Buying an Aircon

[Wandr]

I am looking for an airconditioner (aircon), typical size and specs, in Chiang Mai.

Turning to the Internet for some help I came across an older ThaiVisa thread that recommended going to independents instead of the big box stores.

None were listed, except for one unnamed store.

My question is: does anyone have a recommendation on one or two of these independents? I am not going to do intensive price or spec comparison. When I find a known brand with specs I need and a decent SEER then I will buy it.

Thanks...

[beau thai]

I use a big independent near Plaza89, on the left going up towards Mahidol Road, about 300 metres. 

 

Most places will try to sell you more powerful than you need. Use google to check out  aircon appropriate to your room size. If too powerful, it will cycle too often and wear out more quickly. Also check out on google why its bad to buy overpoweful!  And save some cash to buy a Xaomi S2 air purifier as well!!

[EricTh]

Go and buy from Global House.

 

I got an Pana air-cond from them at a promotion price, furthermore, their installation after-sales service is excellent.

 

Most people in Thailand buy Pana from what I observed by going around the neighbourhood

 

Independents? If you have problems, once sold, they don't have any after sales service.

 

Edited April 2, 2019 by EricTh

[Lacessit]

14 minutes ago, EricTh said:

Go and buy from Global House.

 

I got an Pana air-cond from them at a promotion price, furthermore, their installation after-sales service is excellent.

 

Most people in Thailand buy Pana from what I observed by going around the neighbourhood

 

Independents? If you have problems, once sold, they don't have any after sales service.

 

Panasonic does have a problem with its switch gear, as I have found after a couple of callouts to an aircon mechanic.

As other posters have said, the sales staff will try to convince you to buy more BTU than is actually needed. Rough rule of thumb is 18,000 BTU = 40 sqm space.

Inverter type aircons are quieter and use less electricity.

[elektrified]

1 hour ago, EricTh said:

Go and buy from Global House.

 

I got an Pana air-cond from them at a promotion price, furthermore, their installation after-sales service is excellent.

 

Most people in Thailand buy Pana from what I observed by going around the neighbourhood

 

Independents? If you have problems, once sold, they don't have any after sales service.

 

Wrong again!

 

The brands in Thailand which are the most reliable and which parts are the most abundant are Mitsubishi, Daikin, and Saijo Denki. Many A/C service guys will not even touch some brands like Haier, Samsung, Panasonic, Hitachi, Sharp, Electrolux and so forth. Not that there is anything wrong with all of them (but some do use entirely plastic parts and they break as soon as they are opened to be cleaned), but parts are just not available. Our A/C guy told us that a customer insisted on buying a Hitachi against his advice. When it had a problem and he tried to get parts, he had to make over 8 calls to Bangkok to try and get the parts. Nobody had them and it took 10 days for the parts to come in from Malaysia or somewhere. 10 days down time during the hot season is unacceptable. He also said that he could find the parts for Mitsubishi, Daikin, and Saijo Denki here in C.M. in about 2-4 hours.

[vivid]

Do get something that you can easily get parts in your particular city, simple coz many others are using.  So you'd have a good and problem-free supply of parts, both brand new ones as well as second hand reconditioned once, coz the latter is so much cheaper and you might not want to spend a lot for repairing your unit that is already 10 years old coz it's really due for total replacement soon.

 

Here in Singapore, Panasonic is one of the more commonly used brands.   It's easy to see who uses what here as > 80% of the population lives in apartments and the condenser units are easily seen as they can only be rack-mounted t a particular fixed location on the external facade, or in new apartments there is a dedicated AC ledge, so at one glance you'd be able to see X and Y brand.

 

Most popular ones here are Mitsubishi Electric, Daikin, Panasonic.  To a limited extent, some use Mitsubishi heavy industries, Hitachi, Fujitsu.   Some older flats have Toshiba, Sanyo simply because they were popular back then so second hand parts are still available.

 

A few hippies also use LG, Samsung due to the design of the FCU.   Yeah, don't get Midea, Samsung, LG and stuff like that.

[Wandr]

Thanks everyone for the advice...appreciate it.

Here's some information that may be helpful to others in my position:

I did go to the large independent near Plaza89 yesterday. The sales manager was pleasant and helpful and, at first glance, the prices were good also.

As an aside, I have 3 Sharp units and they are the quietest units I have ever come across. Guests tell me that they have to look at the unit to see if it is running. They were from a store called Super Cheap, near the Arcade bus station.

I decided to pay them a visit and found they have a large selection of brands and VERY good prices. I bought a 12000 BTU Sharp, and later that evening discovered that Big C has it on sale also - for 3400 more.

Anyone looking for an aircon might want to pay the store a visit. They have other stuff too, but I did not look in any detail so don't know if the prices are good.

[EricTh]

5 hours ago, Wandr said:

Thanks everyone for the advice...appreciate it.

Here's some information that may be helpful to others in my position:

I did go to the large independent near Plaza89 yesterday. The sales manager was pleasant and helpful and, at first glance, the prices were good also.

As an aside, I have 3 Sharp units and they are the quietest units I have ever come across. Guests tell me that they have to look at the unit to see if it is running. They were from a store called Super Cheap, near the Arcade bus station.

I decided to pay them a visit and found they have a large selection of brands and VERY good prices. I bought a 12000 BTU Sharp, and later that evening discovered that Big C has it on sale also - for 3400 more.

Anyone looking for an aircon might want to pay the store a visit. They have other stuff too, but I did not look in any detail so don't know if the prices are good.

 

Do they  have Pana TV as well? I am looking to buy one.

