OT: Mini split heat pump repairs...

oldguy00 · #1 08-10-2020, 10:52 AM

Anyone else ever have to deal with one of these that leaks water from the inside unit down the wall?
We've had it cleaned, including flushing out the drain hose (no blockage), but still leaking. They have determined that the drip tray (upper?) must be cracked causing water to pool down onto bottom of unit and not make it into the side drain hose. Its an LG Inverter V model.
They figure about $700 (Can$)to disassemble it, find crack, epoxy it, rebuild. And no guarantee it will fix it.
This on a 4 year old $3k unit... Or they say replace the whole tray/cover/whatever for about 1k.
This seems crazy to me on a 4 year old unit. Anyone else run into this?

NHAero · #2 08-10-2020, 10:59 AM

I haven't seen that particular failure mode on scores of cassettes in our projects. Plugged condensate lines, or missing insulation and condensation on the refrigerant or condensate lines, yes.

C40_guy · #3 08-10-2020, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NHAero

I haven't seen that particular failure mode on scores of cassettes in our projects. Plugged condensate lines, or missing insulation and condensation on the refrigerant or condensate lines, yes.

We need to do something about AC in our 25 year old colonial....and I really don't want to go the minisplit route...

Ozz · #4 08-10-2020, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C40_guy

We need to do something about AC in our 25 year old colonial....and I really don't want to go the minisplit route...

It is going to depend on your ductwork to have central A/C....

Our house is a 1950's era, remodeled in 2004 (added about 900 sq ft), but didn't upgrade the ductwork....when we looked at adding central A/C we didn't have enough capacity to move air thru the house, and had to go the mini-split route. Ended up with a Daikin multi-zone, and got the fancy units (EMURA) that are just flat silver panels when not working....they don't look like HVAC units. Kind of modern looking, but not too obtrusive...

They work pretty well for both heating and cooling...we have units in master bedroom and family room and have not had any issues with it. Energy bill has not changed much year-over-year so that is nice too. House is much more comfortable.

C40_guy · #5 08-10-2020, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozz

It is going to depend on your ductwork to have central A/C....

Ductwork? I got no stinkin ductwork...

Forced hot water for heat...

The (ahem) cool thing is that we've been managing pretty well with three window air conditioners running in the bedrooms 24x7. The house is arranged so that much of the cold air cascades down the stairwell and through much of the first floor. Even on 90+ degree days the first floor is comfortable. (And our solar array provides more than enough juice for the units...)

I'm thinking either traditional or high velocity for the second floor (via the attic), and probably high velocity for the (finished) basement and first floor. I'll have to redo some basement ceiling as a result, but will end up with an air exchanger in conditioned space for the the basement and first floor.

paredown · #6 08-10-2020, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldguy00

Anyone else ever have to deal with one of these that leaks water from the inside unit down the wall?
We've had it cleaned, including flushing out the drain hose (no blockage), but still leaking. They have determined that the drip tray (upper?) must be cracked causing water to pool down onto bottom of unit and not make it into the side drain hose. Its an LG Inverter V model.
They figure about $700 (Can$)to disassemble it, find crack, epoxy it, rebuild. And no guarantee it will fix it.
This on a 4 year old $3k unit... Or they say replace the whole tray/cover/whatever for about 1k.
This seems crazy to me on a 4 year old unit. Anyone else run into this?

Sounds like it may be time for Youtube to see if it is do-able DIY. Or take it up with LG--it sounds like a design fail.

NHAero · #7 08-10-2020, 03:20 PM

Just don't put it in the attic if the thermal boundary is the attic floor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by C40_guy

snip
I'm thinking either traditional or high velocity for the second floor (via the attic)

eddief · #8 08-10-2020, 03:42 PM

https://iwae.com/shop/18k-btu-19-see...hoCYIcQAvD_BwE

benb · #9 08-10-2020, 03:45 PM

I just got finished paying $500 for AC repairs earlier today.

My house is only 14 years old. We have two AC units and 2 furnaces with forced air on 3 floors + finished basement. (We have no attic)

If I ever build a house I'll do everything possible within my powers to avoid having a furnace/air handler up in the attic.

It's been nothing but problems... it heats the roof leading to us having to remediate an ice dam problem for the winter.

We have super long AC pipes going through the walls and then taking a turn and running horizontally across the house to reach the upstairs furnace/air handler. The length of the pipe run corresponds with more issues in our case. The downstairs unit probably has pipes 1/10th the length, it just goes through the foundation and it's there.

We've got a coil up in the attic that can freeze. It's got a tray and a shutoff system but it's still a source of water damage that can occur at the top of the house.

We've never had a stitch of work done on the basement + first floor unit. Today was the 3rd repair for the upstairs one. 3rd time having to top off the refrigerant and this time the starting capacitor had to be replaced.

If we have to change out the upstairs furnace/handler it probably means a wall has to come out... it does have an access door but it's not big enough for major work.

Our roof & house overall does seem to be really well insulated.. we don't really have issues with the A/C having to cool off the upper floors like would happen if the unit was in a hot attic. Even with the upper unit broken the house didn't go above 75-76 degrees on 2nd floor.

Our big suck our system is older refrigerant which is stupid expensive because it's bad environmentally.. the $500 bill today was about 2/3 refrigerant costs and we weren't down much.

unterhausen · #10 08-10-2020, 03:59 PM

I think that if you don't have ductwork, minisplits are a no-brainer. Mitsubishi has interior units that go between joists, so they look just like vents

oldguy00 · #11 08-10-2020, 04:04 PM

So right now the plan is to likely replace the unit..

But just for fun, I had it turned off for a while, then I put it on fan mode for a couple hours thinking maybe dry it out a bit, hot day here.

When running the AC on it, I always just by default have the remote set at its lowest temp (18C). So just as an experiment I turned the AC back on and put it higher around 21 on the remote. Previously I'd get dripping starting almost immediately, now I'm seeing nothing.

Maybe the fan mode temporarily dried it out, and its just building up waiting to leak out again? Maybe running it on coldest setting was overloading the water it could handle for some reason (possibly still indicating some sort of leak since it should still drain properly?)?

Grrr....

C40_guy · #12 08-10-2020, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NHAero

Just don't put it in the attic if the thermal boundary is the attic floor.

Worked fine in our old house.

Did I mention the $50K repair of the old house due to the air exchanger in the attic?

I know...I may do a rough finish of an upstairs storage room (over the garage) so that the exchanger would be in conditioned space...

C40_guy · #13 08-10-2020, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unterhausen

I think that if you don't have ductwork, minisplits are a no-brainer. Mitsubishi has interior units that go between joists, so they look just like vents

I'm trying not to hijack the OP's thread here....

I just don't like the idea of replicating all those air exchangers...the expense, the complication, the appearance...

Tandem Rider · #14 08-10-2020, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benb

We have super long AC pipes going through the walls and then taking a turn and running horizontally across the house to reach the upstairs furnace/air handler. The length of the pipe run corresponds with more issues in our case. The downstairs unit probably has pipes 1/10th the length, it just goes through the foundation and it's there.

Our big suck our system is older refrigerant which is stupid expensive because it's bad environmentally.. the $500 bill today was about 2/3 refrigerant costs and we weren't down much.

Did they fix the leak while they were there?

benb · #15 08-11-2020, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tandem Rider

Did they fix the leak while they were there?

They didn’t think it was still leaking, just some had escaped as the sealant worked through the last time. It was 2 years since the sealant was used and it hadn’t lost much coolant. Same effect as tire sealant losing a little air before it seals, it it sounds like it’s a lot slower with pipes?