DIY ductless AC

I stumbled on a page for a DIY Friedrich ductless AC (links never seem to work here, but google Friedrich Breeze).  The install seems incredibly easy.  Has anyone ever tried something like this or know of these units?   A few additional questions:   1) Are these units any good? 2) Can I put the compressor on the roof?  The condensation line runs in parallel with the cooling lines, so it would mean running the condensation lines up and then running the condensate into my downspout.  Also, would I find the vibration/noise from the roof annoying? 3) Are there other units that are worth looking at? 4) If I want 2 or three units on the top floor of my house, am I better with some other multi-zone system rather than 3 of these?

you would need a permit to roof mount the compressor.  I think it is a FDNY permit as they used to inspect our roof mounted units and issue the permit.   Most roof mounted applications are actually set on I beams which are set on the parapit walls.   Steve

Not familiar with these units, but we are certified on Fujitsu and (used to be – Sanyo). Due to environmental concerns, refrigerants are not supposed to be handled by non-licensed HVAC techs. (we do no work in NYC). Even if the units you refer to come “pre-charged”, you would still need to be able to pressure check your line sets and draw down those line sets before releasing the charge. If you handle copper tubing all the time, you probably could avoid kinking them, that or braze fitting. Many jobs are OK by handy non-professionals, but not HVAC.

Here are some pros an cons on this after I just bought and installed the large Breeze ductless system… These ship directly from the manufacturer even if you buy them from online vendor. It is about 180ish lbs. Friedrich penny pinches and uses YRC frieght for Portland Oregon area and this is the old Yellow. This unit arrives in Portland on Monday and they won’t be able to get it to my home until the following weekend since they only use the smaller trucks for the city not for the close suburbs that is only like 5 miles from the city. I live on a paved private one car lane dead end road with hardly any traffic that Fedex and UPS and other freight companies deliver to no problem. I would NEVER use YRC again. We watched the video on how to install the Breeze units several times and read the directions and thought it was complete but you quickly realized you have been duped. They had a year to ferret this stuff out and did NOTHING much from what I can tell. We are older seasoned DIYers so we were able to figure it out but it is poorly executed and they mislead. How? Well in the advertizing they say this unit can be taken with you if you move. Well when you open this up we found two papers thrown in the boxes that said you can only bend the tubing twice. So once installing it and then the second time taking it out and now you have maxed out the times you can bend it. Maybe you have an HVAC guy re-tube  it but I wouldn’t count on it.  The tubing is a pain the in rear big time and is like wrestling a boa constrictor. Allow for the fact the tubing doesn’t bend well and that 25 ft gets used up really quick when you include all the turns with it.  Also we were never able to get one side (right side when looking at it from the front) of this unit to lock in place because the tubing behind the unit is too bulky and this is a BIG design flaw they know about and have yet to offer an solutions on .Others have posted about this as well.  We called and they know about and just tell you to keep trying to push it closed. My husband is a big guy 6’4″ and football type and we pushed and pushed and we could not get it in and I worried we may have damaged it to some degree in the process. You can literally see the plastic outside case bulging from the tubing even though it is not locked in place entirely. Also the unit didn’t have the remote with it and company was out of remotes and said we would have to wait a week but the dealer ordered another unit and took out the remote and over nighted it to us. The manufacturer couldn’t be bothered. The left hand with this company doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. They cut corners too much on this. The remotes come from China too.  These inside and outdoor units are made in Mexico and it sounded like technical support could have also been out of Mexico. This family owned company was just sold to investment company in December of 2012 and the more I read about this group the less excited I get about the future of this. The retailer told me he sold more in the last 30 days than he had all last year when these came out in June of 2012\. He says the manufacturer is having problems keeping up with the demand. Friedrich has been in business since the 1800’s and well the excuse is just lame. Apparently Friedrich owns the patent on the way this thing clamps onto the outside unit so you can avoid HVAC installation and no one else has this. I had a window shaker before and I was able to install it without HVAC installation and recharging and this unit is designed in a similar way. HVAC companies want you to think that you need to have eveything recharged but you don’t. How did we manage all those years with window shakers not being recharged? The unit works good so far even after all the issues. Not sure about the quailty and how well the manufacturer would preform if we did have even more major problems. It has only been out on the market for one year now and not much of a track record on this. Not many reviews either and that is why I am posting this. I wished I had know more about it from buyers. I wrote the retailer a fairly negative review but it was too long to fit on his site and he said he would forward it to the manufacturer. I never heard a peep so far if that gives you an idea on how the company cares about any of this. If I had a do over I would save up another 1,500 and probably buy a Mitsubish instead since Daikin was also just bought out by Goodman and who knows what will happen with them now. I would pay the extra to have it installed where I needed it. My neighbor spent 5k on her Mitsubishi equivalent and got 1,500 rebate and overall spent another 1,500 more than we did and I would probably opt for that instead of this Breeze unit. At least I don’t think Mitsubishi will sell off and will be around with parts etc. Be prepared to have to trim the indoor unit with wood casing to hide the bigger gap from it not locking in place. Also I would only attempt this Breeze unit if you are going directly out a window with the tubing or installing it on an outside wall with the outdoor unit on the other side of the wall. We installed ours in an interior wall for best circulation and the tubing is just too difficult to weave around stuff. And no you can not ask for longer runs for the tubing. The way this installs you only find out that the indoor unit will not lock all the way when you are done weaving the tubing and half way through the installation. It was way less work to just finish installation of outside unit than to try to take out the inside unit and repack the mess and pay for shipping 180lbs back. You are too committed to this project when you find out it doesn’w work. May explain why so many are just living with this and not posting many good reviews or any reviews at all with this.  I could go on and on where they could improve on their directions which you can figure out eventually but the lame directions for the remote takes way more imagination and experimenting. The Breeze units are not worth the hassle and they still have plenty of bugs to work out that they have yet to do and it’s been out on the market a year already. Not a good sign.  Also I would pay cash for my ductless system if possible.Try to avoid the PUD’s financing. Our PUD was charging over 300.00 for a loan servicing fee on top the of 6% interest and that would have run us close to another 1k. Too many times we have seen appliance companies taken over by investment firms only to make and sell crappier versions of what the name brand used to make. I worry if Friedrich is going to be another one too. A RELIABLE manufacturer will make a killing in this market when they figure out a low cost way to provide a easy to install ductless system where consumers can avoid the perils and the excessive inflated fees from HVAC and PUD companies.