New inverter a/c daikin not very cool...I'm baffled

[Sheryl]

Not sure which forum is best place for this so will try here.

 

I recently replaced 2 very old a/cs (20 years, became very nois, multiple times repaired  and were consuming huge amounts of electricity). They were Daikin, replaced with Daikin but this time Daikin inverter. It is my first time with inverter type a/c and I am shocked at how un-cold they are and also how weak the air flow seems. Is this normal?  Even at lowest possible temp setting/highest power setting the air that comes out is far from cold. Cool yes but not cold and it does not cool the rooms anywhere near as well as what I am used to.

 

In the bedroom I replaced a 9000 BTU with as 12,500 BTU, so not a BTU issue. At maximum cold setting it is bearable now (but just bearable; I'd like it colder) but  I worry about what will happen in the  hottest months.

 

in the living room I replaced what I think was a 29,000 BTU (that seemed more than needed) with a 24,200 BTU so possibly not enough BTU (it is  a hard call as it is an open floor plan with 1 other unit at the other end) but that aside, even putting my hand right up against it, just (a) not that cold and (b) not blowing very hard.

 

Is this usual with inverter models? I am thinking of exchanging these but if I do, not sure what I should get? the old (non-inverter) Daikins were great for a good 15 years.

 

 

[Crossy]

Hmmm, are you sure you have the correct mode set so it's actually cooling at full power? Maybe get the installer back to "teach" you how it works.

 

You also have chosen the hottest time of year to swap, when everybody's A/C is struggling to keep us cool which cannot be helping.

 

Our Hitachi inverter in the lounge seems to have a very "soft" startup (good for the genset) and takes several minutes to actually get going, the conventional Hitachi units in the spare bedrooms blast out arctic level air immediately on startup.

 

[chickenslegs]

My Samsung inverter in my bedroom definitely takes longer to cool the room than my previous non-inverter. But it does reach the set temperature and stay there.

 

If you are sure you haven't got them set to "Dry mode" (dehumidify only), I would call the Daikin engineer. they might even be able to advise over the phone.

 

 

[dddave]

That sounds like installer somehow released refrigerant or it wasn't properly charged in the first place.  You should be blowing cold air.

[chickenslegs]

1 minute ago, dddave said:

That sounds like installer somehow released refrigerant or it wasn't properly charged in the first place.  You should be blowing cold air.

That is possible, but the weak air flow mentioned in the OP might suggest she is using the dry mode.

[Sheryl]

Not using dry mode. I do know the difference.

 

I already called the "chang" who installed it back once to re-install/top off the gas. Didn't seem to make a difference.

 

From what you all say then, this is not usual.  There is some cooling, but nowhere near what I expect.

 

I guess next step is to call the company. How does one locate and call a "Daikin engineer"?  The main company office?

 

All I can think of is that something is wrong with the temperature sensor. The larger unit was on sale at a surprisingly low discount, which adds some worry as to the model maybe having some problem.

[scorecard]

22 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Hmmm, are you sure you have the correct mode set so it's actually cooling at full power? Maybe get the installer back to "teach" you how it works.

 

You also have chosen the hottest time of year to swap, when everybody's A/C is struggling to keep us cool which cannot be helping.

 

Our Hitachi inverter in the lounge seems to have a very "soft" startup (good for the genset) and takes several minutes to actually get going, the conventional Hitachi units in the spare bedrooms blast out arctic level air immediately on startup.

 

We have several LG Inverters, same as others, takes a while to get cold.

 

Getting the technician to explain more about 'how it works' is a good idea.

 

 learned my accident to press the 'savings' button immediately after the ON button, this seems to help with maintaining balanced temperature and definitely saves money. 

 

My very old Panasonic seemed faulty - sometimes when I turned the MODE to fan it blasted plenty of air but sometimes blasted plenty of very hot air. Eventually I asked for an inspection, the man came and laughed, turned out my model had a fault, sometime turning to fan switches off other settings but sometimes it doesn't. 

[dddave]

Daikin has authorized dealers all around Thailand.  Had an excellent one on my soi in Bangkok that I used often, though not for Daikin.  Let me know by PM if you have no success where you are and I'll give you a phone number for the owner.

[Sheryl]

The authorized dealer where I am has only  useless, poorly trained "changs" to offer. Definitely not a real engineer in the place or anything remotely approaching it.

 

it is not blowing hot air, the air it blows is cool, just not very and no setting produces the cold blast I seek. But it is definitely not operating in fan only mode, that would be obvious.

 

Guess I'll try calling the company tomorrow.

