Install · Featured guide
Mini-split installation planning
Most of what decides whether an installation goes well is settled before anything is bought: where the two units go, how the line set gets between them, and where the water goes.
DecisionSettle placement, route and drain before you order
Length5 sections · 3 min read
ReviewedAugust 15, 2026
01Install
Where the two units go
The indoor unit wants an unobstructed wall with clear air throw across the room, mounted high and level, on something structural enough to hold it. Avoid blowing straight at where people sit, and leave room above and to the sides for the clearances the manual specifies.
The outdoor unit wants a level, stable base — a pad on the ground or a wall bracket — with clear air around it and off the ground far enough to stay out of snow and standing water. Keep it away from bedroom windows, away from where snow sheds off a roof, and close enough to the indoor unit that the line set can reach without a heroic route.
Planning checklist
- Room name, dimensions, and which wall the indoor unit would use
- What is on the other side of that wall, outside
- Proposed outdoor location, its base, and how far off the ground
- Clearances the manual requires around both units
- Photographs of both proposed locations, and the path between them
02Install
The wall penetration and the condensate drain
The line set, the control wiring, and the condensate drain all pass through one hole in the exterior wall. It is drilled with a slight downward slope toward the outside so water runs away from the building, and it needs to miss studs, wiring, and plumbing on the way through.
Condensate is the part most often overlooked. A cooling indoor unit produces water continuously, and it drains by gravity — so the drain line must fall the whole way to somewhere it can safely discharge. A room where gravity drainage is not possible is a room that needs a condensate pump, and that is worth discovering now rather than mid-install.
03Install
Route and electrical review
Describe each planned line-set route from the room to the proposed outdoor location, including the vertical drop and every change of direction. Keep one route record per room for a multi-zone project, because each head gets its own line set.
Have a qualified electrician review the exact product's electrical requirements against the property before the project is finalized. Their answer can change which capacity is practical, which changes the product.
04Install
Match the exact product documents
Use the documents on the product page for the model you are buying. For a multi-zone bundle, keep the bundle and its component list together so each indoor unit and line set stays tied to the room it serves.
Do not borrow a requirement from a related model, and do not accept a nearby bundle when your choices do not resolve an exact one.
05Install
Carry the measurements to checkout
Take the room record, the two proposed locations, the measured route and the electrician's answer with you when you choose the system. Between them they decide the capacity, the line-set length and the voltage — which is to say they decide which product goes in the cart.
If one of them changes after you have chosen — a different outdoor location, a longer route, a panel that cannot take the circuit — check the system again before you order rather than after it ships.