Mini split question

[Witchgrass]

I’m in the process of building a workshop/barndo. Size will be 60x38. Half of the building (workshop)will be insulated, but un air conditioned. Can I mount the condenser inside the shop area? That would put it closer to the rooms that the multi zone evaporators will go, and be in a more central location. have called a couple of different AC to find this out, but haven’t heard back yet.
‘Also, does anyone know how far the evap units can be from the condenser?
Do the multi zone units work pretty well? The individual rooms aren’t sealed off, and I’m wondering how accurate or efficient this route would be?
Thanks,

[glen]

I have been researching and yes you could put the unit inside- it will suffer with efficiency and also make the room hot which will make the wall to you AC room hotter and therefore harder to cool. It is not recommended but possible is the answer

[Witchgrass]

I have been researching and yes you could put the unit inside- it will suffer with efficiency and also make the room hot which will make the wall to you AC room hotter and therefore harder to cool. It is not recommended but possible is the answer

the ‘heating the shop’part makes good sense. I’m looking at this type system due to the exposed beams and floor joists of the upstairs that we will be installing. I’m thinking about painting the floor joists and underside of the above floor. With the building being 38’ wide, I can still probably install the evap outside the building, along the dividing wall of the building, running the copper lines to the farthest room. Now if I can get an A/C guy to make this all work….

[bowhntrmatt]

In theory you could, but it isn't recommended. It would be pumping heat into your shop all summer, but even worse than that there are parts in the condenser that commonly sweat in both heating and cooling modes so you run the risk of it dripping water inside. I'd wall mount it somewhere to the side of the building.

I have a customer that built a big meat processing facility, probably about the same size metal building as yours and it is spray foamed. He has a walk in cooler and freezer in it and the company that installed them just put the condensers for them on top of them, inside the building. He likes to maintain 70 or lower in the building while processing meat. We had to install 2 4-ton central systems to get this done due to all the heat those coolers put off.