Ducted "Central" (not the brand) Air Conditioning in existing house.

[SpectrumAudio]

Greetings Fellow Expats, I am remodeling the house and would like to put in a Ducted central air system. Does anyone know a good installer/shop who can handle this? I have 3 bedrooms and 2 baths up stairs so i figure I can put the unit in the attic. But for the down stairs, I would put it in the closet and run ducts to it. 2 zone split system.. the only hard part is all the damm concrete joists, dont know what to do. Anyone know what BTU i need for the whole house? 80K BTU should be enough for a standard size house in a housing estate...

[Langsuan Man]

It can be done but is really expensive, especially for a renovation and is not recommended. There is a reason Thais use a "split" air conditioning system

But like a broken record, where are you ?

You ask for a recommendation for a good installer but it's kind of tough to read the tea leaves to determine in what part of Thailand you are located

[Crossy]

Let's try this in the DIY forum for better practical coverage.

But, I too must ask, why?

[SpectrumAudio]

Im a lazy american,, to use to the central air concept, I hate sweating so much while on the can. aka toilet or cooking and cleaning and being wet in sweat. right now i run 4 AC 24/7 and it seems expensive on the AC bill. but my family works for EGAT so we get a huge discount. right now we pay less then 15,000 but with employee discount we pay about 7K THB a month. so my house has been insulated and all cracks have been sealed. i brought in really good sliding patio doors from USA so we have Low E on all the doors and windows. an attic fan (solar) has been put in, all the walls are double thick from the concrete to putting up studs and drywal is waiting to go inl. all electrical has been re done with proper grounded/earthed system on 3 phase 5 wire service...

Location: Nonthaburi. near the salaklang (municipality city hall on Ratanathibet rd.)

[aussiebebe]

Hi, you should contact the main Daikin center in Bangkok, 700/11 Amatanakorn Industrial Estate, Bangna-Trad Rd., Km 57, - the website is daikinthai.com.

They sell the duct connection-type air conditioner you are looking for and will give you a full quote.

Ducted won't be the most cost effective solution - Daikin sell a multi-split unit that is cheaper to buy, service and run.
For example, your home has three bedrooms so you could have on 50k BTU outdoor compressor unit linked to three 15k BTU indoor units (one in each bedroom). - (That's just an example, I don't know your home or what BTU is needs, but a Daikin salesman will give you an accurate estimate).

[SpectrumAudio]

Are the Split air cons and Multi Split air cos as efficient as Central Ducted AC? I would like to keep them all on 24/7 so i have a constant temp all over the house no matter where i go and at least my dog is not sweating all the time as he is a cold temp dog... aka Huskies and Mastiff

thanks

[IMHO]

Are the Split air cons and Multi Split air cos as efficient as Central Ducted AC? I would like to keep them all on 24/7 so i have a constant temp all over the house no matter where i go and at least my dog is not sweating all the time as he is a cold temp dog... aka Huskies and Mastiff

thanks

Split and multi-split systems are wwwaayyyy more energy efficient than ducted systems, as 100% of the cold air created goes into the room, rather than being lost in the ducts.

I'm with aussiebebe here - if the issue is you don't want so many compressors visible, and you *will* be running AC 24/7 and using all of the compressor capacity, multi-split is your best compromise. Not just Daikin make these BTW - all brands that do commercial AC have multi-split systems.

If the issue is the look of the indoor unit(s), there are a number of options available with multi-split systems that are much more aesthetically pleasing.

Also note, the even if you go a ducted system, the compressor cannot be placed in the attic - it's always installed outside the house so the hot air it expels can escape, and it has a ready supply of cool air. Not only that, I expect it'd be horribly noisy too.

[SpectrumAudio]

Well noted,

but my question is, how do I cool all the rooms in the house at the same time and keep a constant temp of 26 - 28c efficiently? Downstairs, 30SQm Living room, 15 SQm Kitchen, 5 sqm Toilet, 30sqm Family Room, 3 x 20sqm Bedrooms, 2 x 5 Sqm Bathroom + stairs and foyer area?

WIth a forced air Ducted system, I can run delivery cooled air and return exhaust back to the Attaic placed indoor unit for my second floor and do the same with the downstairs unit, I can keep my downstairs unit in a closet under the stairs and i can run duct from there to all the rooms in my house downstairs. , my attic is well insulated We have 12" of fiberglass rolls + Spray foam on the roofing tiles, + 2 SOlar temp gauged exhaust fans . I alos have flaced a floating floor on the attic space for the Hot water Tanks that are heated with piping from the roof on the exterior. that provides us with Hot water for free in most months of the year.

My roof also has a recycling sprinkler system where the rain water/recycled water is sprayed on the roof to cool it down and collected by the rain gutters to a filter of just sand and rocks back into a holding tank. same holding tank i use to water the lawn and garden.

anyways back to the AC.

