Make sure to put a tiny bit of Nylog on both sides of the flare fittings. I have done quite a few AC flares. Take the vacuum fitting off before opening the refrigerant valves.
Yep I once sucked mineral oil from the vacuum pump back into my auto AC system shut the pump off before closing the valve on the manifold. I had to take everything apart and flush it all out and completely start over. The system now becomes the vacuum air goes shooing back in through the pump at least with my pump it's really old 1980's.
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I've installed other mini-splits but always good to have a refresher. I'm installing 3 Senville 9,000 BTU units. I followed the instructions to open the high side valve for a few seconds to get the pressure just above ambient then close it and remove the vacuum line. The first one I wasn't paying attention to the gauge and did the same thing and had a small discharge of gas. I've installed Senville and MR. Cool DYI. Both are great. Mr. Cool doesn't require a vacuum pump. The inside unit also has refrigerant, just connect the lines and go. They don't have a DYI 9,000 BTU model and the one they do have is a couple hundred $$ more than Senville, which were $600 each on sale. Mr Cool I've had also have 25" lines vs. 16' for Senville. If they need shortened and you can't recover the refrigerant, cut and re-flair the lines, and recharge, it's at least a $400 service call. One complaint is the Senville fan runs all the time but is whisper quiet and perfect for a bedroom (my 3). Mr. Cool does not but the fan varies in speed and has a weird resonance. It's also not really noticeable. I don't use a torque wrench either. A drop of Nylock gives better feel than dry when guestimating.
I talked to the manufacturer at senville and they said they send 25 ft worth of gas and only 16 ft of line so having a little bit of loss is perfectly fine
@@Jonehughes I had an interesting shipping issue. I bought these 3 units in June when they were on sale. I did not start installing them until last month. One of the boxes was shipped and labeled upside down, hence the compressor was upside down all that time. No apparent damage, so I turned it right side up and it's been that way about 3 weeks. I saved that one for last and finished it this afternoon. I turned it on heat. It ran for about a minute then shut off. I let it sit 5 minutes, turned it on cool and ran it for 5 minutes. Nothing abnormal. I shut it off for 5 minutes again, turned it back on heat and it's been running normally for about 2 hours. The concern about being upside down is of course oil running somewhere it isn't supposed to. Other than the first glitch it seems OK now and sounds like the other 2.
Sounds like you did everything you could to remedy the situation totally sucks when you get stuck in a situation that you can't do anything about but it sounds like you did good I bought seven of those units at the same time and installed them in all my apartments and each one's working absolutely perfect...
Finally got it up and running. The only delays we had was because we realized we needed some extra parts (I’ll list that below) ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxihMYiJNXcHdbH-7ihymsLz61l7jVyb5O . So we have a loft where our current hvac just couldn’t seem to keep cool during the summer. We have been using a window unit since we bought this house over 6 years ago (all the houses in this neighborhood were built in the 80’s and majority of the houses built like ours use a window unit). I hate window units because they are just so noisy and the one we had really only cools one side of the loft. I had contemplated upgrading our current HVAC, but with all the rising prices these days, it would take years before saving up enough to do that. With the advice of my father-in-law (used to run an HVAC business), he recommended we get an inverter instead. We thought we bought everything we needed, but there were just a few other parts we didn’t anticipate needing (which is what caused most of our delay). My friend and father-in-law did all the work to get it installed and running and now we have nice cool air circulating nicely throughout the entire loft. It is very quiet and even the outside unit is much quieter than our main HVAC unit. Saved ourselves thousands getting this.
Yeah I don't mind I don't have any leaks I put in seven of those in one day and never had a single leak but I hear so many people say that you shouldn't even use nylog 😂
@@Jonehughes did You do a follow-up a few weeks later ?? mine had no evidence of a leak and one month later not cooling so well, now I need to add r410a .... bummer
Very good video. The only issue I have is that vacuuming a line is really about removing moisture. Moisture in the system, when combined with coolant will cause corrosion and an eventual leak. To do it correctly, you need a vacuum gauge to make sure you draw the moisture down to specification, usually less than 500 microns. Naturally, the vacuum also tests for a good seal. At the end of the day, the gauge used here along with 15 minutes holding a vacuum will never detect a small leak, so you could use a leak detector to increase your confidence that your system is leak proof.
