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

Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)
-   Gadgets, Computers & Software (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/)
-   -   The home / office air-conditioner thread (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/4389-home-office-air-conditioner-thread-509.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by inder (Post 5772731)
Wierd problem with my Daikin 1.5 Inverter AC. It does not cool in the afternoon but cools in the night. What could be the reason.

There are a lot of sensors in the AC. One of them is on the ODU grill. If the grill is dirty, then the airflow is low and the ODU will increase the temperature especially in hot summer. In that case the AC shuts down automatically. This can also happen if direct sunlight fall on the sensor.

To check it do the following
. Clean the ODU grill with a lot of water. If the water is extremely dirty then it is choked.
. Keep cleaning the ODU grill till the water is no longer dirty.
. Now switch the ACon.

If it starts cooling and continues to do so for a few hours then all is fine.

If it starts cooling but stops after some time (2-10 min), then it is tripping. In that case call a technician and get the AC checked. It can either be low refrigerant or a choked IDU.

Due to space constraints I am looking at window AC for kitchen. Those members who have installed AC in your kitchen, what has been your experience?
1. Do you have to wash the cooling coil every year?
2. Does the AC breakdown often?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guite (Post 5773369)
window AC for kitchen.

I don't think that the domestic AC is really suitable for kitchen use. It will get oiled up as well as dust.

In so far as it's possible without commercial equipment, my approach to kitchen cooling is extractor fan(s) and/or chimney. These can draw cooler air in from adjacent rooms.

Kitchen chimney units have filters that are designed for grease.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guite (Post 5773369)
Due to space constraints I am looking at window AC for kitchen. Those members who have installed AC in your kitchen, what has been your experience?
1. Do you have to wash the cooling coil every year?
2. Does the AC breakdown often?

A very bad idea. The AC will soon be clogged with oil fumes which require major effort to clean.

A better idea is to install an AC outside the kitchen, may be lobby or dining area, and then use the Chimney installed over the burners to pull in the cold air. We have an AC installed in our DR which is next to kitchen. During summers we switch it on and soon the kitchen becomes "air conditioned"

Hello BHPians,

Need your help to finalize window AC for one of the bedrooms. Per online calculators 1.26 Ton would be sufficient and hence have decided to go for a 1.5 T window AC.

Went out to shops and Croma and looked at various options, narrowed down to LG. The window AC looks good (is subjective) and had a good warranty (10 years on compressor and 5 years on PCB).

Am leaning towards a 5 Star model since it offers more cooling capacity (as per the salesperson, something that is much needed during the summers with temperatures above 40 degrees) and will hopefully save some money on bills. Our usage will be 4-5 hours during the day and then during the evening / night another 6~8 hours.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aroy (Post 5351208)
Both Inverter as well as Non Inverter AC have a mother board for controlling the various functions of the AC, unlike good old days when there was no electronics, three or four speed fan selected with a rotary switch, a fixed speed compressor with an electro-mechanical thermostat, no swinging louvers and of course no failure of electronics.

For consumer ease all the functions are now controlled by mother board (my Hitachi had an MB 15 years ago), hence there is not much difference in failure rate between Inverter and Non Inverter AC.

This helped tilt the decision in favour of inverter ACs. I did read about fellow members experience being not so good with inverter ACs as well but am thinking will give an inverter AC a try this time around. Am hoping that by now inverter AC technology would have improved and become more stable so hopefully should have a pleasant experience with them, fingers crossed. Also, LG does not offer any non-inverter ACs

However need help on 2 fronts:
1) Installation. The Croma person said that LG engineer who would visit the residence would inspect the AC upon unboxing and only install the AC. Any associated carpentry work that is needed would not be done by the engineer. This I found surprising because we normally do not have a rectangle void in our rooms where we can just plonk an AC. In our case the window has a grill and glass (held in place via a wooden beading/piping). The showroom person said that we would have to arrange for a carpenter to a) remove the glass and grill and b) post installation add wooden board for packing up. Wanted to check from fellow forum members who would have gotten a window AC in recent times, whether this is indeed the norm?

Our last AC purchase was a Hitachi window AC, around 10 years back and the dealership sent two guys over who did everything; a) un-install grill and glass b) install AC c) provide wooden packing to cover open spacing. Have things changed now?

