Why do these things even exist...

God that commercial is forever in my fucking brain because it was played all the fucking time in the 90s. Ironically though the last thing I ever did buy at a Sears was my window a/c.

Efficiency of mini split is identical to efficiency of window. They use same components.
It is even higher, since you have 20 cm long lines, not 3+ meters.
Plus, freon won't leak, since it would be brazed at factory, and doesn't have any flare connections.
Air leaks are minor, and fresh air is nice to have.

Plus, you don't have to worry about niggers cutting copper lines. It happen in shitholes, you know

Then they shout be banned by the government. There's no excuse for using these things, and poor people can just go without air conditioning if they can't afford it.

Are you an undergrad?

what if there are already holes in the walls for a permanent ac unit? what about that one, bub?

It absolutely is not more efficient when all it has is a thin piece of plastic around it with gaps everywhere. Even the unit itself lets air through it because the area around the compressor isn't weather-sealed in any way. You literally need to keep your window permanently open all summer when you have one of these.

Landlords say yes, if you say "Fine, if I will move away, I will leave it installed, so you can have more profit".
Dude, window AC cost nearly the same, as split. $300 for 9000BTU or something like that.
Installation of split can be done by homeowners (except vacuuming and charging, but it is cheap to hire HVAC nigger).

People just want something fast without fuckery. Like boom, $300 and cool summer guantee.
Also this.

We dont have these kind of windows you could even install an window AC in, all windows are with doors and not sliding up and down, also AC in general is only a thing in the southern countries where its really warm

>is a thin piece of plastic around it with gaps everywhere.
True, but it is your problem for not filling holes with something, like temporary caulking thing , and 1 x 40 cm hole won't do a much to efficiency.
> Even the unit itself lets air through it because the area around the compressor isn't weather-sealed in any way.
Engineers aren't retards, they have all needful shrouds and stuff.
> You literally need to keep your window permanently open all summer when you have one of these.
Yes, only real issue.

They're just as loud and still let hot air through because the unit itself is not weather sealed.

here in the utopian first-world territories of southeastern brazil these units are, in fact, sealed, (usually with foam or silicon) so you don't get noise or air leakage.
how come they aren't in white countries?

If you are smart you seal them but most people who use window ACs are only using them as a temporary thing and remove them once fall hits
They are not the permanent source of air conditioning

Whats stops you from using weather stripping in order to seal better?

huh, interesting. i'd imagine you'd just leave them there, vents closed during the cold months, and use a space heater or something.
removing the unit sounds like a hassle.

Or using unit as heater, since many have 4-way valve.

You have to remove it once in a while in order to clean it.

that face when the commercial was less about selling air conditioners, and more about a warning of what we'll grow up to become.

>everyone has these pieces of shit
Try moving out of the ghetto.

It's not your AC, there's 3 main things that hinder cooling in a typical home:

1.) The dumb fucks who made the attic didn't install a proper active and passive ventillation system under the roof so heat builds up easily and stays there. Can't do shit about that.

2.) Your windows are dogshit. Either single pane antiques or double pane chink trash with normal air pumped between the panes. Your best solution is to get 100% blackout thermal blinds/curtains (preferably in white to reflect solar UV radiation).

3.) Your lightbulbs are dogshit. Incandescent light bulbs convert only 2% of the electricity they recieve into actual light, the rest is just heat. CFLs are better but led bulbs provide the highest light/heat ratio. If you change all the 10-50 lightbulbs where you live you'll significantly recude heat generated by lightning (can approach 1,000+ watts in a big home).

If all of these things are addressed you'll be able to cool down a room in like half an hour and keep it cool for hours on end with the AC off. Though still being able to address #2 & #3 will probably cut your cooling costs in half.

Attached: IMG_1899.png (1136x640, 1M)

Why is everyone shitting on mobile AC?

I was trying to get a 500$ Honeywell "(((12,000BTU)))" unit, are they really that bad for a tiny room?

