I am seriously considering the purchase of a 2 ton Mitsubishi ductless
air conditioner (MR-series, called "Mr. Slim") and am wondering if
anyone has any opinions of this equipment based on actual experience.

My specific concerns would be reliability, ease of service, parts
availability, durability, and things of that type. I am quite convinced
that the cooling performance, capacity, noise level, SEER / efficiency,
and other technical performance issues are well understood and have no
concerns in these areas.

I am mostly trying to see if anyone who has used / owned this type of
equipment has discovered any surprises. The DC compressor, inverter,
and other design features have been around for quite a while and have
been extremely popular in Asia and Europe for many years, so I am NOT
questioning these points, but I would like to know if others have run
into unexpected problems.

Thanks for any advice.

Smarty wrote:

I am seriously considering the purchase of a 2 ton Mitsubishi ductless
air conditioner (MR-series, called "Mr. Slim") and am wondering if
anyone has any opinions of this equipment based on actual experience.

My specific concerns would be reliability, ease of service, parts
availability, durability, and things of that type. I am quite convinced
that the cooling performance, capacity, noise level, SEER / efficiency,
and other technical performance issues are well understood and have no
concerns in these areas.

I am mostly trying to see if anyone who has used / owned this type of
equipment has discovered any surprises. The DC compressor, inverter,
and other design features have been around for quite a while and have
been extremely popular in Asia and Europe for many years, so I am NOT
questioning these points, but I would like to know if others have run
into unexpected problems.

Thanks for any advice.

I've not installed any personally, but I have stayed at places using
them or the LG equivalents and they have performed well. I will likely
be installing one of the two in the next year or two for a small
building.

Smarty wrote:
I am seriously considering the purchase of a 2 ton Mitsubishi ductless
air conditioner (MR-series, called "Mr. Slim") and am wondering if
anyone has any opinions of this equipment based on actual experience.

My specific concerns would be reliability, ease of service, parts
availability, durability, and things of that type. I am quite convinced
that the cooling performance, capacity, noise level, SEER / efficiency,
and other technical performance issues are well understood and have no
concerns in these areas.

I am mostly trying to see if anyone who has used / owned this type of
equipment has discovered any surprises. The DC compressor, inverter,
and other design features have been around for quite a while and have
been extremely popular in Asia and Europe for many years, so I am NOT
questioning these points, but I would like to know if others have run
into unexpected problems.

Thanks for any advice.

Hi,
I had one in my daughter's condo out of town when he was in university.
Never had any trouble for four years until she finished school and
back home. The condo was sold then. Rhe size of condo was ~1200 sq. ft.

Tony Hwang wrote:

Smarty wrote:
I am seriously considering the purchase of a 2 ton Mitsubishi
ductless air conditioner (MR-series, called "Mr. Slim") and am
wondering if anyone has any opinions of this equipment based on
actual experience.

My specific concerns would be reliability, ease of service, parts
availability, durability, and things of that type. I am quite
convinced that the cooling performance, capacity, noise level, SEER
/ efficiency, and other technical performance issues are well
understood and have no concerns in these areas.

I am mostly trying to see if anyone who has used / owned this type
of equipment has discovered any surprises. The DC compressor,
inverter, and other design features have been around for quite a
while and have been extremely popular in Asia and Europe for many
years, so I am NOT questioning these points, but I would like to
know if others have run into unexpected problems.

Thanks for any advice.

Hi,
I had one in my daughter's condo out of town when he was in
university. Never had any trouble for four years until she finished
school and back home. The condo was sold then. Rhe size of condo was
~1200 sq. ft.

Thanks Tony and Pete for your replies. All the comments I have seen so
far on this forum and elsewhere seem to indicate that the Mitsubishi
ductless split system is a good choice. I'm going to order the unit
tomorrow.

Thanks again!

On Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:32:51 +0000 (UTC), "Smarty"
wrote:

Thanks Tony and Pete for your replies. All the comments I have seen so
far on this forum and elsewhere seem to indicate that the Mitsubishi
ductless split system is a good choice. I'm going to order the unit
tomorrow.


Check for tax credits. I seem to recall it qualifies.

Malcolm Hoar wrote:

In article ,
"Smarty" wrote:
Thanks Tony and Pete for your replies. All the comments I have seen
so far on this forum and elsewhere seem to indicate that the
Mitsubishi ductless split system is a good choice. I'm going to
order the unit tomorrow.

Good luck with that project. I really like mini-splits although
I don't have one. I've seen many, many systems on my visits to
Asia and they seem to work really well.

I think they're going to get a whole lot more common and
popular in the US.


Thanks! I also saw my first one while visiting my son in Japan when he
was a foreign exchange student there. They seem to work great, and are
showing up a lot more now in the U.S.

Oren wrote:

On Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:32:51 +0000 (UTC), "Smarty"
wrote:

Thanks Tony and Pete for your replies. All the comments I have seen
so far on this forum and elsewhere seem to indicate that the
Mitsubishi ductless split system is a good choice. I'm going to
order the unit tomorrow.


Check for tax credits. I seem to recall it qualifies.

Yes, indeed! Some of them with high enough SEER/EER ratings do qualify
as do the cooling/heating versions which have a heat pump.

30% tax credit makes it more enticing to do it sooner rather than
later, and hence my interest....!!

