Critical questions on AC

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sydras

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I'm considering installing a 5 star rated split AC in my bedroom. I'm considering Carrier, Toshiba and Hitachi.

But I would like to know some information on the ACs from folks who've already purchased and installed ACs belonging to any brand.

1. How much compressor warranty is offered for your particular type of AC(I know that most brands offer a 1 year warranty on the body but does it include the compressor as well)?

2. Does your AC have an in-built voltage stabilizer?

3. Did the company/dealer offer free installation? How much did you have to pay if it was not free?

4. Were you satisfied with the way in which the AC was installed?

5. In case you had a fault to deal with, were you satisfied with the service?

6. Would you say your AC is noisy?

Please share your valuable input based on your experience. Simple one word answers would be good enough(if you don't have too much time :) ). I'm hoping that this information benefits everyone on this forum.
 
Hmm....no responses. C'mon guys.

Anyway, I visited some dealers today to enquire about Hitachi. Seems that Vivek, VGP and Pai (in Bangalore) do not deal in Hitachi. Only E-Zone deals in Hitachi.

Two models i.e FollowMe and CutOut are available. The Cutout is similar to the FollowMe (except for the follow part). The dealer informed me that the AC components are imported but assembly is done in Ahmedabad.

Pricing I received is as follows

1.2 Ton FollowMe (RAU014EQD) - Rs 31,470/-

1.5 Ton FollowMe (RAU018EQD) - Rs 37,390/-

1.2 Ton CutOut (RAU014HPD) - Rs 30,805/-

1.5 Ton Cutout (RAU018HPD) - Rs 36,030/-

Dealer is offering free installation and a Koryo voltage stabilizer. I'm not happy with the potentially crappy Koryo branded voltage stabilizer but the dealer has assured me of no problems. (Anyway, it's only the stabilizer).

Dealer also informed me that the guys who drill the 1.5 inch hole for connection from the inner to outer unit might ask between Rs800/- to Rs 1,500/- if the wall is a beam.

I plan to enquire about Toshiba and Carrier on a weekday. (They do not have showrooms and their dealers are snoozing away on a Sunday. I tried contacting 4 dealers in Bangalore but all were unavailable. I even tried the main Carrier office and was told to call at 10 p.m. tomorrow. If this is how their sales dept. is, I can't help but worry about service. I just hope that their product can cover up for their flaws.)
 
For Hitachi call 1800-200-8585

They will tell you about dealer add., MRP in your city & service details as well...

I got quote of Rs. 37800/- (Follow Me) & Rs. 36800/- (Cut Out)... both 1.5 tons & its MRP. Don't trust dealers. They exaggerate the price 'coz its niche brand. one dealer told me 1.5ton Hitachi follow me is for 49k & cut out is no longer available...
 
hi here are the answers for your queries-:

1. in most cases compressor has more warranty then the body(i.e 3 or 5 years).

2. no almost 95% there is no voltage stabilizer is included in the ac unit, but recently samsung launches a range of ac`s which doesn't need voltage stabilizer.

3. previously some comp[any`s offer free installation but it only includes the wooden frame not other thing like making window in the wall in case of window ac. but these days i don`t know.

4. yes i am i have LG AC purchased 6 years back.

5. these days every company tries there best to give customer services.

LG`s service is best among of ALL.

6. yes it is may be because it window AC. but also it is 6 yrs old.
 
Don't just go by the 5 star rating...4 or 3 stars will do.

To know more about reliability & cost of spares among different brands, try contacting some AC technicians/servicing agencies. You'll get the real picture!

My 2 Cents.
 
thot i will add in 2 cents here.

i bought a samsung 1ton split ac around 2 years back for 18k.I bought a vguard stabilizer seperately for around 2.5k.The installation was free(there was an offer).The ac compressor has a warranty of 5 years.Its a little bit loud ie the outdoor unit but no noise other than the hum is heard inside the room.The ac works fine cooling the room down.
what i found out was the samsung service after the warranty period of 1 year was expensive.ie they were charging 450+tax just for showing up and then parts will be extra.It will be cheaper to get it repaired from a local mechanic.
donno why ac's are so expensive now.

hope it helps.
 
1. Compressor warranty for most LG ACs is 4 years.

2. I've used a stabiliser only for the first unit I ever bought, a Carrier St. Moritz in 1999. Since then every AC I have has run without one, and there's been not much of an issue as the rotary compressors on most ACs can deal with small line fluctuations. If the supply in your area is very bad, a stabiliser is mandatory though whatever the manufacturer says - or at least a voltage cutout to prevent the motor burning up during a brownout...

3. Installation is never free. The company itself did not offer it but an 'associate' did call up once the order got confirmed. I had organised my own installer and it cost me 1000 rupees, plus 300 for the wall brackets.

