Need an Air Conditioner for an equipment room

Janderso

Janderso

Jeff Anderson
H-M Platinum Supporter
It gets hot in California.
We have a 12 X 12' upstairs room that holds all the communication equipment, dealer management system computers, phone system etc.
I have personally installed and replaced window type air conditioners several times. 110V 5-7 amp units work great for a year or two.
They run 24/7.
Any ideas?

Thanks for your help!
 
I installed a Mr. Cool min split last summer. It is truly a DIY system and can be installed in the matter of a few hours at most with simple tools.. It is not the least expensive choice out there but so far it has performed well. The room installed in is an attic room, 300 sq. ft. but well insulated. I installed an 18kTU unit.It uses a VFD xcompressor and once the target temperature is reached, it idles down. It alo functions s a heat pump. I believe that Abom did a You Tube video on his installation.

There are other DIY systems at a lower cost but they require the ability to pull a vacuum, silver solder or braze connections, etc. It is my understanding that requires installation by a licensed HVAC person in most locations.
 
You know, that may be a good solution. I installed a one ton Mr. Cool in my shop. I love that thing.
I'll never use the heat that's for sure.
 
We also just did a MRCOOL DIY 18000 btu. Oversized for your space but I believe there is a 12000. Maybe smaller? I seen Senville has precharged as well.
 
RJSakowski said:
I installed an 18kTU unit.It uses a VFD xcompressor and once the target temperature is reached, it idles down. It alo functions s a heat pump. I believe that Abom did a You Tube video on his installation.
Click to expand...
18K is a big unit for 300 sq. feet. I would think that should do the job.
The one I installed in my garage/shop is 12K. I was very surprised it kept the shop 70 degrees on a 100 degree day. This is a standard garage with a roll up door. The walls and ceiling are insulated and the big door has R8 installed. I have small gaps where the garage door rubs against the house yet it still stays warm/cool.
I started this thread to see if anyone had experience with a more robust AC unit that could stand a 100% duty cycle year after year. I never considered a mini-split.
The girls have the storage up there and all the equipment. A Mini-split would be ideal.
 
Janderso said:
18K is a big unit for 300 sq. feet. I would think that should do the job.
The one I installed in my garage/shop is 12K. I was very surprised it kept the shop 70 degrees on a 100 degree day. This is a standard garage with a roll up door. The walls and ceiling are insulated and the big door has R8 installed. I have small gaps where the garage door rubs against the house yet it still stays warm/cool.
I started this thread to see if anyone had experience with a more robust AC unit that could stand a 100% duty cycle year after year. I never considered a mini-split.
The girls have the storage up there and all the equipment. A Mini-split would be ideal.
Click to expand...
It is larger than needed. I went with it because the 12k unit was back ordered for two months and I wanted to make the install before some scheduled surgery. As I understand it and oversized unit has too short a duty cycle and condensate doesn't properly drain away. The VFD feature allows the unit to idle down. In use, it slows down with the compressor running enough to keep humidity down.

My room has unconditiond space on all surfaces except the floor. The outer surface of that space is actually the roof and on summer days, the temperature can hit 130ºF in that space.
 
Jeff,
Back in a previous life (working for a living) I worked with a lot of HVAC equipment for data centers and electrical and communications equipment rooms. For climate control in these environments our primary equipment supplier was Liebert. Their equipment is designed for those applications and worked quite well, but also quite pricey. Although my experience is mostly with their larger systems, we did have a few of their smaller units. Here's an example of their small equipment: https://www.vertiv.com/en-us/produc...ate-mission-critical-cooling-system-5-10.5kw/

We also used quite a few of the Mitsubishi mini split systems in small communication equipment closets and they also worked quite well.

Ted
 
I went for the Fujitsu mini split heat pump system from AC Wholesalers because it had the highest energy efficiency rating when I installed it in my great room a couple of years ago. I am very pleased with it for summer cooling and winter heating. I haven't switched on the central AC since which has saved me a ton of money in utility bills.

www.acwholesalers.com

Fujitsu 9RLFW1 9,000 BTU 23 SEER Ductless Mini Split Heat Pump System

The Fujitsu 9RLFW1 9,000 BTU 23 SEER Ductless Mini Split Heat Pump System 9RLFW1 has been discontinued. Check out Expert's recommended alternatives for another top mini split system.
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The HVAC outfit that I use most of the time, said to avoid LG and that Mitsubishi is best currently. He does not sell the Mitsubishi units so he had no iron in the fire. We settled on the MRCOOL as we could do it ourselves. As you have experience, you are in a good position on how to go forward.
 
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