A bunch of neets who can't find jobs even when we actually try?

They are not efficient at all other than spot cooling. The only good ones are the dual duct ones and even than the cheap ass window mounted AC unit is more efficient...

Window AC units are fine really unless on the front of the house and look ugly as shit. If your smaller AC is working too hard during a real bad week then give it a little helping hand with some ghetto tech.

Attached: Ghetto ac.jpg (1280x720, 110K)

evaporative coolers only work if the humidity is low. and if it is you can cool yourself rather more effectively by drinking the water and pointing the fan at yourself.

I'd rather duct tape home depot cardboard on my windows to black out my room and use a portable led work light as my only source of light in my room than do something that stupid and innefficient.

They seem to work fine if setup properly. I use those re-freezable containers instead of ice as it does seem to last longer. Also I use a Ryobi fan, so it can be corded or use cordless battery packs to run.

Attached: Ryobi fan butt.jpg (1000x1000, 115K)

>Then they shout be banned by the government. There's no excuse for using these things, and poor people can just go without air conditioning if they can't afford it.
But they were able to afford it user, before the government said they couldn't

In the US Pioneer (Midea) is a good inexpensive (Chinese) brand and includes very detailed DIY setup instructions and troubleshooting information.

Vacuum pump, gauges and oil (bare minimum to setup if you're not also cutting your own lineset) is under $150. Single units are ~700, dual-head is ~$1500.

Very doable and light-years ahead of window units.

>When I go to Europe nobody has these
They don't sell them in my shithole, and never did.
I would totally buy one since the cheapest a/c you can get in my shithole is €400 and minimum wage is 550

HVAC companies charge $1-2000 easy for the install so most people say F it and drag out the window unit every year.

A window unit for a single room is only $100, and thats only after Obama's EPA banned cheaper less efficient models

What the fuck is a mini split
Not one image of one has been posted ITT

>Why do these things even exist?
When you only have one room you want to keep cool, at a cooler level than the rest of the dwelling. Especially good for the room your desktop computer is in.
>75 degrees
Now that's what I don't understand. Crank that baby down to as low as it will go, and get under the covers to get warm again. That's how you're supposed to do it.

Because the landlord doesn't want to spend the money. Especially since making tenants buy their own unit costs them nothing.

Perhaps when people stop moving here and they have to start being competitive to get customers they'll care more, but right now there's a shortage of homes so they've no incentive. By the time that happens I will be done with college and out of Oregon though. If it happens at all. . .

Can't bolt anything to the exterior walls. Might work on a balcony, but then it'd be in the way.

If you had a hole in the wall sized to fit one it wouldn't be stupid or inefficient.

He was talking about my ghetto bucket model.

This user posted one

Thats because you are a retard and dont know how to install a window AC unit. I have mine completely insulated. The area around the unit is more energy compliant than the window that was in its place.

Because they work twice as good as the rolling floor ones and there are lots of homes and apartments with no central AC.
Just stuff some cardboard and old bed foam in the sides and slap some tape over the inside and it works fine.

You can cut out a board the size and shape of the window with a hole for the AC unit and stuff insulation between the board and the unit. You wont even feel the cold of a -10 Fahrenheit winter through it.

>All of EU have the same climate

>certified specialist to install them
Why?
It's very easy to do so, you just need power drill if you want to make a hole in a wall, alternatively just cut the glass in a near by window.
Paying 100$ for basic hand skills is too much.

Those things should be illegal. I see people install them wrong so they fall out of windows all the time.

Can I ask for mini-split AC advice? or that's more of a DIY thing?
It's mostly technology related.

My Daddy never says “No” to me. x

I have a really small one I can set in a window and blow cool air on my for spot cooling. I have a small fan I can help direct the air to me if the unit it too far away or at a sharp angle to me. It cost like $90 and uses less power than my old gaming PC. I can install or remove it in less than 5 mins and it is so light that I can hold it straight out with one hand.

