Customer Reviews for MRCOOL DIY Gen-3 18,000 BTU 20 SEER ENERGY STAR Ductless Mini Split Air Conditioner & Heat Pump w/ 25 ft. Install Kit 230-Volt

I bought the unit from Home Depot Online at the end of April 2020. In fact, Home Depot had the best price on the market. The shipment wasn't very smooth though since the indoor and outdoor units arrived on different dates and one of the boxes came with scatches. The unit however was intact. The installation was relatively easy as advertised (perhaps 6 hours total through a couple of days... in my case). The area intended to cover was around 900 square feet. During the two and a half months of being in use, I have nothing to complain about since it is working just fine and operating very well considering the Southern California summer heats. I'm glad to also notice that it is actually energy-efficient since my electricity bill has not gone up more than about $20- $25 over the previous charges. The only reason for not picking 5 stars is because of the technical support. I contacted MrCool about a month and a half ago because of a defective SmartHVAC device (the connection to WiFi) and I'm still waiting for the replacement. I also asked to purchase the 3-year warranty on the same occasion and I still have not received any response. Other than that, I am very satisfied with this purchase.

Condenser is very quiet so far it’s been great have not used it too much yet since the Alaskan days are not too hot yet.. the heater does get pretty hot but will see when we hit winter here and see how it holds up.. Easy install took me and my dad about 5hrs to do it all

Installation from start to finish is simple and straight forward. My hardest part was determining exactly where I wanted to install the unit. I opted to use the full 25 feet of line set as to not have it bundled which is ok to do but I'm a stickler for a smooth finish look. I would also suggest making a punch list before you begin. I choose to pour a slab for the outside unit instead of the bracket mount or other options for my install. It truly is DIY if you have knowledge doing any electrical safely and by code. My installation took a little longer than Mr Cool's video (recommend) did but only because I ran in to a triple wall stud drilling my through wall hole for the line set. Again, it's straight forward and the end results were a room staying at very cold temperature with little to almost no noise. My ceilings fans have a higher hum than this unit. The outside is just as quiet, you have to see the fan turning to know it's running. It's only been running for a month but I feel confident it'll last. Also made a couple calls to them for clarification and they picked up the phone immediately and answered my question.

Very straight forward to install and works great.

Was fairly easy to install, it is currently cooling 2300 square feet of house quite nicely. We bought the 24k btu DIY model.

Absolutely love this mini split air conditioner. Works amazing! Definitely recommend!

3rd gen better than last and easier to install. Quiet and effective

Well packaged and easy to install I didn't really use the instructions but the YouTube videos were great and very informative. The outdoor unit was a bit heavy for just one person to move and position correctly. I would say it's a 2 person job. I installed the 18000 btu unit in an uninsulated lake house in CT approximately 575 sq feet. I oversized the unit based on the fact that there is no insulation and so far I've only used the heat. It is able to maintain 70% with an outdoor temperature of 30%. Both the indoor and outdoor units are whisper quiet unless on turbo. The indoor unit is very nice looking compared to others I've seen. I'm not sure it was worth an extra $500 just for the charged line set in the diy unit but with all the social distancing going around due to Corona virus I didn't want to wait on someone else to draw a vacuum on the unit so I paid extra for the DIY. The one thing I was not happy with is one of the fittings that the line set attaches to the outdoor unit was a little loose and I didn't notice till I was threading on the line set and once you do that you can't take it off or you lose the charge. I was able to tighten it slightly hopefully it holds . I also bought the optional line set cover for the outside of the house

This unit was very easy to install. Very power, looks great and can heat and cool entire first floor. It is very quiet and has tons of features. Highly recommend

Overall, the installed product seems to be working properly, and the installation is attractive. Now, on to the details. In looking through the parts provided, I found some tiny plastic expansion bolts. These were, supposedly, provided to hold the wall mount for the indoor unit. These plastic things are not something I would use to hold a picture frame, much less the indoor unit of this heat pump. Not a big deal, really, everyone has bigger screws laying around. Mine was NOT a DIY installation in an existing structure. I was installing mine in a new construction environment. Keep this in mind as I continue. Not a really big deal, but there are differences. For my new construction environment, I had to mount a quarter sheet of drywall and then mount the indoor unit. I installed the mounting bracket to the studs per the template, and with some sturdier screws than were provided. When I hung the unit on the provided bracket it did not pull up to the wall very tightly. The bracket is very FLIMSY! I had to dismount the unit, not trivial, and add a couple more screws as near as possible to the mounting tabs. This helped a little but a stiffer mounting bracket would have been better. There are many videos online for installing the MRCool units. The ones I watched showed the indoor unit coming with the piping already attached. I initially thought that was a good idea, eliminating a pair of the DIY connections.. However, in looking back, my unit did not have attached tubing, and that was best for my installation. I mounted my quarter sheet of dry wall, cut the hole per the directions, and fed the tubing through the hole in a predictable manner. So, now I had the unit mounted on the wall with the tubing bent properly and extending below my drywall, providing good access to the making the required connections. My installation is on the second floor of new construction. It was easy to unroll the tubing set into a straight line and and feed it from the first floor to the second floor. Making the connections on the indoor unit was a little scary, because this is where the money is, but in reality it was really easy. Per the instructions, get the connectors in perfect alignment,and then tighten with the wrenches as described. One detail, when you unroll the pair of tubes, you find that the connectors are at different positions relative to the connectors on the indoor unit. Well, running a finger down thru the the insulating material separates the two tubes into two single stand alone tubes and the problem is eliminated. Duh! There is a lot of discussion about proper torque. I won't comment on that other than to say that the tubing, properly connected, bottoms out, dead stop! When it bottoms out, tighten with a good turn. Unless you are a gorilla, I doubt you will break anything, I left the excess tubing coiled inside the wall on the first floor. The installation is not pretty but it is inside the first floor wall and the unit works. So all's well that ends well, eh? A couple other concerns during the installation. The lugs on the control cable were completely covered with rubber insulation. I thought I was missing something but in the end I cut off the insulation. You need to look closely to see that the cable ends are actually numbered.for the terminal connections. Additionally, when making the connections to the terminal block in the outdoor unit, the whole terminal block swivels on some point behind the block. Disconcerting, but doesn't seem to matter. A couple other details that contributed to my less than stellar rating: The tape provided to wrap the tubing has no adhesive. It doesn't stay where positioned and is practically worthless for its intended purpose. With my installation being completely inside the building I didn't really need it. There were a couple small dents in the outdoor unit cabinet. These were obviously factory dents and finished over at the factory. There are a couple plastic tabs on the indoor unit that are not properly seated. I'm not going to fool with them. They are a minor distraction. Documentation was good to better with some confusion regarding power requirements between different documents. Some info in the documentation was wrong because some markings had never been applied. I made several calls to tech support before and after the purchase and got great service each time. I have only had the unit for a month. It seems to work well in the low heat mode. I doubt I'll ever use the USB/WIFI interface. I think the unit will heat/cool a large area, but when running the unit in its low speed mode, the unit operates like a cheap heater where the thermostat is in the unit. In other words if you don't have a means to move the air around, then it will recirculate the air to its internal thermostat and the full room will not get the benefit of the unit. User higher fan or external circulating fan. So, overall, the installation was not as worrisome as originally envisioned. It seems to work properly. If it lasts 20 years like the first DIY heat pump I installed in 1977, I'll be really happy! Hope this was useful.

