[Aroy]

VRV comes under Industrial Air Conditioning divisions of all major manufacturers. So you can peruse online literature for all brands. Here are a few pointers
. Daikin
https://www.daikinindia.com/products-services/vrv

. Hitachi
https://www.hitachiaircon.com/in/ranges/vrf-systems

. Fujitsu
https://www.fujitsu-general.com/g-in...vrf/index.html

. LG
https://www.lg.com/in/business/vrf

. Mitsubishi Electric
https://mitsubishielectric.in/produc...lti-vrf-system

. Mitsubishi Heavy Duty
https://www.mitsubishiheavyduty.com/...ishi-VRV-&-VRF

[alpha1]

I recently got Samsung Inverter AC with supposedly 5 year comprehensive warranty which also includes PCB for indoor/outdoor units.

The website shows: https://www.samsung.com/in/support/warranty/

Air Conditioner (Comprehensive)
Warranty Period12 Months

Additional information:
AC Compressor - 60 months (only Part warranty)
Digital Inverter Compressor - 120 months (only Part warranty)
Type of service - Repair service carried by Samsung authorized service center engineer at customer's place. Warranty applicable from customer purchase date
Warranty applicable on product purchased from India

I really cannot make out what exactly is meant by the above text at Samsung website. Can you someone pitch in and help?

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by alpha1

I recently got Samsung Inverter AC with supposedly 5 year comprehensive warranty which also includes PCB for indoor/outdoor units.

I really cannot make out what exactly is meant by the above text at Samsung website. Can you someone pitch in and help?

Most companies provide the 2nd to 5th year as extended warranty only and not a direct 5 year warranty. So I presume the Samsung website indicates the standard 1 year warranty and remaining 4 years will be extended one. Please check the manual that you would have received with the unit. Some companies don't put any condition to this extended warranty but few companies add conditions like minimum 2 services needed per year, etc. AC companies are late into this game of recurring revenue generation and now trying to get things in place of lost service revenue share to local service technicians (With Inverter AC, this become easy due to the cost and complexity).

The other text indicates that warranty is only service warranty and not a replacement warranty. This means only the part will be repaired or replaced and unit will not be replaced as a whole.

Hope this helps!

[pcpranav]

Update about a purchase done :

In our bedroom we had a Window AC running. It was purchased 17 years ago (LG 1.5 ton) - originally installed in another house for 2 years, and once shifted to current house 15 years ago. Overall the AC was running fine, with regular services done - AMC to local firm for all our ACs.
However in the last 2+ years, we paid for several repairs (twice PCB repaired, copper gas pipe leaked, capacitor, etc), totally costing about 10K. The body was quite rusted, the motor was on a very light base support, but the cooling was quite good. Using all these years, we were kinda used to the noise created by this Window AC.

These days we were anyways contemplating to get a new AC, and were quiet inclined for a Split unit, however that would mean getting new sliding windows done to cover the existing gap of window AC, new curtain to size, increasing the overall cost of the project. Based on several user opinions (including our trusted technicians), most discouraged for the "Inverter" technology units because of the high cost involved in repairs. Also many told that Window unit is surely far simple & economical to maintain, if we ignore the noise and looks.

The last repair was done just few weeks ago (PCB repair for 2K), again AC was behaving abnormal was less cooling, so it was high time now. I did a quick online search for few brands & specs, and visited local stores. Ofcourse, I read this TeamBHP post for last few pages. I took measurements of window slot and existing AC dimensions. Did a quick finalization for a Window AC itself with matching size to fit (to save from the grill works, overall cost & maintenance), and booked at nearby Reliance Digital store.

Costing :


On the Panasonic website, I can see a newer model XN-182AM (mine is XN-181AM) with a very minor difference in specs, but MRP shown is high. Anyways Reliance didn't have 182, and I was happy with 181.

