Change of aircons in completely new house ?

[moogradod]

We just bought a new house. The sales contract says that the builder will give a guarantee of 2 years for everything not working.

 

Now we have the situation that we could not try out the aircons to their full extent before and those are now found to be too weak, they do not cool the rooms enough even when switched to 18 degrees Celsius, but they work. The builder used the brand "Saijo Denki", some units wall mounted and one in the ceiling of the living room.

 

I am asking for your opinion: Would you approach the seller and demand a free exchange of all units ? Or is this an effect that may occur when the aircons are just new and need some "burn in" ? It cannot stay like this in the hot weather - if he does not exchange them for free we have to buy new units (I am thinking of Daikin or LG) and pay them ourself. I can use a BTU calculator which I have downloaded to my phone and then add some extra power. The calculator takes sun exposure, isolation etc. in account apart from the room volume.

Edited April 15, 2023 by moogradod

[worgeordie]

what size are the A/c  ? , and what temperature are you hoping to get down too ?

 

regards Worgeordue

[moogradod]

3 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

what size are the A/c  ? , and what temperature are you hoping to get down too ?

 

regards Worgeordue

No idea about the size. I guess I will have to ask the builder after Songkran. There is a sticker in front, but the wall units are high near the ceiling and the sticker is unreadable. I did get a manual but this is more for the remotes and does not say much about the unit itself.

 

I am hoping to get down to 21 degrees Celsius although we might adjust the units just for 23 or 24 degrees.

[OneMoreFarang]

In my limited experience it's all about asking, and not telling them.

 

Do not: This is really too hot; you must exchange the ACs.

 

Do: I think it's not really cool in here, what do you think?

I tried all the functions on the remote, can you show me how to make it cooler?

Maybe show them you put the remote on 22, and 30 min later the room temperature is still 25.

 

And maybe later:

Can we exchange the ACs to make it cooler?

 

I would be very surprised if you get new ACs installed free of charge. I guess best case, if they are all brand new, maybe you can convince them to install new ACs and they remove the 3 days old ACs and you only pay the difference in price to the new units. Maybe, just maybe, something like that might be possible. But I think that is the best you can hope for.

[RayWright]

As Worgeordie says need to understand model numbers to then check capacity and check they are correctly sized for the size of room. Other factors to consider are room materials ie brick /wood and glass, plus any openings.

You mention new build, are there any other identical houses with tenants, as you could canvas them for their feedback.

If A/C units incorrectly sized, then down to the sales contract, if stipulated.

I had a  similar experience in England over incorrectly sized boiler in a new build, they installed for a 1 bed flat not a 2 bed house.  Redress was I had to pay for my own replacement, hence any future Buy-2-Lets I did my own full surveys.

Tried asking for the specs of the A/C units in my Thai rental condo, as well as the service logs, was told "not possible". Luckily they work, plus I pulled a "not working okay" request to get a service visit, which my Landlord  duly oblieged too. Next one due in June.

[Bill97]

42 minutes ago, moogradod said:

I am hoping to get down to 21 degrees Celsius 

Unreasonable to expect that here,  units would not normally be sized for that.

 

Are your water heaters making water hot enough?

[Thai Wally]

I am interested to find out where your new house is, because I am moving into a house in 2 months time, with exactly the same set up with airconditioners and brand. Maybe the same Moo Baan in Hua Hin? What you have to also understand, is sometimes when you set the aircon's at too low a temp they don't work to the desired temp....sometimes best to set at just a few degrees below the ambiant temperature.

 

[Moonlover]

17 minutes ago, Bill97 said:

1 hour ago, moogradod said:

I am hoping to get down to 21 degrees Celsius 

 

17 minutes ago, Bill97 said:

Unreasonable to expect that here,  units would not normally be sized for that.

 

Are your water heaters making water hot enough?

Yes I agree, 21 degrees Celsius is an unreasonable target. The room unit could even ice up in these humid conditions. Why do you want it that cool O/P?

[moogradod]

3 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

 

Yes I agree, 21 degrees Celsius is an unreasonable target. The room unit could even ice up in these humid conditions. Why do you want it that cool O/P?

Just the capability of being able to do that does not mean I will set it to 21 degrees. But it should be sized big enough that it could deliver our required 23 degrees for sure even under sunny conditions. That is why. 21 degrees is by no means unreasonable, our current aircons can do that in a jiffy. And I have been in hotel rooms where you could achieve arctic temperatures if you would desire that.

