Company: MRCOOL®, LLC.
Managing Member: Jason Ingram
Website: https://www.mrcool.com/
About MRCOOL®, LLC.
MRCOOL® began in 2012, when Jason Ingram, after more than a decade in the HVAC industry, started developing an idea that would let ordinary homeowners install their own heating and cooling systems. The company was officially incorporated in 2014, the same year it launched its first DIY® Single Zone Mini-Split, and it later set up headquarters in Hickory, Kentucky in 2015.
The biggest challenge the company faced was the HVAC industry itself. For decades, homeowners had to depend on installers, pay high market rates, and accept complex systems built around technical limitations rather than everyday life. MRCOOL® had to overcome the technical hurdle of refrigerant handling, which normally required licensed professionals, by developing pre-charged line sets that let people complete installation safely without specialised tools. This innovation was protected through a patent, and by 2021 the Quick Connect® Line Sets made the DIY® Series the only ductless mini-split heat pump line with technology specifically designed for homeowner installation.
The company also had to scale quickly while keeping its culture intact, growing from a small team to more than 200 employees by 2022, and later navigated the 2020 pandemic, when demand for home comfort solutions spiked as people spent more time at home. More recently, the company faced the challenge of shifting its entire product line from the R-410A refrigerant to the more environmentally friendly R-454B, in step with changing EPA regulations.
In terms of impact, MRCOOL® reshaped a major part of the home comfort industry in the United States. By removing the need for professional installation on many of its systems, it gave millions of homeowners more independence, more control over their comfort, and lower costs compared to traditional HVAC setups. The company expanded distribution across the country and into Canada, built national partnerships with major hardware retailers, and grew its workforce significantly, creating jobs particularly in its home base of Kentucky.
It also pushed the wider industry forward technologically, being among the first HVAC brands to introduce geothermal inverter technology and later investing heavily in smart home integration, helping shift consumer expectations toward more connected, intuitive comfort systems. Its franchising and contractor programs, introduced starting in 2024, have created new small business opportunities across multiple states, adding an entrepreneurial dimension to its economic footprint. Alongside all this, MRCOOL® has positioned itself as a leader in environmentally conscious refrigeration by moving early toward newer, lower-impact refrigerants.
In short, starting from a single idea in western Kentucky in 2012, MRCOOL® grew into a national brand that changed how Americans think about home comfort, turning what was once an intimidating, contractor-dependent process into something simple, accessible, and increasingly smart, while also becoming a meaningful source of manufacturing jobs and small business growth across the country.
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