SO with a multi split system, i am not worried about having all the outside compressors seen, it more how do i cool the house efficiently. i know my upfront investment will be high for forced air ducted system. even with the ducted all insulated cooling loss should be kept at a minimum.

Will i need a multi split system with an AC unit in all my rooms, even the small toilets? or how do i cool those rooms with the main rooms having the cassette type

[Issangeorge]

With a multi split system you can keep each room at the temperature you desire. If you want to keep the whole house at 26 and the thermostat is in the living room, then the kitchen will be hotter than 26, because its appliances produce heat, if you put the thermostat in the kitchen, then the rest of the house will be colder than 26. A multi split system is way more efficient. For instance say you have a guest bedroom, you can keep it turned off when not in use, and when in use the guest can set it at the temperature he/she likes. I would also have lots of fans. It is my experience that most days I don't need AC at all if I have a fan. In North America every house I know that has central air, has a ducted system, I don't know why they don't use the multi split system. Perhaps because, initially the ducted system is cheaper.

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[SpectrumAudio]

reading ur post, i am kinda confused. please reread ur post and clarify.

your saying both are multi split systems..

so I will need a indoor unit in the toilets also right if i want to keep that room at 25C.???

price wise, its almost the same cost.. Indoor units in every room and hallway an foyer...

3 x 10K BTU for bedrooms

3 x 6K for toilets

1 x 20K for kitchen

1 x 25K for living room

1 x 25K for family room

wow, thats a large investment. wouldn't a forced air system be cheaper? only one or 2 indoor units and one outdoor unit + duct work.

[kamalabob2]

Perhaps the OP could go in person to the Daikin Center in Bangkok with his house building plans. They would be happy to spec out a/c of any type for him. I had central a/c in California and I wised up real quick to that thought in Thailand. A Mitsubishi wall mounted fan might keep you cool enough in any bathroom in Thailand. I had eight split system a/c units installed in a house in rural Thailand. Simple to cool the room we need for the time period we want. With 4 water pumps, electric fence, dish washer, washing machine, a few TV's, a couple of computers, two kitchens, etc.. our PEA bill was still 2845 baht last month. Some months it has hit 3400 baht. I do not get any discount on the PEA bill. I had all 8 split units cleaned earlier this month for 300 baht a unit. I've never had a split unit need to be fixed since installed in 2008. But if one needed to be fixed it is one unit down and not the entire system. NONE of the pipes are visible in any interior or exterior wall. None of the compressors are in public view from the street in front or behind the house. None of the exterior compressor units are mounted to a wall. All of the compressors are in places easy to clean, easy to maintain, and with easy drainage of water from the inside the room unit. Only the lower end series LG is noisy, the better "series" of Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Daikin, Samsung and Amena are very quiet. The OP could meet in person with technical reps from several mainstream a/c manufacturers in Bangkok at the annual Architect Expo held later this month at Impact Challenger Hall. The cost to install and to repair a central unit for a normal house in Thailand might be a bit more than a central a/c unit in the United States. The OP can see the actual costs for himself easily in Bangkok. Even large Government Buildings in Buriram Province use split systems instead of a central unit to save energy and for the ease of maintenance, cleaning and repairs. Perhaps the OP would post on this forum the actual prices he gets quoted for "central air" by any major a/c firm once he brings his house plans to reps of such firms.

[Crossy]

A post in all capitals has been removed, no need to shout.

[Crossy]

A commercial spam post, and the sensible reply to it removed.

[bankruatsteve]

I think a big disadvantage to central air in Thailand would be the critters and especially mold that is likely to inhabit the ducts and not easily cleaned.

[kamalabob2]

All eight of the split a/c units I had installed by Buriram Supply in 2008 still work fine. I have never had a repair necessary on any brand of the air conditioners I own. Annual cleaning still costs 300 baht a unit in 2017 in my person experience. Today I viewed both inverter split system air conditioners and ceiling mount inverter air conditioners made in Thailand by United Technologies | Carrier Toshiba. These air conditioners are set for delivery to a Buriram resort. The split inverter air conditioner units are for each guest room in the resort.  Ducting central air conditioning is readily available from Mitsubishi and Daikin in any province in Thailand. The ceiling mounted Carrier Toshiba air conditioners I viewed today need 3 phase electricity. The split system inverter air conditioners 24,000 btu, 18,000 btu, 13,000 btu connect with single phase electricity.  The ready supply of PEA electricity is a real consideration before you select air conditioners on a house you build in Thailand in my opinion. 

[builder]

I am not an expert on ac but have worked on jobs where there has been issues with duck work and this has been what the architect and HVAC sometimes do with regards to structural obstacles. They simply put a fan in the wall to transfer cold from a room with ac to a room without


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