I have been shopping around looking at inverter type AC's, Have you had trouble with some brands?

Pick a brand and somebody will have had problems with it.  To me, it makes sense to choose from a brand that is serviceable by the local AC shop(s).

pick a brand and somebody will rave about how good it works and how quiet it is without being able to compare his units with other brands. a fact is that inverters are much more sophisticated as far as engineering is concerned but they also require more knowledge to repair. another fact is that inverters can save on electricity cost but not under all prevailing circumstances.

I buy Mitsubishi from a shop two blocks from our house. Get better price and quick service, if needed!,

Well, in my experience, Ive had Samsung, Daikin, Mitsubishi, Hitachi.

 

The absolute WORST brand that Ive ever had the displeasure of buying was the Samsung. Lawd. 

 

Imho - now - the 'best' most dependable is the Mitsubishi. Hands Down. Its also the more expensive brand. 

 

I have never had an inverter unit, and the reason is that I don't believe the locals in the provinces are capable of diagnosing issues with them yet. I choose to stick with a unit that uses slightly more electricity, but has there benefit of being a 'familiar' system to the locals. 

 

About a month ago a 3 year old samsung needed replacing, and I got a 12k Mitsubishi. There was an option for a newer R32 refrigerant model and the older R22 model. 

 

I chose the older R22 model as 99% of the guys out here will be familiar with the refrigerant pressures of R22 and I don't want to have anything thats outside the box. 

Ive had Sharp, Toshiba, Panasonic, Hitachi, Mitsubishi brands. So far Mitisubishi most trouble free.  

1 hour ago, Strange said:

The absolute WORST brand that Ive ever had the displeasure of buying was the Samsung. Lawd. 

5 Samsung (18k, 2x12k and 2x9k btu/h) running in our German home since 1997; summers only of course. replaced parts: 1 fan motor inside unit, 2 starting capacitors, never any refrigerant topping. the LORD works in mysterious ways.

Edited November 19, 20169 yr by Naam

Just now, Naam said:

4 Samsung (18k, 2x12k and 2x9k btu/h) running in our German home since 1997; summers only of course. replaced parts: 1 fan motor inside unit, 2 starting capacitors, never any refrigerant topping. the LORD works in mysterious ways.

 

lol yep like you and others said - pick a brand and someone will have something bad to say. (ME) 

 

Im pretty sure though, that as far as complaints go, Mitsubishi is regarded as a good brand, if not one of the best. 

 

Ive got 2 18k Samsung's in the house now, and they both require topping up at every service. The one I replaced just would NOT STOP LEAKING. It was infuriating as it was in the bedroom. Im in Isaan and the locals just don't have the equipment to do effective pressure tests. 

 

Changed a copper flair fitting - frozen solid aircon in 2 weeks

 

Changed another copper fitting - Frozen again. 

 

Changed ALL the copper with perfect copper flair fittings - Frozen. 

 

AC Guy totally swapped the outside unit with another one he had in his shop - frozen. 

 

After all this ^ ok F**** it new aircon time. 

2 hours ago, gchurch259 said:

I buy Mitsubishi from a shop two blocks from our house. Get better price and quick service, if needed!,

I agree with this brand being very good and a good price to boot. I have 3 of them in my house and never a problem. 

My experience with five different models over the course of 9 years. All units get regularly scheduled cleaning based on how often they are used.

 

Samsung: Located in the guest room and hardly ever used. Repaired condenser fan twice and capacitor once. Would not recommend.

 

LG: Located in kitchen and only used 1 to 2 hours a day. Never needed repairs. Cheaply made but works great. Only recommend if price is a concern.

 

Mitsubishi: Located in main bedroom used 9 to 10 hours a day. Replaced capacitor twice. Gets noisy when needs cleaning. Would buy again and recommended.

 

Daikin: Located in home office used 12 hours a day. Never needed repairs. Has developed squeaking noises over time especially when needs cleaning. The blower fan tends to slowly walk to the left causing it to rub against the side. This would be my first choice to buy again.

 

Fujitsu: Located in Living room used 1 to 2 hours a day. Replaced receiver circuit board on blower unit (wouldn't accept remote control signals). Expensive but it is a large unit and needed for the large open space. Would recommend but prefer Mitsubishi or Daikin. 

 

And there you have it.

 

No they are not the same, there are Daiking, Mistubishi, both leaders, and the rest is shiiitte.

 

Someone has been lucky with Samsung but Samsung are cheaply made, it's so obvious by just looking at them.

 

Also when someone is telling that inverters are too complicated for local technicians, it remind me the stupid (poor charlies) people that were telling that Porsche and Benz were not able to service these car correctly in Thailand, before I bought them, which is of course more than stupid and wrong.

 

Everybody now knows inverters and they are nothing complicated, so please people, stop talking about what you have no clue !!!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 19, 20169 yr by bberrythailand

The first one I bought was Carrier, because the sign on the shop caught my eye and I was familiar with the name (the engineer who basically invented air conditioning). We later bought a second one for a second room. My niece bought an LG because it was cheap. Both brands seem to have been trouble free and about the same noise level.

2 hours ago, Naam said:

5 Samsung (18k, 2x12k and 2x9k btu/h) running in our German home since 1997; summers only of course. replaced parts: 1 fan motor inside unit, 2 starting capacitors, never any refrigerant topping. the LORD works in mysterious ways.

i humbly apologise gentlemen! when i talked to my brother today to verify whether the Samsung aircons are still going strong his answer was 

Quote

how much Port did you drink today? all aircons are Panasonic!