4. Installation was satisfactory, but there was a small issue which needed attention. The case of the indoor unit was pressing into the power button so the indoor unit would keep turning itself off. The guys from the LG service center landed up on a Monday morning (I had placed the complaint on Saturday night) and fixed it in a few seconds.

5. As above.

6. Yes. It is about as noisy as a quiet ceiling fan, and a little quieter than a loud one. The specs say 45dBA, which sounds about right. It's much, much quieter than a window unit for sure but obviously not pin-drop quiet. The outdoor unit is situated on the roof above my flat so there is absolutely no noise from that in the room, just the indoor unit fan and airflow noise, dominated by the latter.

Finally, choose your AC depending on your needs and budget. For those who run units continuously a 5 star unit makes sense. If you use it like most domestic users (few hours in the afternoon, few hours at night) you will take a long time to equalise the additional cost of the unit with the savings in your bills. It is true that even a few units a month can make a huge difference (1 unit alone will power a single reading light in each house in a small village for one night - if there is a wire that gets there at all) from an overall point of view, so it is finally your call.
 
Dude just go to a a/c service/repair guy. He will give you the best picture. The main things abt any ac is the compressor and these technicians know best.. Go to a couple of technicians and take their advice.
 
Well, finally got to speak to a Toshiba sales rep. Apparently, Toshiba's pricing and service conditions are quite unfavourable.

Following are the prices quoted

1.1 Ton SKP - Rs 30,990/-

1.5 Ton SKP - Rs 39,990/-

1.1 Ton Daiseikai - Rs 34,990/-

1.5 Ton Daiseikai - Rs 41,500/- (New price Rs 42,990/-)

You will have to pay Rs 1,500/- as installation charges plus Rs 400/- per metre of copper pipe(surprisingly Toshiba a/cs do not come with copper pipe) plus Rs 750/- for L angle set.

The madness doesn't end here. Apparently, Toshiba offers you 5 years of compressor warranty ONLY if you pay 8% of the AC cost annually. After 5 years, they will give you annual maintenance on everything (except the compressor at Rs 450/-). If the compressor fails, you will only be charged the cost of the compressor(which I assume is essentially near the cost of the product itself).

If you ask me, I think this pricing makes it a lifestyle product. The initial cost of ownership, ridiculous AMC and potentially unknown service guarantees make it difficult to seriously consider Toshiba ACs.
 
I am not sure about split ACs but I have two windows ACs (both 1.5 Ton, Samsung and Voltas). Both are like 4-5 years old. No voltage stabilizer, nothing. I just paid 500 bucks last year for the cleaning and all.

None of them ever showed any problems.

The Samsung one stays ON for like 12-16 hours daily in the summers and the Voltas one stays ON for like 7 hours in the night.

Other than the increased electricity bill, we didn't spend anything on them. I wonder why things get so complicated now (with all those BEE labels)
 
sydras said:
You will have to pay Rs 1,500/- as installation charges plus Rs 400/- per metre of copper pipe(surprisingly Toshiba a/cs do not come with copper pipe) plus Rs 750/- for L angle set.
Click to expand...
Find out the dimensions, gauge, diameter of the pipe and check the price yourself in the local market.

sydras said:
Apparently, Toshiba offers you 5 years of compressor warranty ONLY if you pay 8% of the AC cost annually. After 5 years, they will give you annual maintenance on everything (except the compressor at Rs 450/-). If the compressor fails, you will only be charged the cost of the compressor(which I assume is essentially near the cost of the product itself).

If you ask me, I think this pricing makes it a lifestyle product. The initial cost of ownership, ridiculous AMC and potentially unknown service guarantees make it difficult to seriously consider Toshiba ACs.
Click to expand...
They are forcing you to take an extended warranty (which sounds suspicious to me), do you mean to say if you do not take it out there is no warranty whatsoever offered on the unit ?

You need to find out what is the typical sort of maintenance required for an AC during its lifetime, can anyone comment on this matter ?
 
sydras said:
You will have to pay Rs 1,500/- as installation charges plus Rs 400/- per metre of copper pipe(surprisingly Toshiba a/cs do not come with copper pipe) plus Rs 750/- for L angle set.
Click to expand...

I was out making a AC purchase a month ago, was very much decided on a Hitachi 1.2, but at the last minute went in for a LG 5 AC(dont remember the model) which was a 1.5 ton and same price as the Hitachi. They had given a unistab stabilizer free and installation was to be done by the LG guys. They said upto 8 metres(if i recollect correctly) of copper wire is free as part of the standard installation. Also the selling price was inclusive of the installation by LG. I was asked to pay 32.2k to the showroom and 800 bucks to the installer.
 