That was very kind of you to say very good video since it totally sucked I believe I did six to eight that day and I have never had a leak but it doesn't mean what you're saying is not true I'm going to do a new video in the next couple of months I got all the parts now I have every tool on the planet and so I'm going to do it all correctly instead of just winging it like I did with that video and it will not be anything like that there's so many things I did wrong on that video it's incredible I look back at it with the knowledge that I have now and I think God what a goob so anyway thanks for the kind words but you were just being diplomatic and nice but it's a total waste of a video and new updated one will be much much better I've learned a lot in the last few years
What is the part between the end of the blue hose and the backside of the low pressure valve? I don't have that in the parts Senville sent with my unit. Thank you.
@@carpetjaws If I understand you correctly You were talking about the adapter The pumps that come with the gauges are almost always set up for regular HVAC setups not mini splits mini splits have a different connector and so you need the adapter to make the gauges and hoses work so you need the adapter you can get them anywhere just put adapter in Google or Amazon and it'll jump right up and give you a bunch of different options for 10 bucks or less I bought one because I didn't know it came with it by the time I got it it was already there so now I have an unopened one whatever they're only a couple of dollars If that's not what you were referring to let me know
I'm old 🤣😂 But seriously it's okay to leave it on there's no reason to take it off also I should have turned off the gauge though because as I released the gas it went through the gauges and escaped ,so I screwed that up, I installed seven of them that day and that was the last one and I was not thinking correctly 😜🤷♂️
always do liquid line first then suction line when opening valves, you lost alot of gas taking that hose off, you need to add refrigerant now or it will be slugging
That was my seventh one that day And my mind was on other things But Senville sends out enough refrigerant for a 16-ft line and only sends out a 12 ft line As can also be attested by ,after all these months, it's still working perfectly
All the systems come fully pre charged inside the exterior unit. after you hook up all the lines You vacuum out the lines with a vacuum pump. Before you release the refrigerant. So the refrigerant is not contaminated with whatever is in the lines. What I just told you is the best way to do it.
No... You lose a little bit of gas But it does not affect the system The system comes with six more feet of gas Than the line set requires Letting a little bit ooze out as you're unscrewing the adapter won't hurt it in the slightest
@@Jonehughes What if I remove the vaccum pump before opening allen key volve? I actually removed the vaccum pump line from ac before opening allen key volve, and it sucked some air for like 0.5 seconds. Did I ruin my AC?
No it didn't hurt it at all It's like a check valve You will notice That you don't even have to put on that cover That cover only protects it from damage from weather and such You don't even need the cover So the point is It's not really sucking air When you take off the vacuum All the sound is coming from the vacuum system No sound is coming from the unit You are fine 🥀
@@Jonehughes Thank You so much for the help, I am so relieved 😌 Though my AC is cooling very good, I thought that little sucked atmospheric air will cause issue in system in future.
I have an issue, I installed mine yesterday and when opening the valves one of them leaked pretty bad and I took way too long to close it back up, about 30 seconds. The bottom valve seems to still have refrigerant but the top one seems to not release anything anymore. It’s not blowing cool air now, is it possible all the refrigerant leaked out ?
Mini split self-install DIY Facebook group Go there and post your question a lot more people are there to answer but as far as me it sounds like you lost enough to be a problem but not all so you might just need to add a little bit it's reasonably inexpensive to buy a bottle and add some but if you don't want to do all that you can just call out a serviceman from some company and have them add a little bit for you it doesn't take much leakage to make it not blow cold air You can see on this video I clearly lost a little bit of gas by a little technical glitch that was not a problem though It's been working fine
I have a question my pressure goes from -30 to -20 ans stays there. It seems I have a leak but I did a bubble test but to no avail; It seems there are no leaks at the four end of the nuts. Can you help?