Because, I use it only for spot cooling, I don't need to cool the entire room and it doesn't need to run much. There's even a remote I can have with me that has a temperature sensor to signal the AC when to turn on and off. On a full summer's days of use it raises my electric bill by about $25/month. My PC is about $30/month in electric. My neighbor's electric bill is about $200ish/month for his central air (wtf).

The best part is that I can move it from room to room when doing work. I've even used it in the attic window for an electrical job up there when it was fucking 125F in the attic.

Like a wooden board? Have any pics or more detailed instructions, I'm tired of taking down my AC every winter

You need more than that.
Professional HVAC will suck vacuum, pressure test the system, and he knows how to flare and bend tubes.
DIY-yer (at least I did) will fuck up copper pipes, and won't pressure test system. I didn't even vacuum the lines. So, longevity is compromised, thus not covered by warranty.
Yes, it is doable, but see above.
Loud and doesn't work as heat pump in many cases.
I was in Spain (Barcelona), Greece, Croatia, and I don't remember them having much ACs, despite +35C...
Not when you have +35C. No matter how much you'd ventilate your attic, you won't get acceptable +25C.
Thing with remote, that hangs on the wall and cools air.
Ask here, but /diy/ might know better, since there you might find drunk HVAC nigger, which is in mood to tell about trade secrets of his job.

In some US states, namely the southern ones, its actually illegal for a landlord to rent out a place without some form of AC, and if it breaks then they are liable within 24-hours. And Southern states are about as "fuck poor people" pro landowner as it gets.

Nobody wants to be hot.

>Ask here, but /diy/ might know better, since there you might find drunk HVAC nigger, which is in mood to tell about trade secrets of his job.
1. For the outside unit, how far should I put it away from the wall for better air flow?
2. the connectors of the copper wiring to the outside units sometimes have thin layer of ice, is this normal? should I do something?
3. How often should I wash the radiator fins? outside and inside unit?
4. sometimes the inside unit have ice on the fins, why?
5. how do i know if the unit is low on gas?

Attached: 1559139816091.jpg (720x960, 129K)

dry ice a/c is all you need.
youtube.com/watch?v=I9Td5uMB_vQ

>1. For the outside unit, how far should I put it away from the wall for better air flow?
It is usually specified in the manual. 15-30 cm would do. More is better.
>2. the connectors of the copper wiring to the outside units sometimes have thin layer of ice, is this normal? should I do something?
Did you mean refrigerant lines? They shouldn't have ice. They may be wet, but no ice.
This probably means that you have low charge.
>3. How often should I wash the radiator fins? outside and inside unit?
I have no idea.
Outdoor unit - once in gets really dirty.
Indoor - probably once in three-six month. Look at it, if it looks dirty to you, or you smell mold - clean it.
>4. sometimes the inside unit have ice on the fins, why?
Either low air flow, or low refrigerant.
>5. how do i know if the unit is low on gas?
With gauges. Or indirectly (ice on tubes etc).

Again, I'm not an HVAC nigger, just bumblefuck that installed AC and read couple articles about shit.

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American education

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And yeah, check for oil near flares. If you have oil - you should charge it, if leak is slow (once in 2+ years) or make new flares if it is bad.

>Did you mean refrigerant lines? They shouldn't have ice. They may be wet, but no ice.
>This probably means that you have low charge.
It's exactly like the pic you posted.
Why does this happen?
does this mean ice is forming inside the tube?
I've heard putting grease/Vaseline help in preventing the ice formation.

>Why does this happen?
Low charge, freon leaks somewhere over time, and ends up boiling inside tube, not in evaporator coil, which causes it to ice up.
Probably someone did shitty flare (most likely), or you got defective coil that leaks somewhere. (Less likely)
>does this mean ice is forming inside the tube?
No, I guess.
>I've heard putting grease/Vaseline help in preventing the ice formation.
You need to charge the thing, or even reflare it.
It is not expensive, at least in third worlds.

