Airconditioners best deal and best quality

[Seeall]

Most of us want low Elec cost, quiet, long life and good price.... normal..  but yet the "what you want" comes up .. a banana?

ok,

 

specials come all the time, and there are some good ones around... and I have seen some get cought up in BS specials as well.

 

Main things:

1/ Good brand - parts costs etc

2/ Warranty length - however, I would rather have 5 year on a decent system than a 10 year on a crap one.. its like insurance sales, a gamble

3/ Forget non copper!!  ohh alum beter for new sea blah blah bs ..  ask any real old timer installer Copper is the way to go!!

4/ Old timers also dont like inverters, more sensors, more for rats to eat, more parts, more difficult.. so you know the answers there...

The leading brands stats tend to be:

1/ Daikin

2/ Mitsu

3000/ Sa  (yes you know) forget them

 

But reasearch is not easy, so much fake ads around.. so gotta love our members here and their time! Thanks.

Look at Daikin, you try to compare the models, and the resellers dont care or even know, just want sell and move on which is the modern day crap business ethics.

So you do reaseach and buy 100 model x, just to find the y model was better suited, but now your stuck with it for 5-15 years..

 

Yes, the Daikin being up there is a good example of this question, and also not all models are available in TH or evensuiitable to the TH weather.

 

• FTKQ15XV2S  for example is the best going on the 1-4 above, but there is another I cant find data on, a real challange.

 

So any real experience out there?  Or specials spotted?  

 

Thanks to all, please feel free to say your bit, I can edit this...  

 

[scubascuba3]

Depends what size you need, 24k BTU are around 50k baht decent make, i see cheaper makes like TCL on Lazada for 20k baht same size, maybe worth the risk with a big saving

[Seeall]

As a huge topic I neglected to add I mainly am talking about the average room or small apartment of around what most live in around 30m2 or so .. which is about 9000-18000 BTU of course many factors add like sun and cement and shade..

[JBChiangRai]

Our business developing moo baan now fit TCL as standard, no failures yet with dozens installed.  Fantastic kit and so far, no fade on white plastic.  Buy on Lazada when price at it's lowest.

 

I don't recommend Daikin, we've installed about a dozen and replaced logic boards 7 times, always gecko ingress. One compressor failure too, replaced whole unit with a TCL. Fade to yellow on indoor unit, uneven with rotating louvre colour changing to completely different colour.

 

One Mitsubishi heat pump power board went during a power cut when the generator went overvoltage (out of about a dozen), so can't really blame them.  Colour fades to yellow evenly.

 

Carrier, one failure out of about a dozen. No colour fade.

 

LG, no failures but too noisy (pre-inverter). Colour fade to yellow.

 

[scubascuba3]

25 minutes ago, Seeall said:

As a huge topic I neglected to add I mainly am talking about the average room or small apartment of around what most live in around 30m2 or so .. which is about 9000-18000 BTU of course many factors add like sun and cement and shade..

that doesn't look right, for 30m² it's nearer 24k BTU required

[Seeall]

12 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

Our business developing moo baan now fit TCL as standard, no failures yet with dozens installed.  Fantastic kit and so far, no fade on white plastic.  Buy on Lazada when price at it's lowest.

 

I don't recommend Daikin, we've installed about a dozen and replaced logic boards 7 times, always gecko ingress. One compressor failure too, replaced whole unit with a TCL. Fade to yellow on indoor unit, uneven with rotating louvre colour changing to completely different colour.

 

One Mitsubishi heat pump power board went during a power cut when the generator went overvoltage (out of about a dozen), so can't really blame them.  Colour fades to yellow evenly.

 

Carrier, one failure out of about a dozen. No colour fade.

 

LG, no failures but too noisy (pre-inverter). Colour fade to yellow.

 

A great reply and thanks...  But dont all AC units suffer from Gecko sleepers?  We had many of our old Fujitsu PCB's shorted and samsungs..

TCL - need > 3 years really to say much... but good to know as you have so many.. one of our installers love the non inverter TCL for price, quality and resistance to critters..

and you do have to ask yourself how much do you really save with inverters.. as the sellers give you MAX savings specs and beyond....  thanks again for your time posting..

