Mini split used indoors...???

bgmike8

bgmike8

Well-Known Member
I have a 7x13 space that will have 9x600watt hid's.
The room is sealed so to speak from the rest of the basement.
Would it be crazy to put the condesor 30 feet away in the basement?

At least through the winter? Im not sure how much heat it will put off but it might even be helpful if i can funnel it up into the house..

Any thoughts?
 
Well, I suppose you could do that so long as the area the condenser is located will stay below 90F. If the condenser is too hot all the time it will fail prematurely. It will put out a good deal of heat, all the heat it pulls from the grow area plus the heat it creates in the process.
 
F80M4 said:
Why don't you leave the unit outside
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If it has low ambient rating that will handle the coldest temperatures outside then it will run really efficient in the cold. Mine don't even turn the condenser fans when it's really cold out, sometimes they just barely turn.

The other thing to consider is noise, some of the cheaper condenser units get rather noisy when the fan is cranking hard due to heat.

The only reason to run the unit indoors would be stealth, it does look odd when someone has an AC running when it's bitter cold outside.
 
F80M4 said:
Why don't you leave the unit outside
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Stealth. Ease of installation. My other options would be to run a window unit in a small room next to it. Id have to seal that off and add some intake holes to the grow room and hope it pulls in enough cool air through the negative pressure... For smell of course.
I like the idea of the split for odor reasons and then Maybe i could install it outside this summer...
 
bgmike8 said:
Stealth. Ease of installation. My other options would be to run a window unit in a small room next to it. Id have to seal that off and add some intake holes to the grow room and hope it pulls in enough cool air through the negative pressure... For smell of course.
I like the idea of the split for odor reasons and then Maybe i could install it outside this summer...
Click to expand...

Well to move the unit later you will need a refrigerant recovery pump and a recovery cylinder. A set of refrigerant scales to weigh in the charge after you move the unit.

I have seen some units that have a dip switch pump down mode setting and you close the high side refrigerant valve on the condenser and the dip switches over ride the unit and it will pump itself down, pulling all the refrigerant from the low side evaporator loop back into the unit, watch the gauge manifold and when you just start to pull a vacuum on the low side then you close the low side valve and all the refrigerant is back in the condenser unit like it was from the factory so you can then disconnect the line set and move it. Still it's better to recover the refrigerant and weigh out the charge, see if you lost any of the factory charge. Then you can weigh in a full charge after moving the unit, pressure testing the line set with nitrogen and pulling a hard vacuum.

The condenser unit will likely put out more heat than you expect and if you cook the unit you will be looking to replace the compressor within a year or two.

I knew a dude back in Missouri that was trying to do something similar with a brand new big ass 25,000 btu/hr window AC unit and had the condenser side stuck thru the wall into another unused room, so it would not freeze up in the winter and so it would be stealth. That room was connected to a blower and he was pulling heat out of there for sure, pumping it outside with an 8 inch centrifugal fan, but not enough heat was being moved out of that room, it was always hot as hell in there, in the 90's all the time. That unit only ran for about 5 or 6 months before the compressor gave out.
 
The unit I have works -40c, have a few people I know using it says it works great. Sadly it's a 3ton and made by Samsung. I'll upgrade to a 4ton or 5ton later
 
F80M4 said:
I'll upgrade to a 4ton or 5ton later
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Or maybe just add a second unit, then if one goes down the other is still going. Might be handy in other ways as well, like running one in a dehu mode if needed. Plus having two air handlers could distribute the cooling more evenly. Just a thought instead of a complete replacement.
 
Renfro said:
and damn thats cold, -40c and -40f are actually the same. lol
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Lol damn

Renfro said:
Or maybe just add a second unit, then if one goes down the other is still going. Might be handy in other ways as well, like running one in a dehu mode if needed. Plus having two air handlers could distribute the cooling more evenly. Just a thought instead of a complete replacement.
Click to expand...

What do you mean? I can run another head unit for the mini split?
 
I have my condenser unit inside my basement, i built a plywood box around the whole thing so i could prefilter the air it pulls through the unit and ducted the box outside of the house with a 12 inch can fan to help pull the air out... to run the fan only when the condenser unit is running i used a temp controller and put its senser probe inside the box i built. It works very well as soon as the fan on the unit kicks on the temperature rises fast enough to kick the can fan on a minute or two later, goes right outside in the summer and winter time i pull the duct and can fan and allow the unit to help heat my basement, works awesome and use half the oil durring the cold months.
 
I remember some company that made what they called a stealth system where part of the outside unit was usable indoors. I don't remember the company or he design. But somehow I think they turned it into 3 parts instead of 2 with the outside unit being quiet and small. Sorry for the minimal info.
 
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