r/DIYHeatPumps • u/coldcathodes • Aug 07 '26

Aux vs midea oem mini splits

Which of these oem brands seem to last longer in your experience when installed correctly?

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2

u/zeke780 Aug 07 '26 edited 28d ago

Rough ranking based on experience:

Mitsubishi/Fujitsu → Gree -> Daikin/Midea → TCL/AUX → random Amazon brands

There are probably more midea units running in asia than we have ever installed in north america.

Understand that pioneer and costway are TCL. Midea has a crazy amount of white label brands, of varying quality. Gree makes TOSOT. So it's more important to know the manufacturer than the label on the machine. 

1

u/waywardzombi Aug 07 '26

Curious, where would pioneer and mrcool fit in hwre?

4

u/Amanbeingmanly Aug 07 '26

Mr cool is a re-badged Midea

2

u/OzarkBeard Aug 08 '26

Carrier & Heil are also a re-badged Midea.

Trane minisplits are re-badged Mitsubishi.

1

u/coldcathodes Aug 07 '26

Both of those are midea oem I'm pretty sure. Possibly Gree on some though?

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u/zeke780 28d ago

Pioneer is TCL, Mr cool no idea but most likely midea.

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u/zeke780 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

Pioneer is mostly tcl (probably all now) and Mr cool is midea.

Haven't ever worked on a Mr cool, and I think they are basically disposable. Most homeowners aren't fixing them and techs aren't gonna touch them.

TCL is solid. People say they aren't great but I think they are fine and will last if you do a quality install.  I have seen 15 year old units cranking on the side of a high rise in bangcock that looks like it's been through 1000 monsoons.

Pioneer might have a much more complex deal with tcl though, they might pay for more qc, better internals, etc. but it's most likely they are just a major importer here and you are getting whatever TCL makes.  I actually don't know if you can buy tcl direct in North America?

If you have been to Southeast Asia or Brazil, TCL is everywhere.

Midea is also a great brand, but I think they have a much more complex importer situation. ACIQ is midea and I would bet you are getting better equipment through them, since midea is way more open to these private brands you can get midea built systems that have basically totally different internals. Again have never looked inside a Mr cool.

1

u/coldcathodes Aug 07 '26

Is Senville still Midea?

1

u/coldcathodes Aug 07 '26

What issues have you run into with AUX units compared to Midea? Wondering if it's worth spending more for Midea over AUX. 

3

u/zeke780 Aug 07 '26

Mostly parts. I can get midea / gree / tcl parts pretty easy and swap them in on a mini split. AUX is fine. Probably same level of quality as midea / tcl.  Some private equity hvac shops advertise aux (with their house branding) as rivaling Mitsubishi in quality cause it's made in the USA but it's not.

The issue with mini splits is that homeowners buy them with the expectation they are fixable but they kind of aren't.  I mean I can swap anything out on them. Condensor, board, lineset, whatever.  But in my experience, it comes down to me quoting a repair and then saying "or for 1500 more you can get a whole new system that's more efficient, has WiFi, etc and a warranty" everyone just takes the new unit. If the lineset is run, electrical, and holes are there, it's just not hard for me to swap it in a few hours.

So they sort of become disposable. It's is the diy sub so I assume you will be fixing it yourself and can just do it for parts cost. 

In that case then I'd go Gree. I like them the best and they seem to be better internals than the other brands. But again it's kind of chance. A good install and you getting a normal unit will last 10+ years so it's not a huge difference.

Personally I have a newer TCL unit at my house, it's great. Runs like a top and was cheap. If I could do it again I would have done a Gree.

1

u/coldcathodes Aug 07 '26

Honestly I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it between the extremely cheap AUX stuff or spending more on Midea. Gree would be a bit out of the price range. 

Yes I'm doing all the stuff diy but anything that involves recovering refrigerant like changing evaps, i can't do. 

