@@SmitHVAC. Yeah should have just went with the non solar version since my house has solar anyways. But I wanted more options if my system was down for some reason.
Currently "enjoying" the winter blast here in WA, a nice cozy 1F this morning. Turned on the 24k unit in the garage since I plan to be working out there most of the day, starting at 37F out there and its cranking along at 2.3kw power! Took some quick measurements yesterday, was getting ~40-45F air temp increase with it at 48F inside, and about 10F outside. Tried putting it on AC limit (~600w) and it would slowly get a bit cooler; so swapped back and forth. Still no solar installed yet, but with the hard overcast days, not sure it'd add much.
I am doing my first winter with a couple of 1 ton heat pumps for heating a bedroom and the living room. I have observed the same thing as far as frequent defrost cycles when the temperature is near freezing and the humidity is high. In the last couple of days we had temperatures just above freezing and heavy fog. Because the defrost cycles were so frequent, I decided to just leave the heat pumps off and heat only with gas until the conditions change.
I am experiencing the same thing currently but the house is holding enough heat during defrost cycles that I have left it running, I'm probably defrosting every 1.5 hours right now
what size solar array do you have hooked up to the EG4 mini. I have read it needs 90-360volts from solar. Do you have any idea what the max amps from solar? I have 2 ecotrackers each is 108volts@ 9.5 amps. coming out of my pv combiner box I have 108volts @ 19 amps. is that to many amps for the 12k eg4 hybrid unit? thank you ,,,,,your videos made me buy a 12k unit yesterday,, you should get Commission,,,, I'm sure a lot of these have been sold due to your videos.
Thanks for using my code, I appreciate it! You are correct on the voltage range and the amps need to be 12a or less so you would need to do some reconfiguring, possibly connecting in series? Join my Facebook group if you have more questions, I have the voltage and specs listed there!
Thanks for the videos. I appreciate the data collection and statistics on your heat pump. I nearly fell to the floor when you said you’re paying 17 cents per kW. I’m in California about 60 miles east of San Francisco and we’re paying 42 cents per kW and if we use our Tier 1 amount (~350-400 kWh) and use Tier 2 the price is even higher, maybe 47-50 cents per kW, ouch… Natural gas is about the same or worse. This month it’s starting at $2.79 per therm. It’s good that you’re reporting the kW’s you’re using and not only the amount it’s costing you. Your viewers can calculate their cost based on their own utilities cost. Keep the videos coming and thanks.
That's crazy! I thought 18 cents per KwH was on the high end 😂 I just got my gas bill for last month and they finally read the meter, it's very low! Keep an eye for that video. Thanks for watching!
I’m in the UK and I pay about 44c kWh. Before the Ukrainian war I was paying about 20c kWh. To give you some context it was $3000 now about $5000 a year 😮
@@SmitHVAC. yes I have seen that too. Not sure about the smell. I did see a video where someone worked out you can hire a JCB Generator and buy red diesel ⛽️ and it’s still cheaper that buying from utility companies. Alas I do have space as I would do it tomorrow. There is definitely some gauging of customers going on for sure.
Cool I guess that model does not have a emergency heat element to use up the grid lol. When it hits the set temperature how often does the compressor run, I think it must be variable speed so it can run slow.
It keeps running at set temperature it just ramps the compressor speed down to maintain. It will only shut off if it exceeds the set temp by 5 or 6 degrees
I find my 1 ton E4 temperature settings at cooling 5 degrees cooler, same as for heating 5 degrees hotter. I use just solar for heating for man shed off solar panels only no grid and it gets toasty at 80 degrees with no problems in Arizona winter at around 40-60F outside.