So leak is the only way to lose gas?

So, basically you have this thing, and if you flare pipe badly (i.e. cracks, rough edges, or small size, not tightened good/overtightened) you would end up with leak.

Attached: flare-fitting-1.jpg (1600x886, 141K)

So I just tighten it?

Yep.
How often do you charge fridge? Never, since it is brazed at factory and soldered connection don't leak that often.
In case of mini-split, you have flare connection ( ) which is made by HVAC nigger. They might fuck up, some do it on purpose so they can charge system later on. Some just don't know how to do shit right. Some are just unlucky.

Just looking at the cost of buying dry ice, that can't be economical, and using water ice seems like it would blow all sorts of moisture around the house.

Rental apartments?
Not everybody is allowed to install a split unit.

>using water ice seems like it would blow all sorts of moisture around the house.
That should be easy enough to fix: just keep the ice in the plastic bag it came in.

It might help, but it may make stuff even worse if you have something like pic related. (if you don't deburr tube, you will end up with copper "step", which is fragile and develops cracks over time like pic related. Sometimes you may flare it like that.)
If leak is slow (like once in 2-5 years) I won't touch shit and just charge it, and continue contributing to global warming by having leaky AC. Maybe I would buy freon tank somewhere somehow (you need license for that in many countries) and gauges.
If leaks is fast (less than a year) I would definitely compress freon into outdoor box (not all, since you don't want moist air there), and reflare stuff, vacuum and charge.
Close doors and windows for best effect.

Attached: Untitled - 57.jpg (415x356, 20K)

I see so there's no valve to close when doing anything to the lines.
If I open those it will leak the charge.
Is there a way to seal the leak other than tightening it?
Maybe using some teflon tape?

I lice in the UK and got a "mini split" system in my home office last year. Fantastic purchase, not just useful when it's super hot but just generally. It beats opening the window during hayfever season and also at night when the bugs come in.

Uses sod all energy too cos it's super efficient. 82 kWh (so about £10) in the first 11 months.

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Try this.
1. Turn on AC to heat (so you have higher pressure on those lines)
2. Soapy water flares (inside in the evap, and outside). If you see bubbles - you have a leak.
>I see so there's no valve to close when doing anything to the lines.
You remove nuts (that have no lines, obv), and you will see two Allen things. Those are valves, that you can close.
(pic related)
Idea is following. You turn on AC to cool, and close liquid line (thin tube). Watch pressure, once it gets close to 1.25 bar (I have no idea, I'm not an HVAC nigger), close all lines, and turn off unit ASAP. Then you will unscrew lines, some gas will went, but that is not much. I'm not sure if this is EPA compliant (probably not), but who gives a fuck.

But I advise you to do nothing, since you won't be able to save freon without gauges without risking sucking air.
>Is there a way to seal the leak other than tightening it?
Yes. Cut bad flare and make new one. (if it leaks there, since you may have leak elsewhere, like in condenser or evaporator, which I think is difficult to find without sniffer-gas-detector)
>Maybe using some teflon tape?
You don't use Teflon on ACs.

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What the fuck? Here in Argentina we can't live without AC

And check if stuff is dirty, since low airflow can cause icing too.
Do the simplest stuff first.
I guess depends.

Here in the Asia Pacific, buildings were designed with places specifically for window AC units, and they are permanent fixtures with insulation foam filling up the gaps.

If you have sound problems than you have a shitty unit because Hitachi dual vents are just as silent as mini splits. Efficiency with mini splits drops drastically the longer distance you run piping to the outdoor unit and even more so if you're doing 90 degree bends and vertical runs.

Window ACs are easy to install, easy to maintain, minimal problems with refrigerant pressure and leakage and don't require drilling holes through concrete to run pipes. All newer DC inverter units can maintain temperature within +-1C doesn't have a start/stop thump or the warm/cold air cycle of old AC units.
Professional installation of mini splits often cost so much that moving a unit from one install location to the next is often not worth it.

