Aircon. Inverter or Regular?

[fishtank]

For the last few years we have had a Samsung Digital Inverter aircon in the bedroom.

Apart from the overly complicated remote we were quite satisfied with it.

 

2 nights ago it died and when the aircon man came and opened up the outside unit he found a fried JingJoke ghecko that had decided to take a walk across the circuit board. shorting it out.

 

The man said that because it was inverter it was too complicated to fix and would have to be sent away. Big money.

 

I went out to Global House and purchased a cheap regular Becko 9,800 BTU unit.

8,790 Baht. Only a small room used at night so should not be too expensive to run.

 

Are Inverters that difficult to fix or was the man just useless?

 

 

[steven100]

The circuit board for the inverter aircon is not cheap and he's probably correct in that it would need to be sent off to Samsung.

As you said, a new 9800 BTU for 8,800 baht.  

But i'm surprised a 2 yr old unit didn't have a protection box around the electronics as most do these days.

 

[fishtank]

11 minutes ago, steven100 said:

The circuit board for the inverter aircon is not cheap and he's probably correct in that it would need to be sent off to Samsung.

As you said, a new 9800 BTU for 8,800 baht.  

But i'm surprised a 2 yr old unit didn't have a protection box around the electronics as most do these days.

 

Thanks.

Yes it was in a box so god knows how it got in there.

They seem to get everywhere.

Had one fry a microwave once.

[sherwood]

I had the same problem with my Samsung inverter, Gecko fried. You can replace the board for around 1800 baht if you can get one online, as I did or Samsung will do the jog insitu for around 3500 baht.

 

It is not a big job.

[Naam]

1 hour ago, fishtank said:

Are Inverters that difficult to fix or was the man just useless?

electronic modules/motherboards are extremely difficult to fix. usually the whole module is replaced. and both "difficult to fix and replace" applies to the motherboards of conventional units too. the only difference is that they are considerably cheaper.

[fishtank]

All sounds a bit of a pain and time lost without AC for sleeping.

Easier to buy a new cheap one. I hope.????

[Fruit Trader]

2 hours ago, Naam said:

electronic modules/motherboards are extremely difficult to fix. usually the whole module is replaced. and both "difficult to fix and replace" applies to the motherboards of conventional units too. the only difference is that they are considerably cheaper.

The power electronics and their driver stages are easy to repair but processor faults will normally scrap the board due to custom components or control software. A while back I setup up a family member repairing industrial power electronics. This has now extended to a steady flow of domestic AC, refrigerator and pump inverter boards. 

[Naam]

7 hours ago, Fruit Trader said:

The power electronics and their driver stages are easy to repair but processor faults will normally scrap the board due to custom components or control software. A while back I setup up a family member repairing industrial power electronics. This has now extended to a steady flow of domestic AC, refrigerator and pump inverter boards. 

it took me more than a year to find in Pattaya a reliable chap who can carry out electronic repairs who told me that it's not very difficult to repair but very difficult to locate what has to be repaired or replaced.

 

Quote

posted March 9, 2009

in january 2006 i bought a Samsung 67" LDP TV and 139,000 Baht and in august the same year Mrs Naam bought the same model for "only" 118,000 Baht. a few weeks ago my TV conked off, not completely but intermittendly on/off on/off on/off. so i confiscated the TV from the Mrs and threw the ball in her lap.

 

"engineers" from Numchai, Pattaya concluded "motherboard gone" and took the unit for repair. a few days later we were told that it will take at least one month as the part has to be ordered in Korea, total cost something like 29,000 Baht more than one month passed and after enquiring we were told by Samsung Service Center, Pattaya "solly, lepair no can do". we asked "vhat ze eff does zat mean?" and "vhat shall vee do now?"

 

Samsung, BKK got involved, called me today and i understood that due to the fact that the TV is more than three years old we can respect a refund of 33%. today it turned out that Samsung is offering cash "new price LESS 33%" which i think is a very fair settlement. by the way, LDP models are not produced anymore because Samsung had obviously too many problems with that rather unique but excellent system. i do hope that the confiscated TV will last some more years as Mrs Naam will buy a Plasma or an LCD for herself 

 

easy to repair?

 

Quote

i do hope that the confiscated TV will last some more years as Mrs Naam will buy a Plasma or an LCD for herself

it lasted till march 2015!

[fishtank]

12 minutes ago, Naam said:

it took me more than a year to find in Pattaya a reliable chap who can carry out electronic repairs who told me that it's not very difficult to repair but very difficult to locate what has to be repaired or replaced.

 

 

More than a year in Pattaya!

You try living up here in retard land.

You talk a lot of sense Naam.

[Beggar]

On 8/30/2019 at 9:20 AM, sherwood said:

I had the same problem with my Samsung inverter, Gecko fried. You can replace the board for around 1800 baht if you can get one online, as I did or Samsung will do the jog insitu for around 3500 baht.

 

It is not a big job.

Geckos seem to love inverters. Many have expensive problems because of them. So let the engineers check at installation or servicing if this can be prevented. 

 

 

 

[Beggar]

Sorry for posting the photo twice. Couldn't remove it. 

 

 

[alacrity]

Perhaps they're members of the climate change deniers suicidal corps

 

[sfokevin]

If buying a regular (Non inverter) unit I would not buy the smallest/cheapest unit as it needs to run the compressor more and using more electricity to cool the room... better to spend a couple thousand more and go from a 9,800btu to a 12,000 btu... you will save the money in electric bills...

