I am seriously considering the purchase of a 2 ton Mitsubishi ductless air conditioner (MR-series, called "Mr. Slim") and am wondering if anyone has any opinions of this equipment based on actual experience.
My specific concerns would be reliability, ease of service, parts availability, durability, and things of that type. I am quite convinced that the cooling performance, capacity, noise level, SEER / efficiency, and other technical performance issues are well understood and have no concerns in these areas.
I am mostly trying to see if anyone who has used / owned this type of equipment has discovered any surprises. The DC compressor, inverter, and other design features have been around for quite a while and have been extremely popular in Asia and Europe for many years, so I am NOT questioning these points, but I would like to know if others have run into unexpected problems.
I've not installed any personally, but I have stayed at places using them or the LG equivalents and they have performed well. I will likely be installing one of the two in the next year or two for a small building.
Hi, I had one in my daughter's condo out of town when he was in university. Never had any trouble for four years until she finished school and back home. The condo was sold then. Rhe size of condo was ~1200 sq. ft.
Thanks Tony and Pete for your replies. All the comments I have seen so far on this forum and elsewhere seem to indicate that the Mitsubishi ductless split system is a good choice. I'm going to order the unit tomorrow.
Good luck with that project. I really like mini-splits although I don't have one. I've seen many, many systems on my visits to Asia and they seem to work really well.
I think they're going to get a whole lot more common and popular in the US.
Thanks! I also saw my first one while visiting my son in Japan when he was a foreign exchange student there. They seem to work great, and are showing up a lot more now in the U.S.
No Malcolm, I will be using a local HVAC contractor. I did install a prior 3 ton Freon system here years ago, and had the luxury of a pre-charged line set, diaphragm-piercing Shrader valves, and a stronger back than I have now. Buying a jug of refrigerant was a piece of cake.
I am very comfortable with paying a professional to handle the R-410 and do all the work involved here. I am also likely to be going with a zoned system with 2 or more line sets going from wall units to a single outdoor compressor. I would imagine that weighing the refrigerant and knowing how these systems work will be vastly superior by someone who does this for a living as compared to what I would likely accomplish as a first-time installer.
There are also warranty considerations, and I am not looking to replace any of this at my own expense for a long time, if possible. Mitsubishi-certified dealers are my best choice in this regard as well.
I'd like to add a mini-split to my home office next year.
I did read about one guy who self installed the units and then hired an HVAC guy off Craigslist to charge up the system for $200. I'm tempted to try something similar.
As it happens we replaced our main a/c and furnace this week -- 5 ton system. That I was happy to leave to the professionals. I hear ya on the back thing, having a badly herniated disc myself.
Self install is, from the technical perspective, a very attractive option, since Mitsubishi publishes (as a PDF file on the web) a detailed, step-by-step guide, and the equipment can be purchased all over the Internet at very nice prices (such as $1804 for the 2 ton, single zone unit, delivered, no tax). The outdoor unit does weigh about
140 pounds, but is very small and easy to roll around on a dolly after the truck drops the unit off with a liftgate (no extra charge) at your driveway. The interior unit is about 42 inches long, weights maybe 40 pounds, and takes a couple people to lift and install it, mostly due to the size rather than the weight.
The R-410 work requires the right tools and expertise, but the electrical and drain are a piece of cake, with the only minor work being to cut a single 2.5 inches through the exterior wall to bring out the line set, the drain, and the wiring in a bundle and thread them through a conduit, gutter, or plastic protective shell from Mitsubishi as they pass from the interior to the exterior unit. Having the right tubing bender is important, and I wound up renting one the last time with no problems.
The non-technical issues, for me, are the real issue....namely the warranty and support. The unit is much more complex than the average unit, with a DC inverter and microprocessor controlling a variable speed compressor, separate line sets to 2 zones (in my case), and a relatively short warranty (1 year parts, 5 year compressor) given the high cost of the equipment. There is a lot of ambiguity as to whether the warranty will even have any validity if the unit is self-installed, and replacement parts are not cheap.....
In the balance, I decided that I have "paid my dues" by previously installing HVAC more than once in this house, as well as continuing to do every humidifier, electronic filter, combustion blower, condenser fan, igniter, contactor, and every other installation and repair that has come along since the late 1960s. More important, I think this type of product 'deserves' a professional installation, especially as I am considering a multi-zoned system using 2 or possibly 3 line-sets to the same compressor.
As far as herniated disks and related horror stories, I feel your pain...........
Are you sure about that warranty? I was looking at the Mitsubishi web site and most seemed to quote 5 year parts and 7 year compressor which seems much more reasonable. Perhaps that's changed very recently?
This is a very interesting point Malcolm which I am glad came up. The Mitsubishi brochure I was given by the first HVAC contractor who estimated my job has the warranty periods I quoted to you, was printed in 2008, and apparently offered a shorter warranty on both parts and compressor. I had not realized that Mitsubishi had extended the warranty length for both the parts warranty excluding the compressor as well as the parts warranty for the compressor, apparently sometime between 2008 and the present time.
At Mitsubishi's consumer website,
formatting link
they show the current warranty as amended in June 2010 showing exactly what you stated. I see some Google links showing the older warranty periods, as well as a 5 year warranty on all parts including the compressor which they apprently offered on the MR series in the not too distant past.
This longer warranty of 5 and 7 years is much more appropriate, but still short on the compressor in my opinion. My current Lenox system had its Copeland Scroll Compressor replaced in the 10th year under warranty, for example, saving me at least a grand or more.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.