[IvorBiggun2]

27 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

How does one locate and call a "Daikin engineer"?  The main company office?

https://www.daikin.co.th/en/customer-service/

[Kwasaki]

34 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Is this usual with inverter models?

This all I know.

They need insulated rooms from what a lot of reading I have done and I've read about American air-con engineers, so if your room is not insulated they can be a problem only in the fact the lecky bills won't be that much cheaper.

 

I turbo the one in my farmhouse room because its not insulated properly yet, it will not be that much better when I finish the room than the cooler type cheaper air-con units because I have a lot of glass area's exposed to sun. .

 

It will better than your old ones for sure no worries just get to know how to work that remote.

 

 

[scubascuba3]

Might be worth getting one of those AC service companies to come out and give their advice, obviously have no skin in the game so should be honest, they charge 500+ baht where I live

[lemonjelly]

look at outside unit and check that fan is spinning

 

[sucit]

Have another set of pros come out and take a look. If your new ac are not doing as well as your decade old ones something is wrong with the install, inverter or no. 

[Sheryl]

The fan is working. And I know how to work the remote.

 

Neither room is at all well insulated, but the windows are well shaded. And the lack of insulation did not  stop the old units from being able to get the rooms nice and cool. It was even possible to get them too cold.

 

Will try my luck with the company tomorrow.There are no A/C service companies out here as such, just the place I bought the units from and their "changs" are far from knoweldgeable. Don't know if I can persuade the Bkk office to send someone out here though...

 

The "chang"  who did the installation claimed that it would not work well set below 21-22, anyone have any insight into why that would be so? (not that he is a reliable source of any info). Because it is not getting the air as cold as I want it I have it on maximum (that little "powerful" icon). Hard tio imagine that a higher temp setting would cool better...?

[ICELANDMAN]

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

Not using dry mode. I do know the difference.

 

I already called the "chang" who installed it back once to re-install/top off the gas. Didn't seem to make a difference.

 

From what you all say then, this is not usual.  There is some cooling, but nowhere near what I expect.

 

I guess next step is to call the company. How does one locate and call a "Daikin engineer"?  The main company office?

 

All I can think of is that something is wrong with the temperature sensor. The larger unit was on sale at a surprisingly low discount, which adds some worry as to the model maybe having some problem.

 

Try resetting the remote "

 

But what temperature do you have in the room?

[Dan O]

48 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Not using dry mode. I do know the difference.

 

I already called the "chang" who installed it back once to re-install/top off the gas. Didn't seem to make a difference.

 

From what you all say then, this is not usual.  There is some cooling, but nowhere near what I expect.

 

I guess next step is to call the company. How does one locate and call a "Daikin engineer"?  The main company office?

 

All I can think of is that something is wrong with the temperature sensor. The larger unit was on sale at a surprisingly low discount, which adds some worry as to the model maybe having some problem.

Not trying to be insulting but inverter ac works differently than 'old school" ac.  You may already know all this

 

Old school runs the compressor at full capacity whenever it is on producing the most amount of cooling capacity and also using the highest amount of power.

 

Inverters run at various rates or levels of compressor use. It saves on electricity and efficiency but does take much longer to reach desired temp as a result since they typically dont run at 100% all the time. As a result the old school ac produces cold air constantly faster at the same output temp until the desired temp is reached while Inverters function in a way that the temp output varies thru out the cycle of reaching the desired temp which is more economical  but much slower to reach desired temp, especially in overly hot periods or spaces. Big trade off as a result.

 

In the context of BTU's they are related at what full capability which  varies on a inverter ac.   

 

There could be an issue with temp sensors as inverters use more sensors differently to determine what rate to run the compressor at.   

 

I would have it tested by a qualified tech if you can find one 

[Dan O]

14 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

The fan is working. And I know how to work the remote.

 

Neither room is at all well insulated, but the windows are well shaded. And the lack of insulation did not  stop the old units from being able to get the rooms nice and cool. It was even possible to get them too cold.

 

Will try my luck with the company tomorrow.There are no A/C service companies out here as such, just the place I bought the units from and their "changs" are far from knoweldgeable. Don't know if I can persuade the Bkk office to send someone out here though...

 

The "chang"  who did the installation claimed that it would not work well set below 21-22, anyone have any insight into why that would be so? (not that he is a reliable source of any info). Because it is not getting the air as cold as I want it I have it on maximum (that little "powerful" icon). Hard tio imagine that a higher temp setting would cool better...?

Sheryl, which model did you get as there are more than 1 model of inverter ac and they run differently as 1 type is much more efficient in the power consumption which is a direct result of how they run the compressor based on demand which could be part of the issue your seeing 

[scubascuba3]

11 minutes ago, Dan O said:

Not trying to be insulting but inverter ac works differently than 'old school" ac.  You may already know all this

 

Old school runs the compressor at full capacity whenever it is on producing the most amount of cooling capacity and also using the highest amount of power.

