Split AC - Which Brand is Best 150 sq.ft room - URGENT

terence_fdes

terence_fdes

wizened Dinosaur
Skilled
Hi,

Apologies for starting a new thread. I have gone through most of the "threads" from Nov2011 to date. I am as confused as ever.

MY DETAILS
1. Room Size : Bedroom 150 sq feet - ceiling height 8.9 feet. Location on 2nd Floor of 3 storied building. Bedroom receives sunlight only till 11.30 am. Surrounded by trees.

2. We have a window AC in the bedroom - not sure of its tonnage. However its very old and "wifie" wants to get rid of it. It's noisy and does not perform too great. So we will exchange this unit for a "new split AC"

3. WHICH BRAND ?
- Not Hitachi - I already have a 2 ton Hitachi Window AC in my Living Room (no complaints and it's great BUT wifie wants another brand...... damm )
edit: CHANGED for now

4. USAGE : Selective - mostly during the harsh summer nights in mumbai & whenever guests are around. So it's NOT FOR daily use throughout the year.

5. CONFUSIONS :
(a) So many brands out there with so many models ? (its easier to buy a window AC than a split)
(b) Do I settle for 1 or 1.2 tonne - or go for 1.5 ton
(c) Keen on 5 star rating - if it really means "great things" in the long run
(d) What do the 2014 models have that are different from older models ?

6. BUDGET: Upto 45K max

7. ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENT: Installation needs to be "perfect" - no compromises

Terry[DOUBLEPOST=1394774559][/DOUBLEPOST]I am narrowing down to Hitachi i-Clean series 1.2 ton
MODEL NO: RAU514IUD

PROBLEM: This model is listed ONLY at Hitachi's website & not available anywhere else. Even at their own eshop is it not shown.
The model that is available at various online stores is RAU514ITDA or RAU514ISD ?

Any idea on how to read/interpret Hitachi naming conventions ?
 
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Hi Terry

i went thru most of the same questions a few years back when i was getting the AC for our living room. So the following are my opinions on your queries.

Room Size : Please go for a 1.5 Tons. 1.2 will be bit overworked if you are looking for 23 deg C or less (i normally keep at 24 deg C).

Which Brand : First of all, Split ACs are much better than Window ACs. The tonnage required is less and much easier on the eardrum :). But, i guess you already agree to this. Choosing a band will also depend on the proximity to service centers. If you are the athletic type, you can clean the AC ducts yourself. But I prefer not to trouble my slipped disc and look for an AMC after one year. I have two ACs (both are one ton), the older one (2007) is from Samsung and the newer one (2012.. or was it 2012) is an LG. I prefer the Samsung one better due to its easier remote functions. Moreover, the LED of the LG one glows too brightly in the night. So i had to blur it a bit by pasting paper on it. I did not have a good budget to consider hitachi or Blue Star.
But my ACs are doing fine with no major hiccup.

Don't get worked up too much with the star rating deal. It only makes sense if you use it 10-12 hours a day. I doubt that. My first AC do not have any star ratting and the second one is a two star one. I think looking beyond a three star ratting would be waste of money for an AC. If you were buying a freeze, then it is definitely worth investing in more stars.. :cool:

You can safely buy a 2013 model. I bought one for my mom (1.5 split Samsung) last summer, which was actually a 2012 model. No problems whatsoever. plus advantage of discount :D.

During Installation make sure that the drainage pipe is going straight down. If it gets twisted, there will be back flush of water since there is no pump in most of the ACs to drive out the water (drainage is dependent on gravity). Suddenly your AC will turn into a rain machine... bad experience.. i know first hand.. :sour:.

Hope i didn't bore you too much.

TC
 
bookoon said:
Don't get worked up too much with the star rating deal. It only makes sense if you use it 10-12 hours a day. I doubt that. My first AC do not have any star ratting and the second one is a two star one. I think looking beyond a three star ratting would be waste of money for an AC. If you were buying a freeze, then it is definitely worth investing in more stars.. :cool:
Click to expand...
Guess this depends on how long harsh summer nights in mumbai last.

March to may-june ?
 
Thanks @blr_p & @bookoon

Summers in Mumbai (or rather the heat) range from March to June and again Oct to early Dec.

The Hitachi i-Clean model that I had chosen is out of my radar. Company had withdrawn it after 2-3 years. Apart from being an Hitachi - I liked a unique "self-cleaning" function that it had. So dunno why Hitachi had to withdraw this model.

Now I am looking at the latest model by LG - Terminator. How reliable are the reviews from this place reviewcenter.in

Again 1.2 ton models are not manufactured by all. So may have to settle for a 1 ton. In certain cases/models - the price difference between 1 & 1.5 is huge (like 10k!!!)
 
If you have a lot of furniture in your bedroom, you can think of a1 ton one. But avoid, if you want a low temperature during April may afternoon.. :).
 
terence_fdes said:
Summers in Mumbai (or rather the heat) range from March to June and again Oct to early Dec.
Click to expand...
Question is whether that's a full 6 months or rather full 3 months. From your opener i don't get the impression you'll be using it all that much.

terence_fdes said:
Again 1.2 ton models are not manufactured by all. So may have to settle for a 1 ton. In certain cases/models - the price difference between 1 & 1.5 is huge (like 10k!!!)
Click to expand...
I see slightly oversizing as better than right sizing or worse undersizing. it's tricky to figure out the right tonnage as it depends on many parameters. Not being the top floor is an advantage it means your ceiling isn't as hot as it would otherwise be. Not getting sun after 11 am means the room does not get to heat up as much during the day. The ability of the unit to more effectively extract mositure from the air as more moisture means you feel more uncomfortable.

A bigger machine will cool the room faster and then idle. This means little more power usage as well as upfront costs but then it gets to take a break. Taking breaks is good as it means less wear & tear over the long run. There is no maintenance to be done on the compressor they are sealed as this gives them better efficiency. Compressor goes as it inevitably will towards eol you either replace or get anew unit whichever is cheaper.

Your case is one of those somewhere in between. Some time back i tried to work out TCO over a 10 yr span. If you used the ac closer to 6 months of the year, a higher BEE rating was preferable. Second, a local brand with a high BEE worked out cheaper than a foreign one by end of life as the added premium would not defray any energy savings over the lifetime of the unit. But reliability was the issue you put up with. Premium brands would last longer meaning less interruptions due to servicing. With your usage pattern i don't anticipate a breakdown for at least 5 years if not beyond.
 
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I got a BLUE STAR 3HW18FA1 Split AC 1.5 TON (3 STAR) yesterday from Croma for 28.800. plus Citibank is giving 5% cash back. Seems to be a good deal. But I could not do as much research as normally would have done. Not many options with 30K budget, anyway :cool:. Additionally, got two years extended warranty for 1999.
My first Samsung 1.o T AC is a bit under capacity for my current bedroom (shifted to a new house in last Nov). So i am putting the blue star here and moving the samsung to the smaller bed room. :)
Now let's see how if functions. ..
 
Buying a 4 star 2014 model is equal to buying a 2013 5 star model.
So if one buys a 3 star 2014 model its equal to a 2012 5 star model
However some 5 star models of previous year could still be a be just a tiny bit better then the subsequent years 4 star ac.
.
 
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