18k BTU 16 SEER MrCool DIY Ductless Heat Pump Split System with WiFi Smart Kit - Wall Mounted

The YouTube video shows the installer sliding the bundle of pipes (the lineset) from the inside unit through the 3.5 hole to the outside unit, hooking up, and done. One set of pipes only. The installation manual in Fig. 4-10 on P. 18 shows a cross section of that lineset. It has four parts: two refrigerant lines, a signal/power cable, and the condensate drain hose.However, the unit shipped to me in July 2019 has a different configuration in the lineset. There is no notice or warning to disregard the installation video and the diagram and instructions on Page 18. The revised lineset contains only three elements: the two refrigerant pipes and the signal/power cable. The new lineset does not include the condensate drain hose.Not realizing this change, I unstalled the unit as per the YouTube and soon had it running. Except that in the cool cycle, my inside floor soon had a big puddle that needed mopping up.Getting hold of Mr. Cool tech support was useless; nothing but a busy signal all morning, no reply to my email inside of 48 hours. Luckily I reached a techie at Ingram's, who knew that the drain hose had to be hooked up separately from the lineset. He said there was a plastic pipe in the back of the inside unit (photo 1 above) and this connected to the tangled bundle of 1/2" plastic accordion tubing shipped in the box (second photo above). That tube needed to be run through the 3/5" hole to the outside.Knowing this and doing it was two different things. Because the air handler is connected to the lineset, it needed to be supported while unhooked from the wall. I had to build a temporary platform 82" inches high to hold the unit while working on its backside. What a nuisance. However, I got it working, and it now runs cool and dry on the inside, draining nicely on the outside.Evidently the Mr Cool company has different silos inside. One for engineering, another for customer information. No connection between. I agree with engineering that running the drain hose separately from the lineset makes perfect sense. But you need to let the buyer know that the video is misleading and the diagram in the manual is false. If the user skips the step of hooking up the drain line separately from the lineset, as I did, it's a major headache to fix. Not everyone can build an 82" tall temporary platform to hold the air handler while making the fix.I also didn't appreciate the false data in the manual at p. 21, where it says that the mounting bolt holes on the 18K unit are 21.6 inches apart side to side. I set my wall mount brackets to that distance and found that the condenser did not fit. The mounting bolt holes for this unit are 20 inches apart.Some other points. The two refrigerant pipes in the lineset were of unequal length. One was 9" longer than the other. This made installation awkward. I had to remove about 18" of the insulating sheath in order to coil the two pipes separately so that they would come out even. Then the exposed pipes needed pipe insulation to protect them.The signal/power cable needs a grommet where it enters the housing on the condenser. It goes in a 1" hole, leaving a gap that would soon turn the inside of the housing into Spider City. I plugged it with some of the provided neoprene.Both the lineset and the drain hose are loose, floppy, and unattractive. Magnets for dirt and leaves, difficult to keep clean. I enclosed the lineset in plastic raingutter drain pipe and the drain hose in 3/4" Sched 40 PVC. Looks much better. (Photos 3 and 4 above).I would give this five stars if the company had updated its video and install manual, or otherwise given clear warning, about the change in the lineset, which calls for a different installation approach. A product is the sum of its technology and its written narrative and media. If it fails on the narrative and media, it does not deserve a top rating.

Those planning to install one of these in an old house with plaster "balloon" walls should think twice, especially if the indoor unit will be on one floor and the outdoor condenser unit will be on another. I got it done with two helpers, but it took several weeks of 3-6 hour sessions, for a total of maybe 30 hours. NOT three hours - thirty. That included the wiring, which was made more difficult (3 extra hours) by a shutoff switch with an internal short from the factory, so it wasn't the fault of the mini split, drilling through an old style plaster wall (the trick is to start outside and work in, use a plywood mounting plate inside, and to NOT buy a British hole saw) and through an asphalt and tin covered porch roof. What WAS the fault of the mini split was the tiny, tiny electrical connection panel, with screws obviously designed for the smaller 120 volt units, and a support collar that, as already mentioned here, is positioned so as to be useless and in the way. Do NOT use the larger AC "whip" often sold with these, as the 10 gauge stranded wire is just too big for the panel. 12 gauge romex type solid wire fits well enough. Other issues with installation: though it looks possible to use wall hole locations other than right behind the bend in the umbilical (and it is) it is quite difficult and nerve-wracking to bend the refrigerant lines near the indoor air handler without kinking them. Speaking of the indoor unit, it was very hard to get the small metal clips to lock into the plastic (!) receivers in the housing even after they were lined up perfectly. That by itself took half an hour. So how about its operation? It is very quiet, very powerful, but it just will not maintain a set temperature in my large, hot bedroom. It isn't that it lacks the cooling ability (I oversized it a bit), it's because the built in air sensor samples the air near the ceiling, which starts out hot and then cools off, then warms and cools alternately, making the air handler swing the room temp as much as 4 degrees up and down. The "follow me" feature could have worked, but the remote usually reads 2 degrees too high...until it doesn't, and starts to read accurately, usually after I'm asleep. I tried moving the remote to several different locations, with little luck. The Follow Me feature also switches off after just a few hours (not 7, more like 3), handing the job back to that sensor almost at ceiling height. Also, for those expecting to be able to direct all or most of the air to one side or the other: forget it. The powered vents move up and down only, and the manual (up in the air handler, 7' off the floor) horizontal adjusters are both hard to move and make very little difference in the air direction. The unit also doesn't dehumidify at all well except when cooling the room several degrees. The drying function does dry the air - by turning the room into a giant walk-in refrigerator. When it warms back up, the humidity shoots back up. My window unit did a much better job of keeping the humidity tolerable. I don't think the issue is the size of the unit: it doesn't short cycle, and it adjusts how fast it runs to the load. I think that the electronics controlling the thermostats are just not good enough (or I have a defective remote) to maintain the 1-2 degree temperature range I need to sleep well. Speaking of which: the "sleep" function would be useful if it could be adjusted. As it is, having the room warm up 4 full degrees in two hours means either freezing for the first hour, or waking up sweating. I appreciate being able to cool my room off quickly and quietly, but I regret having undertaken so large a job for such a mediocre result. At least the Heat function, which provides lots of heat, at least in Summer, promises to be maybe a little less uncomfortable...