Malcolm Hoar wrote:

In article ,
"Smarty" wrote:
Thanks! I also saw my first one while visiting my son in Japan when
he was a foreign exchange student there. They seem to work great,
and are showing up a lot more now in the U.S.

Are you planning to self install?

If so, please do post a report.

No Malcolm, I will be using a local HVAC contractor. I did install a
prior 3 ton Freon system here years ago, and had the luxury of a
pre-charged line set, diaphragm-piercing Shrader valves, and a stronger
back than I have now. Buying a jug of refrigerant was a piece of cake.

I am very comfortable with paying a professional to handle the R-410
and do all the work involved here. I am also likely to be going with a
zoned system with 2 or more line sets going from wall units to a single
outdoor compressor. I would imagine that weighing the refrigerant and
knowing how these systems work will be vastly superior by someone who
does this for a living as compared to what I would likely accomplish as
a first-time installer.

There are also warranty considerations, and I am not looking to replace
any of this at my own expense for a long time, if possible.
Mitsubishi-certified dealers are my best choice in this regard as well.

Malcolm Hoar wrote:

In article ,
"Smarty" wrote:

No Malcolm, I will be using a local HVAC contractor. I did install a
prior 3 ton Freon system here years ago, and had the luxury of a
pre-charged line set, diaphragm-piercing Shrader valves, and a
stronger back than I have now. Buying a jug of refrigerant was a
piece of cake.

I'd like to add a mini-split to my home office next year.

I did read about one guy who self installed the units and
then hired an HVAC guy off Craigslist to charge up the
system for $200. I'm tempted to try something similar.

As it happens we replaced our main a/c and furnace this
week -- 5 ton system. That I was happy to leave to the
professionals. I hear ya on the back thing, having a
badly herniated disc myself.


Self install is, from the technical perspective, a very attractive
option, since Mitsubishi publishes (as a PDF file on the web) a
detailed, step-by-step guide, and the equipment can be purchased all
over the Internet at very nice prices (such as $1804 for the 2 ton,
single zone unit, delivered, no tax). The outdoor unit does weigh about
140 pounds, but is very small and easy to roll around on a dolly after
the truck drops the unit off with a liftgate (no extra charge) at your
driveway. The interior unit is about 42 inches long, weights maybe 40
pounds, and takes a couple people to lift and install it, mostly due to
the size rather than the weight.

The R-410 work requires the right tools and expertise, but the
electrical and drain are a piece of cake, with the only minor work
being to cut a single 2.5 inches through the exterior wall to bring out
the line set, the drain, and the wiring in a bundle and thread them
through a conduit, gutter, or plastic protective shell from Mitsubishi
as they pass from the interior to the exterior unit. Having the right
tubing bender is important, and I wound up renting one the last time
with no problems.

The non-technical issues, for me, are the real issue....namely the
warranty and support. The unit is much more complex than the average
unit, with a DC inverter and microprocessor controlling a variable
speed compressor, separate line sets to 2 zones (in my case), and a
relatively short warranty (1 year parts, 5 year compressor) given the
high cost of the equipment. There is a lot of ambiguity as to whether
the warranty will even have any validity if the unit is self-installed,
and replacement parts are not cheap.....

In the balance, I decided that I have "paid my dues" by previously
installing HVAC more than once in this house, as well as continuing to
do every humidifier, electronic filter, combustion blower, condenser
fan, igniter, contactor, and every other installation and repair that
has come along since the late 1960s. More important, I think this type
of product 'deserves' a professional installation, especially as I am
considering a multi-zoned system using 2 or possibly 3 line-sets to the
same compressor.

As far as herniated disks and related horror stories, I feel your
pain...........

Thanks again for your comments!

Malcolm Hoar wrote:

In article ,
"Smarty" wrote:

The non-technical issues, for me, are the real issue....namely the
warranty and support. The unit is much more complex than the average
unit, with a DC inverter and microprocessor controlling a variable
speed compressor, separate line sets to 2 zones (in my case), and a
relatively short warranty (1 year parts, 5 year compressor) given
the high cost of the equipment. There is a lot of ambiguity as to
whether the warranty will even have any validity if the unit is
self-installed, and replacement parts are not cheap.....

Thanks for lots of good info.

Are you sure about that warranty? I was looking at the Mitsubishi
web site and most seemed to quote 5 year parts and 7 year
compressor which seems much more reasonable. Perhaps that's
changed very recently?

http://catalog.mitsubishipro.com/category/


This is a very interesting point Malcolm which I am glad came up. The
Mitsubishi brochure I was given by the first HVAC contractor who
estimated my job has the warranty periods I quoted to you, was printed
in 2008, and apparently offered a shorter warranty on both parts and
compressor. I had not realized that Mitsubishi had extended the
warranty length for both the parts warranty excluding the compressor as
well as the parts warranty for the compressor, apparently sometime
between 2008 and the present time.

At Mitsubishi's consumer website,


http://www.mitsubishicomfort.com/en/...urces/warranty
-statement

they show the current warranty as amended in June 2010 showing exactly
what you stated. I see some Google links showing the older warranty
periods, as well as a 5 year warranty on all parts including the
compressor which they apprently offered on the MR series in the not too
distant past.

This longer warranty of 5 and 7 years is much more appropriate, but
still short on the compressor in my opinion. My current Lenox system
had its Copeland Scroll Compressor replaced in the 10th year under
warranty, for example, saving me at least a grand or more.