Had to be pushy by some phone calls to expedite the project. Delivery happened the next day. Since it was an un-used display piece from showroom itself, the original box was missing (however all manual/card/remote was supplied), nice bubble wrapping was done. Next day morning another team came for un-installation & pickup of existing AC, a brief check if that was working (it did has some issues, but was ignored), and Rs.2500 was given cash to me for buy-back scheme. By evening another team came for installation and job was done in 30 minutes to the existing slot available, and AC was running.

Its been about 2 weeks with this new window AC, and we have good usage - about 2 hrs in daytime, and full night. Surely the cooling is far better than previous unit, for the same temperature settings (25 deg) on unit. However we feel the noise level is slightly more in current unit, but we just ignore it. Just y'day I did a filter cleaning for this and other AC. In few days I would create a new AMC with our existing local service vendor.

I hope this AC would last long time with happy experience.

[srinath34]

I am contemplating buying a split invertor AC for the first time (BLR never called for an AC until this year's summer which has been quite hot unfortunately).

I saw a few video reviews on Youtube and got the below takeaway:

• Warranty has to be taken for the longest period possible. Especially PCB which is a standard 5 years for most brands. Samsung offers something called "Comprehensive" warranty which covers child parts but does not explicitly say PCB. Some brands are specific on compressor warranty (~10 yrs) and PCB warranty (not more than 5 yrs).
• 3-star AC is good enough if usage is for 2-3 months compared to 5-star (save few bucks)
• Convertible ACs can vary the output (0.6T to 1.5T) depending on need to save energy and bill

I paid a visit to Reliance Digital and Croma last week to have a look in person and was suggested by the Reliance sales guy to go with LG's 3-star 1.5T AC (LG 1.5 Ton 3-star) whereas Croma suggested to go with Samsung's 3-star 1.5T AC (Samsung Windfree 1.5 Ton 3 star)

Neither of them spoke much about other well known AC brands like Daikin, Hitachi, Bluestar, Carrier, Voltas, Panasonic, General (not sure if its connected to sales margins compared to LG and Samsung). Also is it a wise idea to buy ACs from online platforms as there is a considerable price gap (can get a 5-star version online for the price of 3-star version offline)?

I am open to opinions from AC users/experts in this forum as I am a noob in this area.

[saket77]

Noticing that our Hitachi split 1.5T is not dripping condensate water at all. Though the cooling is fine. It used to drip well till last season but in this season, I haven't seen it dripping at all.
What could be the reason?

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by srinath34

I paid a visit to Reliance Digital and Croma last week to have a look in person

Buying from them will not provide any additional benefit in terms of service, warranty or even installation. None of those will be provided by them - it will be either the company directly (that you will chase) or some local service provider after some time.

So get your desired model from the cheapest source. Amazon I believe bundles installation at a nominal cost.

Also, they are pushing what is their priority of the month - margin and inventory at hand.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by saket77

Noticing that our Hitachi split 1.5T is not dripping condensate water at all. Though the cooling is fine. It used to drip well till last season but in this season, I haven't seen it dripping at all.
What could be the reason?

Not sure how much you do self service or DIY at home. Please check whether the drain pipe is clogged, if possible and not already done. Or call the AC technician and ask him to check the drain pipe.

If it becomes fully blocked, sometimes you will get drizzles of water from the AC vents itself or water overflow in the walls.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

Not sure how much you do self service or DIY at home. Please check whether the drain pipe is clogged, if possible and not already done. Or call the AC technician and ask him to check the drain pipe.

If it becomes fully blocked, sometimes you will get drizzles of water from the AC vents itself or water overflow in the walls.

Just checked DIY. The pipeline is not clogged. I cleaned the coil of indoor unit and even put some water over it and it drained from the drain pipe just fine. I kept the machine running without the IDU cover and couldn’t see any ice formation so I guess that the refrigerant is fine as well. Still no water dripping!

[vsathyap]

Originally Posted by srinath34

Neither of them spoke much about other well known AC brands like Daikin, Hitachi, Bluestar, Carrier, Voltas, Panasonic, General (not sure if its connected to sales margins compared to LG and Samsung).

