How To Maintain Your EG4 Solar Mini Split Heat Pump, Do This ASAP!!

This is a quick walkthrough on how to disassemble your EG4 indoor head unit for maintenance. Keeping an eye on your filters and coil cleanliness can save you from an unwanted breakdown, or more work than you bargained for. As far as minisplits go this one is nice and easy to work on!
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Coil cleaning brush kit: amzn.to/3PiT4he
Coil cleaner:
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Viper - amzn.to/3QWon2N
Condensate pan treatment:
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Condensate tabs:
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#nucalgon

[@WillProwse]

I have five hepa filters in my house, one medical grade one. I check my coils and filters and they are never dirty. I'll keep checking though. Running them 24/7 in Vegas

[@SmitHVAC.]

It makes a huge difference. If the mini split is the only thing filtering your indoor air, it's going to be problematic!

[@PaintSlinger99]

Cool Will stopped by, I follow both you guys closely keep up the good work

[@lornejohnston4442]

Great video resource. Used this video today to dismantle my EG4.

[@CK-qf6fl]

Thank you so much for doing this video! I just ordered my 12k hybrid unit and I am having to clean out my window unit every week. Now I know how to up keep this unit!

[@dansplett8303]

Great walk through showing the eg4 interior parts

[@SmitHVAC.]

Thanks for watching, Dan!

[@richardc3208]

Thanks for the great info, since I'll be putting one in my shop. Think I'll be building a bigger filter housing with cheap replaceable filters,like some of the woodworking utubers.

[@SmitHVAC.]

That's a great idea!

[@kevin9c1]

The fan on my Mr Cool clogged up to the point that he described (weak output, condenser ramps down). I played with the charge (which MAY have also been low???) but eventually realized the fan was the issue. I was able to vacuum mine and get it running but even after vacuuming it was considerably worse than yours before you started. Ended up following up with a wet cleaning. Coil cleaner and a water rinse on the fan. I bought a bag and everything. The fan still has some junk on it but it's WAY better now. I think the last trick is to get something like a Ryobi One+ pressure washer and use that on the fan. I did try to pull the fan the first time but mine does not have a missing blade for the set screw. I think I am supposed to take the motor out first or something. I gave up and just cleaned it from the air outlet area. KZbin research suggests that a wet cleaning is often required on these units, possibly even annually. It really does depend on how clean your house is. My particular air handler was a bit less than 2 years old and got that bad. The filters never get that dirty and while the coil needed a cleaning it wasn't scary bad or anything. I think another thing is to not shut them off in cool mode.

[@SmitHVAC.]

The drain bag and a wet clean is often the way it has to be done. Usually the blower is bad by the time anybody calls for service, like you said it's pretty easy to do but if you don't have missing fan blade it's a lot more work to get the blade out. If it can be disconnected from the bottom it's not too bad

[@Zyzzyx42]

Definitely need to schedule this since I've installed the 24k in the garage/shop. Its fairly well closed up, new construction, but it is windy and dusty around here. Been thinking of hacking something together to hold parts of a regular furnace filter, gonna be tricky though, as I'm at the minimum from the ceiling.

[@xaviy649]

would you please make more videos on diferent ways to run the mini split (like you mentioned on the vid).......keep up the good work and quality content. new subscriber.

[@SmitHVAC.]

I have a few running it on different power stations, have you seen those?

[@phxBird]

Thanks for the video!!!

[@dansplett8303]

Keep up the great videos

[@kameljoe21]

I have been thinking about indoor filters systems. We have a 2 carriers air filters systems that run on auto all the time. I am thinking about how to install a whole house filter system with in the hvac system or no hvac system. So my general idea is to have vent and returns for each room to go back to a main area. if we do not do central air and heat and do mini splits I will need to do a variable speed squealer cage fan. ( ideally I would love to find a 5 ton heat pump system rather than mini splits) WIth filters at every single return which are in the ceiling and use high end hepa filters. The system will also have a main filter as well and a UV light in the system. I have been looking for air quality sensor that work on a multi zone HVAC. Yet these things are not so easy found. The carrier filters things we have are almost 2 foot round and 3 foot tall. They have built in sensors and when it encounters bad air it speeds up the fan. The system would need to be able to do a dozen or so areas and once one area detected bad air it speeds up. The fan would run 24/7 at super low speeds. Hvac systems need a major upgrade. With systems costing 10 to 30k for homes they better offer something other than standard AC and heat.

[@SmitHVAC.]

There's lots of new tech coming right now but it's coming with a price. I've encountered so many people who want to spend the money on hepa filter systems until they see the cost of the replacement filter every 6 months to a year, they change their mind on air quality pretty quick 😂 I have a simple Airthings air quality monitor but it does not connect to my filtration or Hrv systems

[@kameljoe21]

@@SmitHVAC. The 2 Carrier RMAP-ST filters systems we have are 300 to 400 dollars each and replacement filters are 100 to 200 dollars. They are not cheap either. When the filter goes bad and is no longer good I think I am going to rip it apart and then maybe build my own air system in my upstairs attic. The system is quite easy to be honest It has a sensor, control panel filter and fan. The control panel that is on it could be fashioned on the wall. I have 3 main rooms, hallway and a closet bathroom. My plan would be to add a return with filter in each room with duct hose then a main box with fan matching the style of the fan that is in this unit yet far larger and then the hepa filter in the hallway, these are those drop down vents that I wish they would use more often. Damn it that wont work cause only one sensor. Going to have to reverse it. Either way I will come up with something. I just need to find a tiny system that I can add to the new house build either as its own system or included in to the HVAC. I know that some of the higher end HVAC system have variable speed fans while mine does not having that would be far better and I think most if not all heat pumps have it. That would be easy to add sensors at every return. While I do understand that hepa is costly my plan is to stage the filters. Where you put standard yet higher grade pleated filters in the return vents and then at the main junction before the Furnace you place the Hepa filters. WHile its more filters overall its also better filtering and the hepa can last far longer because its only getting mostly filtered air if you understand what I mean. I am not clear where one would put the UV light box and if there is a special way to do it? What do you think about that idea. The more filters in the system means less filtering at the hepa stage. I think they would call this 2 stage and I guess you could make it more filters some how.