The leak could be anywhere including your gauges system Once you got it to that point put soapy bubbles around every connection and see if you get any leaks whatsoever if you get no leaks you might just go for it how long of the lines do you have do you have the factory 12-ft lines or did you cut them short or what
Good Evening Sir, It looks like you used an adapter on the low pressure valve of the outside unit to your blue line from the vacuum pump. After a long weekend of getting to the “last” stages of my install this evening, I find out that the female connector of my line set does not fit the male of the outside unit. Did you run into this problem as well? If so where did you find your adapter? Thanks In Advance!
Hey brother they all come with that little adapter did you buy a pump And if you buy a pump it should have came with the adapter mine came with two of them Let me look it up if I can find it and send you a link
Yeah.... I have eight apartments and I've done it eight times now I put one in each apartment and they're absolutely fantastic units they work perfect I have no issues with them at all they are absolutely wonderful and I only wanted to show people the hard stuff and it's really easy if I had known it was this easy I'd have done it years ago if you have any questions feel free to ask
Ok- I understand the vacuum part and holding the negative pressure part. My question is- kwik-e-vac is just nitro gas in a can? So- can I use the Kwik-e-Vac as a nitro test for possible leaks?
I have eight of these in my eight apartments and they work perfectly since day one and I have a bunch of different testers to find lakes and all of my testers find leaks and the only one I can count on is soapy water soapy water finds leaks and you can see the bubbles and you can fix the joint until you no longer see bubbles that is the best way to deal with leaks All the other things find leaks that are not there I have not had a single problem with any of my units but every one of my units you can walk around and find lakes with some of these way too sensitive testers it's not worth it
Thanks for the video. A couple of mistakes I see. Torque values are calculated without Nylog so your torque readings will be wrong, you should always use a torque wrench and only put Nylog on the bevels of the fitting where they mesh. If you leave a fitting open with vacuum it will suck in outside air, you never want that. What you want is to pressure test the system with nitrogen to a couple hundred pounds then let the nitrogen out without letting air back into the lines. Then vacuum the system. I didn't watch the rest of the video.
I was trying to have a video that shows people how to do it with material they have and the tools they have and most everybody had those things I have since stop doing that You can check out my new videos It just show the micron gauge I'm no longer use any of the other gauges or hoses or anything to that effect
Definitely had a brain fart there It's been running for a long time now though and doing perfectly so not too much came out but thanks for rubbing salt in my wounds😂
That's because you're thinking there's more information than actually needs you can close your valves if you want to close them for some reason when you take it off and set it up in your garage when you're all done but other than that there's no need you do exactly what I said and then when you pull it off the gauges can be on or off and doesn't mean anything If you just follow the sequence that I showed you you will be fine I install seven of these things on all seven of my apartments it's been a long time they all work perfect yours will work too I think you must be overthinking this thing it's not that hard
Make sure to put a tiny bit of Nylog on both sides of the flare fittings.
I have done quite a few AC flares.
Take the vacuum fitting off before opening the refrigerant valves.
Yep I once sucked mineral oil from the vacuum pump back into my auto AC system shut the pump off before closing the valve on the manifold. I had to take everything apart and flush it all out and completely start over. The system now becomes the vacuum air goes shooing back in through the pump at least with my pump it's really old 1980's.
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I've installed other mini-splits but always good to have a refresher. I'm installing 3 Senville 9,000 BTU units. I followed the instructions to open the high side valve for a few seconds to get the pressure just above ambient then close it and remove the vacuum line. The first one I wasn't paying attention to the gauge and did the same thing and had a small discharge of gas.
I've installed Senville and MR. Cool DYI. Both are great. Mr. Cool doesn't require a vacuum pump. The inside unit also has refrigerant, just connect the lines and go. They don't have a DYI 9,000 BTU model and the one they do have is a couple hundred $$ more than Senville, which were $600 each on sale. Mr Cool I've had also have 25" lines vs. 16' for Senville. If they need shortened and you can't recover the refrigerant, cut and re-flair the lines, and recharge, it's at least a $400 service call. One complaint is the Senville fan runs all the time but is whisper quiet and perfect for a bedroom (my 3). Mr. Cool does not but the fan varies in speed and has a weird resonance. It's also not really noticeable. I don't use a torque wrench either. A drop of Nylock gives better feel than dry when guestimating.