 

Inverters run at various rates or levels of compressor use. It saves on electricity and efficiency but does take much longer to reach desired temp as a result since they typically dont run at 100% all the time. As a result the old school ac produces cold air constantly faster at the same output temp until the desired temp is reached while Inverters function in a way that the temp output varies thru out the cycle of reaching the desired temp which is more economical  but much slower to reach desired temp, especially in overly hot periods or spaces. Big trade off as a result.

 

In the context of BTU's they are related at what full capability which  varies on a inverter ac.   

 

There could be an issue with temp sensors as inverters use more sensors differently to determine what rate to run the compressor at.   

 

I would have it tested by a qualified tech if you can find one 

Funny, in the previous thread when Sheryl was asking about what AC to buy not one person highlighted this difference in temperature and cooling, a bit suspicious everyone says it's normal now

[Thomas J]

I replaced a carrier unit with an LG inverter model and a second larger carrier unit in the living room with a smaller unit.  The bedroom the old and new were 12000 BTU models.  The living room downsized from 33,000 BTU which was too big to 24,000 BTU's  Now my observation is that they don't cool down the room as quickly and the air that blows is not as ice cold as the older carrier units.  However, they are much quieter, more gentle air flow, and they do seem to maintain the temperature better.  The older units seem to blast on, quickly cool down the room, stop cooling, and then blast on again once the temperature fell below what was set on the thermostat.  One thing for sure, my electric bill has gone down by more than 50%.  I use to have a bill of 5,500 - 5,800 each month and now it is 2,200 - 2,700 per month.  I am happy with the switch but you do have to make sure they are cleaned and maintained every 6 months unlike the old technology which was much more tolerant of being dirty.  

[rodknock]

your inverter a/c is very unusal.

best to contact daiken direct.

i had my living room air/con replaced with a central air unit 18,000 btu.

i wear a shirt and have to keep playing with the temp as it will freeze you out.

i have an infared temp gun i purchased from lazada and i check the temps.

set at 25 it is 23.4c in my living room.

i have never had my temp set below 24 for longer then 15-20 min. to cool room when i come home.

 

there has to be a reason your air/con does not work properly.

the local store people do not know how to diagnose an air/con

wish you luck.

i will tell you the inverter model has lowered my electric bill and i run it all day.

[chickenslegs]

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

I already called the "chang" who installed it back once to re-install/top off the gas.

Recently installed aircons should not need a top-off of gas.

I think it might be best to call a Daikin service engineer (not just an authorised dealer - the difference is explained in the link below).

 

Scroll to the bottom of this page to find the nearest. Just check the boxes for "Authorised Service Centre" or "Authorised Service dealer".

https://www.daikin.co.th/en/wheretobuy/

https://www.daikin.co.th/en/contact/

[bwpage3]

Have an AC technician check the actual outputted temperature with a temperature gun.

 

Then you will know exactly what the AC is outputting.

[Dan O]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

Funny, in the previous thread when Sheryl was asking about what AC to buy not one person highlighted this difference in temperature and cooling, a bit suspicious everyone says it's normal now

I don't go on Thaivisa often so I never saw her post or I would have commented on the pros and cons    not sure why you say it's suspicious    inverters are designed for primarily for energy efficiency and the impact is on the cooling operation 

[Susco]

2 hours ago, Sheryl said:

All I can think of is that something is wrong with the temperature sensor.

 I doubt something is wrong with the sensor on TWO new units

[Susco]

2 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Don't know if I can persuade the Bkk office to send someone out here though...

 

Daikin has branches in most major cities

 

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

Warranty Replacement Claim will get the Factory Engineers out quick enough.......

[rhodie]

I have the same problem with a Daikin inverter. Does not work well. Its in the village so I am not there that often, but it works poorly.  Have paid an extra 3900 to replace some parts, but still not great. Only 2 yo. I have had the guys out 4 times, but not getting anywhere. Maybe you got a dud like me.

[impulse]

Put a thermometer on the outlet air and note the change in temperature between the inlet and the outlet.  There's a specification.  (someone else will have to chime in with the spec for an inverter wall unit...  Stuck in Texas, we're all on central air- yuck.)

 

An undersized unit will blow less air, but the DeltaT from inlet to outlet should still hold up.  It just takes longer to circulate enough of the cooler air.

 

Being a new install, I suspect the refrigerant is low.

[stubuzz]

Ask the "chang" to take a sub cooling measurement.