TBH, these Korean Company ACs are more for looks and aesthetics and of course their lower/competitive price compared to other brands you've mentioned. I've had the bitter experience of dealing with a Samsung 1.5T AC which had to be replaced due to many problems, starting the the installation.

IIRC, the installer did a very shoddy job and the piping for the external and internal units wasnt done well. This led to frequent gas leaks and stop-gap repairs by the ASS only messed it up further. It came to a point where we were told that the condenser coils (or something similar - in the outdoor unit) need to be welded as there was a minor leak and the gas was escaping from there. Also, we were told that LG and Samsung use Aluminiuim which is soft and not something that can be welded easily. Also, there is no guarantee that the welds will hold good due to the nature of the material. This was cross checked with multiple local AC repair persons and all of them said the same thing - the AC needed to be replaced as frequent welding of Aluminiuim was not an option. During this exchange of info, all of them recommended proper AC brands like Carrier, Daikin, General, Bluestar, Voltas, Whirlpool and Panasonic and they said most of these use Copper which can be welded (or holds a weld properly) in case of any issues.

Reminds me of a similar comparison even in the car world. Buy Korean stuff made to cost (Hyundai) with a lot of bling features which one stops using over time, or buy Japanese without any of those marketing features - but does the one thing its suppoed to do, and does it bloody well - for peace of mind and reliability (Toyota).


We then got a Panasonic AC which was like a beast in terms of cooling as well as performance. This was like moving from a Grand i10 to a Fortuner. Never looked back.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Speaking as an armchair youtube engineer ...

Of course aluminium can be welded. These deniers might not have the experience --- or they might not have a welding machine that is aluminium-welding capable (If I remember my youtube lessons right, it takes DC, not AC to weld it).

So it's time we stopped hearing this from people who won't lay out just a little cash to replace their ancient machines and won't take the trouble to do a bit of learning.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by saket77

Just checked DIY. The pipeline is not clogged. I cleaned the coil of indoor unit and even put some water over it and it drained from the drain pipe just fine. I kept the machine running without the IDU cover and couldn’t see any ice formation so I guess that the refrigerant is fine as well. Still no water dripping!

Is there any chance you can increase the fan speed to maximum for more air circulation and observe whether condensation occurs?

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Speaking as an armchair Youtube engineer ...

As yet another aspiring tinkerer, I'm not surprised.

I found that ABS rods are not available anywhere (in Bengaluru, at least), but according to Youtubers, it's easy to weld ABS using a drill and an ABS rod - the friction of the rotating rod generates enough heat to weld broken ABS parts. Without access to Aliexpress, this is something we'll never be able to do in India.

So many other "common" items and techniques are similarly inexplicably missing in our country.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by saket77

Noticing that our Hitachi split 1.5T is not dripping condensate water at all. Though the cooling is fine. ....

Condensation will only occur if the grille temperature goes to (or below) the dew point. Please check what the dew point is; it could be lower than the grille temperature.

[roy_libran]

Originally Posted by vsathyap

TBH, these Korean Company ACs are more for looks and aesthetics and of course their lower/competitive price compared to other brands you've mentioned. I've had the bitter experience of dealing with a Samsung 1.5T AC which had to be replaced due to many problems, starting the the installation.

I think this is quite a lofty generalization!

For example, I have 5 LG 1.5 Ton 3* Inverter Split ACs at home, all between 6 yrs. to 1 yr. old.Apart from one instance of Gas leakage due to faulty re-installation during shifting my residence, I have never faced any problem with any of these.

On the other hand, prior to moving over to the LG bandwagon, I ran through a host of very problematic Videocon, Voltas and Panasonic ACs. Mind you, I reside in the general vicinity of Noida which has quite high levels of dust and chemical pollutants that lead to corrosion.

So should I conclude that Korean ACs are like Toyotas? I wouldn't!
I think some models work well, whereas others don't, and sometimes we just get lucky, until it runs out.