Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Update: After owning this unit for 6 months I am still very happy. Our home has never been more comfortable and quiet. Zero problems so far. Attached is a screenshot of the monthly usage report from the Sensi smart thermostat that I installed to control the MrCool heat pump. Original review: I replaced my furnace with this heat pump as a DIY project about a week and a half ago, and I'm very happy with the results so far. Our weather has been all over the place since then. We've experienced outdoor temperature fluctuations between about 35 degrees and 94 degrees so since I completed the install, and the Mr Cool Universal Heat Pump/Air Handler system has heated and cooled our home to a very comfortable 71 degrees without any problem. I scaled the system back to 2-ton mode when I installed it to see how it would do. So far so good. I may convert it back to the default 3-ton (36,000 BTU) mode If I find that it's having a hard time keeping up with hotter or colder temperatures later this year. This new system is much, much quieter than our old furnace. Most of the vents are almost silent, and I only hear a light fan noise from one or two vents closest to the air handler. The inverter motors turn on quietly with no jolting sound whatsoever, which I think helps me to sleep better at night. The outside unit is very quiet too. Standing right next to this condenser I hear my neighbors condenser louder than my own, and the neighbor's condenser is about 40 feet away. This is my first HVAC replacement. I consider myself pretty handy but the project was still a little intimidating to take on because I had zero experience replacing furnaces or working with refrigeration lines. I'm glad I did the install myself though. The no-vac hose installation was pretty easy. The hardest part of the install was building a ducted stand for the air handler to sit on for the air return (I did the upflow configuration), but youtube videos helped me to figure that part out. I probably saved two or three thousand dollars doing this project myself, which means I was able to get a nicer system than a cheaper/less efficient system would have cost to be professionally installed. I consider this a double win. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you do the install yourself: You will need big wrenches to install the lineset. Technically you are supposed to use a torque wrench to tighten them to the exact amounts specified in the manual, but I couldn't find anywhere local that had an open ended torque wrench that would fit the 5/8 inch line set fittings ( I think one required a 1 1/4 inch wrench, and another was a little bigger (maybe 1 and 3/8 inches.) I used the crows feet attachments I had to tighten the 3/8 inch fittings without a problem, but the bigger lineset fittings I had to just give it my best guess. No leaks so far. I'll keep my fingers crossed. One thing I couldn't find anywhere in the Mr Cool manuals was whether or not the air handler had a slot for an air filter. It does have slot in the bottom that has a metal mesh filter. It's not really an air filter, but it looks like you could slide it out and use a 20x20x1 inch air filter in this spot. I can't say for sure because I decided to add a 4-inch filter box underneath the air handler instead. Once you finish connecting the lineset you should open the valves to release the refrigerant on both the outside unit (condenser) and the air handler. The instructions only mention doing this for the condenser. I should also mention that the system seems to be very efficient. I occasionally use a meter to see how much electricity the condenser is using, and the highest I've seen it at so far is only around 6.5 amps (240 volts). Again, this is at the 2-ton setting. There were no reviews reviews on this system when I bought it, and it looks like this will be the first. Hopefully it will help anyone deciding whether or not to buy it. I'm glad I did.