Air sealing oil

[Johnny-DIY]

Great threads guys, lots of useful insights.

Bought my Mistral unit some time back and just tried to instlall it recently.

Took me a good part of a day doing it on my own but I'd deliberately worked at an easy pace so the actual elbow grease portion was about 6 hours when you take out the tea-breaks and the ocassional catch up of the Aus Open on tele !

The tricky bit was lifting the indoor unit up near the ceiling and pushing the cable, pipes and drain hose with one hand, holding the unit with the other and balancing on a ladder - good to call on a mate if you can get a favour.

Everything is set now except one problem. I can't seem to remove both the metal caps sealing the pipes on the indoor unit. Applied a heck of a lot of pressure, even rigged a vice up on the roof to help clamp it down whilst using a shifter on the cap - to to avail. Any advise would appreciated as I don't have much skin left on my knuckles ? Both caps seems almost welded in ... any body else had to struggle with them ?

cheers
Jono

ps: too would appreciate anyone knowing who may be happy to commission the system ... I'm checking out with my mates so I'll update if I find somone first.

[ajt]

Keep coing with the nuts, they are quite often excessively tight, a couple of 12 inch shifters will do the trick.

Dont worry about the gas noise when you do crack the nuts, its just dry nitrogen which they put in the evaporator for leak testing it / keeping moisture out in transit.

[Arron]

Everything is set now except one problem. I can't seem to remove both the metal caps sealing the pipes on the indoor unit. Applied a heck of a lot of pressure, even rigged a vice up on the roof to help clamp it down whilst using a shifter on the cap - to to avail. Any advise would appreciated as I don't have much skin left on my knuckles ? Both caps seems almost welded in ... any body else had to struggle with them ?

No, both mine came apart quite easily.

Arron

[Johnny-DIY]

Great threads guys, lots of useful insights.

Bought my Mistral unit some time back and just tried to instlall it recently.

Took me a good part of a day doing it on my own but I'd deliberately worked at an easy pace so the actual elbow grease portion was about 6 hours when you take out the tea-breaks and the ocassional catch up of the Aus Open on tele !

The tricky bit was lifting the indoor unit up near the ceiling and pushing the cable, pipes and drain hose with one hand, holding the unit with the other and balancing on a ladder - good to call on a mate if you can get a favour.

Everything is set now except one problem. I can't seem to remove both the metal caps sealing the pipes on the indoor unit. Applied a heck of a lot of pressure, even rigged a vice up on the roof to help clamp it down whilst using a shifter on the cap - to no avail. Any advise would be appreciated as I don't have much skin left on my knuckles ? Both caps seems almost welded in ... any body else had to struggle with them ?

cheers
Jono

ps: too would appreciate anyone knowing who may be happy to commission the system ... I'm checking out with my mates so I'll update if I find somone first.

Update: had another go today at removing the capping nut with the vice and even applied a little heat on it hoping to expand it a touch; still won't budge. Score so far .... setup both indoor & outdoor units = 6 hrs .... working on removing the capping nut = 2 hrs. Grrrrrrrrr, may have to take to the angle grinder soon ! Incidentally, if I ever get the nut off, do I connect the pipe to the indoor unit first, or to the outdoor unit first, in order to expel the air in the pipes ? I gather from some of the threads that both units are pressured so I'm unsure if there is a difference.

cheers
Jono

[occam]

Update: had another go today at removing the capping nut with the vice and even applied a little heat on it hoping to expand it a touch; still won't budge. Score so far .... setup both indoor & outdoor units = 6 hrs .... working on removing the capping nut = 2 hrs. Grrrrrrrrr, may have to take to the angle grinder soon ! Incidentally, if I ever get the nut off, do I connect the pipe to the indoor unit first, or to the outdoor unit first, in order to expel the air in the pipes ? I gather from some of the threads that both units are pressured so I'm unsure if there is a difference.

cheers
Jono

I had the same problem, made worse by having the ends of the indoor unit pipes in a rather awkward position. Dismounted the indoor unit, pulled back pipes etc, and then used a 300mm wrench (and a smaller one) to loosen the caps.
It works now - VERY nice for the muggy nights we have had in Melbourne. However, I guess I have made almost all mistakes one can do with this installation, including not getting hold of someone to commission the installation. Well, for $600 it could have been done - but $600 for less than an hour is too rich for me.
Can someone tell me how serious these mistakes are:
Opened the return pipe valve before the gas pipe valve.
Stopped letting air/gas out before "the white cloud" (since pressure was disappearing).
Letting the 5m pipes do an extra circle to get the right length outside the wall.
Using a large opening in the brick wall (after a hot water system) to install pipes 'invisibly' from indoor unit to just short of the outdoor unit (to be covered with bricks and an 'inspection door' so that the pipe joints can be accessed).
Letting the outdoor unit stand on pieces of villaboard (on existing concrete slab), just adjusting to get a level position - no fixing to the ground at all.