2) Electrical wiring: The AC unit comes with a wire which will not reach the power socket. So we would need additional wire. Any specific wire that we should be looking for and how much should be a reasonable charge for it? Also the salesperson said that better to have the AC connected via an MCB rather than using a plug since the plus will not be able to handle the load (no idea what that means). Is getting an MCB a must? Having read that installation guys can mess up things wanted to be better prepared for when the actual installation is done at home stupid:


Quote:

Originally Posted by Aroy (Post 5295118)
In short it is better to have a spike protector (for ease of mind) than a stabilizer.

If we get an MCB thingy based setup then can we still add a surge protector.
Any good recommendations for a surge protector. Also since we are not getting a stabilizer with the inverter AC, does it handle power cuts well or should we switch off the inverter AC when power goes off? In case of the non-inverter AC (with stabilizer) we don't need to do anything (switch off) if a power cut happens.

The only thing which may change my mind is a visit to General store today. Have heard good things about General as being well built ACs which could last long and they have both inverter and non-inverter AC options.

Thanks In Advance,
S

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaguar (Post 5769300)
How messy is the wet core cutting job?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruskinash (Post 5769311)
Like he said, it's a clean job. They'll cover the area where the water runs off with a plastic sheet attached by tape, which won't dirty the wall. Just make sure that the tape is neatly stuck so that there are no gaps for the water to pass through.

So the wet core cutting was done and it was a fairly clean and fast job and created very little dust. Having experienced it and looking at the perfect hole it produced, I am wondering why these installers even go for normal drilling in the first place.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaguar (Post 5774527)
I am wondering why these installers even go for normal drilling in the first place.

Cost, I guess. They possess minimum tools and basic skills, and those skills and a hammer drill are enough to make a hole in a wall. They don't much mind what it looks like, and with a piece of pipe and cement it won't be too bad.

And we accept. Last time, I was interested to get a guy in to do the core thing. I was talked out of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sukhoi (Post 5774523)
Hello BHPians,
........................................
However need help on 2 fronts:
1) Installation. The Croma person said that LG engineer who would visit the residence would inspect the AC upon unboxing and only install the AC. Any associated carpentry work that is needed would not be done by the engineer. This I found surprising because we normally do not have a rectangle void in our rooms where we can just plonk an AC. In our case the window has a grill and glass (held in place via a wooden beading/piping). The showroom person said that we would have to arrange for a carpenter to a) remove the glass and grill and b) post installation add wooden board for packing up. Wanted to check from fellow forum members who would have gotten a window AC in recent times, whether this is indeed the norm?

.........................................

2) Electrical wiring: The AC unit comes with a wire which will not reach the power socket. So we would need additional wire. Any specific wire that we should be looking for and how much should be a reasonable charge for it? Also the salesperson said that better to have the AC connected via an MCB rather than using a plug since the plus will not be able to handle the load (no idea what that means). Is getting an MCB a must? Having read that installation guys can mess up things wanted to be better prepared for when the actual installation is done at home stupid:



If we get an MCB thingy based setup then can we still add a surge protector.
Any good recommendations for a surge protector. Also since we are not getting a stabilizer with the inverter AC, does it handle power cuts well or should we switch off the inverter AC when power goes off? In case of the non-inverter AC (with stabilizer) we don't need to do anything (switch off) if a power cut happens.

The only thing which may change my mind is a visit to General store today. Have heard good things about General as being well built ACs which could last long and they have both inverter and non-inverter AC options.

Thanks In Advance,
S

1. YES all the necessary masonry and carpentry work has to be done by you. If the previous installer did it for you he either charged for it or his price had that built in. With todays cut throat competition, they price the appliances as low as feasible, so every thing else is extra - cartage, installation and civil work.

2. the 1.5T AC consumes 8A at the most (it is mostly 4-5A). Any electrical shop will sell you 3 core cable for "AC's", costs less than Rs.100/meter.

Modern Inverter AC's can withstand large voltage fluctuation (160V to 280V if I remember it well). so there is no need for any stabilizer per se. In fact if the response of stabilizer is not lightning fast (rarely) it will harm the appliances during large voltage swings.

We have 5 Inverter AC's and they all weather power cut without any problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by swiftLife (Post 5774830)
I knew life of ACs is less in kitchen and I am okay with it but if the AC is ineffective (which I now know practically), I won't have purchased it in the first place :unhappy

Stay away from Daikin, it's crap now. I can almost certainly say a 1 Ton of Mitsubishi would have served, but you should buy a 1,5 ton Mitsubishi given the intended application.

I replaced 2 of our almost brand-new Daikin 1 9/ 2 Ton with similar capacity from Mitsubishi, and the difference is day and night.