Also ... do you find the temp sensor for the thermostat to be Wildly inaccurate? I have 3 of these units. I use several WiFi thermometers installed around the house in various rooms. So I am taking readings from several sources and not just the reported room temp from the EG4. To heat the house at 70, I have to set the 2 ton units to 64-65 and the 1 ton unit to 67. If I set them to 70F, my room temps would be upwards of 75+. This pretty much makes the AUTO change over (not fan) feature useless, because instead of the typical 2 degree swing from heat to cool in my standard heat pump, the swing is about 10-13 degrees for these EG4 to make the switch from heat to cool mode when set to auto BTW ... I have been running the units since May of 2023 thru both summer and winter sessions, and my 5 tons total (two 2 ton and one 1 ton) and it keeps my whole 2200 sq ft house as hot or cold as I want. I simply run the blowers of my main 2 heat pumps on circulate mode to move the air around the house. Works perfect. (but I do have a bit of an open floor plan)
Yes I agree. You have to find the sweet spot as far as set temp, they do overshoot the temp by quite a bit. I assume this is intentional to keep the unit running for max efficiency but it can be uncomfortable.. I've only had mine actually turn off a couple times, it seems like it needs to be 5 or 6 degrees over settemp to actually turn off
Great video, I was surprised looking at your solar vs grid consumption graphs. now that you have a full year under your belt, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on improving the solar side to reduce grid useage. Are you still running the unit from batteries or the actual grid when solar isn’t available?
I have some solar upgrades coming I just haven't had the time to get up there and install the new panels. I run it from batteries now and then when I have a full charge but we've had pretty poor solar conditions and I like to have that battery bank at least half full incase of an outage
Great work as always. Quick question. I have a replacement 2 ton that is not the DIY version (with quick connect lines) ... BUT ... I want to shorten the copper lines so I dont have so much behind the unit. Would I do this by cutting off the quick connects, or would it be better to cut and splice in the middle with a coupling? (NOTE: I am MRM1 on the DIY forum)
I would probably cut a section out of the middle and use a coupling unless you have a flaring kit. The factory flares were pretty decent on mine and it's a little easier to work from the middle.
Thanks so much for these videos! Do you happen to know how much energy your system uses when its around 55-65 outdoors and you just want to warm the house up another 5 degrees inside? I live in San Francisco and am wondering if the EG4 setup with solar would be a nice way to augment my house's existing heating system and bring the overall cost of heating down. 4-8 hours of "free" heating sounds nice and if the power consumption is low enough perhaps batteries would be worthwhile to extend things further.
@@SmitHVAC. Thanks for the followup! So would you estimate it draws around ~300W when running in heat mode then? Hoping our moderate climates here will really help that heat pump work efficiently 🤓
@TheSpac3monkey it starts off around 800w and works its way down as the room warms up. By the time I gets down to around 400w I'm usually shutting it off since the house is comfortable
@@SmitHVAC. Thanks again for the followup! There's so much more for me to learn but your videos have been an incredibly helpful resource. Can't wait to get building.
Awsome video. Do you have the power usage in ac mode. I wanted to know what the watts usage when it ramps down and stabilizes. I'm looking to use in a master bedroom at night vs. using a 4 ton central air. Thanks
Rebates in Ontario are such a joke. All of a sudden all the contractors / companies raised the price of a heat pump the exact amount of the rebate.. What a coincidence! Dont worry, you're not missing anything there.
How can I use this unit in a dual fuel application with my existing gas furnace? I want to take advantage of the solar energy directly to the unit on sunny mild days and use my gas furnace on really cold days.
It would take some major modifications to work in a dual fuel setup with a standard A coil. I just use it in addition to my gas furnace and schedule them both accordingly
@@SmitHVAC. Thank you Sir for the reply! Hopefully the manufacturer will come up with a way to connect to an existing air handler using a N type coil I would be willing to pay for that setup especially living in North Carolina our winters mild compared to others so I turn it would really work for us! Thanks for the great videos really good quality and very thorough!
