MagicPak Replacement, Installation & Repair

Heat in January and air conditioning in July can come from a single cabinet in a Lansing condo closet. That cabinet is a MagicPak, an all-in-one, through-the-wall HVAC unit holding the furnace, air conditioner and blower, with a louver in the exterior wall for outdoor air. Most units serve 15 to 20 years before replacement makes more sense than repair. Our technicians replace and install these units across Ingham County and the surrounding area, and repair the ones that still have years left.

MagicPak Replacement in Lansing and East Lansing

A MagicPak sits in a fixed opening, and the building decides much of what can go back into it. The replacement has to line up with the wall sleeve and the exterior louver, tie into the duct runs already inside the walls, and run on the gas or electric service the original was built for. The V-Series from MagicPak is made to the original cabinet dimensions, so it slides into most existing openings with no wall work. The M-Series uses a smaller louver that some associations and owners prefer on the outside of the building.

Replacement usually makes more sense than another repair when:

  • Your unit has passed the 15 year mark and service calls are coming closer together.
  • The cooling side has lost its compressor or is leaking refrigerant on an aging unit.
  • A technician finds a cracked heat exchanger on a gas model, a carbon monoxide hazard that no patch can fix.
  • The data plate shows R-22, a refrigerant the United States no longer produces.
  • Your utility bills rise every season while rooms feel less comfortable.

How We Install a Through-the-Wall Unit in Greater Lansing Condos

Good installations start before anyone unbolts the old cabinet. Each MagicPak installation follows these steps:

  • Site survey: A technician measures the closet, the wall sleeve and the louver so the new cabinet fits the space the building already has.
  • Configuration check: We confirm which setup your unit and building support: gas heat with electric cooling, all-electric, or a heat pump with electric backup heat.
  • Capacity: We size cooling to your floor plan, windows and sun exposure, within the MagicPak range of three-quarters of a ton to three tons.
  • Code review and permit: We inspect the venting, gas line and electrical circuit against current code and pull the mechanical permit Michigan requires for equipment replacement.
  • Swap and startup: We remove the old unit, set the new one, connect ducts and thermostat, and run heating and cooling before we call the job done.

If the gas supply to the closet needs attention, our licensed plumbers handle gas line repair and installation in the same visit. Many owners pair a new unit with a Wi-Fi thermostat installation so they can adjust the temperature from a phone. Gas models also get carbon monoxide safety testing before we leave.

Picking the Right All-in-One Configuration

MagicPak offers three main setups, and the existing building usually points to the right one.

  • Gas heat and electric cooling: The standard choice where the building has gas service, with current gas models rated up to 95% AFUE.
  • All-electric: Electric resistance heat with central air, common in buildings that were never piped for gas.
  • Heat pump: One refrigerant system handles heating and cooling, backed by 3 to 10 kW of electric heat for subzero Michigan mornings. See our heat pump services for more.

Within the HVAC trade, a MagicPak counts as a single packaged vertical unit, so its parts and replacements are specific to that equipment class. Changing fuel types can work in some buildings, though it may take association approval and electrical upgrades. New MagicPak units run on R-454B, a lower-impact refrigerant, which ends your reliance on older refrigerants that keep getting harder to service.