Wye duct with electrical damper for ducting

sf_frankie said:

I’ll try and journal the install. This guy made a video of him installing the exact same unit that I found helpful. Honestly, the hardest part for me will be finding a stud in the wall. For some reason, stud finders have been lying to me my entire life lol. My poor wall suffers. I’ve drilled one to many exploratory holes in this build cause I don’t trust the stud finder.

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Apalchen said:

I thought about getting a pioneer unit, you will need to vacuum your lines, unless they came out with a different lineset real recently. It's not hard if you are mechanical and have gauges and what not. Neither of my previous installers did a nitrogen test and plenty of people don't. That said my last unit leaked so if you know anyone that can do that for ya it's prob a good idea but not required.

The pioneer units seem to be pretty good, although I'm pretty sure that's the unit that has a lighted temp display on the front of the unit and I'm not sure if it can be turned off or not you might have to put some foil tape over that.

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sf_frankie said:

In the video it looked like the display shuts off when you aren’t adjusting temps. If not I’ll just tape it. No big deal.

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Apalchen said:

Im guessing on an 800 dollar purchase your not too worried about warranty, but if you are you might need to have a tech sign off on it if you know any. That's another reason I over paid for the diy version, it's one of the few that warranty a home owner installation. I had to order a 3 ton unit tho, if I needed a smaller one I wouldn't worry about too much as the cost isn't too bad.

Let us know how the install goes I still have a few more units to purchase and have no brand loyalty. I built a shed type thing to house my unit as we get so much snow here so even if my units are mix matched brands I'm the only one gonna see em. And I been eyeing some of those larger pioneer units. I found a local HVAC guy that will do linesets and vac and pressure check for 800, on 4 or 5 ton unit it would be worth paying for.

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sf_frankie said:

I downloaded the instruction manual and then watched a YouTube video and it all looked pretty straightforward. The ad didn’t specify needing special tools but in the YouTube video the guy used a manifold gauge to vac the lines. Luckily I have access to a manifold gauge and a compressor so I’ll grab it just in case. I wonder if automotive AC certs apply to home setups? AC cert classes are really all about refrigerant handling anyway. I’ll have to look into it and see as half the people I know are AC certified for cars, if not I’ll get an HVAC guy out to vac the lines. If you get caught messing with that shit on a car without a cert the fine is like $30k! Plus it’s


I should have wrote pre-vacced instead of pre-charged. My unit comes with 16’ hoses so I’ll have some extra length sitting outside by the unit. Not a huge deal. Don’t need to flare or cut them.




I downloaded the instruction manual and then watched a YouTube video and it all looked pretty straightforward. The ad didn’t specify needing special tools but in the YouTube video the guy used a manifold gauge and compressor to add vacuum to the lines to check for leaks instead of pressurizing with nitrogen. Luckily I have access to a manifold gauge and a compressor so I’ll grab it just in case. I wonder if automotive AC certs apply to home setups? AC cert classes are really all about refrigerant handling anyway, just a different type. I’ll have to look into it and see as half the people I know are AC certified for cars, if not I’ll get an HVAC guy out to leak test and then charge the lines. If you get caught messing with that shit on a car without a cert the fine is like $30k! I want no part of that plus it’s the responsible thing to do. I’ve tried to make sure not to cut corners on any part of this build.

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Nizza said:

d

don't use a compressor to test lines, you have to use nitrogen!

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sf_frankie said:

It’s a vacuum compressor. Hook it up to a manifold gauge and run it for 20 mins or so and watch it to make sure it holds vacuum.

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Nizza said:

yes you can use a vacuum pump to test but it is easier to charge with nitrogen because a bubble test will show fast
using a vacuum to test if there is a leak will just suck moisture into the line. a vacuum test over an amount of time does work and is hard to see loss on regular gauges. Also flare connections if are under a vacuum may not leak as opposed to a pressure test.

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sf_frankie said:

I can borrow the nitrogen smoke tester from work but i don’t think i need it. There are no flare connections on my kit. It’s all bolt on hardware. You connect the fitting, pop a cap off and then unscrew a little valve that opens the connection. It’s similar to the connector shown in this video.

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Nizza said:

I watched the tutorial and the guy there does a great installation

when you put those push connect fittings together I would dust them out first. Also be careful bending near those fittings, a straight connection helps alot

I hope that video makes it easier for you, i'll be following along and it seems like a straight forward install. It looks like those lines are actually pre-charged and do not need the vacuum step. you just open the lines and hope there is no leak

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