@@SmitHVAC.thank you. Unit runs great and it’s so efficient I don’t even see the need to limit AC. When ac is limited, it uses less wattage but continues but not limited, it heat cycles on and off. It runs great but got me wondering who would service these when there is an issue
Just checked my 24k garage unit, been on about 30 minutes this morning at 1F outside. Its giving me ~30-32F temp increase on airflow (49F up to 80F). Yesterday at 10F I was seeing a bit over 40F increase, so its definitely less efficient, but its still working. Would have to calculate, but I think its still better than a 1.0 efficiency, I'm not pulling out the electric resistance heaters yet.
My 12k unit I ordered Nov 3rd finally shipped Yesterday. Can't wait to get it installed!
Those 12ks are popular! We got another 24k for the basement of the cottage and it wasn't too bad of a wait time
@@SmitHVAC. Yeah should have just went with the non solar version since my house has solar anyways. But I wanted more options if my system was down for some reason.
@@rodneyhunt Yea for the price difference you might as well get the solar version
good info, will enjoy a colder temp test
Currently "enjoying" the winter blast here in WA, a nice cozy 1F this morning. Turned on the 24k unit in the garage since I plan to be working out there most of the day, starting at 37F out there and its cranking along at 2.3kw power! Took some quick measurements yesterday, was getting ~40-45F air temp increase with it at 48F inside, and about 10F outside. Tried putting it on AC limit (~600w) and it would slowly get a bit cooler; so swapped back and forth. Still no solar installed yet, but with the hard overcast days, not sure it'd add much.
Looking good up there. My Fujitsu 9K 33 SEER was pulling a max of 1800W at 100%.
That's turning the compressor pretty good for a 9k!
@@SmitHVAC. 125F SAT, 21F OFB, 72F IDB.
I am doing my first winter with a couple of 1 ton heat pumps for heating a bedroom and the living room. I have observed the same thing as far as frequent defrost cycles when the temperature is near freezing and the humidity is high. In the last couple of days we had temperatures just above freezing and heavy fog. Because the defrost cycles were so frequent, I decided to just leave the heat pumps off and heat only with gas until the conditions change.
I am experiencing the same thing currently but the house is holding enough heat during defrost cycles that I have left it running, I'm probably defrosting every 1.5 hours right now
what size solar array do you have hooked up to the EG4 mini.
I have read it needs 90-360volts from solar.
Do you have any idea what the max amps from solar?
I have 2 ecotrackers each is 108volts@ 9.5 amps.
coming out of my pv combiner box I have 108volts @ 19 amps.
is that to many amps for the 12k eg4 hybrid unit?
thank you ,,,,,your videos made me buy a 12k unit yesterday,, you should get Commission,,,, I'm sure a lot of these have been sold due to your videos.
Thanks for using my code, I appreciate it! You are correct on the voltage range and the amps need to be 12a or less so you would need to do some reconfiguring, possibly connecting in series? Join my Facebook group if you have more questions, I have the voltage and specs listed there!
12 amps , ill have to take 1 array out of combiner box, plug into eg4.
Thank you , you are very informative on the EG4's
Thanks for the videos. I appreciate the data collection and statistics on your heat pump. I nearly fell to the floor when you said you’re paying 17 cents per kW. I’m in California about 60 miles east of San Francisco and we’re paying 42 cents per kW and if we use our Tier 1 amount (~350-400 kWh) and use Tier 2 the price is even higher, maybe 47-50 cents per kW, ouch… Natural gas is about the same or worse. This month it’s starting at $2.79 per therm. It’s good that you’re reporting the kW’s you’re using and not only the amount it’s costing you. Your viewers can calculate their cost based on their own utilities cost. Keep the videos coming and thanks.
That's crazy! I thought 18 cents per KwH was on the high end 😂 I just got my gas bill for last month and they finally read the meter, it's very low! Keep an eye for that video. Thanks for watching!
