Team-BHP - The home / office air-conditioner thread

Oh so the last bastion of good production standards from Hitachi shows a chink in it's armour. Quite a few in my circle have the TM machine and these are well silent, save for diffused air cutting noise which is more of a woosh really.

I too have a Videocon of roughly the same vintage. The machine is complete with the curved condensor and evaporator. Essentially a copy of a very well established design from National (now Panasonic) that was the only competition to the General in the Gulf at that time. The Videocon factory near Aurangabad was making these for National as a third party manufacturer. Infact the switch plate on my machine has markings in both English and Arabic? The main difference was the compressor. The silent machines got the National compressor and fake wood finish on the grills and the not so silent ones (mine included) came with Kirloskar compressor and normal beige/cream finish grills. Which one do you have or is it a different model all together?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgiitk (Post 3037983)

I have one, but the compressor noise can be intrusive. My old (12+ years) Videocon was quieter!

Hey folks!

This is my first time shopping for an AC, and I really need some help! Staying in Mysore all these years has ensured that I never needed one, but my parents recently rebuilt our house in Kerala, and they will need one installed to live through the approaching summer.

Basic Details:

Room size: 10X14X9 feet (LXBXH)
Place: Payyanur, Coastal Kerala
Peak temp during summers: well above 35 deg

Here are my queries:

1. I have done my research, which indicates that a 10X14X9 feet room will require a 1.5 Ton AC. Is this right, or will 1 Ton suffice?

2. Payyanur is a pretty small town. It does not show up on the websites of Voltas, Sumsung etc., in the "Locate a Store" page. I can source the AC from Kannur, which is 40 km away. But, how important is it to have a service person in town? How frequent will maintenance requirements be?

3. My priorities are: Energy Efficiency, Low Noise, and Durability - in that order. Which brand would you recommend?

I know it's a lot of questions, but I'm very new to this world of buying ACs. I really need some help please:

Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by drsingh (Post 3038609)

^^^^^ I think you should check out the 1.25 ton Panasonic cube.

I just paid a visit to our AC guy who installed our carrier unit about 10 years ago.Turns out he has shifted loyalties to panasonic now!
For two years panasonic cube has been a big hit .He still prefers R22 units because of ease of service and easier availability of parts as per him.

I have started doing some research to replace our 10 year old carrier unit.it cools perfectly well and has just been professionally cleaned just once in 10 years.although attempts to reduce noise were made by 2-3 AC servicemen. the main reason is due to the noise and age of the AC.we had paid around 24-25k 10 years ago for the particular model.

The room was designed with a window unit in mind and 1.5 T capacity has served us well.

After going through some 25 pages of this thread,my POV as of now is follows:

1.best 1.5 T window unit choice- Hitachi Quadricool twin Motor(5star)~ 37k

2.Whirlpool royale as a reliable but lower cost option (3 star)~ 25k

3.General as the ultimate cooling machine (2 star) ~35-40k

4.Our present carrier unit has Made in Korea internals and i understand carrier quality is not same as 10 years ago .And the fact that the above brands are widely available now with forum discussions as these indicating them better than carrier.

Experts kindly pitch in with comments about 1.5 T window AC scenario at present.

What about blue-star window AC units?

Does Mitsubushi Heavy Industries sell Window AC units in India?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgiitk (Post 3047843)

If I remember correctly Panasonic is a Mitsubishi label.

I think you are confusing Matsushita (Parent company of National,Panasonic and a few other Japanese brands) with Mitsubushi. Matsushita and Mitsubushi have been business rivals in the electronics industry as per my limited knowledge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by drsingh (Post 3047757)

The room was designed with a window unit in mind and 1.5 T capacity has served us well.

After going through some 25 pages of this thread,my POV as of now is follows:

1.best 1.5 T window unit choice- Hitachi Quadricool twin Motor(5star)~ 37k

2.Whirlpool royale as a reliable but lower cost option (3 star)~ 25k

3.General as the ultimate cooling machine (2 star) ~35-40k

4.Our present carrier unit has Made in Korea internals and i understand carrier quality is not same as 10 years ago .And the fact that the above brands are widely available now with forum discussions as these indicating them better than carrier.

Experts kindly pitch in with comments about 1.5 T window AC scenario at present.

What about blue-star window AC units?

Does Mitsubushi Heavy Industries sell Window AC units in India?

Are you sure you can't manage to fit in a split unit. For a budget around 30k i would get a daikin split ac. Great Cooling , Very low noise. Infact all split units are very silent as compared to the window units.

Before buying a 5 star air conditioner also consider the time to breakeven the extra money you would spend in buying it.

For Window Units based on reviews and previous experience i would prioritise as :

1. Hitachi / O General
2. Voltas / Bluestar / Godrej
3. Whirlpool
4. LG

Its not that it can't be installed, but that there is a proper framed opening made at the appropriate height for a 1.5 T AC.

I can pull it out myself and service it or put it in my boot and get it serviced. no hassle of waiting on the AC service guy.the house is in the suburbs so " official " service is hard to get .

Hitachi summercool TM costs ~34 k.
And is very quiet as per forum members. I could probably install it myself too! Just swap out the old with the new.

The AC guy is pushing for a Panasonic cube 1.5 .the new models are 3 star I think and about 21k.

This is like a once in 10 years install.so no hurry!

Quote:

Originally Posted by drsingh (Post 3038609)

I think you should check out the 1.25 ton Panasonic cube.

If you can live with the noise, its a value for money option. I found it too noisy for a bedroom

Quote:

Originally Posted by drsingh (Post 3047757)

What about blue-star window AC units?

I have a couple of Blue Stars. One really old and a couple of em are newer models which were bought a couple of years ago. I've had no issues. One thing I have observed is the higher star rated units come with better quality so stick to these units only. One of my splits is a non star rated unit and the indoor unit finish is low rent. Blue Star indoors units are sourced from some chinese company that mass manufactures air conditioners. The out door units are solid.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy_Eddy (Post 3049109)

Hi, Where in Chennai did you get your Sharp AC from? I noticed you finally ended up spending 52K per unit, so what exactly raised the costs?
Thanks :)

Brand Showroom of Sharp is in Velachery Bypass road (~1 KM from Vijayanagar bus stand)

I went in for the double boost stabilizer and the outdoor unit 'stand' added another 1250Rs per AC

I am using the following ACs presently for last few years -
1.5T Window Whirlpool, Onida
2 T Window Bluestar
1.5 T Split Bluestar & Whirlpool

Bluestars are great performer and troublefree as compared to the Whirlpool for sure. performance deteriorated after couple of years + Sourcing spare takes long time + Frequent PCB failures noticed in Whirlpool.