What's the average cost of recharging a 4 ton mini split system? Also how difficult is the actual install?
I can't comment on the cost to recharge, but I've installed my own minisplit and it was pretty simple. There are really 3 different skills needed to install an AC yourself: 1) Physically mounting the components, and running the lines. 2) Electrical hook-up. 3) Evacuate the lineset. 1 is really simple. 2 is straight forward, if you know about electricity. If not, you risk killing yourself, or starting a fire. You should be able to locate a retired electrician, or someone with the proper experience to do this pretty simply. 3 is the tricky bit. If you don't want to hire an HVAC person, you can do this yourself if you have the proper tools. You'll need an r410a manifold and gauge set (red blue and yellow tubes, with two gauges, specifically for r410a) and an A/C vacuum pump. Most units will ship with the proper amount of refrigerant charged for a specific length of line set. As long as you buy a line set that matches your amount of refrigerant, you won't need to add any, just "burp" the lines and draw out any remaining air, using the vacuum pump and gauge/manifold set. The actual process of evacuation is straight forward, but meant to be performed by a person with specific skills. There really aren't any exact instructions on the net... but I did find some basic instructions that were well written in the back of a .PDF instruction booklet of another brand of minisplit AC unit. It's simple enough, if you get it right the firs time. But if you accidentally discharge refrigerant (against federal law, too) then you'd have to refill it, and that takes even more special gear.... So you have to nail it the first time. If you're intimidated by the evacuation portion of the work (like I was, and most are) you can buy a unit that has a quick connect fitting, and the lineset has already been purged at the factory. Ideal Air is one such vendor that retrofits these units, but they come at a cost. (still less than having the work done in the field, by an HVAC tech.) Hope this is somewhat helpful.
That helps alot. It was exactly the kind of first hand experience I was looking for. As far as step one goes I can mount the unit and run the lines with no problem. My brother is a Journeymen electrician so I have the electrical work covered for free. And step 3 might be an issue because it is a used unit and the refrigerant was purged before it was decommissioned. I have a couple buddies that do HVAC so I might give one of them a call and get it done for a case of beer and a spliff.
AH, definitely get one of your buddies to do the HVAC portion of the install. They can refill your coolant, and do all the work. You'll need like $200 worth of special tools, just to evacuate, if you already have your coolant charged. I don't even know what else is needed to recharge the whole system. Note, you can get a little "top off" can of coolant on eBay. Might be worth having on standby.
Here's a pic of what will be the backbone of my upgraded operation. I'm missing the front panel but that's a relatively cheap part compared to the cost of the unit. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what 48,000 BTU's of cooling power looks like before installation. Let the games begin!