I’m in the UK and I pay about 44c kWh. Before the Ukrainian war I was paying about 20c kWh. To give you some context it was $3000 now about $5000 a year 😮
That's crazy! I have heard about the UK energy costs, I see a lot of people experimenting with diesel heaters in the UK
@@SmitHVAC. yes I have seen that too. Not sure about the smell. I did see a video where someone worked out you can hire a JCB Generator and buy red diesel ⛽️ and it’s still cheaper that buying from utility companies. Alas I do have space as I would do it tomorrow. There is definitely some gauging of customers going on for sure.
10-15 years or so in Texas we were paying 4-5 cents a KWH. Now it’s about 14 cents.
With my heat pump I've been told not to use it below 5C as it is less efficient. It was set to change to the furnace when it is below 5C outside.
5c is a little warm, we set most heat pumps to changeover at -5c. What heat pump do you have?
Cool I guess that model does not have a emergency heat element to use up the grid lol. When it hits the set temperature how often does the compressor run, I think it must be variable speed so it can run slow.
It keeps running at set temperature it just ramps the compressor speed down to maintain. It will only shut off if it exceeds the set temp by 5 or 6 degrees
I find my 1 ton E4 temperature settings at cooling 5 degrees cooler, same as for heating 5 degrees hotter. I use just solar for heating for man shed off solar panels only no grid and it gets toasty at 80 degrees with no problems in Arizona winter at around 40-60F outside.
Also ... do you find the temp sensor for the thermostat to be Wildly inaccurate? I have 3 of these units. I use several WiFi thermometers installed around the house in various rooms. So I am taking readings from several sources and not just the reported room temp from the EG4. To heat the house at 70, I have to set the 2 ton units to 64-65 and the 1 ton unit to 67. If I set them to 70F, my room temps would be upwards of 75+. This pretty much makes the AUTO change over (not fan) feature useless, because instead of the typical 2 degree swing from heat to cool in my standard heat pump, the swing is about 10-13 degrees for these EG4 to make the switch from heat to cool mode when set to auto
BTW ... I have been running the units since May of 2023 thru both summer and winter sessions, and my 5 tons total (two 2 ton and one 1 ton) and it keeps my whole 2200 sq ft house as hot or cold as I want. I simply run the blowers of my main 2 heat pumps on circulate mode to move the air around the house. Works perfect. (but I do have a bit of an open floor plan)
Yes I agree. You have to find the sweet spot as far as set temp, they do overshoot the temp by quite a bit. I assume this is intentional to keep the unit running for max efficiency but it can be uncomfortable.. I've only had mine actually turn off a couple times, it seems like it needs to be 5 or 6 degrees over settemp to actually turn off
Great video, I was surprised looking at your solar vs grid consumption graphs. now that you have a full year under your belt, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on improving the solar side to reduce grid useage. Are you still running the unit from batteries or the actual grid when solar isn’t available?
I have some solar upgrades coming I just haven't had the time to get up there and install the new panels. I run it from batteries now and then when I have a full charge but we've had pretty poor solar conditions and I like to have that battery bank at least half full incase of an outage
Great work as always. Quick question. I have a replacement 2 ton that is not the DIY version (with quick connect lines) ... BUT ... I want to shorten the copper lines so I dont have so much behind the unit. Would I do this by cutting off the quick connects, or would it be better to cut and splice in the middle with a coupling? (NOTE: I am MRM1 on the DIY forum)
I would probably cut a section out of the middle and use a coupling unless you have a flaring kit. The factory flares were pretty decent on mine and it's a little easier to work from the middle.
@@SmitHVAC. Thanks. Yeah I have a flare kit. And that is what I thought. Just cut it out of the middle.
Thanks so much for these videos! Do you happen to know how much energy your system uses when its around 55-65 outdoors and you just want to warm the house up another 5 degrees inside?
I live in San Francisco and am wondering if the EG4 setup with solar would be a nice way to augment my house's existing heating system and bring the overall cost of heating down. 4-8 hours of "free" heating sounds nice and if the power consumption is low enough perhaps batteries would be worthwhile to extend things further.