I talked to the manufacturer at senville and they said they send 25 ft worth of gas and only 16 ft of line so having a little bit of loss is perfectly fine
@@Jonehughes I had an interesting shipping issue. I bought these 3 units in June when they were on sale. I did not start installing them until last month. One of the boxes was shipped and labeled upside down, hence the compressor was upside down all that time. No apparent damage, so I turned it right side up and it's been that way about 3 weeks. I saved that one for last and finished it this afternoon. I turned it on heat. It ran for about a minute then shut off. I let it sit 5 minutes, turned it on cool and ran it for 5 minutes. Nothing abnormal. I shut it off for 5 minutes again, turned it back on heat and it's been running normally for about 2 hours.
The concern about being upside down is of course oil running somewhere it isn't supposed to. Other than the first glitch it seems OK now and sounds like the other 2.
Sounds like you did everything you could to remedy the situation
totally sucks when you get stuck in a situation that you can't do anything about
but it sounds like you did good
I bought seven of those units at the same time and installed them in all my apartments
and each one's working absolutely perfect...
Finally got it up and running. The only delays we had was because we realized we needed some extra parts (I’ll list that below) ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxihMYiJNXcHdbH-7ihymsLz61l7jVyb5O . So we have a loft where our current hvac just couldn’t seem to keep cool during the summer. We have been using a window unit since we bought this house over 6 years ago (all the houses in this neighborhood were built in the 80’s and majority of the houses built like ours use a window unit). I hate window units because they are just so noisy and the one we had really only cools one side of the loft. I had contemplated upgrading our current HVAC, but with all the rising prices these days, it would take years before saving up enough to do that. With the advice of my father-in-law (used to run an HVAC business), he recommended we get an inverter instead. We thought we bought everything we needed, but there were just a few other parts we didn’t anticipate needing (which is what caused most of our delay). My friend and father-in-law did all the work to get it installed and running and now we have nice cool air circulating nicely throughout the entire loft. It is very quiet and even the outside unit is much quieter than our main HVAC unit. Saved ourselves thousands getting this.
If you read the Nylog instructions it says it's made to put on both sides of the flare to seal it better.
Yeah I don't mind I don't have any leaks I put in seven of those in one day and never had a single leak but I hear so many people say that you shouldn't even use nylog 😂
@@Jonehughes did You do a follow-up a few weeks later ?? mine had no evidence of a leak and one month later not cooling so well, now I need to add r410a .... bummer
Thank you!!! What a legend! Been looking for a video to help me with this! Much appreciated.
You're welcome brother if you have any other questions go ahead and post them I'll try to walk you through any issues 💞
Can you post the link for the tools you use such vacuum pump and manifold gauge
@@steevegmtech7326 a.co/d/2j8bKef
Very good video. The only issue I have is that vacuuming a line is really about removing moisture. Moisture in the system, when combined with coolant will cause corrosion and an eventual leak. To do it correctly, you need a vacuum gauge to make sure you draw the moisture down to specification, usually less than 500 microns. Naturally, the vacuum also tests for a good seal. At the end of the day, the gauge used here along with 15 minutes holding a vacuum will never detect a small leak, so you could use a leak detector to increase your confidence that your system is leak proof.
That was very kind of you to say very good video since it totally sucked I believe I did six to eight that day and I have never had a leak but it doesn't mean what you're saying is not true I'm going to do a new video in the next couple of months I got all the parts now I have every tool on the planet and so I'm going to do it all correctly instead of just winging it like I did with that video and it will not be anything like that there's so many things I did wrong on that video it's incredible I look back at it with the knowledge that I have now and I think God what a goob so anyway thanks for the kind words but you were just being diplomatic and nice but it's a total waste of a video and new updated one will be much much better I've learned a lot in the last few years
What is the part between the end of the blue hose and the backside of the low pressure valve? I don't have that in the parts Senville sent with my unit. Thank you.