[@papigus5027]

Where can you buy the replacement filters? Love your content btw, you were the reason i bought it.

[@SmitHVAC.]

@@papigus5027 You should just be able to wash them, unless they got damaged

[@papigus5027]

@@SmitHVAC. Do you think they will last a long time. I would like to have a back up.

[@SmitHVAC.]

They generally last a long time as long as they don't get broken being removed or replaced

[@rhodachandler4277]

Can't believe you didn't pull the blower wheel in a video on how to clean. Not fun but if youre6doing a how to video, essential. Otherwise well done.

[@SmitHVAC.]

@@rhodachandler4277 not essential at this point, in the future I will.

[@benc1927]

The app says "Anion" mode, evidently that is a ionizer mode? Also I was wondering if these had a dehumidification mode?

[@benkanobe7500]

Could you use compressed air and a long skinny tube to spray off the blower wheels?

[@SmitHVAC.]

Yes you could, you might send a bit of dust up into the bottom of the coil but it probably wouldn't hurt it

[@RobertReynolds-p1h]

Have you had any line set condensing issues? My head unit is mounted on an interior wall and sweats really bad where it ties into the head unit. The insulation that's on the line set does not go all the way into the head unit so it's giving me grief. Luckily the white insulation jacket is catching all the condensation but its not a long term solution.

[@SmitHVAC.]

I added length to the lineset so I had to add insulation, I double wrapped the lineset where it passed through into the head unit

[@brian3db]

I bought this mini split and just had a h5 code during heat mode. I looked online to see what to do and they said shut power to the unit off for 2 minutes. So I did that and its been running fine since. I'm bummed because I have only had it a couple months. Any advice on anything else I can do

[@SmitHVAC.]

What was the outdoor temp? Defrost mode is either h5 or d5 I can't remember, it may have just been in defrost mode. Error codes usually start with E, P or F. If it reoccurs just contact signature, they've been great with tech support / warranty replacements.

[@serotonin67]

Thanks for exposing this... I was tempted to go with the EG4 24k unit. However, Signature Solar advised me that EG4 does NOT currently offer a ducted ceiling cassette ... yet. I wrote EG4 but have not received a response either. Oh well, still hoping for the future developments. Today, I do NOT feel that a ductless can meet my requirements. I am just left with wondering why Solar HVAC units are ONLY OFFERED in ductless. Thoughts ?

[@SmitHVAC.]

Its easier to DIY an all in one indoor head unit rather than a ducted coil, that would require an interface board for communication to the outdoor unit. A cassette would be a nice option, hopefully in time we get some more options. I'd love to install a cased coil and interface board for a whole house solar heat pump.

[@serotonin67]

@@SmitHVAC. Thank you for these thoughts. I am willing to try any ducted air handler to this EG4. However, what is show stopping me is warranty and any proprietary communications software concerns. Too bad EG4 has not addressed my concerns with a reply.

[@offgridwanabe]

So basically very few will do this so the mini split is a maintenance dream for technicians or people will just buy a new one.

[@SmitHVAC.]

Very few people do it preventatively, they just call on the hottest day of the year and say its not working 😂

[@offgridmgtowhomestead2520]

Love videos like this. Some will say you are exposing too much. I laugh, as I know how truly lazy the average person is, they won't do this. The calls will continue to the HVAC techs. Every time I move to a new place, I have to spend days going through everything and cleaning and maintaining anything that needs it.

[@SmitHVAC.]

I agree, there's always someone upset over someone giving away info like this but I think everyone has the right to repair their own equipment if they feel inclined. Most simply won't!

[@airwebber]

I think my EG4 24k unit died tonight. It has a error code 93 - compressor fault :(. It's not even 5 months since it was professionally installed.

[@SmitHVAC.]

That's not good.. It will be replaced under warranty I'm sure but still not good. Where did you find out code 93 was a compressor fault?

[@airwebber]

It actually popped up on the solar acon app.

[@airwebber]

@@SmitHVAC. I killed power to it for a bit and the error code went away, but now the fan doesn't turn on, only in heat mode.

[@SmitHVAC.]

Did you end up getting the unit fixed or replaced? ​@@airwebber

[@airwebber]

​@@SmitHVAC. SS replaced it, but the next one arrived damaged and it wasn't the kind of damage done in transport. So they again sent another replacement. Sadly, my HVAC guy has been insanely swamped and not been able to get to me to take down the old one and install the replaced one.

[@jacksinthebox8029]

12k? How many square ft is the house?

[@SmitHVAC.]

About 1300

[@larryphillips4164]

Bruh, ain’t nobody gonna take these apart to clean them. Easier to do like all us normal people and just get a pressure washer and spray the hell out of it and then buy and install a new one 🤪🤪

[@SmitHVAC.]

Lol go wild!

[@SmitHVAC.]

Lol go wild!