How to buy aircon for 2 rooms in the house

[AndyAndyAndy]

I need air con for 2 rooms, each is 35m^3. Never done it.

 

- Do I just drive to HomePro, Global House, pick 2, bring it home and just find some local somchai to install it? Is is easy like that?

- When they are advertising eg. 14 000 Bath does it include also the box on the outside of house and all the required stuff like some hoses etc. (they always advertising/showing just inside box)?

- What size/wattage or something do I need? Could I use just 1 outside box to share it, since the rooms are next to each other?

- Do I want inverter?

 

Is there something more to it?

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

4 minutes ago, AndyAndyAndy said:

does it include also the box on the outside

Maybe read an article or two about ACs. Or watch some YouTube videos.

Then you will understand it better and that will help you to buy it and understand what they are selling to you.

It seems now you have about no idea of what you really want, and anybody could sell you anything. That is a very bad position.

[Crossy]

By the standard Thai guesstimate 35m² would need around 21,000 to 25,000 BTU (600 -700 BTU / m²). Slightly lower if they are bedrooms.

 

Trot over to HomePro and look lost near the A/Cs. Tell them you need two 21,000 BTU inverter aircons, if they ask the room sizes tell them but don't let them sell you over the upper end of the guestimate.

 

You will be spoiled for choice and, depending upon which rep you choose will end up with something that will do the job.

 

HopePro have dedicated installers, a certain length of tube etc. is included but if you have a long run or the unit is high up there's extra to pay.

 

In my experience the HomePro installers are pretty good, but YMMV.

 

Multi-split (one outside unit for several indoor units) are available, but the range is limited and unless space really is tight I wouldn't bother.

 

 

[SkyNets]

Normally installation is included at HomePro. If you need longer piping to the unit outside, they will charge per meter, should get 5 meters included. Recommend the Mitsubishi Mr.Slime line, have 5 and never had a problem over the years, just get somebody in every 6 months to clean them. The staff will help with the size, but I would try and get the next size up.

[Woof999]

Bought 2 Samsung 21000BTU (I think) inverters about 3 years ago from PowerBuy. Happy with them, but the "free" installation was anything but, and the installers were about what you would expect for Thailand but not what I expected.

 

The units were replacing 2 existing units and being fitted in exactly the same place. They charged me more for "cleaning" the existing pipes than they would have charged me to rip them out and replace with the new ones that came with the units (which would have taken considerably more work). The size of the holes they knocked in the internal walls was at least 5 times larger than it needed to be. They literally removed brickwork almost the full length of the units. They did this before I went to look. I'm surprised the upper walls didn't come down.

 

Pretty sure they also charged me for the gas, because it was "more" than the free amount.

 

In other words, free installation meant absolutely nothing. Think I paid something like 2000 baht per unit on the day.

 

Still happy with the newer AC units though.

[KannikaP]

6 minutes ago, SkyNets said:

Normally installation is included at HomePro. If you need longer piping to the unit outside, they will charge per meter, should get 5 meters included. Recommend the Mitsubishi Mr.Slime line, have 5 and never had a problem over the years, just get somebody in every 6 months to clean them. The staff will help with the size, but I would try and get the next size up.

 

I have 6 x 11 year old Mr Slims. No real problems at all. Just had 2 x Mr Slim Happy Inverters and am happy with them, quieter and cheaper to run.

12000BTU in a 4 x 4 mtr bedroom is PLENTY. Bht 18000 fitted.

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, Crossy said:

Trot over to HomePro and look lost near the A/Cs.

I am not sure about HomePro, but there are many shops which have the ACs separated by manufacturer. And they have a sales person for that manufacturer only - at least it seems like that.

So if the sales guy from brand A talks with you he will sell you something from brand A, because he will get commission for that brand. Even if he knows that brand B might be better (in general or in your case) he has no incentive to point that out.

 

If you want to believe the sales guys then I suggest you should at least find a shop with sales guys who don't just work for one manufacturer. Look if they tell you about different brands and different features. If they only want to sell you one brand, then I think that is a very bad sign.

 

Different brands and models have maybe differences like they can be remote controlled by your mobile phone. Maybe you like that feature, or maybe you don't care at all. Look at the differences and decide what is important for you. There is no such thing as "the best".

[Lacessit]

Invariably sales people will try to upsell the amount of BTU needed. Provided the roof is insulated, 18,000 BTU IMO is enough for 35 sqm.

 

I've had some issues with a couple of Panasonics, flaky circuitry. I have never had a problem with any Mitsubishi aircon.

[JBChiangRai]

We have a business building moo baan, we've tried LG, Samsung, Mitsubishi, Daikin, Carrier & TCL.

 

1 Mitsu failure, logic board cost 11,000 baht to fix, not Mitsu's fault, generator AVR failed running it during a power cut and it was running on 300v, cases all go yellow.

LG noisy, really very very noisy and would never buy again (they were not inverter)

Samsung ok (also not inverter)

Daikin have been the worst by a long way, gecko's can get into the logic board and blow them up (5 failures out of 15 installed), air distribution vane goes yellow much more than the case and make it look horrible..

Carrier, one logic board failure

TCL, superb, unbeatable in terms of VFM (11,500 baht for an 18k BTU inverter plus local guy to fit), silent and no failures out of about 20 installed in last 2 years and no yellowing yet.

Fujitsu Heat Pump cassette, needs resetting by interrupting power for 10 minutes after voltage brownouts.

 

For cool only units, we now ONLY buy TCL on Lazada & fit them ourselves, you can't argue with a silent product, reliable and half the price of most units.

 

 

[kickstart]

We are looking at AC all the Home Pro's etc. are about 40-50 km from us, we have a local guy he said he could do 18 000 BTU unit for 22 000 baht, which I think is the complete job.

Sounds a bit more expensive than other posters have said.

But, being local any problems he should be able to sort them out quickly.

[Encid]

Whichever make/model you decide to buy, do a price check against this shop.

 

And remember that although HomePro may be one of the most expensive, their pricing usually includes installation.

 

The most popular and reliable brands in Thailand are Mitsubishi Electric (not Mitsu Heavy Industries) and Daikin.

[patman30]

personally i would select what AC i want BEFORE going to the shop
one thing you should check on the models is the SEER number (above 20 is good)
this indicates efficiency of the aircon
the higher the number the lower your electric bills will be
if you like a cold room, this will make a big difference
units will obviously cost more but you save in the long run