[Seeall]

Just now, scubascuba3 said:

that doesn't look right, for 30m² it's nearer 24k BTU required

the average condo is in cement city and with decent blinds no way...  we think 18 k BTU candys was an overkill...  hardly working them at all..  2 in a 100M2 condo, same 1 unit in our 45M2 condos...  think a 9500 would  have been a way better match..   you must be in the open, with sun, no insulation and so  on..  We have a masive lounge in half day sun 24K BTU never turn it on, gets enough from the crappy Samsung 12k

[Seeall]

4 minutes ago, Seeall said:

A great reply and thanks...  But dont all AC units suffer from Gecko sleepers?  We had many of our old Fujitsu PCB's shorted and samsungs..

TCL - need > 3 years really to say much... but good to know as you have so many.. one of our installers love the non inverter TCL for price, quality and resistance to critters..

and you do have to ask yourself how much do you really save with inverters.. as the sellers give you MAX savings specs and beyond....  thanks again for your time posting..

Several user reviews have pointed out that some TCL units perform louder than expected, causing disruptions in sleeping patterns and causing slight inconveniences. Compared to its more known aircon counterparts, TCL still has a lot of catching up to do in terms of performance, quality and overall brand recognition.Feb 15, 2564 BE

[lopburi3]

3 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

that doesn't look right, for 30m² it's nearer 24k BTU required

Take that with a huge (and i mean huge) grain of salt (but seller will be happy).  I have used two different 9k for 26sm bedroom for the last several decades and never hot.  But this is at a normal 27c temp that most people who live here find comfortable.  If a hotel serving foreigners from the frozen lake locations they would require a bit more.

[scubascuba3]

34 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

Our business developing moo baan now fit TCL as standard, no failures yet with dozens installed.  Fantastic kit and so far, no fade on white plastic.  Buy on Lazada when price at it's lowest.

 

I don't recommend Daikin, we've installed about a dozen and replaced logic boards 7 times, always gecko ingress. One compressor failure too, replaced whole unit with a TCL. Fade to yellow on indoor unit, uneven with rotating louvre colour changing to completely different colour.

 

One Mitsubishi heat pump power board went during a power cut when the generator went overvoltage (out of about a dozen), so can't really blame them.  Colour fades to yellow evenly.

 

Carrier, one failure out of about a dozen. No colour fade.

 

LG, no failures but too noisy (pre-inverter). Colour fade to yellow.

 

what do you think about buying a non inverter if not use it much? i tend to use AC on and off a few times at night, not all day or all night

[scubascuba3]

17 minutes ago, Seeall said:

the average condo is in cement city and with decent blinds no way...  we think 18 k BTU candys was an overkill...  hardly working them at all..  2 in a 100M2 condo, same 1 unit in our 45M2 condos...  think a 9500 would  have been a way better match..   you must be in the open, with sun, no insulation and so  on..  We have a masive lounge in half day sun 24K BTU never turn it on, gets enough from the crappy Samsung 12k

i bought the condo with 24k installed already works fine, it just seems to be thw recommended BTU for that size, no idea if smaller is ok also, just a risk if you buy one too small

[JBChiangRai]

I think the inverters are a far superior product, especially in a bedroom.

 

Inverters have a whisper quiet mode achieved by slowing down both the inside fan and outdoor compressor, you can't do that with non-inverter because the compressor can only run at one speed and if you slow down the indoor fan too much it will ice up.

 

Inverters typically maintain the indoor temperature within 1 degree (+/- 0.5C), non-inverters are typically at least within 2 degrees (+1/-1C), they overshoot on cooling and wait for temperature rise substantially above set point before restarting (for the technical, a larger hysteresis).  Inverters typically vary their output between 20% and 100% of rated cooling capacity.

 

Inverters don't click on and off, the click can wake some people up.

 

Inverters save a lot of money.

 

Inverters have a soft start, they don't spike the mains with heavy inductive loads.

 

You can run inverter air con's on a generator without having to go massively over rating.

 

Inverters typically operate across a wider range of AC voltage as they have Switching PSU's with under voltage protection.

[OneMoreFarang]

Inverters: A big part of the power consumption from ACs is how often they are switched off and on.

