Do-it-yourself air conditioning installation: rules and video instruction

Installing a split system is complex work, and it’s sometimes, frankly, even creepy to watch the process of installing an external air conditioning unit on the wall of a high-rise building. But there is nothing supernatural in this work and it will be described below how to install the air conditioner yourself, however, you will certainly need an assistant.

Tool and consumables

Self-installation of an air conditioner will require the use of expensive tools. This primarily refers to a vacuum pump, the simplest version of which costs a couple of hundred dollars. You can rent this equipment, ask a friend from a friend, etc., because it is very difficult to properly install an air conditioner without it. However, looking ahead, we say that it is possible to do without a vacuum pump, there will be no guarantee of quality.

So, you will need the following materials for installation:

1. The vacuum pump we just talked about.
2. Professional SDS + rotary hammer with a power of at least 750 W with a drill with a diameter of 22 mm, but it is better to use special industrial punch with a 40 mm drill, then you do not have to drill two in the wall holes.
3. Drills 6x60 mm for attaching the indoor unit and 12x200 mm for attaching the outdoor unit will also be required for the hammer drill.
4. Good rolling, preferably with a polished cone. Otherwise, when rolling, you will definitely cut copper dust and chips, which will damage the compressor.
5. Pipe cutter. You can’t cut the tubes with an ordinary hacksaw. The reason, again, is the large amount of shavings formed and the uneven edges of the cutting edge, due to which high-quality expansion will not be possible, and the installation of the air conditioner with your own hands will be completed poor quality.
6. A pair of brackets that support up to 60 kg for mounting the outdoor unit.
7. Copper tubes for arranging routes with a diameter of 3/8 and 1/4 inch - this is for air conditioners for household small power 7 and 9 BTU / h (British thermal unit, the number is indicated on the package). More powerful devices use different diameters.
8. Special foam sponge insulation for thick and thin copper tubes.

You will also need a plastic drainage tube, aluminum tape for wrapping pipes behind the wall, a 60x80 box mm for the track in the apartment, as well as the level and other materials for installation, usually always available in stock.

Read more about the device of the air conditioner

To understand how to install the air conditioner yourself, you need to understand some of the details of the device and the principle of the air conditioner. The main element is the outdoor unit and, accordingly, the compressor. Into him Freon has already been pumped at the plant to fill a five-meter trackalthough self-respecting installers usually just in case take a refrigerant bottle with them. You can read about how to refuel an air conditioner. here.

On one side of the outdoor unit are two fittings.

On one you can see a couple of nuts:

• the first, with a copper or plastic plug - to connect a thin copper tube of the route;
• the second, deaf, under which a control valve with a valve under the hexagon is hidden - by turning it into the system, freon starts after the installation of the air conditioner with your own hands is completed.

The second fitting has three nuts:

• with a plug - for connecting a thick copper tube;
• blind nut, under which the valve is located;
• the third, located in the opposite direction of the highway, hides the filling port.

It is connected to the system until the control valve is turned and serves for refueling, as well as measuring the pressure of the refrigerant. Making the installation of the air conditioner with our own hands, we will use it - it will be needed to connect the vacuum pump.

Mounting the indoor unit

It is better to mount it closer to the external wall, so that installing the air conditioner with your own hands is not accompanied by laying a long track. Thirty centimeters should be left from the ceiling for the indoor unit, so that nothing would obstruct the intake of air.

The metal mounting frame of the device is mounted horizontally in level. Next, you need to decide in which place the box will be, for which you can attach the indoor unit to the frame. Drainage will take place along the duct to remove condensate, therefore it should be placed under a slope, but small - about 5 mm by 30 cm in length.

Difficult stage

After completing the installation of the indoor unit and marking where the box will go to the external wall, you can start drilling the hole out. You can use a powerful professional hammer drill, but you will have to drill not one, but two, and in some cases even three holes.

Drainage will be routed to the bottom, and wiring and copper tubes to the top. For obvious reasons, both holes should be drilled at an angle - the same or even steeper than the box. At the end of the work, communication should be extended.

Outdoor unit installation

It is mounted on the outer wall. If there is an open balcony - excellent, installing an air conditioner in the winter will even be safe. On the loggia, air conditioning can be mounted on the front or side, which is usually in the shade. The rules for installing the air conditioner prohibit installation inside a glazed balcony, or during its operation the windows must be open.

First, the brackets are attached - holes are marked and drilled, the first bracket is set in level, then the second. The distance between the mounting tabs of the outdoor unit must be measured in advance in order to know at what distance from each other the brackets are mounted.

A block is installed and twisted on them. The track by this time should already be stretched. It is not necessary to isolate the copper pipes in concrete, but they must be insulated in the remaining sections - pull on the sponge insulation pipes, rewind the joints with electrical tape, ensuring the tightness of the connection, otherwise the installation of the air conditioner with your own hands will be carried out poor quality.

Track assembly

Brass nuts are unscrewed from the short tubes of the indoor unit and the plugs are removed, copper tubes are connected. At the beginning of the process, a hiss will be heard - this is an inert gas that is pumped into the unit at the factory to prevent corrosion.

Before you install the air conditioner yourself, it makes sense to practice cutting and flaring copper pipes, as this is a very responsible process. After the indoor unit, the outdoor should be connected in the same way. At the same time, there is no need to fear the leak of freon - you have not yet opened the ports.

Evacuation system

Although the air conditioner is installed on its own, a vacuum pump will still be needed. It connects to the gas port and turns on for 15-30 minutes.

For a quarter of an hour, observe the gauge needle, which should not “creep” back to the zero mark. If the arrow is motionless, you can proceed to the next step; if not, the tightness of the joints has not been achieved. In this case, before installing the air conditioner with your own hands, you need to find and fix the leak.

Read also:

• In the next article, read how to choose an air conditioner: https://sovetexpert.ru/kak-vybrat-kondicioner.html
• How to set the air conditioner to warm air? Detailed instructions.
• Air conditioning for heating in winter: is it possible to?

System startup

All that remains is to fill the system with freon. For this:

1. Insert the hexagon into the control valve of the lower port (at a thick copper tube) and carefully turn it until it stops. Up to this point, the pump hose must not be disconnected!
2. After filling the route with freon, the filling port will be closed - the vacuum pump hose can be unscrewed.
3. In the same way, open the second port next to the thin tube on the top fitting.

When you mount the electrical part, start the air conditioner in cooling mode. After a few minutes, cold air will flow from the indoor unit.

Installation Secrets

By the way, installation of an air conditioner in winter is also quite possible. True, the air conditioner is installed in the winter in less comfortable conditions, but make sure that snow and water do not need to get into the highway during operation. But it is better to open the valves and run freon in the system at positive temperature - the rubber valve gland “dubs” and can fail.

In conclusion, we will tell you how to install an air conditioner yourself without a vacuum process and, accordingly, without a pump. This is possible on a hot summer day when the air is very dry. To do this, the nut on a thin copper pipe must not be completely tightened, after which it is very slow to open the control valve at the thick pipe.

Freon will displace air with its pressure, but you need to accurately catch the moment when cold freon goes from under the nut on a thin tube and tighten it quickly. This method, again, is incorrect, especially if the air conditioner is installed in winter, tightness you won’t be able to check the connections, but in certain situations such an independent installation of an air conditioner is possible.

Video instruction

Below we present a video in which in five minutes the process of installing an air conditioner is described in quite some detail - installing an external unit, an internal unit, connecting the route and filling the system with freon.