Critical questions on AC
- Thread starter sydras
- Start date
blr_p said:Right, lets see whether we can save you from yourself
Nobody asked but why is it you have limited yourself to only foreign units ?
Actually, I'm just doing research. It might help others on the forum. You are right from the pt. of view that it does not make sense to go in for the costliest unit from a foreign brand esp. in Bangalore. I realized this when I received the quote for the Toshiba AC (I will post details on this later) that I'd requested from a dealer.
However, I think that going for a premium brand does have some advantages like better components used and silent operation.
Also, if one has to factor increasing cost of electricity and possibly increased usage of the AC due to increasing hot summers going for a 5 star AC makes sense.
In the end, I'm trying to get as premium as I can within my budget :ashamed:.
ajab.ghajab said:
How would a rental work? The AC has to be installed. What about the hole in the wall for the rest of the year when the AC is returned? Maybe some businesses may have such a provsion but I'm not aware of any consumers opting for ac AC rental.
6pack
ex-Mod
OT: i was having a talk with my uncle about ac's and he told me that panasonic has these new tech ac's now which are inverter controlled and reduce power consumption.
CS-S12KKY | econ Inverter | Home Appliances | Panasonic India
is it a gimmick or does this really work?
CS-S12KKY | econ Inverter | Home Appliances | Panasonic India
is it a gimmick or does this really work?
Folks, thank you all for your sharing your experience with ACs installed and your replies. I've gone in for a Hitachi 1.5 Ton FollowMe @ 37,850/- from Unilet. This includes installation and a 4 kVA VG400 V-Guard stabilizer. Unilet had the best price for Hitachi ACs where I looked.
I did not go with E-Zone who had quoted Rs 37,390/- as they were hell bent on pushing their Koryo stabilizer with the deal. When you are selling a supposedly premium product, why couple it with a potentially crappy stabilizer? I don't have to care for your association with Koryo. Your loss E-Zone.
Anyway, I learnt a few things from my experience and by talking to dealers. Let me share my thoughts.
Daikin and Toshiba are supposedly, premium branded ACs. They have the advantage of being whisper quiet, units being completely imported. However, I feel that they are not pitching to consumers but rather to businesses. Their ACs are are costly and they charge for stabilizer and installation. W.r.t AMC, Toshiba has the worst AMC I've seen with only a 1 year warranty and a requirement to pay 8% of AC cost every year (for 4 years) continued maintenence. Daikin seems to be better in this department.
Hitachi is supposedly a prosumer brand pitching to consumers with the standard 1 + 4 year AMC. The 1.5 Ton has the advantage of being quieter than competing models (34 dB vs 38-40 dB in competing models eg: Carrier Estrella which I believe is completely imported. Hitachi ACs are assembled in Ahmedabad. However, the Estrella seems to have better power comsumption specs). Most, regular consumer appliance stores (Vivek's Pai, VGP etc.) don't deal in Hitachi. E-Zone, Unilet, Croma, Modern World deal in Hitachi.
Godrej, Whirlpool, Samsung, LG, Onida, Voltas etc. are regular consumer branded ACs. Warranty is standard across brands (i.e. 1 + 4 year). LG seems to have a lot of presence in consumer air conditioning and I really wanted an LG but recently, I've had fan failure on my LG fridge in my dad's apartment and I'm worried about their build quality in recent years.
I don't know where to slot Carrier as a brand. Their Estrella and Durakool Star ACs seem to have good energy ratings but the rest of their range does not have good specs. Also,the Estrella seems to have a poorer noise spec. I did not bother to investigate further as they have no showrooms like the premium brands. If they aren't bothered about sales, I would definitely worry about service. Then again, they seem to be pitching to businesses rather than consumers.
In the end, I wanted to get something premium but the fact that I can't even find a proper showroom to check out a Toshiba, Daikin or Carrier AC, have to pay a bomb for installation and worries about after sales service kept me away from these brands.
I would've considered a consumer branded AC but most dealers are not even showcasing a 5 star model from consumer brands. Some are warning on delays in receiving stock of a particular model that I'm interested in. Also, with so much confusion in this segment, I'm not very decided on what to go for.
The Hitachi 1.5 Ton was there in the showroom. It was available. The cost seemed reasonable with a stabilizer and installation. At this point, it's about as premium as I can afford to get :bleh:. I would've gone for the slightly cheaper CutOut model. I could care less about the FollowMe feature but the FollowMe model matches the colour of my wall :ashamed:.
I did not go with E-Zone who had quoted Rs 37,390/- as they were hell bent on pushing their Koryo stabilizer with the deal. When you are selling a supposedly premium product, why couple it with a potentially crappy stabilizer? I don't have to care for your association with Koryo. Your loss E-Zone.
Anyway, I learnt a few things from my experience and by talking to dealers. Let me share my thoughts.
Daikin and Toshiba are supposedly, premium branded ACs. They have the advantage of being whisper quiet, units being completely imported. However, I feel that they are not pitching to consumers but rather to businesses. Their ACs are are costly and they charge for stabilizer and installation. W.r.t AMC, Toshiba has the worst AMC I've seen with only a 1 year warranty and a requirement to pay 8% of AC cost every year (for 4 years) continued maintenence. Daikin seems to be better in this department.
