Pioneer Low Ambient Series minisplit
_jt
| Posted in General Questions on
Any thoughts on the new low ambient series of Pioneer Mini Splits?
I have the last generation – and it’s worked well for me on my first floor. (I think most folks know that this is a Midea)
The specs aren’t amazing – but they do seem adequate (For 15 deg F 99% point) and the price point is good.
Thanks,
Jay
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I received one - it actually looks like it may be a rebranded Gree VIREO+ (or at least close). I chickened out on DIY install so I have someone coming by tomorrow to hook it up.
Almost definitely a GREE. Performance is good - I put it in a lofted stairwell and combined with a circulation fan it seems to cover two floors pretty well with a small fraction of the power use of the previous 2 ton system.
This is probably the full heat curve:
https://www.greecomfort.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Gree_Vireo_Submittal_12KBtuH115V_071816.pdf
Pioneers are rebadged Mideas. Your unit has a Toshiba GMCC compressor that cross references to a Midea.
The cold weather heating performance on that unit is pretty bad. It looks like it loses half its capacity at 17f with a 7000 btu output. It's not energy star rated and has a really low HSPF number.
I had a Pioneer WYS series that was rated to -13. It was pretty much useless under 20 degrees in heat output. I moved it to a lake cabin and bought a Midea Premier Hyper Heat that was only $250 more.
Yes you are right gmcc implies Mideast. Interior unit looks more like a GREE and the wifi kit for the GREE looks like it should fit. No direct USB like Mideast. Also fan speeds march GREE inside unit and I FEEL feature makes me think it is a GREE. Either way, seems to work well. We will see how the winter goes.
For positioning enthusiasts I put it in the lofted area between two floors and added a fan to aid circulation. With that it seems to cool the two floors pretty well, the fan helps cooling flow into the bedrooms too. A real ceiling fan would work best but a Vornado does the job.