This is the first air conditioner I have installed. I have no special skills other than in electrical systems so this was all new to me.
Installation-
The first thing that one should be aware of is that the piping, control cable and drain pipe require a 650mm hole to pass through any wall. Production of this size hole through a red brick wall in my case was the hardest part of the installation as this required special drills and drill bits to be hired.
The distance from the indoor unit to the outdoor unit has to be carefully calculated as the units only come with 4 metres of pipes and control cable. I found that it was best to install the outdoor unit and the pipes first before installing the indoor unit. This way you know how much pipe is available.
The pipes are delivered in two coils. All the connectors are fitted. I found it easier to use an adjustable spanner on these connectors as there was no consistency in the size of the connectors.
The installation instructions mention about being careful not to kink or compress the pipes. This was worrying as the pipes are covered in insulation. Also the average person does not have the tools to correct this problem. However, as long as one follows the recommended instructions for bending and straightening the pipes, it is quite simple.
I installed the units myself but have decided that it would be better to have two sets of hands when the pipes are connected to the indoor unit. One person to hold the indoor unit and the other to connect the pipes. It is also helpful when checking for leaks. Access to the pipe connections is difficult once the unit is one the wall.
It took me a week to install mainly as I could only spend an hour a day on installation. With what I know now I would speculate that it could be easily done in a day.
The installation instructions are comprehensive and made a lot of sense after reading through them quite a few times. The pictures could have been better and a bit more explanation of why you were doing something would have been nice.
One further note, the electrical cable for powering up the unit is only just long enough to reach from the interior unit's installed location on the wall to the floor. Unless the power socket is directly below the indoor unit, this cable will have to be extended.
Operation -
The best thing I can say about this unit is it is extremely quiet. Yes it does heating, cooling, and dehumidifying. It has three fan speeds and something called turbo. The only problem is you can't do anything with it without the remote control.
If I had a choice of installing one of these units, despite all the hassles associated, over having an equivalent portable air conditioner, I would go with this split wall unit just because it is so quiet.
Value for money -
For what the unit does it is good value for money. Before I bought this unit, I compared it to similar units that did the same thing but seemed to be twice or even three times the price for no apparent reason. There was no logical reason why not to go with this unit.