I just bought this unit with low expectations since I live in Florida. I decided to go mini splits over conventional so I can control costs. It was a good choice. Easy to install. Wall bracket should be built to adapt to standard 16 on center wall framing.

Installed the unit in a basement remodel. The installation was straight forward for a medium skilled individual and the unit looks and fits well into the space. Only recommendation is that I would upsize to the next model as it is having a tough time keeping up in the cold temperatures we are having. I live in Pennsylvania and the temps have been pretty low so believe a bigger unit could provide more heating capability. All other features (cooling, operations) have been very good.

So aside from some basic knowledge on how to screw in a light bulb I had never tackled anything this big, after watching some YouTube videos I felt confident enough to install it myself, the hardest part was making room on my electrical panel to install the new breaker and after purchasing some single pole 20A breakers I had enough room to put the new breaker, the second most difficult part was actually drilling a hole through the wall, simply because the drill bit was not as long and the width of the wall.Let me add that you shouldn't cheap out on the disconnect box for the outside,I initially purchased the $10 one from Home Depot and the disconnect was bent and so I had to troubleshoot from the breaker all the way to the Unit sooo get the $30 one with fuses as a double measure. The unit was installed nat the end of summer 2018 and it cooled my 1200sqft 18ft ceiling main level effortlessly. Heating is not as efficient, specifically here in Atlanta when the temp drops below 40F, the air coming out is not as hot even in turbo mode. All that being said I had gotten mutiple quotes from different contractors and they were all comming in at $4800 plus for a 14 seer 2 ton unit. Total cost of the project was $1490 for the unit, $100 in electrical supplies and $7 for the lineset cover which is basically a square plastic gutter from Ace hardware.If you were having second thoughts...don't this will save you $$$$

(This is not a review for the Oasis hyper 230 volt listed above) I bought the Mr Cool DIY 12,000 BTU 500 sqft ductless mini split air conditioner with heater 115 Volt 20 amp Model DIY-12-HP-115A. I bought this last year to put in our master bedroom for my wife, she has a medical condition so during the summer time we keep the master bedroom between 64° to 66° and during the winter about 77° it has been very practical and was easy to install with the help of my son. I've had no issues with it yet, works great for cooling and heating the master bedroom only. It was the best buy for our needs would recommend whether for one room, or great for shop about 500 sqft. It gets cold enough for me to use an extra blanket during the summer time.

Very simple and strait forward. I am glad they had 25 feet of hose because I needed 24.5 from second story

Purchased this unit because it is DIY (only one on the market), the 110 VAC/20A feature, and superb 5/7 year warranty. Ran the hoses through a hot water heater space inside of 3" ABS. Will use 4" next time, was somewhat of a challenge to thread. This is my 3rd install, intend to purchase 4 more units. Central HVAC is a waste of money and very inefficient in a large expanded floor plan with moderade annual temperatures. I love this product..!

Horrible customer service - absolutely will not answer the phone. I have called twice in 2 days and waited 15-20 minutes on hold each time - no one picks up. Great product if you don't need any support.

Great product and simple installation. Thank you Dr. Cool.

If you can drill a 3.5" hole you can install this mini split. Yes its just that simple to install. You may have to hire an electrician for the power but the Mr. Cool its self is an easy DIY. My son and I installed it in about 4 hours, This thing runs so quite you have to stand in front of the inside unit to feel the air blowing on you to see if its running. You cannot hear it on slow and medium. The outside unit is nearly as quite. I installed mine on side of house no vibration no sound.

So far I like everything about this unit, exceptional performance cooling, and was really impressed with how quiet it is.

Relatively simple install, works great.

Got it installed and it works great.

Haven’t received everything.

Everything went smooth as silk. No complaints, the unit performs as advertised, and it's Quiet!