@@carpetjaws
If I understand you correctly
You were talking about the adapter
The pumps that come with the gauges are almost always set up for regular HVAC setups not mini splits mini splits have a different connector and so you need the adapter to make the gauges and hoses work so you need the adapter you can get them anywhere just put adapter in Google or Amazon and it'll jump right up and give you a bunch of different options for 10 bucks or less I bought one because I didn't know it came with it by the time I got it it was already there so now I have an unopened one whatever they're only a couple of dollars If that's not what you were referring to let me know
@@Jonehughes Thank you. I appreciate the quick reply. I found one on Amazon for $6.99. CJ
Thank you for the video, why did you not disconnect the ac manifold before releasing the refridgerant/gas from the heat pump? Is there a reason?
I'm old 🤣😂
But seriously it's okay to leave it on there's no reason to take it off also I should have turned off the gauge though because as I released the gas it went through the gauges and escaped ,so I screwed that up, I installed seven of them that day and that was the last one and I was not thinking correctly 😜🤷♂️
@Jonehughes all good! Just making sure!
@@Jonehughes
always do liquid line first then suction line when opening valves, you lost alot of gas taking that hose off, you need to add refrigerant now or it will be slugging
That was my seventh one that day
And my mind was on other things
But Senville sends out enough refrigerant for a 16-ft line and only sends out a 12 ft line
As can also be attested by ,after all these months, it's still working perfectly
do I still have to vacuum the line sets down on my senville 12cd, it says it's precharged and I don't plan on cutting lines
All the systems come fully pre charged inside the exterior unit.
after you hook up all the lines
You vacuum out the lines with a vacuum pump.
Before you release the refrigerant.
So the refrigerant is not contaminated with whatever is in the lines.
What I just told you is the best way to do it.
@@Jonehughes appreciate the help!
Do you leave the blue line open at the gauge when younlet the refrigerate in or close the blue line?
Close the blue line valve at the gauge.
Should I remove vaccum pump before opening allen key?
No...
You lose a little bit of gas
But it does not affect the system
The system comes with six more feet of gas
Than the line set requires
Letting a little bit ooze out as you're unscrewing the adapter won't hurt it in the slightest
@@Jonehughes What if I remove the vaccum pump before opening allen key volve?
I actually removed the vaccum pump line from ac before opening allen key volve, and it sucked some air for like 0.5 seconds.
Did I ruin my AC?
No
it didn't hurt it at all
It's like a check valve
You will notice
That you don't even have to put on that cover
That cover only protects it from damage from weather and such
You don't even need the cover
So the point is
It's not really sucking air
When you take off the vacuum
All the sound is coming from the vacuum system
No sound is coming from the unit
You are fine 🥀
@@Jonehughes Thank You so much for the help, I am so relieved 😌
Though my AC is cooling very good, I thought that little sucked atmospheric air will cause issue in system in future.
Nope... you should be good👍
I have an issue, I installed mine yesterday and when opening the valves one of them leaked pretty bad and I took way too long to close it back up, about 30 seconds. The bottom valve seems to still have refrigerant but the top one seems to not release anything anymore. It’s not blowing cool air now, is it possible all the refrigerant leaked out ?
Mini split self-install DIY Facebook group Go there and post your question a lot more people are there to answer but as far as me it sounds like you lost enough to be a problem but not all so you might just need to add a little bit it's reasonably inexpensive to buy a bottle and add some but if you don't want to do all that you can just call out a serviceman from some company and have them add a little bit for you
it doesn't take much leakage to make it not blow cold air
You can see on this video I clearly lost a little bit of gas by a little technical glitch
that was not a problem though
It's been working fine
I have a question my pressure goes from -30 to -20 ans stays there. It seems I have a leak but I did a bubble test but to no avail; It seems there are no leaks at the four end of the nuts. Can you help?
The leak could be anywhere including your gauges system
Once you got it to that point put soapy bubbles around every connection and see if you get any leaks whatsoever if you get no leaks you might just go for it how long of the lines do you have do you have the factory 12-ft lines or did you cut them short or what
@@Jonehughes Don't use soapy bubbles on a vacuum. That's literally going to put soap into your lines. Only use it on pressure tests.
