Should I rotate this mini-split (myself) 90 degrees?
 

More to the point, what's the chance I'll kink the two copper supply lines in the process? I shifted it a little to get a feeling for it and that's why it's askew.

We weren't paying attention and he faced it parallel with the EZ Breeze windows instead of the main house. The way he has it the pigtail wire won't reach the box anyway and he replied there was a bush there---WTF?. He wants $700 to reposition and wire it. He couldn't wire it then as our contractors hadn't yet run the power to that location. It seems an excessive charge after I paid him $1,600 to install it and it was nothing tricky, compared to the other two he did here.

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You should be able to as long as you go easy on the copper lines, put some wood down so you can slowly shift it over.

He's an idiot for not taking the extra steps needed to get it in the right location.

A quick phone call to you would have resolved everything.

Goes to my ongoing commentary/editorial about the difference from someone who cares what they do and someone who doesn't.

Sorry for the rant. Good luck!

Baz is quite correct.

Likely need to keep about 12" space behind it.

I would never deal with that contractor again and I would attempt to reposition it myself.
(There's plenty of pipe IMO. Just clock it left and then move it onto the concrete slab you re-positioned earlier)

But that's me. Don't touch it if you don't feel confident.

I think I'd sure as hell not have that guy come back and damn sure wouldn't pay him another cent.

Thanks guys. I think I can do it...will post results. I enjoyed DIY projects when I was single and no one saw my mistakes.

Hi Steve...I didn't see your post till after I did mine. Thanks for your step by step instructions on rebuilding my '87 steering rack. Dang, 17 years ago! I recently got back on PP as not long after that I suspect a mod doxxed (correctly) my location as a federal government agency using the IP tracking. Stayed off the site for years!

Should I rotate this mini-split (myself) 90 degrees?

yes.

Do it yourself, there's nothing you don't know already or can't learn here with your buddies. Worst case is losing the proper pressure to the lines.

You either hired an idjut or someone who just doesn't care about doing something right....

Or both :(

I'm definitely going to give it my best try. It'll be Saturday as he still owes me for wiring it to box. He claims now that my electrician should've run a longer line or something and he needs to find a longer pigtail (as a result of putting unit in weird position).

As I write this I see how f***ed up it is.....I think I'll cancel that and have my electrician do it. I don't mess with house current anymore.

Being close to the ground, it will get rain dirt splashed on it.
The bushes will grow and leafs will get pulled into the works.
Here in snow country a mound would pile up in that corner and need drainage away from the house. etc.
It's not an ideal location and as a pro he should have advised you first.

What about making an attractive enclosure to hide it from view and protect it?

you can move it just go slow and work the pipes with your hands

That's often/usually the case.

I'd take a pic and have a poster made and then put it in your front yard with the guy's phone number. The caption on the poster is up to you, but I'd think for awhile until it's perfect.

Possibly the pic should be take from the inside if you can control the reflection. If from the outside, you should put some steps going to that side of the door.

People like that should be publicly humiliated.

John, fortunately that area drains well, partly due to the gutters being far from that area. I hadn't thought about making some sort of visual distraction that would hide it but that's a good idea.

Zeke, I'm not one for doing that but I think he'll get the longer pigtail and wire it up and when he's done tomorrow I can commence moving unit. I noticed that there's a long plastic conduit/shroud and if I pop it off it will take stress off the supply lines as I'll be moving longer lengths.

I don't know if any of this makes sense as smoke alarm going off due to grinding some wood threshold. Glad this nightmare is almost over. Mary acts as the general contractor as she has experience and 90% of the work has/is being done by a family and they've been great. Mary has to stay on top of everything to get it the way she wants. Two of them speak perfect English thank God.

I want to share some pics of where I planned the mini-split to go.

I'm not sure of the weight - but I guess you'd be able to slide it yourself.

Turn off the breaker and disconnect the wiring.
Then get rid of the shrubs in the way.
Get a piece of plywood and set it down in front of the unit and towards the left near the house leaving room for the pad.
Then slowly slide the unit onto the plywood and maneuver the copper lines.
Once the unit is off the pad, place the pad in the final destination.
Continue sliding the unit and maneuvering the lines.
After final placement reconnect the power connections.

Mark, that's how I'm going to do it tomorrow afternoon after electrical hooked up. HVAC guy wants $700 to cut lines, re-flare, recapture refrigerant, move, vacuum, refill. I don't see why he'd need to do that as the line lengths are perfect for moving where I want it. 18" from wall to the back of unit is the spec.

Look to the left and you'll see where mini-split sits. (pic cut off far left but just out of frame) I was hoping to have it installed on the far right...see next pic
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I had line run outside for it's own box with intent to put unit where extension cord is now. HVAC guy showed me where there's not enough drop for evaporator to gravity drop condensate outside. Would need a pump above soffit and not thrilled about that. It sort of made sense.
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Mary's she shed. Cheaper than storage unit---breakeven was 27 months.
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Fence guy put in two doors after completely sealing up area for some reason. Mary's ridiculously small camper.
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I cleaned out garage yesterday but still too much junk.
I've been retired two years and she's still on lift. Two flywheel sensor wires shorted three years ago. Can't reach where they mount and broke one so I'm dropping motor/trans do replace/update clutch and fork, etc. While I'm in there I'm sending out rear control arms for Elephant bushings and new bearings. Also got the Elephant adjustable swing plates that replace the solid ones. Got to get with Shaun about refinishing splined hubs (and other stuff) as Chuck Moreland explained to me theirs won't fit my '87 due to splines being unique that year. Too bad, it looks cool like all their stuff. Also got the front camber plates, decambered ball joints and new strut assemblies.
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Maybe Rod can fix you up with his son's wife's sister's boyfriend.