Inverters regulate he speed, they don't switch on and off. That is the (or maybe one of the) reasons why they use less electricity.

 

I agree with Daikin and Mitsubishi.

Look at the features, i.e. control via WLAN. Do you want that? Are you willing to pay more for that feature or other features?

Decide which features you want and pay only for what you want.

 

 

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

Depends what size you need, 24k BTU are around 50k baht decent make, i see cheaper makes like TCL on Lazada for 20k baht same size, maybe worth the risk with a big saving

But running cost also important.

 

We have all LG, all inverter, all the remotes have a 'SAVINGS' button.

 

We've checked, using the SAVINGS button every time does bring a sizeable reduction in the elec. bill.

[JBChiangRai]

29 minutes ago, Seeall said:

A great reply and thanks...  But dont all AC units suffer from Gecko sleepers?  We had many of our old Fujitsu PCB's shorted and samsungs..

TCL - need > 3 years really to say much... but good to know as you have so many.. one of our installers love the non inverter TCL for price, quality and resistance to critters..

and you do have to ask yourself how much do you really save with inverters.. as the sellers give you MAX savings specs and beyond....  thanks again for your time posting..

We have been installing TCL for about 3 years.

 

A good design makes it impossible for a gecko to get to the logic or power boards.  I think the only way you can tell is with time and number of installs.

 

We installed our first Mitsubishi inverter (heat pump) about 10 years ago and we've probably had about 100 unit years with no Gecko ingress.

 

Daikin about 90 unit years with 7 gecko related failures.

 

Carrier about 40 unit years, failures was a weld, I don't know if it was our installer's weld or not.

 

In reply the post about TCL being noisy, we find them practically silent on the whisper quiet setting, we have only installed up to the 18,000 btu units, I can't comment on larger units.  My understanding of most 24,000 BTU wall mounted units is that they overrate the 18,000 BTU unit with a faster fan and faster compressor, consequently they are noisier.  We prefer to fit multiple 18,000 BTU units in larger spaces.  My own kitchen is 6m x 13m and it has 3 of TCL 18,000 BTU Inverter units, we rarely run more than 2 at a time and mostly on fan setting 1 which is one notch up from whisper mode and almost imperceptible. 3 units is overkill but it's handy for parties.  You need a very quiet room indeed to be able to hear them on the whisper setting.

[Denim]

46 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

that doesn't look right, for 30m² it's nearer 24k BTU required

When calculating room size people multiply the length of the room by the breadth . This gives square meters. But in reality what should really be calculated is cubic meters. 

 

If a room is completely empty , surely a unit will have to work a bit harder than one in a room the same size but with a lot of furniture taking up the cubic meter space.

[JBChiangRai]

4 minutes ago, scorecard said:

But running cost also important.

 

We have all LG, all inverter, all the remotes have a 'SAVINGS' button.

 

We've checked, using the SAVINGS button every time does bring a sizeable reduction in the elec. bill.

 

Most inverters have a SAVING or ECO button, generally they do one of these things...

Mitsubishi - set the air con 2C more than you have chosen

TCL limit the speed of the compressor to about 70% of rated output

 

I think the Carrier also set the temperature 2 degrees higher than you have chosen, but I haven't operated one myself for about 4 years.  Carrier & Toshiba are made in the same factory.

 

Some will increase the temperature overnight with a sleep mode after 30 minutes or an hour, I always wake up too hot.

 

Pay about this for TCL inverter

8,000 baht for 9,000 BTU

9,000 baht for 12,000 BTU 

10,800 baht for 18,000 BTU

and arrange your own installer.

 

[scubascuba3]

35 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

I think the inverters are a far superior product, especially in a bedroom.

 

Inverters have a whisper quiet mode achieved by slowing down both the inside fan and outdoor compressor, you can't do that with non-inverter because the compressor can only run at one speed and if you slow down the indoor fan too much it will ice up.

 

Inverters typically maintain the indoor temperature within 1 degree (+/- 0.5C), non-inverters are typically at least within 2 degrees (+1/-1C), they overshoot on cooling and wait for temperature rise substantially above set point before restarting (for the technical, a larger hysteresis).  Inverters typically vary their output between 20% and 100% of rated cooling capacity.