Awesome thanks for this.
If you have any other questions just let me know brother
Why didn't you use expose valve in the end ??!
I definitely botched that
I had done seven that day
And because I was videotaping
My mind wasn't on the job
And I have a one-track mind
🤷🤷🤷🤷🥰
Did that not frostbite your fingers? The refrigerant blowing on them?
No but I wouldn't recommend it
Good Evening Sir,
It looks like you used an adapter on the low pressure valve of the outside unit to your blue line from the vacuum pump. After a long weekend of getting to the “last” stages of my install this evening, I find out that the female connector of my line set does not fit the male of the outside unit. Did you run into this problem as well? If so where did you find your adapter?
Thanks In Advance!
Hey brother
they all come with that little adapter
did you buy a pump
And if you buy a pump it should have came with the adapter
mine came with two of them
Let me look it up
if I can find it and send you a link
Ductless Mini Split System Charging Vacuum Port Adapter Swivel Type, 5/16 Female, 1/4 Male SAE a.co/d/fydopCO
Yes Sir…I purchased a new pump as well as new manifold gauge set…neither came with an adapter.
Thanks for the link…this is greatly appreciated!
Nice video, would like to have seen you do the startup on it after you finished. Just to show completion of unit.
Yeah.... I have eight apartments and I've done it eight times now
I put one in each apartment and they're absolutely fantastic units
they work perfect I have no issues with them at all
they are absolutely wonderful
and I only wanted to show people the hard stuff
and it's really easy
if I had known it was this easy
I'd have done it years ago
if you have any questions
feel free to ask
@@Jonehughes ok thanks, I have actually ordered 3 of these, plan on doing it all myself, so thanks for the video
Most anyone can install these systems with success, it’s when they don’t Run or don’t cool is when you need a tech
Ok- I understand the vacuum part and holding the negative pressure part. My question is- kwik-e-vac is just nitro gas in a can? So- can I use the Kwik-e-Vac as a nitro test for possible leaks?
I have eight of these in my eight apartments and they work perfectly since day one and I have a bunch of different testers to find lakes and all of my testers find leaks and the only one I can count on is soapy water soapy water finds leaks and you can see the bubbles and you can fix the joint until you no longer see bubbles that is the best way to deal with leaks All the other things find leaks that are not there I have not had a single problem with any of my units but every one of my units you can walk around and find lakes with some of these way too sensitive testers it's not worth it
Never mind, sorry he asked. We’re just gonna go to the lake instead
Great imfo and now know what not to do
Disagree, put nylog on the flare to brass dielectric male to female connection. If it can't leak at the seal it'll never leak on the back of the nut.
Thanks for the video.
A couple of mistakes I see. Torque values are calculated without Nylog so your torque readings will be wrong, you should always use a torque wrench and only put Nylog on the bevels of the fitting where they mesh.
If you leave a fitting open with vacuum it will suck in outside air, you never want that. What you want is to pressure test the system with nitrogen to a couple hundred pounds then let the nitrogen out without letting air back into the lines. Then vacuum the system. I didn't watch the rest of the video.
Maybe you could use the money from this install to buy a micron gauge for a correct vaccum reading.
I was trying to have a video that shows people how to do it with material they have and the tools they have and most everybody had those things I have since stop doing that You can check out my new videos It just show the micron gauge I'm no longer use any of the other gauges or hoses or anything to that effect
Looks like a lot of gas came out...😮
Definitely had a brain fart there
It's been running for a long time now though and doing perfectly so not too much came out but thanks for rubbing salt in my wounds😂
You’ve said nothing about when to open or close the gauge valves
That's because you're thinking there's more information than actually needs you can close your valves if you want to close them for some reason when you take it off and set it up in your garage when you're all done but other than that there's no need you do exactly what I said and then when you pull it off the gauges can be on or off and doesn't mean anything
If you just follow the sequence that I showed you you will be fine I install seven of these things on all seven of my apartments it's been a long time they all work perfect yours will work too I think you must be overthinking this thing it's not that hard