^He did some...creative work

Plan on kinking the lines.
I work with copper frequently and i often kink lines.
See if you can move incrementally and use a tubing bender.

Since the contractor has already proven to be an idiot, make sure the copper fittings are tight before you try to move. I'd also remove the insulation so you can watch the copper lines while moving to make sure they don't crimp or buckle.

I get it. My only problem with asking a f-up to fix their mistake is that I feel like it's probably not too far off from saying your food sucks and sending it back. Who knows what other screw up they are going to do that may or may not be easily discernable. They've already proven that they are incompetent.

I think he has a chance here. Rotating it right not gonna work (putting the copper and power cord closer to the house). Rotating it left there will be some twisting of the lines but if the torque is spread out over the length of where they go up, I can see this working out going slowly and maybe having a helping hand to keep the lines straight.

Worst case is having to vacuum the system and recharge it. That's what the kludge wanted to do anyway. He probably knows he will mess it up.

Or he knows what you do and is counting on it. Either way, the OP has nothing to lose.

The bolded part is something that I was wondering about. I want to see what's going on the tubing. I'm not going to go full redneck and do it all in one agonizing movement. Meaning it'll be before happy hour.

I never expected so much response. Thanks all

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Unit I just had installed. Since we get snow we figured it would be wise to elevate it.

That would be too much snow for me

Is that your cabin, house, or garage?


LOLS.....:p

Snow sliding off the metal roof piles up.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1686970222.jpg

Falling snow almost took my head off last winter

If you are going to rotate the unit clockwise to be perpendicular to the house isn't the mini split cooling fan going to be blowing towards the house ? I am assuming ( maybe incorrectly ) that it currently blows away from the glass .

If I am correct then you will need longer copper lines and electric wires . I believe the cooling efficiency is based on the fan blowing out to open space . And your installer is an idiot .

The copper lines come to the end closest to the viewer. He’s rotating the unit ccw not cw.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

After looking at the pic closer this now makes sense . 👍

911SC: I tried to respond yesterday but had hard time with words as happy hour came early.

It was frustrating as the hard part was easy and vice versa. I followed the collective advice and slowly moved/rotated unit on plywood and removed vertical fascia cover to give longer length of supply lines with which to maneuver. No kinks in lines.

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I'm going to unscrew base and remove it so I can do a better job grading level surface. I didn't do that first as I expected move to be a failure. I might get it closer to wall as it's beyond the minimum of 18". Picture makes it look real close.
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HVAC guy ghosted me and didn't want to finish the wiring yesterday morning. He wants $700 to reinstall unit, shorten supply lines, evacuate system, etc. That's weird because I suspect the refrigerant is still in storage within the high side and hasn't been released by the little hex screw. I know he vacuumed system last week.

This is before I wired up load and line sides. I need to go back in and shorten all lines, especially the orange load one. I was afraid of cutting too short. Really difficult getting left knock-out plug out. Will probably pick up new box today. The entire ring and plug came out so it was super frustrating. Had hard time getting wires to lock in place on outside unit under screw and square washers. Worked OK when I shorted the bare ends a bit.

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Nicely done! I'm glad it seems to have worked out. dealing with tradesmen whether plumbing, electrical, hvac, auto-mechanics, whatever, can be a HUGE headache, because it's almost impossible to know who you're getting. And even if you have half a dozen other people say "I used this guy and he's great" you have no idea if they really know if he's great or if they are clueless.

Exactly Steve. This guy's done plenty of work for me and there was nothing wrong with this install, it just wasn't the position we wanted the outdoor unit. Now that he's super successful with geothermal installs for people with more money than God...I told him let's leave it where it is and when you find a longer pigtail/whip(?) please hook it up. "OK will do" then crickets.

I suspect the refrigerant hasn't been released from the high side into the entire circuit. I can hook my Robinaire up to the low side and repeat the vacuum. Or I can take a chance and turn the release fitting 1/4 turn for 5 seconds as the instructions say. I know he vacuumed system. I'm burned out on doing anything today. Our contractors coming back tomorrow and I'll ask the electrician of the bunch to trim the wires so they fit better in the junction box. I was afraid of making them too short. He installed a surge protector and you can see it outside bottom of box. To much lengths of wire in there now.

Two years ago we had an electrician who installed a 30 amp receptacle for that damned camper and I kept telling him it has to be 120 volt, not 240. That went south real fast but now I know how to fix that as well as replace the electrical control panel in a 2015 Shasta Airflyte. Only $124 on eBay. Hurray for me. Just the tip of the goddamed iceberg...

This reminds me of when we had our HVAC system put in.
The guys wanted to install the big fan box with the copper lines sitting right next to the blocks that the mower/edger would have been used against to define the flower bed. I told them that wasn't acceptable and that they'd have to rotate it so they were at the back, up against the house. They grudgingly did it, the right way. Yeah it was a little tougher to do it that way to begin with, but the install looks soooo much more professional with the lines in the back. I couldn't believe they were going to do it the other way, but it was 'the easiest' for them.

Contractors. Subs. Seen it all. And then some.

Most - don't give a rat's butt about anything except getting in getting it done and getting out.

Hell, most of 'em don't even pay attention to how and where they park.

That's the beginning of it right there......:rolleyes:

Wow.. Well done young man! :cool: