re: The home / office air-conditioner thread Quote:
Originally Posted by hrman So I was on the lookout for a 1.5 ton AC for my living room.
I do have a Carrier 1.5 ton inverter in one bedroom and a Voltas 1.2T inverter in another bedroom. These are used sparingly (read 20-30 nights in a year). So was on a lookout for a similar one. |
With that kind of usage it is advisable not to invest in an inverter AC as it does not make any economical sense. The price difference compared to a normal unit is too high to gain the benefits of the inverter unit.
The inverter units do not do a cyclic start/stop at the set point for cooling, the compressor in these units runs at a lower capacity (read as lower speed) due to the frequency control available on the inverter unit. The only benefit is steady cooling and lower power consumption.
The lower power consumption will be beneficial only when the unit is going to run more than 12 hrs a day, else its just a premium that we pay for a feature which hardly provides benefits in real sense. On the contrary an inverter unit is highly beneficial and recommended for a commercial establishment where the additional premium paid will breakeven within a year or two and the saving on electricity bills will help. Quote:
Originally Posted by dre@ms Went to a multi brand showroom to check on the prices for 2 Ton inverter AC. Mightily impressed on Mitsubishi. But the sales guy informed that the copper pipes and other electrical wires should be procured separately since the AC is imported.
Copper tube per meter: Rs.700
Electrical wire per meter: Rs.95
How true is this? |
All split AC units need to have additional piping (copper tube and PVC drain pipe) and cables depending on the distance of the outdoor unit from the indoor unit.
It should be best left to the installation guy to bring his stuff as it helps with the warranty issues, if any.
There are a few requirements for copper tubes like, pressure rating, thickness and diameter. These parameters depend upon the rating of the unit, usually pressure rating is same for one kind of refrigerants throughout the capacity range, its just the dia of the copper tubes that may be different on different units (depends on cooling capacity).
Two different dia tubes will be required, one for liquid refrigerant from outdoor unit to the indoor unit (smaller diameter), and one for vapour return to the outdoor unit (larger diameter). Quote:
Originally Posted by Lobogris I have a couple of questions for the experts here:
1. When I first turn on two of my split ACs, I hear a hissing sound for a few seconds as presumably the refrigerant starts to flow. I always assumed this to be normal. The car AC in my Passat does the same as well. Today I was told by a senior technician that this means low refrigerant in the unit. Online advice indicates this means a leak. The ACs in question are Panasonic 1.5 ton split one year old and Koryo 1 ton split 3 years old. Both cool quite well with the vent temperature measured at 9 to 13 degrees. The Panasonic just got a gas top up last week under warranty but the same sound remains. There was a minor leak at the outside joint which was fixed. Do I need to worry about this or is it normal? Both units have R22.
2. Another split AC one ton Koryo inverter about two months old, has a little moisture/ condensation develop on the smaller (return) pipe joint that connects to the ODU. No issues and cools well. This was also stated to be a sign of low refrigerant. I know if that pipe has ice then it means low refrigerant but is a little moisture with the pipe being a little cold also a problem? This unit has 410a. The Panasonic near it has no such moisture. |
Hissing sound at start means the the liquid refrigerant is expanding in the cooling coil or Evaporator (in technical speak), which is due to lower pressure in the evaporator. This can be a design function as well. There are some units which run the outdoor units and collect the refrigerant in the condenser before stopping. In such a unit, hissing noise is very normal at startup. The refrigerant is collected for various reasons, loss due to leaks during standstill periods is one of them. If you see a drop in cooling efficiency then you have a reason to believe that there might be some leak somewhere.
Cheers
Last edited by Brumby : 18th May 2018 at 15:31.
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