I'm not a 'tech', but the specific detail that goes into the production of these videos makes for a confident install. I'm on #3, the oldest unit still going strong -25C to +35C. Amazing! Thanks from 🇨🇦
Finally got it up and running. The only delays we had was because we realized we needed some extra parts (I’ll list that below) ruclips.net/user/postUgkxihMYiJNXcHdbH-7ihymsLz61l7jVyb5O . So we have a loft where our current hvac just couldn’t seem to keep cool during the summer. We have been using a window unit since we bought this house over 6 years ago (all the houses in this neighborhood were built in the 80’s and majority of the houses built like ours use a window unit). I hate window units because they are just so noisy and the one we had really only cools one side of the loft. I had contemplated upgrading our current HVAC, but with all the rising prices these days, it would take years before saving up enough to do that. With the advice of my father-in-law (used to run an HVAC business), he recommended we get an inverter instead. We thought we bought everything we needed, but there were just a few other parts we didn’t anticipate needing (which is what caused most of our delay). My friend and father-in-law did all the work to get it installed and running and now we have nice cool air circulating nicely throughout the entire loft. It is very quiet and even the outside unit is much quieter than our main HVAC unit. Saved ourselves thousands getting this.
@@acservicetechchannel amazing videos Craig! Quick question - I’ve just installed a Mr Cool mini split but not happy with my excess line coil. I’ve attached the lineset but not turned the Allen key valve to release refrigerant. Is it ok to unscrew from the condenser and tidy up the lineset? The owners manual is really vague on this. Thx!!!
I just watched the whole video and was really pleased with Craig’s ability and manner of explaining and executing this job. Such a brilliant professional. It’s unparalleled from anything I’ve seen in the past. By the way, as of today, I received from Amazon : Refrigerant Charging and Service Procedures for AIR CONDITIONING, TEXT AND WORKBOOK. Thank you so much, Craig. Cheers from Houston, Texas.
Love your training style and material! Top notch! I would like to see some mini split training for installing best practice on interior rooms. How to run the lines and so on.
Craig, can you and your team maybe develop a book for commercial guys? That would be great. Specifically speaking on maybe some of the controls used for computer controlled thermostats and humidity sensors and such. Thanks.
Great respect for you and beautiful to see a great teacher. Thanks for all of those tips and awesome videos, I have all your books & cards and love them, It's great to be on my favorite RUclips channel Sir, I have a question, Shortening the “Line Set” is new to me, and we did not find satisfied information about it. What are the limits for shortening the “Line Set”? Do we have to recover some refrigerant after shortening the “Line Set”? Thank you sir, We hope that you have the time for that and looking forward to hear from you.
Hi Craig, very helpful. I have several units I have replaced for a varity of reasons, in almost every case I was able to pull all the refrigerant back into the outside compressor unit. please tell me how to use the recovery machine to pull the refrigerant into my recovery bottle and whether I can reuse it in a low charge unit
Hi Craig , just wondering why the Fujitsu unit was replaced . They were great units , I loved how small, compact and sleek the indoor heads were, however coil leaks were very common with that unit especially when used in the heating mode . Like to know your thoughts . BTW I just bought your book looking forward to picking up a few pointers from it . Keep up the good informative videos .
Very nice and clear instructions Graig! Keep up the good work! I’m an AC service tech in the Netherlands where we are very strict when it comes to refrigerant escaping into the atmosphere, as I have to keep track of every gram of refrigerant (0.0353 oz) within the systems I service. Are you as an AC service tech in your country also required to comply with such legislation?
7:03 - I always thought so too, but if you read the install instructions, a lot of the times they say Solid or Stranded conductor wire, min AWG 14. It should be stranded for sure for 2 Wire AWG 16 for daisy-chain wiring of Variable Refrigerant type systems.
Thanks, Craig! Your videos gave me the confidence to complete one successful installation last summer and now I'm in the process of installing a Multi-Zone Outdoor unit. Question: the outdoor unit (Pioneer) lists 18,000 BTU as the minimum connected load. Is there harm in running the first 12k BTU indoor unit by itself until I get the second 12k indoor unit installed? Or is it just energy inefficient? Thanks!
Buenas tardes! Excelentes videos, muy lindos trabajos. Aquí en argentina en los manuales del fabricante exigen 3 metros minimos de cañeria para equipos de R410a ¿es posible que allí no se solicite un largo minimo en la caleria de interconexión?
Hi great video, I love just watching your videos for a quick refresher before I fit a unit as I’m a new tech. You are by far the best teacher of these mini splits I have came across, I have both your books and love them! When on the vacuum you say aim for 100 microns, I have recently purchased the press set to just crimp the line sets together on joints,as some areas require heat permits and in the Mitsubishi installation manual it states no flare joints inside the building (R32) say if your fitting the indoor unit on an internal wall and using a condense pump. Only problem is on the fittings bag the manufacturer states they are rated to 200 microns does this mean going below to 100 was cause the fitting to draw in air? Can’t seam to find much info on it and my local supplier looked at me as though I was crazy asking this question. Hopefully you can shed some light on the subject. All the best
I love to watch for refreshing. Bit vacuuming for 10-15mins would be more than enough i think. I aleays listen to the noise from vacuuming tool to be sure its all tight
I’ve wondered this too, because C&H appears to be an el cheapo Chinese unit. I’m pretty positive they pay him for product placement of their units in his videos.
“We are excited to announce our latest collaboration with AC Service Tech (AKA Craig Migliaccio). …this book also includes an Appendix page for "Additional Resources" which includes links to RUclips videos in which Craig utilizes Cooper&Hunter mini splits for demonstrations.” This was from Dec 2022 on C&H’s site. Not sure what collaboration means. Does he endorse their units? Or are they just paying a product placement fee to be props in his books and videos?
@@salvatoregiovanni8967 getting paid and getting products for free is the same and needs to be disclosed. He does disclose that he gets an affiliate fee when you use his list on Amazon so I doubt this video is promotional
Great channel!!! I have learned a lot here to manage to service on my own my ACs!! I have just one question.... Is it a viable option to use CO2 for pressure test instead of nitrogen? Because i have a tank with manifolds for primary tank pressure and secondary regulation where i use it on the MIG welder and it will be nice if i can use it 😅
Hey teacher! I learn a lot from your videos, I have a question, why don’t you just save the gas within the exterior unit? is this whole recovery process a must?
Craig, love your videos...I have a 20 year old Heil R22 heat pump TXV 3 ton. For me to do a superheat would I accurately measure low side at condenser or evap? I have an accurate thermocouple with towel over it, and old style gauges. My manual says 12 degrees SH. Thank you, Anthony
what about using at 34:41 a silicone grease paste? i heard a friend who use it... is he wrong? it's the same silicone grease he use for flashlight aluminum threads, he says it's perfect for this job because it is quite dense and if used only around the surface area that "presses"
Hello Craig, question. If one is remodeling a basement and wants to install a mini split would you leave extra line set length in the situation described next? If you put a hole through the sill plate, and ran the line set between the floor joists to a soffit and then installed the air handler on the other side of the soffit, and then you drywalled the floor joists to create a basement ceiling, Lets say 3 years later a new better mini split comes out and the customer wants the new outside unit and inside air handler. Since it would possibly take destroying the ceiling drywall to add a new line set, would leaving extra line set length outside and in the soffit allow for future re-flares? Would this apply to any mini split installation where the line set is behind drywall or the air handler isn't on an exterior wall? Thank you and great video!
I don't know if you monitor your videos, AC Service Tech, but I want to know if you've ever removed an existing Mitsubishi mini-split indoor unit from a wall? In our case, I can't see a backing plate and, quite frankly, the Mitsu indoor unit that I'm referring to doesn't seem to budge when I try lifting it up. I suppose another way to ask this is, in your experience, does Mitsu use backing plates like the one you filmed for this video to mount their mini-split indoor units? By the way, the indoor unit that I'm asking about is an MSZ-FE18NA. Thank you for any help you can give us..
Not that one , I did notice that the indoor head was not a 12 RLS2 which is the match for the outdoor condenser. ThecRLS2 had a different type of front cover that raised up when powered on .