 

Inverters don't click on and off, the click can wake some people up.

 

Inverters save a lot of money.

 

Inverters have a soft start, they don't spike the mains with heavy inductive loads.

 

You can run inverter air con's on a generator without having to go massively over rating.

 

Inverters typically operate across a wider range of AC voltage as they have Switching PSU's with under voltage protection.

So buying an inverter and switching it on and off during the night isn't recommended? the reason i do it is i don't like being in AC for long periods, such as all night

[JBChiangRai]

7 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

So buying an inverter and switching it on and off during the night isn't recommended? the reason i do it is i don't like being in AC for long periods, such as all night

Set your AC for the temperature you're comfortable with and forget it.  Alternatively, use the timer mode on TCL, it's adjustable at 30 minute intervals, you can set it switch off during the night after a number pf 30 minute intervals.  You can also set it come on the same way, but not both at the same time.  

 

You might find the sleep mode works for you, that will effectively shut it off if the set point goes up to the room temperature.

 

The compressor on the inverter will switch off if cooling is not required, you then have a 10 watt fan running in your bedroom unit only, and possible a lot less than that.

Edited June 14, 2023 by JBChiangRai

[Seeall]

39 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Inverters: A big part of the power consumption from ACs is how often they are switched off and on.

Inverters regulate he speed, they don't switch on and off. That is the (or maybe one of the) reasons why they use less electricity.

 

I agree with Daikin and Mitsubishi.

Look at the features, i.e. control via WLAN. Do you want that? Are you willing to pay more for that feature or other features?

Decide which features you want and pay only for what you want.

 

 

a good reply, I do have a work around for the remote thing, a cheap internet switch and leave the ac on...  all mine turn back on when power reuterns so, remotly turn off... go beach, turn on, come home and ahhhhhh 

[scubascuba3]

4 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

Set your AC for the temperature you're comfortable with and forget it.  Alternatively, use the timer mode on TCL, it's adjustable at 30 minute intervals, you can set it switch off during the night after a number pf 30 minute intervals.  You can also set it come on the same way, but not both at the same time.  

 

You might find the sleep mode works for you, that will effectively shut it off if the set point goes up to the room temperature.

 

The compressor on the inverter will switch off if cooling is not required, you then have a 10 watt fan running in your bedroom unit only, and possible a lot less than that.

the 30 minute timer off thing is what i do now, need it a few times a night, but is that recommended with an inverter?

[Seeall]

39 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

We have been installing TCL for about 3 years.

 

A good design makes it impossible for a gecko to get to the logic or power boards.  I think the only way you can tell is with time and number of installs.

 

We installed our first Mitsubishi inverter (heat pump) about 10 years ago and we've probably had about 100 unit years with no Gecko ingress.

 

Daikin about 90 unit years with 7 gecko related failures.

 

Carrier about 40 unit years, failures was a weld, I don't know if it was our installer's weld or not.

 

In reply the post about TCL being noisy, we find them practically silent on the whisper quiet setting, we have only installed up to the 18,000 btu units, I can't comment on larger units.  My understanding of most 24,000 BTU wall mounted units is that they overrate the 18,000 BTU unit with a faster fan and faster compressor, consequently they are noisier.  We prefer to fit multiple 18,000 BTU units in larger spaces.  My own kitchen is 6m x 13m and it has 3 of TCL 18,000 BTU Inverter units, we rarely run more than 2 at a time and mostly on fan setting 1 which is one notch up from whisper mode and almost imperceptible. 3 units is overkill but it's handy for parties.  You need a very quiet room indeed to be able to hear them on the whisper setting.

not inverter type?

[JBChiangRai]

9 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

the 30 minute timer off thing is what i do now, need it a few times a night, but is that recommended with an inverter?

You might be better with something like a BroadLink that will send the IR code to do that.  The problem is they usually beep on receiving the IR signal and that might wake you up.

 

Most inverter AC's have a shutdown mode, turning it off at the remote begins a sequence of events that shuts down the AC.  Just cutting the power is obviously ok occasionally, I'm not sure what doing it regularly might do to the unit.