Hitachi is supposedly a prosumer brand pitching to consumers with the standard 1 + 4 year AMC. The 1.5 Ton has the advantage of being quieter than competing models (34 dB vs 38-40 dB in competing models eg: Carrier Estrella which I believe is completely imported. Hitachi ACs are assembled in Ahmedabad. However, the Estrella seems to have better power comsumption specs). Most, regular consumer appliance stores (Vivek's Pai, VGP etc.) don't deal in Hitachi. E-Zone, Unilet, Croma, Modern World deal in Hitachi.
Godrej, Whirlpool, Samsung, LG, Onida, Voltas etc. are regular consumer branded ACs. Warranty is standard across brands (i.e. 1 + 4 year). LG seems to have a lot of presence in consumer air conditioning and I really wanted an LG but recently, I've had fan failure on my LG fridge in my dad's apartment and I'm worried about their build quality in recent years.
I don't know where to slot Carrier as a brand. Their Estrella and Durakool Star ACs seem to have good energy ratings but the rest of their range does not have good specs. Also,the Estrella seems to have a poorer noise spec. I did not bother to investigate further as they have no showrooms like the premium brands. If they aren't bothered about sales, I would definitely worry about service. Then again, they seem to be pitching to businesses rather than consumers.
In the end, I wanted to get something premium but the fact that I can't even find a proper showroom to check out a Toshiba, Daikin or Carrier AC, have to pay a bomb for installation and worries about after sales service kept me away from these brands.
I would've considered a consumer branded AC but most dealers are not even showcasing a 5 star model from consumer brands. Some are warning on delays in receiving stock of a particular model that I'm interested in. Also, with so much confusion in this segment, I'm not very decided on what to go for.
The Hitachi 1.5 Ton was there in the showroom. It was available. The cost seemed reasonable with a stabilizer and installation. At this point, it's about as premium as I can afford to get :bleh:. I would've gone for the slightly cheaper CutOut model. I could care less about the FollowMe feature but the FollowMe model matches the colour of my wall :ashamed:.
6pack said:
IMO, an inverter AC is an AC with a variable speed compressor. A regular AC runs the compressor at a fixed speed for a duration depending on the temperature you've set to cool the room. Lower temp. means, the fixed speed compressor, will run for longer to cool the room.
An inverter AC will run the compressor periodically at a slow speed to periodically cool the room thereby consuming lesser electricity than running the compressor at full speed periodically.
All brands have an inverter AC AFAIK. The advantage is that they consume less power. However, they are very costly and you probably should be a business or have heavy usage to recover the initial cost of investment. Also, it would make more financial sense if you live in a hotter city.
Lazzy Boy said:
I think Croma deals in Mitsubishi. But, the folks at Croma seem least interested in pitching their ACs wheter it be Hitachi or Mitsubishi.
The Mitsubishi model is a good 7-8K more than the Hitachi. I feel that the Hitachi itself is overkill for Bangalore's climate. At the price the Mitsubishi's retailing, I might as well have gone in for a Daikin.
I'd like to know what folks think on a 3 star from the likes of Daikin or Hitachi. If I'm getting a 3 star, I'm already compromising. Why would I then go for a premium brand?
I don't think 3 star is a compromise in any way, if you are not running the AC continuously for 7+ hours it's hard to justify the additional cost of jumping to a 5 star rating unit. You will not realise any energy savings over a 6 year period, by which time it will be time to look for a new unit. Of course, it's still your call. Anyway it's not the star rating that really counts, it's the wattage consumption and the exact EER. You *have* to compute the numbers yourself, it's a bit like how a 2.4GHz from AMD and Intel are a little different, performance-wise. You really can't boil it down to a single spec or a single number. The star rating is for simpletons - I wouldn't think anyone here is one, so pull out the calculator already.
Since you've already made your choice, it's kind of pointless to talk about it any more - so enjoy your purchase
Since you've already made your choice, it's kind of pointless to talk about it any more - so enjoy your purchase
blr_p
Skilled
Sure, but this reason makes more sense if you use it more often. I can understand ppl wanting better quality consumer electronics or even a car as they'd experience the benefit every second they run it. They would most likely be using them almost every day as well.sydras said:
Don't understand why you think summers are getting increasingly hot. As urban sprawl continues there is more heat trapped in the city, so you could expect a cpl of degrees more than out in the country.sydras said:
But just look at last month's weather, the first two weeks were very stuffy then it suddenly started raining and the remainder was quite pleasant.Then it warmed up and as you can see this month it started raining again. I bet out of the two months you would need the AC for just 3 weeks. The wierder thing is the nights are much cooler outside than indoors.
Do you find this same kind of variation in other places i wonder.
So the market here agrees with the cost vs usefulness bit as you've found out. I bet they would be more attractive in other metros.sydras said:
blr_p said:
Well to me, quality is tangible even in an A/C. I like the lower noise level on my AC for the duration I'm using it and I don't have a clue as to what my usage would be. I'm just trying to playing safe with a 5 star AC from a supposedly better company :ashamed:.
I'm not sure about the weather stats but I've been living here for a while now and feeling increasingly uncomfortable in the summers. I agree that there are only a couple of days where it's really bad but I just want some comfortable sleep(maybe my patience is running out
).blr_p said:
Yes, I agree. I think one could desire the best of the best when the requirement really exists
. Otherwise, it's difficult to rationalize your purchase decisions .Folks, I've attached a quite I'd received for a 1.5 Ton Toshiba Daiseikai.
If anyone is considering a purchase, this might help you.
The total cost comes to Rs 51,300/- for the unit + stand(installation brackets) + copper piping + drain pipe + stabiliser + installation.