Air Con info/opinions...

[1FinickyOne]

I have two relatively small rooms, an office of about 30 sq m. and a bedroom of about 40 sq m. - these are both second floor in a cement home that can get very hot. I will guess roof insulation is not great too...

The office a/c is about 4 years old and just barely functioning. The seller has had terrible techs out here 3x and no results.

The bedroom a/c is about 12+ years and I think the compressor blew out - ready for full replacement.

A friend recommended an invecter LG - both units here now are Mitsubishi...

What have you had good luck with - any advice welcome...

[cyberfarang]

Just before this scorching hot weather started I decided to renew our 2 air con units. The old one`s were Samsung and complete junk. Always had problems with them and after 7 years decided to give them up to the junk lady. I had been told that in Thailand you can`t go wrong with Mitsubishi and Panasonic and I bought a Mitsubishi for one room and a Panasonic for another room. Not the inverter types but the fixed speed rotary models, don`t believe all this hype about inverters that come with additions that I`ll probably never use. So far so good, I think they are brilliant. Panasonic and Mitsubishi usually cost more them the other makes but they have good reputations so it`s worth the extra expense layout.

Another tip, buy an air con that is over and above the recommended BTU size, this way you won`t have to run the unit flat out to get the desired temperature if it gets really hot and will be more trouble free and last longer.

Edited May 21, 2016 by cyberfarang

[kannot]

As opposed to cyberfarang Ive had one Samsung non inverter for 3+ years 9900BTU it runs almost non stop in the hot weather and its been reliable, I do maintain and clean it myself monthly inside and out, so much so I bought another the same brand "old stock" recently............I would say "Installation" in many cases can be VERY poor which is way more likely to give you problems, I see way too many compressors stuck out in full sun when shade is way better, mine are high up under the roof overhang

You need to choose the correct size by calculation and not as cyber says get a bigger one, ask TV member Naam about why or read this to see why bigger is NOT better and its more likely to breakdown

http://www.energyvanguard.com/blog-building-science-HERS-BPI/bid/55157/Why-an-Oversized-Air-Conditioner-Is-a-Bad-Idea

Edited May 21, 2016 by kannot

[Familyonthemove]

Another vote for Panasonic (non inverter). Reliable, effective, quiet.

LG costly, but look nice and have sone fancy features.

[ukrules]

Most of the AC engineers are complete idiots. Find a good one and pay him to take an independent look at the system.

Finding a good one might be very hard to do but once you do find one, stick with him.

The guy I use here in Hua Hin works with larger hotels so he really knows his stuff.

I'm only renting but I've already bought a new A/C unit recently. They're going to miss it when I tear it from the walls just before I leave.

[1FinickyOne]

Thanks for all replies - and yes, finding a good technician would be wonderful if not extremely difficult out of town. nobody wants to travel. I have a good lead on a relatively local fellow today... fingers crossed.

[jadee]

My condo has three different AC units. Trane, LG and York. I get them all cleaned by a company called 'Mr Air' every 3 to 6 months. I had good luck with all of them for 5 years of almost daily use however in the last year (the 6th year), the LG unit started dripping water and the Trane unit had an issue with the compressor. This is where I noticed a difference between the brands - their after-sales service.

Unfortunately, while Mr Air is okay at cleaning and topping up the refrigerants, they don't seem to know how to repair the units. When I contacted LG, they couldn't even suggest or recommend a technician. By contrast, Trane was excellent and quickly sent a local technician to help. That's been my experience so far. You may want to contact Trane to help find a technician in your area.

[kannot]

My condo has three different AC units. Trane, LG and York. I get them all cleaned by a company called 'Mr Air' every 3 to 6 months. I had good luck with all of them for 5 years of almost daily use however in the last year (the 6th year), the LG unit started dripping water and the Trane unit had an issue with the compressor. This is where I noticed a difference between the brands - their after-sales service.

Unfortunately, while Mr Air is okay at cleaning and topping up the refrigerants, they don't seem to know how to repair the units. When I contacted LG, they couldn't even suggest or recommend a technician. By contrast, Trane was excellent and quickly sent a local technician to help. That's been my experience so far. You may want to contact Trane to help find a technician in your area.

why are they topping up refrigerants?

[ukrules]

Dripping water usually means some kind of blockage between the part inside the house and the pipe where the condensed water is meant to drain away outside.

A high pressure clean out normally does the trick but if it's a more serious blockage you might want to take a look inside the pipe.

[sometimewoodworker]

Another tip, buy an air con that is over and above the recommended BTU size, this way you won`t have to run the unit flat out to get the desired temperature if it gets really hot and will be more trouble free and last longer.

The Mitsubishi and Panasonic air cons are good. But the advice to get a bigger than recommend size is not good advice.

The AC does two things 1 is to cool the air and for that function bigger is no problem. However the other and often more important function is to dehumidifie the air and for that bigger is not good, the bigger unit will get the room down to temperature too quickly then shut off so it doesn't get enough time to drop the humidity. So for that function too big is bad.

[Torrens54]

Many thanks to ALL Contributors on the above matters. Greatly appreciated!

Now a silly question: Is it more Cost Effective to turn the Air Conditioner/s OFF for an hour once the room is cool or should they be run

continuously day and night ?

Our Electricity bill in Chiang Mai is running about 5-6 K per Month during the Heatwave.

We have Three units. One in the Lounge, on most of the day, one in the main bedroom on most of the night and one in a spare room, used intermittently.

Thanks in advance for advice.

[kannot]

Many thanks to ALL Contributors on the above matters. Greatly appreciated!

Now a silly question: Is it more Cost Effective to turn the Air Conditioner/s OFF for an hour once the room is cool or should they be run

continuously day and night ?

Our Electricity bill in Chiang Mai is running about 5-6 K per Month during the Heatwave.

We have Three units. One in the Lounge, on most of the day, one in the main bedroom on most of the night and one in a spare room, used intermittently.

Thanks in advance for advice.

This will depend on many factors 1 your ability to PAY, 2 insulation of room, 3 comfort, 4 the thermostat setting, I have mine at 26c I leave it on almost 24/7, once the room gets to temperature it will switch off leaving just the fan running so using very little juice.

You may end up using more electric turning it off and on as its going to work harder to get a room down from 30+ after a long spell off than continually dropping it 1 c or so when permanently on.

Too many variations to answer.