I use around 5kw a day on an average temperature day, if I let it run the majority of the day!
@@SmitHVAC. Thanks for the followup! So would you estimate it draws around ~300W when running in heat mode then? Hoping our moderate climates here will really help that heat pump work efficiently 🤓
@TheSpac3monkey it starts off around 800w and works its way down as the room warms up. By the time I gets down to around 400w I'm usually shutting it off since the house is comfortable
@@SmitHVAC. Thanks again for the followup! There's so much more for me to learn but your videos have been an incredibly helpful resource. Can't wait to get building.
Awsome video. Do you have the power usage in ac mode. I wanted to know what the watts usage when it ramps down and stabilizes. I'm looking to use in a master bedroom at night vs. using a 4 ton central air. Thanks
This video is Ac power usage ruclips.net/video/g-uBJFXieUY/видео.html
@@SmitHVAC. Thank you.
The app you show comes with the unit or made by someone else?
You get any grant/credit for the purchase price of the mini split itself?
What state/province you located in?
No in Ontario Canada minisplits need to have more than 1 hey unit to qualify for a rebate. My father in law was able to get tax credit for his in NY
@@SmitHVAC. I see thanks, yea I’m in Ontario too and rent so I can’t even apply for rebates, but that makes me feel better.
Rebates in Ontario are such a joke. All of a sudden all the contractors / companies raised the price of a heat pump the exact amount of the rebate.. What a coincidence! Dont worry, you're not missing anything there.
The poor solar. This is where I like the idea of being able to max out the array. Doing this will help pick up on those crappy days.
I have a 1600w array of bifacials, just no time to get it installed right now!
How can I use this unit in a dual fuel application with my existing gas furnace? I want to take advantage of the solar energy directly to the unit on sunny mild days and use my gas furnace on really cold days.
It would take some major modifications to work in a dual fuel setup with a standard A coil. I just use it in addition to my gas furnace and schedule them both accordingly
I spoke to the manufacturer about using a ksaic0301230 interface but they don't think it would be compatible
@@SmitHVAC.
Thank you Sir for the reply!
Hopefully the manufacturer will come up with a way to connect to an existing air handler using a N type coil I would be willing to pay for that setup especially living in North Carolina our winters mild compared to others so I turn it would really work for us!
Thanks for the great videos really good quality and very thorough!
Does yours continuously blow air after heat is cut off? Mine keeps blowing air 24/7. Fan is set to auto
Even if you turn off the unit?
No. When I leave it on heat .
When it reaches set point (5-7 degrees past), heat cuts off but fan continues to blow air making it feel chilly.
@@kennethoh6928 Oh, yes the fan will always run, that's how it sees the indoor temp on the head unit
@@SmitHVAC.thank you. Unit runs great and it’s so efficient I don’t even see the need to limit AC.
When ac is limited, it uses less wattage but continues but not limited, it heat cycles on and off.
It runs great but got me wondering who would service these when there is an issue
Would 2000 watt generator run this for a off grid cabin?
Yes, easily
How cold will this unit work too?
Rated to minus 10 but I've ran it colder than that and it worked fine
@@SmitHVAC. Thank you. Is that -10C or -10F?
Do they work below freezing? What is the lowest temp they can deal with?
Cold and dry 2F here this AM no problems. Officially rated 5F?? I have 3 units, 2 12k and 1 24k. Love them - bought one then two more.
Should have some colder temps coming next week. Will make a video then
Just checked my 24k garage unit, been on about 30 minutes this morning at 1F outside. Its giving me ~30-32F temp increase on airflow (49F up to 80F). Yesterday at 10F I was seeing a bit over 40F increase, so its definitely less efficient, but its still working. Would have to calculate, but I think its still better than a 1.0 efficiency, I'm not pulling out the electric resistance heaters yet.
@@PlumCrazyRob That’s plenty good for me! Thanks for the reply!
@@Zyzzyx42 Thank you!
Using less than a space heater on low!