[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by diyguy

i have two Daikins non-inverter and both going strong for past 7 years. Have had to refill gas once on both till date. .......

Despite having to have gas refilled in both in a 7 years ownership term you seem to be singing praises of the brand!!
My 'poor' LG 2 ton split has not needed even that in 12 years of ownership! How should I express my admiration? You have left me with very few adjectives!

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

Despite having to have gas refilled in both in a 7 years ownership term you seem to be singing praises of the brand!!

He wanted an opinion on Daikin and I give a response because I have the Daikins. On the gas refill, I had shifted home after 2 years of ownership. So I dont know what resulted in the gas leak.
I have a 11 year old 2T Samsung which is a trooper. It has had no issues other than a capacitor change once, but I did not mention that because the brand was not on his radar. The Samsung went through the home shift as well but is still fine. It is used about 20% as much as the Daikins. The Daikins run 365 days a year - 8-10 hrs a night, bit more in the summers.
My father-in-law and I purchased a LG window ac in 1998. His is still running fine. I have since changed to a General and then to this Daikin Split.

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

Despite having to have gas refilled in both in a 7 years ownership term you seem to be singing praises of the brand!!
My 'poor' LG 2 ton split has not needed even that in 12 years of ownership! How should I express my admiration? You have left me with very few adjectives!

Chill, "going strong" is way too far from singing praise. Anyway, I didn't know that a gas charge should last that long, cos my father in law's old TCL seems to require a gas refill every other year.

Anyway there is a lot more than gas refill cycle - like break down, noise level, service etc - that needs to be considered.

[F150]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

I have a 14X14 feet bedroom to cool and have zeroed in on the following 1.5T inverter models.

Daikin FTKH50R (R32)
Blue Star CNHW18RAF (R410A)
Blue Star 3CNHW18CAFU (R410A)
Voltas 183VEY (R410A)

All in the 40-45K range. All 3 stars, I guess. Am leaning towards the Daikin but I have a soft side for Blue star and Voltas for being Indian.

Can anybody who has used these or similar models share your experiences?

Thanks!

I was also in the same dilemma but I eventually bought Daikin just to see the difference as I already had BlueStar and Voltas in the other bedrooms.

Daikin is super silent and cooling is at par with BlueStar. Since you are planning it for bedroom, Daikin and its silence should take precedence.

I had to refill gas in my BlueStar unit after 6 yrs. Cost was 1800.
Note : All non inverter models above.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

My 'poor' LG 2 ton split has not needed even that in 12 years of ownership! How should I express my admiration? You have left me with very few adjectives!

I think this has a lot to do with the flare fittings - two each in the down and return lines. Checking is mostly with foam/soap so a minor leak can slip through. My Daikin on R410a needed to be refilled in three and a half years, while my Videocon gave me five plus years. Same dealer so one can guess the chaps were equally competent. My guess is that R410 works at over twice the pressure as R22 hence leaks more.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Sharp AC is finally dead. 2.5 years. What a waste of money that was.

We have months of experience that calling Sharp customer service, even for service, is useless. We will make one call to the installation company, but it is probably useless as they could not get parts a year ago.

I heard somewhere that the main board costs about 11k anyway, it it would probably be good money after bad.

Our local man does not rate Panasonic as good. Also not LG/Samsung. General /Daikin ok.

He says Vestar. Never heard of it. Anyone?

But I really want to stick with inverter AC for bedroom as it is so comfortable.

[the_skyliner]

Finally got ACs installed for both the bedrooms at home.

Both are Daikin 1 ton with one being 3 star and the other is inverter as only one of them will be actually used with the other one being idle most of the times.

What I liked about Daikin is there is absolutely no noise.

[JonSnow]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

He says Vestar. Never heard of it. Anyone?

But I really want to stick with inverter AC for bedroom as it is so comfortable.

Vestar belongs to the same parent company as General, and they try to sell by piggybacking on General's brand name, but I have no idea how good they are.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Thanks. I found one site which seems to suggest that they make compressors for a number of companies.

So. The question is: a 1 to 1.5 ton bedroom inverter AC. It should be built to last, have established customer service. It will be used for around 12 hours every day.

It should have nice features, but that means different things to different people. I do not want an AC that follows me around the room, because I don't want to sit in a draft anyway. I do want the ceiling airflow (coanda?) because that cools the room with zero draft (my wife complains that it is mostly cooling the opposite wall. There is some truth in that, but hey, it makes me comfortable).

Where do Chennai people go to see/buy AC these days? Company-specific outlets? Ratna in T Nagar? Vivek-type stores?

I notice that Daikin do a specific corrosion-resist range. We live in a polluted area.

[dvprasad]

Hi, Thad, I bought a Panasonic ac at shah, which had the lowest price, compared to Vivek, reliance, girias, even rathna fan house.
This is my second Panasonic ac and seems to best bang for the buck 1.5 ton inverter.

However I noticed that it is completely made in India, whereas my 2 tonner was imported from Malaysia & seems better built

[Thad E Ginathom]

Thanks, Prasad.

I haven't been to Rathna for ten years. In most stores like Vivek/Shah/etc we just see IDUs hanging on the wall. Probably empty plastic shells too. At Rathna, back then, they had different rooms for different makes, with stuff set up and working. Do they still do that?

[prabhuferrari]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Thanks, Prasad.

I haven't been to Rathna for ten years. In most stores like Vivek/Shah/etc we just see IDUs hanging on the wall. Probably empty plastic shells too. At Rathna, back then, they had different rooms for different makes, with stuff set up and working. Do they still do that?

Rathna fan house is good. They have an outlet for every manufacturer. Bit complicated billing process but very prompt in delivery and installation without follow up. They really have Valet parking. I have bought 3 ACs in last two months from them.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Is not R32 almost Daikin specific ... ... ...

If R32 is Daikin-specific, is there in any difficulty in getting the stuff?

I'm viewing gas leak aslike a tyre puncture: it can happen to the best of tyres. And, I think that, in a polluted atmosphere, corrosion can happen to the best of ACs, Not to mention installation that might have been as good as 99.999% perfect!

Originally Posted by prabhuferrari

Rathna fan house is good. They have an outlet for every manufacturer. Bit complicated billing process but very prompt in delivery and installation without follow up. They really have Valet parking. I have bought 3 ACs in last two months from them.

Thanks. I may go and take a look. First I may visit a local multi-brand outlet nearby to me to me: ClimaCool in Sastri Nagar, Adyar. I gopt the name from Daikin's site, but I see they sell other stuff too.

Anyway, at this moment, I am thinking of buying Daikin.

[SchumiFan]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

If R32 is Daikin-specific, is there in any difficulty in getting the stuff?


Thanks. I may go and take a look. First I may visit a local multi-brand outlet nearby to me to me: ClimaCool in Sastri Nagar, Adyar. I gopt the name from Daikin's site, but I see they sell other stuff too.

Anyway, at this moment, I am thinking of buying Daikin.

R32 machines are also sold by Mitsubishi. They have R410 and R32 machines in their line up. So I don't think it is exclusive to Daikin.

I got the Mitsubishi from a place behind Olympia Tech Park, Sakthi Cool Point, taking the street on the left just after the Kathipara flyover. The place is more of a yard than a shop and is mostly used for stocking ACs I think. They have a couple of more shops in Tambaram and one other place. Hitachi, Panasonic, Mitsubishi are some of the brands I saw with them.

I went with them because the installer who did around 5 machines in my sister's place, recommended him.

Peak summer, absolutely wrong time for the Sharp AC to give up on its life. All the Best for your purchase!

[aim120]

Even blue star has a few models that run on R32.

Last week, I installed 5 star Daikin inverter JTKM series 1.5 ton(currently the highest rated ISEER in India) and that thing is super silent. I have to touch the outdoor unit or feel the air from OD fan to know whether its running, its that silent. It does however show outdoor unit load in the led display.