I have a 10/12-yr-old 24k Daikin Mini-Split Inverter that I removed from my Florida home and brought to NJ. I was going to trash it so it sits in two pieces, sans the line-set inside my utility trailer. Can this system be shop tested to see if it would be worthwhile to install it here in my NJ home? I don't want to go through a complete installation only to find out it actually needs to be replaced, at 82 years I don't need any more practice, if you know what I mean? There is currently no refrigerant or gas in either of the two pieces.
Discontinued condenser unit, it’s main board is burned out, 3 to 4 months replacement parts. If I just buy same btu/seers different brand condenser replacement, will the communication between the indoor and outdoor is the same. Or each brand has its own thermostat and communication system. If you can do a video on the one wire Thermostat it will be great.
For a multizone mini split system in cooling, why when one unit is turned on, the line ices up and the system won’t cool but as soon as you turn on a second indoor unit, then they both cool as they should?
Why do you personally still use a manifold gauge set when in other videos you mention that individual guages are better? I understand you still demonstrate with them because they are prolific but I'm wonderingif there are any other advantages other than cost and quicker transition from check/vaccum/leak/fill. I dont have much experience with HVAC and am curious.
A white conductor used for power should be colored (Sharpie) or taped black to indicate it is now energized. I'm going to fix a service upgrade where the installer landed the white, unmarked L2 to the neutral bar. I will land it on the breaker after marking it.
Fantastic video and quality workmanship. I am currently installing a Mitsubishi 4 zone. What cfm vacuum pump do you recommend for probably 130ft of total line set? Can you still achieve 100 microns on that much line set ? Thanks
Usually there is a plug in the back for the drain on one side opposite of where it is connected. You can remove that plug and put drain on other side so that drain is closest to line set hole. Remember to put plug on other hole 😅
I don’t know why you would say the wire incoming to the condensing unit is wrong. It’s a white wire why not use red coding tape on that wire. As far as it being stranded why would that matter ?
@@MrElemonator NEC code requires hot wires to be certain colors and when a different color has to be repurposed it should be marked so the next tech knows it's possibly hot.
I agree. If stranded is used, it should be terminated with a fitting so it doesn't stray from the screws. Especially on that type of terminal block.The important point about the wires is that they are rated for the unit ampacity.
I can see why they are replacing the Figitsu. I had a Figitsu and it was junk. 3 years old and and I spent a fortune trying to fix it. I finally just swapped it out with a Nortek (air temp). Very happy so far.
Best teacher in the game
I'm not a 'tech', but the specific detail that goes into the production of these videos makes for a confident install. I'm on #3, the oldest unit still going strong -25C to +35C. Amazing! Thanks from 🇨🇦
Finally got it up and running. The only delays we had was because we realized we needed some extra parts (I’ll list that below) ruclips.net/user/postUgkxihMYiJNXcHdbH-7ihymsLz61l7jVyb5O . So we have a loft where our current hvac just couldn’t seem to keep cool during the summer. We have been using a window unit since we bought this house over 6 years ago (all the houses in this neighborhood were built in the 80’s and majority of the houses built like ours use a window unit). I hate window units because they are just so noisy and the one we had really only cools one side of the loft. I had contemplated upgrading our current HVAC, but with all the rising prices these days, it would take years before saving up enough to do that. With the advice of my father-in-law (used to run an HVAC business), he recommended we get an inverter instead. We thought we bought everything we needed, but there were just a few other parts we didn’t anticipate needing (which is what caused most of our delay). My friend and father-in-law did all the work to get it installed and running and now we have nice cool air circulating nicely throughout the entire loft. It is very quiet and even the outside unit is much quieter than our main HVAC unit. Saved ourselves thousands getting this.
Amazing video! The attention to detail is amazing.
Thank you so much!!
Outstanding I love man u are a great Instructor trainer thank you. I'm 66 an I'm going to go for it keep the video coming
Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement! It's never too late to pursue your passion and continue learning!
@@acservicetechchannel amazing videos Craig! Quick question - I’ve just installed a Mr Cool mini split but not happy with my excess line coil. I’ve attached the lineset but not turned the Allen key valve to release refrigerant. Is it ok to unscrew from the condenser and tidy up the lineset? The owners manual is really vague on this. Thx!!!