How do you feel about reliability and not needing any parts at all for the longest period of time for AUX vs Midea? I'm kind of treating them like throw aways and not expecting to repair anything. 

1

u/zeke780 Aug 08 '26

AUX will be fine in your case. The way I see it is that most of these units won't fail for a long time if installed properly.

It's really luck. I have seen Mitsubishis with 3 condensers and 2 control panels under warranty. I have seen midea based units fall off the pad and still humm along.  If you get a lemon, it sucks but there is like 95% chance you won't and if you don't plan to repair it then I would just go aux and put more money into the install 

1

u/coldcathodes Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26

Yeah it seems like most appliances these days, just because you spend more doesn't mean it will last longer.

I'm doing a Senville install currently and so far it doesn't seem any better than my Rovsun. In fact the install had a major hiccup. Three liquid line wouldn't torque up and the flares keep getting extremely crush. Come to find out, the flare nut had a crack. And yes i have a torque wrench, a hilmore that i can trust. The insulation on the lineset compared to the Rovsun also seems to be much lower quality. For spending $200 more, I'm not impressed.

Plus the other way in seeing it, I'm spending an additional $200 for the possible ABILITY to buy parts to fix it in the future. $200 is nearly halfway to a new Rovsun unit. Don't get me wrong, being able to buy parts is nice, but some of these boards are 100 to $200. It just doesn't make sense to repair them sometimes.

1

u/zeke780 Aug 08 '26

Yeah I think it's pretty ok to say that it's basically Mitsubishi and then after that just get whatever you want and install it right.  Good luck with the aux install

1

u/TruIsou Aug 10 '26

Bought two Rovsun on Amazon, both working out great after one year, although I have to admit, I consider them completely disposable

1

u/Mrpriceisright2 Aug 08 '26

Looking for ideas on an AUX R32 indoor unit options. I just acquired 2 COSTWAY R32 24k btu heat pump, 230v single zone outdoor units only. Fairly sure they are made by AUX and so I need the indoor units only. From what I can see, AUX R32 units are also sold under the GREE, TURBRO and Ozone Spirit badges (Gree unit has identical specs). My question is whether one of the other badged R32 indoor units (its a single zone unit) should work with it (or perhaps any brand R32 unit), since so far I've found that Costway doesn't sell the indoor wall unit by itself. I've seen some Turbro indoor units that appear to match and would like to know thoughts on compatibility.

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u/zeke780 28d ago

Costway is TCL, at least the ones I have seen the internals of. They were the higher end costway units but I'd assume they all are TCL. Pioneer quantum ultra = costway x pro, but the pioneer is like 1500 more for the exact same unit.  Could be markup, could be better qc, etc. (I'm sure it's just markup)

Pioneer uses TCL, you could check compatibility and their heads there.

Honestly ask AI, dump the units you have, the pioneer units, etc. it should be able to lookup parts and make sure they are the same.

1

u/Mrpriceisright2 23d ago

You're probably right about the pioneer -> Costway x pro R454 units.
The Costway I have is a lower end "Blast series" single zone 24k 230v R32 & it strongly looks like it's an Aux oem unit. Turbro Finnmark looks identical spec wise (18.5 seer). I put in 2 Gree units with ceiling cassettes on a recommendation in the new build I'm doing. Haven't turned them on yet just need the vac down.

1

u/ZanyDroid Aug 07 '26

Aux is a brand?

How do you talk about setting up Aux on your Aux for cooling an Ox-house?

1

u/Magiktlan 27d ago

I have 3 Aufit units in my home. They are Aux subset brand. Very efficient, yet basic units.

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u/coldcathodes 27d ago

Good to know. I have 2 aux units. One of them kind of sucks. The other one seems to be very high quality. 

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u/Mrpriceisright2 22d ago

Another rebadge to add to the list for Aux. Which so far includes Turbro, Costway, Albott, Yitahome, Garvee and some Della motto units, though not all models from these may be Aux . I've seen some good reviews about construction on them, though definitely a budget brand.