Best mini-spit heat pump?

[lennyzx11]

Question:

What's the best way to secure the compressor down? Should I be good just screwing it down to the wooden stand I've made or should I get some ribber feet for damping vibration?

For what it is worth, I went with the Mitsubishi MZ-FH18NA2 which is 21 SEER and supposed to be able to throw heat out down to -13 F. Not good enough for heating in northern MN but I want efficient as energy is very expensive since were forced to pay extra for alternative energy projects in MN that don't work.

I also picked up a 20 pound bottle and filled it with nitrogen for testing connections and the triple drying procedure I've heard Mitsubishi wants to have done.

I have the same unit to two bedrooms upstairs. Absolutely love it and electric bill dropped about 20%.
Mine is just deck screwed down on a small platform of deck type pt wood.

 

[Woodeye]

You won't need rubber feet, smooth as silk and the fan runs at various speeds depending on demand. Mine is mounted on angle iron directly to wall outside my office. Mine is a Panasonic, the AC function works great.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

You won't need rubber feet, smooth as silk and the fan runs at various speeds depending on demand. Mine is mounted on angle iron directly to wall outside my office. Mine is a Panasonic, the AC function works great.

lennyzx11, Woodeye, thank you gentlemen. It sounds like I should nail it down with some short lag bolts and move on to installing the heating element and water sensor and then all the lines up to the head unit.

My motivation:

 

[Carl_NH]

Hello Eric.

I am about to embark on a similar installation - are you running two 9k indoor units or a single or 12 and a 6k indoor?

We want to heat and cool two areas - a downstairs area 30x30 and upstairs bedroom 16x20 so debating two 9k separate units vs 1 18k with a 12k head downstairs and 6k upstairs. The single 9k units matched to one interior unit are the most efficient - trying to decide one or two units ??

We have a primary heat source 90% eff oil boiler but want to reduce oil further and this will be 60% hearing and 40 % cooling here on the coast of Nh

We get down to -5 or -10 only a few week in winter and summer it's usually only a a few days above 90.

Thanks in advance

Carl

 

[RalphVa]

Our Fujitsu unit runs 12k and 7k indoor units here in the basement. Think you can run several indoor units off one outdoor one.

Quietest and smoothest of the 3 units we have until the latest Carrier. Other 2 are Carrier variable speed ones running on (I think its) 24v DC. The newest Carrier unit is equally quiet to the Fujitsu unit. The Carrier units are conventional ones.

Never hear any of the indoor units or circulators any more.

Ralph

 

[lennyzx11]

lennyzx11, Woodeye, thank you gentlemen. It sounds like I should nail it down with some short lag bolts and move on to installing the heating element and water sensor and then all the lines up to the head unit.

My motivation:

I did have one uh oh. I really wanted to install it under the deck. But after starting installation it was realized from the instructions that the vertical height it could be "below" the wall units had a limit. Since my wall units were going in a 2nd story. I had to place the outside unit at ground level 1st story rather than what would be basement level on my hillside yard.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Hello Eric.

I am about to embark on a similar installation - are you running two 9k indoor units or a single or 12 and a 6k indoor?

We want to heat and cool two areas - a downstairs area 30x30 and upstairs bedroom 16x20 so debating two 9k separate units vs 1 18k with a 12k head downstairs and 6k upstairs. The single 9k units matched to one interior unit are the most efficient - trying to decide one or two units ??

We have a primary heat source 90% eff oil boiler but want to reduce oil further and this will be 60% hearing and 40 % cooling here on the coast of Nh

We get down to -5 or -10 only a few week in winter and summer it's usually only a a few days above 90.

Thanks in advance

Carl

Carl, this is a single 18,000 pound unit, Mitsubishi's newest single head version. The house is relatively small and I'm only interested in providing AC upstairs. I liked the idea of constantly running feature like a "too small" unit would in order to knock down the humidity. The house was built in 1959 long before in-floor heating or thermal mass heaters. In my area everything is propane based and thermal mass with in-floor heating as a primary heating system is the hot ticket in genuinely cold winter areas but that isn't an option for this house without extensive messing around. This house has a boiler-based baseboard propane heating system. All I could do to tune up the original boiler was install a new boiler--which I did a couple of years ago before I moved in.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I did have one uh oh. I really wanted to install it under the deck. But after starting installation it was realized from the instructions that the vertical height it could be "below" the wall units had a limit. Since my wall units were going in a 2nd story. I had to place the outside unit at ground level 1st story rather than what would be basement level on my hillside yard.

My location should "tuck away" as good as I can hope for on this house. Even so, a concern I have with the location is that the hill is on the east side of our lake and the hill acts like a venturi increasing the speed of the wind. Mitsubishi says too not install the base unit in windy areas. From the photo, you can see that the base is big enough to mount a baffle.

That all said, I don't understand why wind is bad for a condenser as it is a heat exchanger. Nothing I read offered an explanation about this, so if anybody knows what the wind story is, fill me in.

 

[SirReal63]

Eric, it is my understanding that the variable speed fan can be disrupted by high winds, which could potentially burn out the fan motor.

 

[joefromga]

Carl, this is a single 18,000 pound unit...

Wow, that's heavy. How did you lift it with your 6010?

My units are only 75 pounds each!