Craig, I really appreciate your attention to detail. I'm a retired Commercial HVAC Tech and I'm familiar with great workmanship.
I just watched the whole video and was really pleased with Craig’s ability and manner of explaining and executing this job. Such a brilliant professional. It’s unparalleled from anything I’ve seen in the past. By the way, as of today, I received from Amazon : Refrigerant Charging and Service Procedures for AIR CONDITIONING, TEXT AND WORKBOOK. Thank you so much, Craig. Cheers from Houston, Texas.
Awesome and thank you for your encouragement!
Love your training style and material! Top notch! I would like to see some mini split training for installing best practice on interior rooms. How to run the lines and so on.
Craig, can you and your team maybe develop a book for commercial guys? That would be great. Specifically speaking on maybe some of the controls used for computer controlled thermostats and humidity sensors and such. Thanks.
Great respect for you and beautiful to see a great teacher. Thanks for all of those tips and awesome videos, I have all your books & cards and love them, It's great to be on my favorite RUclips channel
Sir, I have a question,
Shortening the “Line Set” is new to me, and we did not find satisfied information about it.
What are the limits for shortening the “Line Set”?
Do we have to recover some refrigerant after shortening the “Line Set”?
Thank you sir, We hope that you have the time for that and looking forward to hear from you.
Hi Craig, very helpful. I have several units I have replaced for a varity of reasons, in almost every case I was able to pull all the refrigerant back into the outside compressor unit. please tell me how to use the recovery machine to pull the refrigerant into my recovery bottle and whether I can reuse it in a low charge unit
Hi Craig , just wondering why the Fujitsu unit was replaced . They were great units , I loved how small, compact and sleek the indoor heads were, however coil leaks were very common with that unit especially when used in the heating mode . Like to know your thoughts . BTW I just bought your book looking forward to picking up a few pointers from it . Keep up the good informative videos .
fantastic job Craig!
find all your videos very easy to understand, descriptive and informative. Will be ordering inverter mini split operation book shortly.
Thats awesome, thanks so much!
Very nice and clear instructions Graig! Keep up the good work!
I’m an AC service tech in the Netherlands where we are very strict when it comes to refrigerant escaping into the atmosphere, as I have to keep track of every gram of refrigerant (0.0353 oz) within the systems I service. Are you as an AC service tech in your country also required to comply with such legislation?
Great video.your explanation is fantastic. God Bless
Craig!! Great instruction as usual!!!
It great video I just bought the book already it has lots of great information on Mini Split
Thank you for your support and for purchasing the book! I'm glad to hear that you find it informative and valuable!
Excellent stuff as usual!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very good instructional video thank you very for all that you do.
Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you found the instructional video helpful.
7:03 - I always thought so too, but if you read the install instructions, a lot of the times they say Solid or Stranded conductor wire, min AWG 14.
It should be stranded for sure for 2 Wire AWG 16 for daisy-chain wiring of Variable Refrigerant type systems.
The issue is more for code than manufacturers instructions. WE used THWN/THHN standed to pass code in outdoor flexible conduit, thanks!
excellent video, thank you very much. Do you think that one day you could make a video about VRV or VRF, thank you
Thanks, Craig! Your videos gave me the confidence to complete one successful installation last summer and now I'm in the process of installing a Multi-Zone Outdoor unit. Question: the outdoor unit (Pioneer) lists 18,000 BTU as the minimum connected load. Is there harm in running the first 12k BTU indoor unit by itself until I get the second 12k indoor unit installed? Or is it just energy inefficient? Thanks!
Buenas tardes! Excelentes videos, muy lindos trabajos.
Aquí en argentina en los manuales del fabricante exigen 3 metros minimos de cañeria para equipos de R410a ¿es posible que allí no se solicite un largo minimo en la caleria de interconexión?
