I have a 26sq metre condo unit, 8th floor, receives no direct sunshine. What BTU would you recommended? Some websites qoute as low as 14,000 but all the shops say 24,000 or maybe 18,000.

The cheapest option I have found was 18K at 16,900baht, or second hand units. Are second hand units to be avoided?

Thanks

Your rule of thumb is about 600btu/m2 and add on another 300btu if you are on say a top floor or one with a lot of hear gain via glazing.

So your example would assume 600x26 = 15600btu

For a but of safety you should be rounding this up to 18000btu.

Which is gonna cost you 20_25k but depending on the model.

Which model at 16,900baht.

Is it including fitting?

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What heat sources are there in the room?

Are you cooking a lot in there? Got a big fridge? Does the bathroom dump heat into the room?

If not many heat sources, 12K should be absolutely fine.

If you like to cook 3 course meals for hours in airon comfort, you'll want 18K or more though.

Aircons lose around 5% efficiency every year, and normally only have a "design life" of 5 years (yes, yes, they can/do last longer, but not always). On top of that, every couple of years or so there's tech advancements and efficiency improves. In short, you're probably better off buying a new 5-star 1/Baht/BTU unit than a 4 year old 80 satang/BTU used one.

Thanks for the information, I suspected that a 12K unit would do, but the sales people shake their heads solemnly if you ask them. It is a small condo unit so no real excess of heat though because i have renters in mind I may have to opt for an 18K unit for their comfort.

I made a mistake the cheapest 18K I have found is York at 21K

Look harder.. you should be able to get a Samsung for that price!

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hm.. plently of good deals at 12K level but at 18K not nearly so much choice.. which is one reason why I prefer to purchase at 12k btu Samsung or LG inverter etc.

I did a call around when I was choosing my aircon last month .. I stated to all my limit and 3 came back within that price .. I opted for Haier in the end.. ok for an office or living room but no good for bedroom as it's noisy when it turns off. It was 19,500b but they also quoted a Samsung at 22,000 (700b was travel money)

Bangkok air cooling 087-111-0714 or 085-111-5374

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Excellent, thankyou.

This vendor has Samsung AC's at good prices; 13K BTU for 10,800, 18K BTU for 17,000 Baht:

http://gaincool.com/

Prices do not include install, but that shouldn't run you more than about 2500-3000.

I recently bought my Samsung inverter from Lazada online with free delivery. Normal retail was 32,000 bht but it was on sale for 19,250 bht. I got the local contractors to install it for 2000 bht. Nowadays I try to avoid the superstores like Homepro because they always seem to be more expensive.

JAF

Yes the superstores are good when they're good ie sales/specials, but normally their prices are suprisingly not good.