[losworld]

I have two units in two separate rooms with separate meters.  Both samsung.  One a larger inverter unit and the other a small cheap regular samsung unit (actually a bit smaller than recommended) and I see not difference in my electrical consumption between the two.  In fact the smaller runs in the day when it is hotter lol.

[tjo o tjim]

An undersized unit will benefit less from an inverter, since the compressor runs at full capacity most of the time. 

[bankruatsteve]

25 minutes ago, tjo o tjim said:

An undersized unit will benefit less from an inverter, since the compressor runs at full capacity most of the time. 

Respectfully disagree.  Any room that is adequately insulated from heat ingress can eventually be cooled to a comfortable temperature by even the smallest of units without running at full capacity most of the time.  Even so, the difference in power consumption will still benefit a smaller unit.  This is not speculation on my part - I cool approximately 60 m² with a "11K BTU inverter" which starts cycling down after about 30 minutes from start (that's set at 25°).

[bankruatsteve]

One thing I don't get is the BTU rating for aircons.  10K BTU corresponds to about 2900 watts (according to the calculators).  But, neither my standard AC nor my inverter AC come even close to drawing the rating in watts.  Eg:  my 11K BTU inverter on "Power cool" only draws about 1000 watts.  What's the deal?

[Fruit Trader]

13 minutes ago, bankruatsteve said:

One thing I don't get is the BTU rating for aircons.  10K BTU corresponds to about 2900 watts (according to the calculators).  But, neither my standard AC nor my inverter AC come even close to drawing the rating in watts.  Eg:  my 11K BTU inverter on "Power cool" only draws about 1000 watts.  What's the deal?

The conversion is BTU/hr - Watts

[bankruatsteve]

5 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

The conversion is BTU/hr - Watts

Whatever.  10K BTU/hr = 2,930.7107 watts.  The question remains the same.

[Fruit Trader]

Just now, bankruatsteve said:

Whatever.  10K BTU/hr = 2,930.7107 watts.  The question remains the same.

You answered the question its a simple energy calculation.

BTU is the energy required to heat or cool 1 pound of water .....

 

 

 

[bankruatsteve]

2 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

You answered the question its a simple energy calculation.

BTU is the energy required to heat or cool 1 pound of water .....

My question was why AC rated at 10K BTU only consumes at most 1kW (for one hour).

[Fruit Trader]

7 minutes ago, bankruatsteve said:

My question was why AC rated at 10K BTU only consumes at most 1kW (for one hour).

BTU/h

Read this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_thermal_unit

[spidermike007]

Always an inverter. The savings on electricity is substantial, it is the latest technology, easier on the environment, and better all the way around. I have never had an issue with one, and I own a few. Sounds like the gekko thing was freak incident. And always buy a bigger unit. Easier on the compressor, and run alot less. 

[bankruatsteve]

32 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

BTU/h

Read this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_thermal_unit

I don't know what question you are answering, but it isn't for the one I asked.  ???

 

I'll re-phrase my question although somewhat different:

 

How many units of electricity would you expect from an AC rated at 10K BTU running for 1 hour at the max?

Show your calculations please.

[Fruit Trader]

7 minutes ago, bankruatsteve said:

I don't know what question you are answering, but it isn't for the one I asked.  ???

Here is you question :-

 

One thing I don't get is the BTU rating for aircons.  10K BTU corresponds to about 2900 watts (according to the calculators).  But, neither my standard AC nor my inverter AC come even close to drawing the rating in watts.  Eg:  my 11K BTU inverter on "Power cool" only draws about 1000 watts.  What's the deal?

 

 

I have answered your question.

[Crossy]

50 minutes ago, bankruatsteve said:

Whatever.  10K BTU/hr = 2,930.7107 watts.  The question remains the same.

 

Your aircon produces 2,930W of cooling, it does that using 1,000W of power. The outdoor unit dumps 4,000W of heat out into the world.

 

Google heat-pump ????

 

 

[bankruatsteve]

I give up.  But, it remains about as clear as your river Thames.  ????

[Crossy]

10 minutes ago, bankruatsteve said:

I give up.  But, it remains about as clear as your river Thames.  ????

 

There are salmon in the Thames. https://www.treehugger.com/clean-water/salmon-return-to-the-thames.html

 

How to explain heat pumps, let me see if I can find an idiots guide.

 

Have a look at the Wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pump#Operating_principles

 

 

[bankruatsteve]

Just now, Crossy said:

 

There are salmon in the Thames. https://www.treehugger.com/clean-water/salmon-return-to-the-thames.html

 

How to explain heat pumps, let me see if I can find and idiots guide.

 

I didn't say polluted and I know how a heat pump works.  My question is about BTU rating and relative units of electricity needed.  Are you saying that an AC will produce 10K BTU using 1kWH of electricity?  

[Crossy]

4 minutes ago, bankruatsteve said:

Are you saying that an AC will produce 10K BTU using 1kWH of electricity? 

 

Absolutely!

 

10,000 BTU = about 3kW. https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/power/BTU_to_kW.html

 

With a COP of 3 that will use about 1kW of power.

 

So 1kWh per hour is used.

 

Dead handy when running in reverse (heating) as you can get 4kW of heating for only 1kW of electricity.