[Arron]

I think the going rate for just vaccing an installed unit is around $100. I think this is what is meant by 'commissioning'. The $600 is for the full installation. I was quoted $600 too, which I thought would cover a fairly tricky installation, although when I told them what was required in our unique situation they backed out and said they werent perpared to do it.

[Johnny-DIY]

Finally got both capping nuts off. Didn't have to go the drastic measure. WD40, a bitta tapping with hammer and more WD40 did the trick.

Thanks for all the tips.

Cheers
Jono

[lomu]

I have found a company in Brisbane that will come out and commissioning the aircon by vaccing it out and checking your install and will sign your warrnaty card, pretty good value for $88 and you keep your warranty

Hello everyone.
i just bought a mss10 today set it up just need the commission. spent all day trying to find somewhere that will do it for less than the unit cost.(last one at kmart $400)

can you pretty please let me know which company it was that you used?
thanks for your time
Pete

[lomu]

sorry the above was directed at <b>tcns</b> can you please let me know who did it for you? thanks

[lnt9000]

Very Inspirational, good to see so many doing it.
It's a shame that there is a stumbling block with
the vacuum,you know your all putting installers out of work!

[tcns]

Give Ager Airconditioning a call in underwood - that is where I had that price - it was nearly two years ago now so it may have gone up

Tom

[lomu]

thanks for the info

Pete

[fixa24]

Hey guys.
thanks for the info, gave me the confidence to install my 2 units this week, here's what i found.
Got my 2 at Kmart a month ago when they were on special for $299. Thay didn't come with the copper pipe (said so on box, saw some more at bunnings and was the same...??? go figure). Sourced some 1/4" and 3/8" paired pipe WITH insulation for $7.70 per metre! rented a pipe bender and flaring tool from hire place. mounted indoor unit on wall, drilled holes in wall, and bent pipes through to outside. ran drain and cables through. Ran to outdoor unit. i had one mounted on brackets up on the wall (second story), another on the ground.
Had a bit of difficulty flaring the pipes, not knowing how big to flare it etc...
Managed to find an aircon guy who i'd worded up a few days earlier, and he came out the same day i called! gotta be some kinda record. He vac'd both of them, had to redo my flares, and turned the gas on. only charged $120 for nearly 2 hours work.
After i finished the few little things remaining, plugged them in and turned them on. worked sensational!
So i recommend anyone to give them a go themselves. it's not too hard if you've done some diy stuff before.
all up INCLUDING units and parts, it cost me around $700.. not bad for something which would have cost me around $1700 if they'd done it all..

[Pedro05]

Hi Everyone, I bought one of the Mistral 1HP units from a local hardware and after reading a couple of informative threads about these units including this one decided to give installing it myself a go.
<O
Now everything went fairly well with the install and all the cables and pipes are connected properly as per the instructions but the unit won't heat. It seems to cool ok, it's a bit hard to try it properly as it's cold outside and in anyway but when it's turned on to heat the outside unit starts working but the inside unit doesn't do anything. After a while the inside unit coils develops a healthy covering of ice.<O</O
<O</O

No I've double checked the instructions, tested all the wire to make sure they're connected right but everything's seems ok. I was thinking I did something wrong with the air evacuation but then it should work at all?<O</O<O</O
<O</O

Does anyone know what the problem might be?

<O</O
Any help or advice (except the advice to call a professional) will be gratefully accepted.<O</O
<O</O

Cheers Pedro )<O</O

[Arron]

I know this is stating the bleeding obvious, but have you made sure you have chosen the right settings. With our units, we crack the numbers up to about 27degrees celsius (I know that sounds way too high but it keeps the room a constant 20 degrees or so). The icon needed is the little thing like a sun, directly and just a few mm above the 2 of the 27. Works brilliant.

I'm just stating this because the instructions that came with our units were very confusing. I have heard they are better now.

Arron