My experience is window A/c s are much more effective than split A/C, also it is less noisy while blowing air than split a/c. If you have space for window a/c , i wud definitely recommend it.You can ask the dealer regarding the same.

And i dont think u need to shell out extra money for 5 star rated A/c . 3 -4 star does the job well.
 
blr_p said:
Find out the dimensions, gauge, diameter of the pipe and check the price yourself in the local market.
Click to expand...

Well, I don't think I'd be sure of what to look for. I would prefer the company to take care of these intricacies.

blr_p said:
They are forcing you to take an extended warranty (which sounds suspicious to me), do you mean to say if you do not take it out there is no warranty whatsoever offered on the unit ?

You need to find out what is the typical sort of maintenance required for an AC during its lifetime, can anyone comment on this matter ?
Click to expand...

Yes, I think that there's no warranty offered after 1 year. It looks to me as if this is a service model for a company or small business.

Tron05 said:
I was out making a AC purchase a month ago, was very much decided on a Hitachi 1.2, but at the last minute went in for a LG 5 AC(dont remember the model) which was a 1.5 ton and same price as the Hitachi. They had given a unistab stabilizer free and installation was to be done by the LG guys. They said upto 8 metres(if i recollect correctly) of copper wire is free as part of the standard installation. Also the selling price was inclusive of the installation by LG. I was asked to pay 32.2k to the showroom and 800 bucks to the installer.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm in the same dilemma as you. From what I've read people's opinion on Hitachi seems divided. Some report very good performance while others report a lot of issues. My worry is, if I get a faulty unit, can Hitachi match the service of a company like LG? Is the LG A/C that you've installed noisy? Do you feel that it's really 5 star quality?

killerz said:
My experience is window A/c s are much more effective than split A/C, also it is less noisy while blowing air than split a/c. If you have space for window a/c , i wud definitely recommend it.You can ask the dealer regarding the same.

And i dont think u need to shell out extra money for 5 star rated A/c . 3 -4 star does the job well.
Click to expand...

The installation mess required for a window A/C makes me want to avoid going for it.
 
sydras said:
The installation mess required for a window A/C makes me want to avoid going for it.
Click to expand...
The satisfaction after spending over 35k n messy installation is unbeatable.
I installed split one due to the same reason in one room and i dont even like to use it. I just hop into the adjacent room with the Window A/c , all the mess is worth it :P
 
The hitachi's are assembled here , the toshiba's are prolly imported whole so attract 30% extra duty.

He's not interested in domestic brands, which would be 50% cheaper.
 
A quote for Daikin 1.5 ton ACs I received is as follows

1.5 Ton, E Series (3 Star) - Rs 33,800/-

1.5 Ton, G Series (5 Star) - Rs 39,680/-

1.5 Ton, Inverter - Rs Rs 44,100/-

- I was told that stablizer + installation would cost around 5-6K.

- I was also told that there is a 1 month waiting period for the 1.5 Ton, 5 star series as the units are completely imported from Japan.

- Unlike Toshiba, there is no AMC to be taken. Warranty terms are similar to that of consumer ACs i.e. 1 year complete warranty and 1 + 4 years of compressor warranty.
 
Right, lets see whether we can save you from yourself :)

You live in Bangalore, you need an AC for max a month in the year. If your's is the top floor with nothing above maybe a little longer, you did not say. Therefore after 5 years you will have used your AC for 5 months. Your warranty has just run out but your compressor will easily last twice as long assuming its not damaged in any way. That is if you go with a foreign brand.

In other parts of the country 5 months might be close to how much they use an AC in just one year. A high quality unit makes more sense in this case. Ease of maintenance and good after sales service are very important in these areas, as if it breaks down in the middle your looking at a week if not more of no AC and crazy temps.

Tho you could still pay as you go with cheaper units and replacing them with time. But the hassle here is you never know when it will break down when you need it the most.

In Bangalore you will never break even with power savings enough to justify the nearly 33% markup on that inverter unit...so out of those 3 daikin's, the cheapest one is the best pick. Personally i'd go with a domestic brand and save even more, as compared to domestic prices the foreign ones won't break even either. But there is one advantage and that is they won't fail you but given how little we need an AC here that's prolly a superflous advantage.

The other is the sound, the Daikin is 5-10dB softer than the avg, which tends to be around 50dB or the sound of a normal conversation. Window units will be 5-10dB's again above these. Less noise might help you sleep better, but then again a slightly louder noise tends to drown out any other disturbances just as well.

Nobody asked but why is it you have limited yourself to only foreign units ?
 
Considering the extremely minimal usage, wouldn't it be more economical to opt for a 2 month AC rental each year for the next 5 years than pay for a new piece?
 
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