full output. It will take me some time to learn how it acts like whether on a set fan speed if the fan slows to low when the room temperature hits setpoint.

It’s not quite cold enough to just leave it on heat all the time. It warms up so much during the day outside that the house would overheat.

Do you recommend just letting the algorithms take over?

Just set it at medium, make sure you hit the "follow" button and put the remote in a central area. The follow button senses the temperature at the remote rather than the unit it self.

 

[stoveliker]

I have the fan on auto. If I heat up the home by a large amount (e.g. 8 degrees), it'll start with the fan inside on high, but in a few minutes it'll dial down to barely audible.

The thing has a thermostat and won't overheat the home because the compressor will stop once the temperature of the room has been reached.

My outside unit controls itself. Fan speed varies.

 

[Highbeam]

The remote must be “line of sight” for the follow me function to work. That’s almost impossible for me where the air handler is in a sort of adjacent room but with plenty of doorless connections. The higher fan speed seems to help throw the heat farther away so the onboard thermostat isn’t satisfied too soon.

In cooling the thing does great on auto fan speed because the coolness pours out like a waterfall.

I was getting some cycling when on auto (meaning very low most of the time) and heating.

When you set it to medium for heating, does the indoor unit just run on medium forever? Or does it idle down when the thermostat is satisfied?

 

[hockeypuck]

The remote must be “line of sight” for the follow me function to work. That’s almost impossible for me where the air handler is in a sort of adjacent room but with plenty of doorless connections. The higher fan speed seems to help throw the heat farther away so the onboard thermostat isn’t satisfied too soon.

In cooling the thing does great on auto fan speed because the coolness pours out like a waterfall.

I was getting some cycling when on auto (meaning very low most of the time) and heating.

When you set it to medium for heating, does the indoor unit just run on medium forever? Or does it idle down when the thermostat is satisfied?

If you are not using the follow function, it will idle down when the thermostat at the inside unit is satisfied.

 

[EbS-P]

The remote must be “line of sight” for the follow me function to work. That’s almost impossible for me where the air handler is in a sort of adjacent room but with plenty of doorless connections. The higher fan speed seems to help throw the heat farther away so the onboard thermostat isn’t satisfied too soon.

In cooling the thing does great on auto fan speed because the coolness pours out like a waterfall.

I was getting some cycling when on auto (meaning very low most of the time) and heating.

When you set it to medium for heating, does the indoor unit just run on medium forever? Or does it idle down when the thermostat is satisfied?

Is the remote IR (infra red)??

 

[peakbagger]

I set the temp and auto fan. Mine runs the fan at high for awhile while getting up to temp but eventually its starts to slow way down and cycle as its sees the return air temp dropping. As I mentioned best thing is set it and forget it. I will be doing that overnight and turning it off in AM as my house has good sun exposure to the east and south so it warms up quick. I turn it back on in the evening nearing sunset.

 

[Highbeam]

Is the remote IR (infra red)??

I don’t know, I assume so. These Chinese mini splits are all made the same and the directions were clear and my experience backs up that you need to be line of sight for the mini to communicate with the remote. Kinda lame in my situation but I’ll make the best of it.

 

[Highbeam]

I set the temp and auto fan. Mine runs the fan at high for awhile while getting up to temp but eventually its starts to slow way down and cycle as its sees the return air temp dropping. As I mentioned best thing is set it and forget it. I will be doing that overnight and turning it off in AM as my house has good sun exposure to the east and south so it warms up quick. I turn it back on in the evening nearing sunset.

Okay so maybe I’ll do the same until “real” winter. This can also be scheduled on the newer Chinese minisplits.

The other variable is the thermostat setting. Since I’m heating the whole home with this I will need a little higher temperature at the air handler when it’s really cold out to keep distant rooms warm enough. Not unlike our woodstove rooms are hotter when outside is colder.

 

[EbS-P]

I don’t know, I assume so. These Chinese mini splits are all made the same and the directions were clear and my experience backs up that you need to be line of sight for the mini to communicate with the remote. Kinda lame in my situation but I’ll make the best of it.

One would think that for some smarty pants it would not be that hard to reverse engineer the the remote/thermostat. Why they are not selling a product that is easily integrates into smart home Ecosystem is beyond me. Or at least has a wired thermostat option.

I get the line of sight but for bigger rooms and units I really would not want the air being able to blow on the remote could a well placed mirror be a solution?

 

[Nealm66]

I have the daikin. The installer said it only has the thermostat inside the wall unit. I believe if you set it on auto, it seems to struggle this time of year deciding wether to be in ac or heat mode.

 

[stoveliker]

Okay so maybe I’ll do the same until “real” winter. This can also be scheduled on the newer Chinese minisplits.

The other variable is the thermostat setting. Since I’m heating the whole home with this I will need a little higher temperature at the air handler when it’s really cold out to keep distant rooms warm enough. Not unlike our woodstove rooms are hotter when outside is colder.

I do think that it is best to look at a minisplit as a space heater - just like a stove.
While it may be possible to heat more than the space it is in, it requires a careful thinking of how the heat flows.

 

[Highbeam]

I have the daikin. The installer said it only has the thermostat inside the wall unit. I believe if you set it on auto, it seems to struggle this time of year deciding wether to be in ac or heat mode.

There’s auto control of heating and cooling but also auto is an option for the indoor blower speed. When auto fan setting is chosen, the fan barely blows much air if the thermostat thinks it’s close to setpoint but ramps up if there’s a big difference.

I do think that it is best to look at a minisplit as a space heater - just like a stove.
While it may be possible to heat more than the space it is in, it requires a careful thinking of how the heat flows.

Like with a stove, this is a space heater and the space I’m heating is my whole home. The expectation needs to be that there will be some variation in temperature from room to room but I refuse to believe that the heat won’t travel to some extent. It’s a feature actually, we prefer cooler bedrooms.

 

[stoveliker]

I agree. All I'm saying is that minisplit are often meant to have a few heads at different places in a home. (At a small efficiency cost vs 1 compressor and 1 head).

Doing it differently is possible, but with heating and having the head mounted high up, one has to think a bit. Just like with a stove indeed.