Hi great video, I love just watching your videos for a quick refresher before I fit a unit as I’m a new tech. You are by far the best teacher of these mini splits I have came across, I have both your books and love them! When on the vacuum you say aim for 100 microns, I have recently purchased the press set to just crimp the line sets together on joints,as some areas require heat permits and in the Mitsubishi installation manual it states no flare joints inside the building (R32) say if your fitting the indoor unit on an internal wall and using a condense pump. Only problem is on the fittings bag the manufacturer states they are rated to 200 microns does this mean going below to 100 was cause the fitting to draw in air? Can’t seam to find much info on it and my local supplier looked at me as though I was crazy asking this question. Hopefully you can shed some light on the subject. All the best
I love to watch for refreshing. Bit vacuuming for 10-15mins would be more than enough i think. I aleays listen to the noise from vacuuming tool to be sure its all tight
Love your videos. Out of curiosity why the Cooper and Hunter brand?
I’ve wondered this too, because C&H appears to be an el cheapo Chinese unit. I’m pretty positive they pay him for product placement of their units in his videos.
@@salvatoregiovanni8967I doubt it. US law mandates that promotional products must be disclosed and receiving payment from the manufacturer = promotion
“We are excited to announce our latest collaboration with AC Service Tech (AKA Craig Migliaccio).
…this book also includes an Appendix page for "Additional Resources" which includes links to RUclips videos in which Craig utilizes Cooper&Hunter mini splits for demonstrations.”
This was from Dec 2022 on C&H’s site. Not sure what collaboration means. Does he endorse their units? Or are they just paying a product placement fee to be props in his books and videos?
@@salvatoregiovanni8967 getting paid and getting products for free is the same and needs to be disclosed. He does disclose that he gets an affiliate fee when you use his list on Amazon so I doubt this video is promotional
Great tutorial that I wished I found before installing both my mini splits. I now feel like I did both my installs like a gorilla.
Great video!!
Glad you enjoyed it
Wall anchors for bracket support w 1 stud support
Great channel!!! I have learned a lot here to manage to service on my own my ACs!!
I have just one question.... Is it a viable option to use CO2 for pressure test instead of nitrogen? Because i have a tank with manifolds for primary tank pressure and secondary regulation where i use it on the MIG welder and it will be nice if i can use it 😅
Hey teacher! I learn a lot from your videos, I have a question, why don’t you just save the gas within the exterior unit? is this whole recovery process a must?
Nice video super informative
Glad you liked it!
Thanks ! Can you use the same type communication wire for the 240 line voltage ?
Great video
Thanks!
Excellent instructor!! 👍🏼👍🏼
I appreciate that!
Craig, love your videos...I have a 20 year old Heil R22 heat pump TXV 3 ton. For me to do a superheat would I accurately measure low side at condenser or evap? I have an accurate thermocouple with towel over it, and old style gauges. My manual says 12 degrees SH. Thank you, Anthony
Recovery machines have check valves sum models.
Nice job. Love watching your content. Is there a minimum amount of line set required for that unit?
He would say to check with the manufacture.
what about using at 34:41 a silicone grease paste? i heard a friend who use it... is he wrong? it's the same silicone grease he use for flashlight aluminum threads, he says it's perfect for this job because it is quite dense and if used only around the surface area that "presses"
Hello Craig, question. If one is remodeling a basement and wants to install a mini split would you leave extra line set length in the situation described next? If you put a hole through the sill plate, and ran the line set between the floor joists to a soffit and then installed the air handler on the other side of the soffit, and then you drywalled the floor joists to create a basement ceiling, Lets say 3 years later a new better mini split comes out and the customer wants the new outside unit and inside air handler. Since it would possibly take destroying the ceiling drywall to add a new line set, would leaving extra line set length outside and in the soffit allow for future re-flares? Would this apply to any mini split installation where the line set is behind drywall or the air handler isn't on an exterior wall? Thank you and great video!
Thanks for sharing sir👍
I don't know if you monitor your videos, AC Service Tech, but I want to know if you've ever removed an existing Mitsubishi mini-split indoor unit from a wall? In our case, I can't see a backing plate and, quite frankly, the Mitsu indoor unit that I'm referring to doesn't seem to budge when I try lifting it up. I suppose another way to ask this is, in your experience, does Mitsu use backing plates like the one you filmed for this video to mount their mini-split indoor units? By the way, the indoor unit that I'm asking about is an MSZ-FE18NA. Thank you for any help you can give us..
Do you have any videos on doing Vacuum on a mutli zone LG LMU243HV, that has two service ports while the piping goes to separate ports.
What was wrong with that Fujitsu? It should still be under warranty.