[moogradod]

16 minutes ago, Thai Wally said:

I am interested to find out where your new house is, because I am moving into a house in 2 months time, with exactly the same set up with airconditioners and brand. Maybe the same Moo Baan in Hua Hin? What you have to also understand, is sometimes when you set the aircon's at too low a temp they don't work to the desired temp....sometimes best to set at just a few degrees below the ambiant temperature.

 

Our house is not in Hua Hin. We live in Pattaya. Our new home is as well in the vicinity, in a nice and quiet place.

[moogradod]

50 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

In my limited experience it's all about asking, and not telling them.

 

Do not: This is really too hot; you must exchange the ACs.

 

Do: I think it's not really cool in here, what do you think?

I tried all the functions on the remote, can you show me how to make it cooler?

Maybe show them you put the remote on 22, and 30 min later the room temperature is still 25.

 

And maybe later:

Can we exchange the ACs to make it cooler?

 

I would be very surprised if you get new ACs installed free of charge. I guess best case, if they are all brand new, maybe you can convince them to install new ACs and they remove the 3 days old ACs and you only pay the difference in price to the new units. Maybe, just maybe, something like that might be possible. But I think that is the best you can hope for.

Thanks. The builder seems to be a very reasonable man. So there is hope. Besides I have my Thai consultant with me (wife) who would never offend anybody in the way you describe.

[patman30]

when you replace them
be sure to know the SEER number for the new models you select
this will tell you how efficient the AC is
as you want low temps, it would be better to spend the extra now and save on bills later

such as these Daikin

[yeahbutif]

I had a problem in a old house with asbestos sheet roof the air would be set 24 but the room would only go down to 27.   I bought fibre glass foil covered insulation from home pro ..layed on my ceiling tiles.   Now working good sleep good at 24 .. job done 

[Snugs08]

Aircon units are pretty dumb, all this fancy jargon you see on the BTS is a bit silly -  Ionic Organic Super Cooling with Ice chill factor X etc..

 

As a new build have you installed window film yet, curtains, blinds etc.. Our brand new units won't pass the 23-24c if the curtain free south facing windows have been blasted with heat for a number of hours

Edited April 24, 2023 by Snugs08

[moogradod]

12 minutes ago, Snugs08 said:

Aircon units are pretty dumb, all this fancy jargon you see on the BTS is a bit silly -  Ionic Organic Super Cooling with Ice chill factor X etc..

 

As a new build have you installed window film yet, curtains, blinds etc.. Our brand new units won't pass the 23-24c if the curtain free south facing windows have been blasted with heat for a number of hours

Thank you, but dont worry, I will not succumb to marketing phrases. What counts is room volume, insulation, wall construction and BTU and SEER of the aircons. Of course insulation = none and wall construction is single layer bricks ????

 

We have only curtains so far. I am a bit reluctant about installing window film, I read that does not help too much because it is like you say: we, too, have two giant windows in the living room. Daikin seems to have units with a SEER over 20. First I have to find out what the current aircons have. I would like to be able to pass 23 degrees. And I do not very much care about the purchase price.

[moogradod]

On 4/16/2023 at 9:50 AM, yeahbutif said:

I had a problem in a old house with asbestos sheet roof the air would be set 24 but the room would only go down to 27.   I bought fibre glass foil covered insulation from home pro ..layed on my ceiling tiles.   Now working good sleep good at 24 .. job done 

Asbestos in the roof insulation ? Good you changed to glass foil.

[OneMoreFarang]

43 minutes ago, Snugs08 said:

Aircon units are pretty dumb, all this fancy jargon you see on the BTS is a bit silly -  Ionic Organic Super Cooling with Ice chill factor X etc..

Some new inverter units are not so dump. They sense where one or more persons are, and maybe they direct the air flow to these people, or away from them, depending on what the users want. Some units detect if nobody is in a room and they make switch the unit to a higher temperature to save energy and money.

Most of those features won't make the AC more powerful. But they might safe energy and have other useful features. 

[Crossy]

Task A is to get the BTU ratings of the units they have installed and verify that they fit within the standard Thai guesstimate of 500-700 BTU / m² of room space.

 

If they do you will be unlikely to get much further I'm afraid.

 

Also, note that it's been VERY warm recently pretty well every A/C, even correctly sized, would be struggling to get anywhere near 21C. 

 

EDIT You may be able to shuffle units around in the house and only shell for one or two actual replacements.

 

[yeahbutif]

How many watts does a 12000 BTU air conditioner use per hour?

 

 

roughly 900 watts per hour so nearly 1 unit an HR so 5 bhat an HR not too bad. 

 

A 12,000 BTU air conditioner uses roughly 900 watts per hour,