 

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by JBChiangRai
spelling

[JBChiangRai]

3 minutes ago, Seeall said:

not inverter type?

inverter or non-inverter.  It's down to how well designed it is.

[daveAustin]

Would probably get Mitsu again if had to buy again. Current place has Eminent which seems to run well. And, yes, inverter for sure... too many positives to overlook.

[OneMoreFarang]

49 minutes ago, Seeall said:

a good reply, I do have a work around for the remote thing, a cheap internet switch and leave the ac on...  all mine turn back on when power reuterns so, remotly turn off... go beach, turn on, come home and ahhhhhh 

That is not a good idea - at least not in the long term.

Almost all modern devices, including ACs, have an internal procedure how they are turned off and on.

Pulling the plug works - kind of. But this is not optimal.

Think about a PC. Do you shut it down? Or just switch the power off? Same, same, not so different. 

 

 

 

[G Rex]

we had Hitachi inverter units in our last house - 3 24btu units. no problems with 3 years use - though did need to remove rotary fan and clean about once a year.

have just installed 4 samsung inverter 24btu and 18btu units in our new house. very quiet operation and work very well. Powerbuy had a very good discount on Samsung last month.    All units come from the shop with 'installation included' - although we ALWAYS have had to pay something extra to the installer (from 1500 to 3k baht per unit) - with them citing extra costs for extra plumbing, installation higher off the ground etc..  It still comes out as a good deal.

Last week I had a small (9000btu) TCL inverter unit put in my office (5x2.5x2.7). It is whisper quiet and works very well. 

[Seeall]

2 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

We have been installing TCL for about 3 years.

 

A good design makes it impossible for a gecko to get to the logic or power boards.  I think the only way you can tell is with time and number of installs.

 

We installed our first Mitsubishi inverter (heat pump) about 10 years ago and we've probably had about 100 unit years with no Gecko ingress.

 

Daikin about 90 unit years with 7 gecko related failures.

 

Carrier about 40 unit years, failures was a weld, I don't know if it was our installer's weld or not.

 

In reply the post about TCL being noisy, we find them practically silent on the whisper quiet setting, we have only installed up to the 18,000 btu units, I can't comment on larger units.  My understanding of most 24,000 BTU wall mounted units is that they overrate the 18,000 BTU unit with a faster fan and faster compressor, consequently they are noisier.  We prefer to fit multiple 18,000 BTU units in larger spaces.  My own kitchen is 6m x 13m and it has 3 of TCL 18,000 BTU Inverter units, we rarely run more than 2 at a time and mostly on fan setting 1 which is one notch up from whisper mode and almost imperceptible. 3 units is overkill but it's handy for parties.  You need a very quiet room indeed to be able to hear them on the whisper setting.

thats most interesting as the critters are my number one issue...  when you say design are you only refering to a certain model or all or most TLC

models?  

 

We do like the

TAC-WDP19

 

even though at 18000BTU  it is probably 6000BTU than needed..

 

Thanks

 

---------------------------------------

 

 

We have been installing TCL for about 3 years.

 

A good design makes it impossible for a gecko to get to the logic or power boards.  I think the only way you can tell is with time and number of installs.

[JBChiangRai]

33 minutes ago, Seeall said:

thats most interesting as the critters are my number one issue...  when you say design are you only refering to a certain model or all or most TLC

models?  

 

We do like the

TAC-WDP19

 

even though at 18000BTU  it is probably 6000BTU than needed..

 

Thanks

 

---------------------------------------

 

 

We have been installing TCL for about 3 years.

 

A good design makes it impossible for a gecko to get to the logic or power boards.  I think the only way you can tell is with time and number of installs.

We haven’t installed the WDP19 so I can’t comment.

 

I would keep an eye on the price, I suspect  7/7 there will be a sale and you’ll get it for 12-13,000 baht

[scubascuba3]

18 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

We haven’t installed the WDP19 so I can’t comment.

 

I would keep an eye on the price, I suspect  7/7 there will be a sale and you’ll get it for 12-13,000 baht

Why the big discounts on TCL? quite noticable on Lazada\Shopee unlike other makes. TCL not going under?