First Impressions on LG R-32

It's the first R-32 units we're installing!

As we mentioned before, we’re installing LG for Fall 2025 since the 3-ton model ranks highly for efficiency stats at a fair market price. We’ve completed 3 6 installations so far.

General take: lots of bells & whistles with LG. Great for consumers once it’s set up. But takes some adjustment for installers if they’re not used to certain LG standards. Branch box is tough. App integrates with (mostly) everything out of the box, including HPWHs!

What We Like

Profile. Standard indoor units are actually relatively slim, and they’ve got this glassy front cover that illuminates with the temperature set point, which I think is pretty cool.

Here, take a look:

On, with set point at 68

Wall unit, on wallpaper

Off, not in use

Floor unit

Remote control looks fairly clean, reminiscent of a Roku TV remote. Here’s the video with a look at the remote and the unit:

Wifi connectivity. The wifi connection out of the box is quite nice; no need for a wifi adapter add-on, you can just sync the unit to your phone right after downloading the LG Thinq app, which is an actually well-designed app considering that it’s the interface for all connected devices from LG.

This is notably NOT the case with Mitsubishi, Fujitsu & Daikin, which doesn’t produce a lot of other consumer products. Samsung, like LG, has a big consumer portfolio & also has easy wifi connectivity.

HomeKit integration. I don’t know why it took so long, but we finally seem to have a system that integrates with HomeKit, which is iPhone native.

Air handlers & thermostats. The thermostat has a pretty nice profile as well: slim, modern, tapered edges. The UI is actually kinda basic, so that’s a downside. And the screen only takes up about half of this, alas.

And the high-static air handler looks like a standard air handler:

Good news? The air handler, via. the LG thermostat, also connects to the LG Thinq phone app out of the box.

Outdoor Units. Slim. More slim than I expected. Quite nice!

Hannan, unboxing a smaller outdoor unit w/Rohan in the background

Here’s what that unit looks after an installation:

The close-up. Note how in the 2nd photo, the refrigerant lines are coiled up; this is necessary due to the min. line length between the outdoor unit & indoor units, one of which in this case in in the basement.

The double fan units are larger, but roughly equivalent to the size of double fan units for all other major brands.

What We Don’t Like

Branch box configuration. In our 3rd installation, in Cambridge, the mini-split heads were operating but the air was room temperature. No conditioned air. Something was wrong.

This is the first major thing we had to diagnose, so we sent our best. Here’s LC co-founder Hannan himself going through the diagnostic procedures:

Hannan, with a double fan 36k BTU unit.

Turns out you need to manually configure the branch boxes, then trigger a refrigerant line detection protocol because the automatic detection protocol doesn’t work. This isn’t super fun: it requires taking the cover off the outdoor unit & initiating the sequence there, and then you need to wait 30 minutes.

Multiple branch boxes. Unlike Mitsubishi, LG requires 2 branch boxes if you are connecting a single outdoor unit to 5 indoor units. Since the branches can’t be mounted outside (since LG doesn’t make cases for them, apparently - also not a thing with Mitsubishi), you end up needing to put up a large board to mount the branch boxes inside:

I can see why Daikin & Fujitsu decided to not have branch boxes at all, even as that comes at the cost of being able to support 5 indoor units.

Thermostat & air handler wiring variation. Since LG likes having a lot of bells & whistles, it needs communication wires that can support more information. That’s why you’ll need 18/2 or 18/3 wire (shielded & stranded).

This type of wire is a bit harder to get, but as long as you plan ahead & buy a big roll of it & have extra on hand, this isn’t a big problem.

Conclusions

LG has a lot of bells & whistles. The app is probably the best you can get out of the big OEMs, the wifi integration out of the box for everything except for floor units is actually really nice, and performance is pretty good to ok (depending on the specific model).

However, for installers, the additional setup complexity is a downside, at least until LG figures out how to make auto-configuration work for their branch boxes.

IF wifi connectivity & software UI is what you care most about, LG is an excellent choice. Korean brands seem to be more willing to try new features, while Mitsubishi & the Japanese brands seem more conservative. After all, Mitsubishi doesn’t seem washing machines, refrigerators, or HPWHs. LG does.

Until next time!

Kit