Not that one , I did notice that the indoor head was not a 12 RLS2 which is the match for the outdoor condenser. ThecRLS2 had a different type of front cover that raised up when powered on .
Awesome
What outdoor surge protector do you recommend?
Can you provide a link to the 3/8" vacuum hose that you used?
Just out of curiosity, how much is a install like this in the US?
Thanks for another great video.
I have a 10/12-yr-old 24k Daikin Mini-Split Inverter that I removed from my Florida home and brought to NJ. I was going to trash it so it sits in two pieces, sans the line-set inside my utility trailer. Can this system be shop tested to see if it would be worthwhile to install it here in my NJ home? I don't want to go through a complete installation only to find out it actually needs to be replaced, at 82 years I don't need any more practice, if you know what I mean? There is currently no refrigerant or gas in either of the two pieces.
Hey Craig. On a multi head split, do I have to connect the highest btu head to the lowest ports on the outdoor unit?
Discontinued condenser unit, it’s main board is burned out, 3 to 4 months replacement parts. If I just buy same btu/seers different brand condenser replacement, will the communication between the indoor and outdoor is the same. Or each brand has its own thermostat and communication system. If you can do a video on the one wire Thermostat it will be great.
does the type of filter matter for the recovery?
Can You reuse recovered gas for charging other units?
What is that surge protector brand
For a multizone mini split system in cooling, why when one unit is turned on, the line ices up and the system won’t cool but as soon as you turn on a second indoor unit, then they both cool as they should?
Good morning,
In which city do you serve?
Why do you personally still use a manifold gauge set when in other videos you mention that individual guages are better? I understand you still demonstrate with them because they are prolific but I'm wonderingif there are any other advantages other than cost and quicker transition from check/vaccum/leak/fill. I dont have much experience with HVAC and am curious.
whats the purpose of doing a nitrogen pressure test and a vacuum test? is doing just a vacuum test not sufficient?
A white conductor used for power should be colored (Sharpie) or taped black to indicate it is now energized. I'm going to fix a service upgrade where the installer landed the white, unmarked L2 to the neutral bar. I will land it on the breaker after marking it.
Fantastic video and quality workmanship. I am currently installing a Mitsubishi 4 zone. What cfm vacuum pump do you recommend for probably 130ft of total line set? Can you still achieve 100 microns on that much line set ? Thanks
Why not recycly the refrigerant back to the outdoor unit？
Couldn't you just perform a pump down on the fujitsu instead of recovering the refrigerant?
Usually there is a plug in the back for the drain on one side opposite of where it is connected. You can remove that plug and put drain on other side so that drain is closest to line set hole. Remember to put plug on other hole 😅
Do you have to use the whole Hilmor arsenal for a good install? JK
Should you have turned the machine on before you purged the lines to purge the air fully out of the machine?
I wish you were my uncle..
Never trust manufacturing flares
I don’t know why you would say the wire incoming to the condensing unit is wrong. It’s a white wire why not use red coding tape on that wire. As far as it being stranded why would that matter ?
I’m don’t know much but why would you use tape to change the color of a wire. That seems like a practice that would confuse everything.
@@MrElemonator NEC code requires hot wires to be certain colors and when a different color has to be repurposed it should be marked so the next tech knows it's possibly hot.
I agree. If stranded is used, it should be terminated with a fitting so it doesn't stray from the screws. Especially on that type of terminal block.The important point about the wires is that they are rated for the unit ampacity.
@@rcstl8815 it was solid core wire being used so why is he changing to stranded.
@@rcstl8815 this is a practice that I thought was common place and accepted
The fk. Im tightening as fk to be aute its ok but not tearing ofc. You almost tighten it and it started beeping 😅
I can see why they are replacing the Figitsu. I had a Figitsu and it was junk. 3 years old and and I spent a fortune trying to fix it. I finally just swapped it out with a Nortek (air temp). Very happy so far.
i work in reaserch and devlop, any hvac refrigeration cut out flares THEY WILL LEAK HOT COLD HOT COLD LEAK YOUR A BAD INSTALL
Not true , I’ve done hundreds of installs without leaks using flares . Do it once and do it correct and you will be fine with flares .