DELLA Vita Series 12000 BTU Mini Split AC 21 SEER2 Cools Up to 550 Sq.Ft, Works with Alexa, Wifi Enabled Air Conditioner & Heater with 1 Ton Pre-Charged Heat Pump (R32 Refrigerant)

6 reviews for DELLA Vita Series 12000 BTU Mini Split AC 21 SEER2 Cools Up to 550 Sq.Ft, Works with Alexa, Wifi Enabled Air Conditioner & Heater with 1 Ton Pre-Charged Heat Pump (R32 Refrigerant)

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Mike Harris – July 12, 2024

   So, in an emergency AC moment in 115 degree weather, I bought one of these to cool my living room. I figured it would cool that space as it’s about 700 square feet, and the unit is a 18k. The unit was shipped by UPS, they don’t quite sync up with Amazon, so it came 3 days after Amazon had predicted. Not a big deal as I was out of town. My family had a hard time getting the boxes inside, but delivery was a success. On to the install. Some of the install kit comes in the indoor unit, and some come with the outdoor unit. After figuring all that out, the small install guide gave my all I needed. Although the inside unit was surprisingly light, it needs 2 people to mount to the wall if you are mounting it 8 or 9 feet up. I used a stack of totes to set it on then went up the ladder to mount it to the wall. This was the only snag. All the videos I saw, people had a template for the wall bracket and hole to the outside. Mine didn’t have one. My guesstimate was 1/4 inch off for the hole. I got caught up on the line set in the hole and had to get a bit physical with it. In the end, leak check, electrical, and all of the other final connections worked as expected and my 100 degree house is running at 75. Surprisingly, this little unit is cooling all of the open spaces which is about 1200 sq ft. And you never hear the compressor kick on. It runs so quiet. Great product for the price. Can’t say enough good about it.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   DJchamp99 – July 13, 2024

   I bought the 12k unit (220v) to heat/cool an enclosed porch that has insulated wall and roof panels. The room is about 330sq/ft, so i oversized on purpose.
   Install was relatively easy, hardest part was honestly drilling into the concrete to mount the outdoor unit, which is unrelated to the product.
   Items I had to purchase extra: a vacuum pump, electrical conduit, an outdoor disconnect switch, a 20amp 220v breaker, 25ft of 12/3 romex wire, nylog thread sealant, and a line cover kit.

   The install from start to finish probably took about 4-5 hours with my 73 year old father helping. I do not have any hvac or electrical background, in fact i have a desk job, but enjoy doing things myself, so google and youtube is my friend. I made sure everything I was going to do was the correct way, including the wiring.

   I’m very pleased with the result, obviously being February I haven’t been able to see how cool it can keep the room, but for heat I had to turn it down to 63* otherwise the room felt too warm with it being about 38-45* outside. Overall highly recommend this, plus it was one of the few units that came with the newer refrigerant, and the price was a bonus.

   I haven’t been able to get the app to work yet, but I’ve also only spent about 20 minutes attempting it, the remote works great.

3. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   SCOTTIE LEE TAYLOR – July 24, 2024

   I like everything about the unit, but they sent me two units only ordered one but was charged for two and was charged for two emailed no response!

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Markcm – September 6, 2024

   Headliner – I am very impressed with the value and performance of this unit so far, after about 1 month of use in VERY cold conditions.

   Detail about the unit it’s self – So this Della is produced by Midea, like many others, it is very similar to units like the Pioneer brand which is also a Midea product; but not identical with small differences such as the remote control and the APP. Upon contacting Della for support, I was provided with “manufacturer’s documentation” that was branded “AUX”, another brand produced by Midea and commonly sold on Amazon and other retailers; I have no issue with this, it’s just an observation.

   Tip I learned for successful installation-

   Let me start with the tip I learned first, to help others avoid this installer error. When I first installed the unit it immediately went into error mode after about 30-60 when trying to heat; it displayed a code of (I think this was the code) “E5” as I recall. I have installed other heat pumps before, I am an experienced builder and have an electronics background yet I still missed on this detail! Here’s the catch, I had inadvertently swapped L1 and L2 wires between the indoor and outdoor units. Thinking they are both “HOT”, I had not paid enough attention to insure I had connected L1 to L1 and L2 to L2. On dumb appliances like an oven, dryer, or water heater, this does not matter, and I had just finished wiring all of those and had that mindset when I wired this up. I knew I had the hot/load wires connected to the Load terminals, but did not realize the phase would matter. When these were incorrectly paired, the unit turned on and was fully responsive but would go into error mode when trying to heat. After correcting these swapped wires, the issue was immediately resolved. I also used a Square-D SDSA1175 surge suppressor at the disconnect box on all my heat pump installations; it seems that many heat pump issues are related to failed control boards, with that in mind it is my theory that a surge suppressor is good practice for a heat pump.

