Cheap ebay mini splits.....

[yourname]

Interesting to note that the Celiera and another brand are coming with linesets they claim don't require evacuation.......sure to drive the twerps at alt.hvac nuts...............

[gfretwell]

This is old news. "precharged" systems have been around for decades. I assume they depend on the dryer to handle any moisture that gets into the system. It is just a wild assed guess about what the proper charge should be but they do seem to work most of the time. Garden variety builders used to installl these in the 70s and they only called a HVAC tech in if they didn't blow cold air.

[yourname]

I have not seen precharged linesets before, most all units are precharged nowadays, but you still need to evacuate the lineset

[DT]

I installed my Celiera 12,000 btu two years ago and it works great. A good product for a very reasonable cost. It has a pre-charged compressor unit and an open lineset and evaporator.

I did evacuate my lineset because I have the equipment, but the normal installation doesn't call for it. Instead, they instruct you how to leave the furthest flare nut loosened, and turn the refrigerant shutoff valve a certain number of degrees, and let the syetem bleed for so many seconds, depending on the line length. Shut the valve and let the pressure bleed off before tightening the final nut. This method is supposed to *just* flush the lineset, but not release much refrigerant, it is mostly just pushing air out of the lines.

[George]

Sounds like a really Mickey Mouse outfit if they recommended that.

Every mini split I have seen says leak test, evacuate then crack the valve.

[gfretwell]

Ah the old "purge" method. I thought they made that illegal along with the new rules on R12/22 in the 80s. It works if you don't care about ozone.