 

Where is this plaza89?

[Wandr]

20 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

Do they  have Pana TV as well? I am looking to buy one.

 

Where is this plaza89?

Plaza89 is on the old Lamphun road, the big trees road. You can Google it . I don't know if the store near it has Panasonic.

Super Cheap probably does carry the brand. They have several brands. The store is near the bus station.

From the 11 turn into the frontage road as if going to the bus station . Go past the bus station turn and turn left at the next traffic light . Super Cheap is immediately on the right.

[moontang]

I just paid 19,500 for a 17000 BTU Carrier Inverter...installed and removal of old.  We'll see about my first electric bill with it, but the old fujiaire is like living in a machine shop compared to this one.  The mom pop place do warranty repairs for carrier or I could go elsewhere.  5 year parts, 10 year compressor. 6 months on install.

Edited April 3, 2019 by moontang

[EricTh]

9 hours ago, Wandr said:

Plaza89 is on the old Lamphun road, the big trees road. You can Google it . I don't know if the store near it has Panasonic.

Super Cheap probably does carry the brand. They have several brands. The store is near the bus station.

From the 11 turn into the frontage road as if going to the bus station . Go past the bus station turn and turn left at the next traffic light . Super Cheap is immediately on the right.

 

Would Plaza89 be cheaper or more expensive than Super Cheap store in general?

 

 

Edited April 3, 2019 by EricTh

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

23 hours ago, elektrified said:

Wrong again!

 

The brands in Thailand which are the most reliable and which parts are the most abundant are Mitsubishi, Daikin, and Saijo Denki. Many A/C service guys will not even touch some brands like Haier, Samsung, Panasonic, Hitachi, Sharp, Electrolux and so forth. Not that there is anything wrong with all of them (but some do use entirely plastic parts and they break as soon as they are opened to be cleaned), but parts are just not available. Our A/C guy told us that a customer insisted on buying a Hitachi against his advice. When it had a problem and he tried to get parts, he had to make over 8 calls to Bangkok to try and get the parts. Nobody had them and it took 10 days for the parts to come in from Malaysia or somewhere. 10 days down time during the hot season is unacceptable. He also said that he could find the parts for Mitsubishi, Daikin, and Saijo Denki here in C.M. in about 2-4 hours.

 

From my experience, I tend to agree with Elektrified's advice above....

 

And more specifically, in terms of reliability and durability and serviceability, the two brands that generally seem to get the best reviews from both users here and their AC service people are Mitsubishi and Daikin, in no particular order. I've had both at home, and had a better experience with Mitsubishi... But it probably can go either way.

 

Normally in making this kind of a purchase, a buyer would normally check things like how long is the warranty on the compressor (which is very expensive), and how long is the general warranty on the entire unit. What kind of electrical usage does it have, as listed on the Energy Efficiency sticker, and inverter vs. non inverter.

 

Also, lately, there are some AC models that are claiming to have built-in PM2.5 filtering capability. Which, if I were living in CM, I might take a good long look at in considering any new AC purchase these days, in addition to (and/or apart from) any consideration of also getting a separate air purifier unit.

 

[grin]

Our new home came with Saijo-Denki units about 10 years ago. All but one of them have failed since then and I have replaced all of them with Daikin inverters. Maybe I am too sensitive but with the Saijo-Denki units it would go back and forth from being a little too warm to being a little too cool. I don't have that problem with the inverters plus our energy bills are lower now even though the weather seems to be getting warmer overall. My daughter lives in Bangkok and bought all of the Daikin units there for cheaper than I could find them in Chang Mai. We paid about 1500 Baht per unit to local Chiang Mai installers. It was cheaper when more than one unit was being installed at the same time.

 

Grin

[beau thai]

On 4/3/2019 at 7:36 AM, Wandr said:

Thanks everyone for the advice...appreciate it.

Here's some information that may be helpful to others in my position:

I did go to the large independent near Plaza89 yesterday. The sales manager was pleasant and helpful and, at first glance, the prices were good also.

As an aside, I have 3 Sharp units and they are the quietest units I have ever come across. Guests tell me that they have to look at the unit to see if it is running. They were from a store called Super Cheap, near the Arcade bus station.

I decided to pay them a visit and found they have a large selection of brands and VERY good prices. I bought a 12000 BTU Sharp, and later that evening discovered that Big C has it on sale also - for 3400 more.

Anyone looking for an aircon might want to pay the store a visit. They have other stuff too, but I did not look in any detail so don't know if the prices are good.

Thanks for the heads up on Supercheap. I have been here quite a few years and never heard of them. Very smart showroom, good range and good prices.

[brommers]

The original purchase price is one very important thing, but from long personal experience the aftercare you give your units is equally if not more important. I have Mitsubishi units in every room, & apart from one compressor that was susceptible to ongoing issues, after 6 years I have had no problems. But in this city and with this pollution it is essential that you have your units cleaned and checked regularly. It amazes me how much improvement we get after a 6 month service in terms of better cooling and reduced power usage. I also clean the coarse filters every month & replace the HEPA filters twice a year.

 

In all main rooms I also have air purifiers but despite the fact that this is a new and well sealed house they are not able to keep the pm2,5 level below the ridiculously high Thai safety limits, and certainly not below the WHO level if the outside AQI is above 300. And this includes running the aircons for large parts of the day. I dread to see my next electricity bill!

 

Good after sales service is an essential ingredient so make certain that whatever you buy and from whichever store you have access to a good service centre and readily available spare parts. You can be certain that if a problem occurs it will be at the worst possible time of year when you need your aircon the most!