   Regarding customer support-

   I reached out to customer support and immediately got a human on the phone who spoke perfect English (a bonus for me as I only speak English). While this rep was not a trained technician, they were very responsive to my needs, understanding of the issue, and emailed me several technical documents which went much deeper into detail than what was provided with the heat pump. The next step if these documents were not successful would have been to put me in contact with their technician but, using the documents led me to the discovery of my error in swapping L1/L2 between the indoor and outdoor units. Upon correcting that, the error code never re-appeared and the unit began blasting heat! So kudos to the tech support and a notch in my humility belt as this was my error. All-in, tech support helped me resolve the issue I induced within a few hours’ time. I did recommend that they document and flag for future customer support issues with E5 to immediately suggest checking the L1/L2 wires between IDU and ODU.

   Which unit I bought and Install details –

   I bought the 1-Ton / 12k BTU for a 725sqft basement remodel that is a daylight basement with 3 concrete sides; The area is very well insulated. I also bought the 240v R32 model. I was a bit hesitant of this newer gas as my local HVAC resources are not familiar with it. Installation was the same as the other heat pumps I’ve installed, a bit of a pain to connect the copper lines to the back of the indoor unit due to being mounted on a stud wall that was up against a concrete wall so the copper lines had to be rather custom bent to go into the stud-wall, up and over the concrete wall but luckily I was successful on first attempt simply using a cheap $20 bender commonly available on Amazon. I used the stock flares that came pre-flared on the ends of the pipes too, no thread sealer, and did torque to the recommended settings. I pulled a vacuum using a micron gauge; it got down to about 400 after several hours and after a few hours of sitting it remained below 500 so I called that good and opened the valves.

   How well it works-

   Very well! A 1-ton is only rated for about 450-500sqft and I am successfully using this in about 725sqft, two areas separated by a hallway. The unit points into the hallway which is helpful in pushing air into the secondary area which granted is not quite as warm but is very satisfactory. And this area is recently and very well insulated which is a bonus. The unit is extremely quiet, both indoor and out. I installed this in the winter of 2023, temps were a bit above freezing in the pacific northwest; it was able to bring the whole 750 sqft up to about 68-70 in very short order, a few hours, which is exceptional in my opinion as the area was cold soaked for weeks. Since then, the temps have dropped to record lows here of 5 degrees F. We really did not notice any difference in the operation and performance of this DELLA, we just left the settings at 68-70 and it kept the area 68-70. I have a Daiken 18000BTU for the upstairs area which is closer to 1300sqft and not nearly as well insulated; that unit typically is sufficient for the space but in these record lows, it had issues remaining running with the cold temps and did some short cycling.

   Features-

   This Della has an excellent set of features. I really like the independently selectable vertical and horizontal louver swing that can be controlled from the remote. The remote also has an option to toggle between the setpoint and the actual measured temperature at the remote; a feature our Daiken does not have. It came with WiFi built in (another feature our Daikin does not have) and it came with an App. The App unfortunate is only useful for basic operation, this is probably the least exciting aspect of this purchase. The app has a scheduler, but it can only turn the unit on or off… Really? It does not have goe-fencing or any other common features I’d expect as these are commonly available this day in age. If more modern remote control is needed, I will go with something like the Cielo Breeze (I use that on the Daikin, while its powerful it still is complicated and a bit unintuitive). From the remote, there are several other power user options like self clean, sleep temporary timer, a on/off timer; I like the remote! The fan speed is selectable although we leave it on Auto and it is very quiet. I like the LED display on the front of the unit as well, this can also be toggled on/off from the remote

   Longevity-

   I’ve only had this up and running for a bit over a month, no issues at this point. So, that’s not the most useful data point. I have had the top off the external unit to “have a look” it looked well-built.

   Summary –

   I’d never heard of DELLA before this but I get it, DELLA is a brand, selling a slightly customized Midea heat pumps like many other companies. So far, my experience has been exceptional in all regards from performance to value, to customer services. I am one to gable on things like this, at $625 the risk was well worth it for me. This was no harder to install than any other similar unit and didn’t have any “unusual” quirks like abnormal threads. or fittings. At this time I would not hesitate to buy another one of these.

5. 

   Rated 1 out of 5

   David – September 27, 2024

   Not recommended, against the advice of my heating and cooling tech I thought I would save money. Big mistake. Professional installation used, item has small leak and the refrigerant has leaked enough or no longer cools just over a years worth of use. Unable to find a leak, new line set used and still leaks. Technician believes the coil to be leaking. Several issues with the app and settings not working. Schedules not working some days and working others. Drain line unclogged and still leaking water inside because of poor drain tray design. Just all around a bad purchase. Save your money and look elsewhere.

6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   DJchamp99 – October 6, 2024

   This is my third Della unit that I’ve installed on our new house. Every one of them have operated perfectly and were easy to install. This last unit as you see in the pictures had a dent and was missing the valve cover piece. I emailed the seller Align and next day I got a response on a Sunday that a new unit was being shipped without me having the return the old one. The replacement was on my steps in 3 days.
   I had only called to get the plastic valve cover but they insisted on sending a new unit.
   These are awesome units and have a great support network.