 

49 minutes ago, bberrythailand said:

Everybody now knows inverters and they are nothing complicated, so please people, stop talking about what you have no clue !!!

i think that applies to you too!

2 hours ago, bankruatsteve said:

And there you have it.

 

hahaha well done sir !

Daikin 

Mitsubishi and Daikin are the most reliable and cost effective, although I find the Mitsubishi outside units make more noise than the Daikin.

 

Daikin is my first choice.

Daikin

Avoid Samsung. I had 3 installed in the house 3 years ago and lost count on the number of repairs, and of course the parts that failed were not covered under the 5 year warranty they promote.
I replaced 2 of them with Daikin last year and haven't had any problems at all, and they are quieter than the Samsung.

Very satisfied with our Mitsubishi inverter, makes less noise than the fan and running it at 25C at night I don't see it in our electricity bill.

Do not, I repeat Do Not buy a inverter Air Con. Is nearly unusable in Thailand, what with black and brown outs. Especially not a Samsung. Mine broke down, still in the garantee time and Samsung refused to honor this. Found out how to "fix" it myself and can now use it. Only can not use 25 degr. Samsung wanted Baht 3000- for repair, so I told them to stuff it. Daikin seems to be one of the best.

Edited November 19, 20169 yr by bandito
typos

12 hours ago, Strange said:

Well, in my experience, Ive had Samsung, Daikin, Mitsubishi, Hitachi.

 

The absolute WORST brand that Ive ever had the displeasure of buying was the Samsung. Lawd. 

 

Imho - now - the 'best' most dependable is the Mitsubishi. Hands Down. Its also the more expensive brand. 

 

I have never had an inverter unit, and the reason is that I don't believe the locals in the provinces are capable of diagnosing issues with them yet. I choose to stick with a unit that uses slightly more electricity, but has there benefit of being a 'familiar' system to the locals. 

 

About a month ago a 3 year old samsung needed replacing, and I got a 12k Mitsubishi. There was an option for a newer R32 refrigerant model and the older R22 model. 

 

I chose the older R22 model as 99% of the guys out here will be familiar with the refrigerant pressures of R22 and I don't want to have anything thats outside the box. 

This is a good post and ties in with my thoughts. I bought Daikin as they have a good reputation and there is a Service Centre around the corner. Pleased with the units...

I also have some Saijo Denki units (came with the property) which I think are very good quality and reliability but in my area couldn't find a supplier or service centre or parts. (Parts needed when a gecko got inside one and zapped itself. 

Initially I replace that with a Samsung and it gave me grief.

Edited November 19, 20169 yr by jacko45k

Dakin and LG( dakin are the better of the two by a small margin very quite and the remote is easy  to work user friendly for setting on off times) Are the best. Worst by a long way Samsung (had two over the years very noisy and unreliable)

Get a good local installer ask around neighbours in my experiance they are a lot better than the shop fitters.locals can easily be reached and for us at least can come very quickly if there's a problem 7 days a week.

Edited November 20, 20169 yr by Deepinthailand

13 hours ago, bberrythailand said:

Also when someone is telling that inverters are too complicated for local technicians, it remind me the stupid (poor charlies) people that were telling that Porsche and Benz were not able to service these car correctly in Thailand, before I bought them, which is of course more than stupid and wrong.

 

Everybody now knows inverters and they are nothing complicated, so please people, stop talking about what you have no clue !!!

 

I certainly hope you realize that a service is kindergarten level, and diagnostics is a profession all its own. 

 

This applies to air conditioners, Porsche, and Benz. 

OK thanks guys.  I just googled " advantages and disadvantages of a dc inverter ac".   They seem to think that the good out weighs the bad buy a big margin, I really like the part about the inverter not being effected at all by brown outs as they still take what they need for inversion.  I get a lot of brown outs.  They didn't mention the fact that oversizing is much less of an issue because they can operate at much less BTU output once the thermostat is satisfied. The compressor never shuts off it only backs down so no stop and start [noisy], and humidity will still be reduced as it is running. Electric savings is very significant.

                      Draw backs are Price, and must have a serviceman familiar with inverters. Cost of parts. It uses R401A refrigerant, but that may turn into an advantage as R22 is currently being banned across the world.

                      As far as brand goes I think I will go with Mitsubishi as I can afford the initial outlay and I have not seen Daikin in my area. I think most use a Mitsubishi compressor anyway. I hope I am making the right decision.

                      I will be running a few of these 24/7. I think if I was just cooling my bedroom for sleep I would have made a different choice.

 

Thanks again.

I have a dakin inverter very pleased with it. no problems with our all to frequent power losses. our installer is very familiar with them and services it with no problem. I also have a inverter fridge and freezer and both run lovely. all the scare mongers saying don't buy inverters are in my opinion just that scare mongers.

Panasonic

Air con guy I use said daikin were the best .He said LG are crap as the metal they use in them for the compressor parts is useless and rusts very quick. I had to replace my compressor on my LG less than 1 year after buying it and the replacement for it didn't even last 6 months !!

Wont be buying LG again.

10 minutes ago, ronaldo0 said:

Air con guy I use said daikin were the best .He said LG are crap as the metal they use in them for the compressor parts is useless and rusts very quick. I had to replace my compressor on my LG less than 1 year after buying it and the replacement for it didn't even last 6 months !!

Wont be buying LG again.

 

What was the response from LG against the standard 12 month warranty?

 

Are you in a particularly corrosive environment?