Heating the Shop in Vermont

I've installed quite a few of the Pioneer mini-splits. I'm impressed with the functionality. I probably lean more toward cooling than you will (Southern Indiana) but they are my heat source in the garage. (The separate workshop uses gas heat). I'm in the process of installing 5 units in our house, using the multi-zone outdoor compressors, so two compressors. This will replace the 30 year old central AC, keeping the gas heat furnace.

My two complaints on these units are 1) the symbols for heat/fan/cool/dry modes on the remote are tiny, so distinguishing between the modes is difficult with older eyes, and 2) the lowest temperature you can set is something like 62 degrees, I would prefer to be able to set the garage to low 50's when I'm not using it. I end up using "Freeze Protection" mode which targets the mid-40's.

When the new workshop gets built, I plan on a 30k unit for a well insulated 2200 sq ft.

I'm *NOT* an HVAC tech, so take this with a that in mind, but my impression is that shorter pipes are fine for the charge. A fair amount of the charge is used in the units so the relative change per foot is small. The base charge is 30 ounces. The technical brochure calls for an additional charge per foot over 25 feet of 0.16 ounces per foot. So at 9 feet, you are at 16 feet less than the minimum charge, or 2.56 ounces over. That is a fairly small percentage. You are only 7 feet under the minimum pipe length they sell (16ft). I suspect that your are well within the normal operating range of the compressor.
so take a blue and ,red marker and mark the heat icon in RED and the cool in blue
do the dry in YELLOW for desert sand...
 
I've installed quite a few of the Pioneer mini-splits. I'm impressed with the functionality. I probably lean more toward cooling than you will (Southern Indiana) but they are my heat source in the garage. (The separate workshop uses gas heat). I'm in the process of installing 5 units in our house, using the multi-zone outdoor compressors, so two compressors. This will replace the 30 year old central AC, keeping the gas heat furnace.

My two complaints on these units are 1) the symbols for heat/fan/cool/dry modes on the remote are tiny, so distinguishing between the modes is difficult with older eyes, and 2) the lowest temperature you can set is something like 62 degrees, I would prefer to be able to set the garage to low 50's when I'm not using it. I end up using "Freeze Protection" mode which targets the mid-40's.

When the new workshop gets built, I plan on a 30k unit for a well insulated 2200 sq ft.

I'm *NOT* an HVAC tech, so take this with a that in mind, but my impression is that shorter pipes are fine for the charge. A fair amount of the charge is used in the units so the relative change per foot is small. The base charge is 30 ounces. The technical brochure calls for an additional charge per foot over 25 feet of 0.16 ounces per foot. So at 9 feet, you are at 16 feet less than the minimum charge, or 2.56 ounces over. That is a fairly small percentage. You are only 7 feet under the minimum pipe length they sell (16ft). I suspect that your are well within the normal operating range of the compressor.
Thanks for the technical information. I read through some of the specs and didn't quite understand why it would make a difference. the oz./ft. helps me understand it much better now. It would be hard to believe that the compressor is not sized or rated to handle less than 10% more charge given how designers tend to oversize components.

I'm not sure how some of the other brands work, but I really like the clever design of the remote control and how it has a thermostat in it so that wherever you place it, that is the location the mini-split is working to heat/cool. If you have the remote next to you across the shop, the unit will cycle until that part of the shop you are in with the remote reaches the target temp.

My eyes aren't what they used to be, but I can see the icons fine. My problem with them was interpreting them. The only one that made any sense to me was the cool mode, represented by a snowflake. The rest are somewhat open to interpretation. Once you read the manual, they sort of make more sense.
 
My eyes aren't what they used to be, but I can see the icons fine. My problem with them was interpreting them. The only one that made any sense to me was the cool mode, represented by a snowflake. The rest are somewhat open to interpretation. Once you read the manual, they sort of make more sense.

Right?! I was looking at my Friedrich remote the other day and trying to remember what the heck the symbols stood for. It is like reading the laundry tag on a shirt. According to those tags I need to stomp on my clothes, shred them and nuke them. If that doesn't work then I believe the next step is to give them to the wife. ;)
It is Greek to me.
 
Bryan congrats on the mini split. My money says your installation will be fine.
Generally speaking it is better to leave it running at stable temp setting so it keeps building and machines at constant temp.
Not sure how cold it gets in Vermont in the dead of winter but I would hang on to the pellet stove.
 
I haven't used "dry" mode (dehumidifier), but the instructions say in this mode to set the desired temperature on the remote. That doesn't really sound like a humidity setting?
 
I haven't used "dry" mode (dehumidifier), but the instructions say in this mode to set the desired temperature on the remote. That doesn't really sound like a humidity setting?
probably as the humidity... so 60 would be 60 percent humidity.
out here in the east.. 50 is good in my basement. I was upto 95 yesterday.
Had to put the air on and the dehumidifier on to keep things from rusting... I really don't like it when paper feels like a wet noodle.
 
I
probably as the humidity... so 60 would be 60 percent humidity.
out here in the east.. 50 is good in my basement. I was upto 95 yesterday.
Had to put the air on and the dehumidifier on to keep things from rusting... I really don't like it when paper feels like a wet noodle.
I know the feeling, lived in Savannah, Ga for 15 years. Hot wet noodle. Yuck.
 
My eyes aren't what they used to be, but I can see the icons fine. My problem with them was interpreting them. The only one that made any sense to me was the cool mode, represented by a snowflake. The rest are somewhat open to interpretation. Once you read the manual, they sort of make more sense.

Right?! I was looking at my Friedrich remote the other day and trying to remember what the heck the symbols stood for. It is like reading the laundry tag on a shirt. According to those tags I need to stomp on my clothes, shred them and nuke them. If that doesn't work then I believe the next step is to give them to the wife. ;)
It is Greek to me.
One of my pet peeves! Humankind spent millions of years developing LANGUAGE. And now we're being forcibly retrograded all the way backwards to hieroglyphics! Arf!!!!!
 
One of my pet peeves! Humankind spent millions of years developing LANGUAGE. And now we're being forcibly retrograded all the way backwards to hieroglyphics! Arf!!!!!
well not millions of years. I think maybe 6000-15000 depending.

the icons are supposed to be universal to all languages. Same with car signs
 
Yeah ... right! Universally confusing, in entirely too many many instances.
<Note - I tried posting some screen shots here, but kept getting a "Parsing response failed" error??????>
 
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