Working on putting up VRF system at my residence. I have been suggested Mitsubishi and Toshiba . I have experienced Hitachi VRF in my other unit and am not quite happy with the quality.

I know, Can’t go wrong with Mitsubishi but any suggestions on Toshiba?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Satkaj (Post 5775700)
I know, Can’t go wrong with Mitsubishi but any suggestions on Toshiba?

After reading your post, I discussed it with an architect friend of mine. He suggested the brand TRANE (U.S.-based), which, although it collaborates with Mitsubishi for marketing, develops its technology in-house. It's worth noting that TRANE is more expensive compared to its competitors, but it offers better reliability and performance.

Sharing a quick links of their website for your reference along with contact details.

https://www.trane.com/commercial/nor...stems/vrf.html

https://www.trane.com/commercial/asi...fic/in/en.html

https://www.trane.com/commercial/asi...ndia/west.html

Is this the most energy efficient AC available in India? Was looking to buy, but no stock available with most dealers/online.

Daikin 1Ton, Model FTKF35U with an ISEER of 6.2 and 419 units/year consumption. 2022 model, so assuming 2024 one should be having better ISEER.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turbanator (Post 5774846)
Stay away from Daikin, it's crap now. I can almost certainly say a 1 Ton of Mitsubishi would have served, but you should buy a 1,5 ton Mitsubishi given the intended application.

I replaced 2 of our almost brand-new Daikin 1 9/ 2 Ton with similar capacity from Mitsubishi, and the difference is day and night.

Thanks for sharing! Can you please also share if it's Mitsubishi Electric or Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. And inverter or non-inverter?

To share more on the pathetic service experience I faced with Daikin. After the AC was installed, I immediately felt that cooling was very low. It just blew air slightly cooler than ambient temperature. When raised to Daikin, a technician visited (a senior guy), and he checked all parameters they normally check i.e. Gas pressure and current drawn. Found the values as normal and he also felt that AC is cooling fine and left.

Unsatisfied, I reached out to the dealer from whom I purchased. He inquired and found that the technician was a very senior one so there is no point for a re-check. I still insisted for revisit and in parallel also explored online. Found that the grill temperature should also have been checked.

After dealer asked Daikin to check again, another team visited with a very senior guy along with an expert from the dealer. All of them had a very dismissive attitude. ALL OF THEM again felt that cooling is normal. When I asked to check grill temperature, and when it didn't drop to expected readings they chickened out. They again tried to dismiss it citing that it takes time to cool etc. etc. This time I didn't bend down. I asked them to wait. After 30 mins too, grill temp didn't drop to expected levels.

So they opened the top cover and found that not all U-bends were cold to the touch. Only about 60-65% were. They finally said that there "seems to be some issue". I was appalled at their attitude.

They concluded that the evaporator coils may have some blockage so decided to replace it. After a few hours, a new set of coils was installed and again same result. Low cooling and not all U-bends were cold to touch.

Then they finally thought that maybe during installation the gas line wasn't vacuumed out properly. So emptied out the entire gas and refilled after vacuuming. And voila, the cooling improved like 10x.

And when I confronted them that how come all of them felt cooling is normal, they didn't utter a word and just uttered stupid excuses. That day I decided that this will be the first and last Daikin AC that I am purchasing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xotiq (Post 5776049)
Is this the most energy efficient AC available in India? Was looking to buy, but no stock available with most dealers/online.

Daikin 1Ton, Model FTKF35U with an ISEER of 6.2 and 419 units/year consumption. 2022 model, so assuming 2024 one should be having better ISEER.

The reason why 1T units have higher efficiency compared to 1.5T is that in most cases the IDU has the same dimensions, so the heat exchanger in 1T, 1.5T and 2T has the same area, so the thermal efficiency reduces with tonnage as long as IDU is same size.

Regarding electricity consumption, take the numbers with a pinch of salt, as the electricity consumption depends on the heat load in the room. If the room is on the top floor with two walls facing sun the AC will run longer to cool the room, while a room with a few floors above and no sunlight on the walls will run much lesser to cool the room.

Any way the savings in electricity does not warrant a large difference in purchase price, unless you are in a place like Delhi and run the AC from end March to October

That is the reason why I replaced my 1.5T Daikin within three years. The service was pathetic and the the MB blew they wanted 20K+ with no warranty, where as LG MB is less than 10K with warranty.


All times are GMT +5.5. The time now is 13:28.