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>I'm not sure if this is EPA compliant (probably not), but who gives a fuck.
yo dude mother nature gives a fuck

if you let freon out into the atmosphere it will FUCK our ozone layer and then the sun will FUCK us.

Do you want to get FUCKED by the SUN?

>yo dude mother nature gives a fuck
R410A is not ozone depleting. 10-20 grams won't do much to global warming. I'm not venting entire kilo (or whatever charge was), like all thirdworlders do. Plus, it already leaked, so whatever.
R22, older gas, is ozone depleting, but it is like super weak (compared to R12), and this is the reason why it is being banned only now.
Europoor ACs have Hitler special, R32, flammable gas. It is 1/4 or R410A global warming potential, but you don't want that shit to leak due to it being flammable.
I meant 0,25 bar, since 0 bar is atm pressure on those gauges.

They're illegal in Europe you moron.

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>God tier
R410a
>Good tier
R22
>Meh tier
R134a
>Fire hazard tier
R32
>God tier in small quantities, but bomb in high quantity
R600a, R290

I remember during my time in Japan that rooms either had dirt poor tier simple fans, or having mini-splits; a little surprised to see they manufactor window units.

What makes them bomb?

A lot of them are in the vertical orientation and hidden behind curtains.
In the city, newer buildings are foregoing the designated window AC space and are being specifically designed for mini splits or central air.

Propane and isobutane are flammable. Same shit you use to solder pipes and cook.
And they might explode, if you have sufficient amount of it in the air.

Actually, there were cases of new fridges going kaboom due to this.

>Here in the Asia Pacific, buildings were designed with places specifically for window AC units, and they are permanent fixtures with insulation foam filling up the gaps.
>permanent

Enjoy dying of legionnaires

Dual hose portables are unironically the best. If you have enough money to have mini splits in every room then just get central for a little more. If you're poor then just get a dirt cheap window unit. The best compromise is a $500 dual hose in/out portable

>tfw my generator/AC went out in our tent like fourteen times during my deployment
>it was only our tent
Nothing like waking up to your bunk burning you I guess. Also other states have similar laws with heating and poor people get discounts/free and they hike it up for the rest of us

Permanent in the sense it doesn't use a folding blind and you don't take it down after summer ends. It still gets replaced every time you do maintenance on it or if it gets damaged.

Portables have low efficiency and are always low powered especially if they are 100~120V, yes 12000~14000 BTU is low power, and will struggle when ambients are 34C+ and outside air nearing 40C with 80% humidity. Heatsoaked concrete and steel take quite a bit of energy do cool off.

Water (should) drips on the outside. The real problem with these is the hole in you wall isn't a very standard size like dishwashers. Noise is maybe a bit worse but split system fan and swinger noise can be just as bad.

Even with those curtains heat will be introduced into the house because the curtains themselves get hot and disperse the heat into the room slowly. Instead you'll want you'll want to use window awnings or even storm shutters so the sun blocking part that would get heated stays on the outside.

Attached: Storm-shutters-904x384.jpg (904x384, 54K)

The hole should be standardized around 45*75cm excluding the frame but it's the AC unit itself that isn't standardized.

Hitachi uses the same outer casing for most of it's units, so low powered units are mostly empty space inside while heavy duty ones are jam packed.
Panasonic units are all over the place, with these tiny cute units to huge behemoths.

It depends on how well you install them ya goof

Reflective window film is popular in some places in the world. 99% UV rejection too.

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>priviledged richfuck white people will never know the need for these things because it's basically these with their drawbacks or fucking die from the heat without
Honestly, if you don't know what you're talking about, shut up.

Which is why I said preferably white. Though would be even better.

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>window AC cost nearly the same, as split. $300 for 9000BTU or something like that.
What fucking dimension do you live in?