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

I was shopping for a 1.5 ton inverter AC last week. I choose inverter due to comfort the technology promises. Comfort due to uniform indoor temperature, no fluctuation due to on / off cycle of the compressor. Comfort due to less noise from compressor. Even a relatively quite Daikin non inverter ODU noise intrudes indoor in the quite of the night. Note that when the compressor runs in a non inverter it is running full steam. An inverter compressor will always run but not alway at full power.

While comparing data of 1.5 ton inverter AC from Daikin, General and LG, what I noticed was that LG and General inverters operate at very wide cooling capacity, whereas Daikin is limited. A 1.5 ton General inverter AC operates from 0.25 to 1.6 ton range, LG from 0.33 to 1.6 ton. Daikin on the other hand from 0.75 to 1.6 ton. So in real life usage I believe Daikin will consume most power among these three. Remember the compressor always on means that at minimum cooling requirement it will run a lowest operating range, even if the cooling requirement is lower that it lowest operating range.

I currently use a Daikin and a Hitachi. Daikin was removed from my current shopping list due to reason above and poor service experience. It was my first choice at the start of the shopping expedition but lost out mid way. Hitachi I am not reconsidering at wall because the one I have used is noisy. There is nothing wrong with the unit, just that it was never as quite as the Daikin.

General is way too expensive. For 1.5 ton it is Rs.12,000 more expensive than Daikin, 27% more. LG is a bit more expensive than Daikin but just a little bit. Our family's experience with other LG products has been good In terms of technology, durability and service. In AC I had not considered LG initially but came across their new inverter range with very low noise (as advertised). If General are not so expensive I would have considered it, but service remains a worry. So bought an LG and waiting for installation.

Few additional observations.
Stabiliser free ACs are found mostly in local manufactured products, eg Daikin ans Samsung, probably because voltage fluctuation is an India peculiarity.
LG inverter is imported from Thailand, so price is slightly high but discounts are available. General is imported, is expensive due to it, but discount is not available.
Hitachi inverter specifies rated cooling capacity and 50% of rated cooling capacity but does not mention full operating range.
These are my observations, factual error may occur.

Quote:

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel (Post 3953796)

Hitachi, as already mentioned, is my personal favourite and I can attest to it's reliability.

Panasonic, being the Japanese brand it is, isn't even remotely Japanese in India, unfortunately. Yes, they aren't pricey like the other two and that's that, really. Their units are built by Onida in India, another flailing company that's got no reputation for quality. Enough said.

My grand parents in Ahmedabad installed Hitachi and its a real source of trouble. Not a single season without trouble.
Meanwhile, I am using Onida since last 3 years or so. Trouble free, and excellent cooling. Only issue is noise, which has increased over the period of ownership.
This is where I find Mitsubishi the best. We have two Mitsubishi AC at home, they are fantastic. Excellent Cooling, efficient and silent.
Daikin A/C's where I am employed are also excellent, blue star not so.
Godrej are also good, a few friends' have them performing well for over 4+ years now.

Planning to get an ac for my home. My local retailer suggests to go for blue star 1.5 ton 5star rating model for 41k. 5hw18sbu. Free installation and stabilizer. According to him it's their best seller.
I plan to use the AC during the night for say 3-4 hrs for maybe max 5 months during the year. Do not think the additional investment on inverter AC would be justified. My previous experience of last 6 years with Samsung has been nice. The retailer however doesnt recommend them anymore.
Any suggestions? Budget is 40-45k

Quote:

Originally Posted by sureshkishore (Post 3953885)

The inverter models give constant cooling, unlike normal models where you get either a blast of chilled air when the compressor is on and warm air when it is off. That apart from efficiency is the main USP of Inverter AC.

Otherwise if you are using it for short time, I would suggest get a local window AC available for around 20K. Ones using mechanical controls are the most rugged and will last you a decade at least. Though these consume more power, low usage will not cost that much more, and you are saving on capital costs and possibly large repair bills of more sophisticated AC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel (Post 3953796)

Pardon me for dropping another one in the mix - Daikin. Pretty pricey but their compressors are said to be robust and abuse friendly - this is the recommendation from a friend who air-conditions his huge office.

Hitachi, as already mentioned, is my personal favourite and I can attest to it's reliability.

Panasonic, being the Japanese brand it is, isn't even remotely Japanese in India, unfortunately. Yes, they aren't pricey like the other two and that's that, really. Their units are built by Onida in India, another flailing company that's got no reputation for quality. Enough said.

Hope you find yours! :thumbs up

I have been following this thread for quite a while, and, although I cannot recall the ups and down of all the brands, Daikin and General used to have the reputation of the Rolls Royce and Bentley of ACs in India. I had understood that, of late, the reputations of both had taken something of a knock, and they are not seen as being as desirable as they once were. Corrections welcome!

I had always thought of LG as being on a par with Samsung for cost and quality. I had no clue that LG is more expensive than Daikin! Again, corrections welcome.

Thank you for your comments on Panasonic in India. they may be cheaper than some other brands, but they are certainly are not low cost

I had not thought of Carrier and Voltas as being highly rated, but Voltas seems to be getting some love here recently. Blue Star seems to get no love at all.

I don't think I have seen Mitsubishi mentioned for a while.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgiitk (Post 3953771)

@mxh; I think Star ratings on inverters have just come in. There used to be none earlier. There is another issue, are they to be determined on the full 'overload' conditions, or rated conditions, or what?

This document contains all the details of the rating methodology for inverter ACs: https://www.beestarlabel.com/Content...le%20final.pdf
I am not happy with the number of ACs that fall into the 5 star category; there are simply too many. Seems like it's no longer a difficult task to make a 5 star rated AC. The ratings should be adjusted every year to make it much more difficult to reach 5 star efficiency and only few ACs should be able to achieve it.

I recently picked up a Mitsubishi 2T 5* AC. I was on the market for a 2T 5* and had seen reviews for General / Daikin / Hitachi / Mitsubishi & Panasonic.

I had narrowed down to Mitsubishi and Panasonic and finally went with Mitsubishi.

The Mitsubishi ac's are imported CBU (like General) and don't come with copper tubing's etc like others. Final price including installation came to 62.5K. Panasonic would have been cheaper by about 4-5 k. I went with Mitsubishi coz we have 6 of these units in our office server room, and they have been running non stop for the past 2 odd years. Apart from the time they have been switched off for dry service (couple of hours every 6 months).

The cooling is fantastic and the IDU is extremely silent.

Would definitely recommend Mitsubishi of you are looking for long term performance.

PS: my unit was manufactured in Thailand in Feb'16 and imported in the same month.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 3953904)

I had always thought of LG as being on a par with Samsung for cost and quality. I had no clue that LG is more expensive than Daikin! Again, corrections welcome.

The price comparison I was able to make was on 1.5 ton inverter AC. Daikin, which I believe is now manufactured in India, was quoted at Rs.44,500 for standard model by most dealers. LG the non mosquito model, imported from Thailand, is for about Rs.49,000 depending on dealer.

Except for bad service I would have still gone for Daikin. It is feature rich and has a certain brand value. It's probably like Fiat in India.