[bblost]

Originally Posted by spyking

I can use only split as there are no windows.
Also, if I don't drill a hole through the wall, Can I still use a split, by routing the pipes out through a skylight?

Thanks!

yes you can.
the pipes instead of going outside from behind the indoor unit, will come out from the sides. A small piece of plastic in the indoor unit will need to be removed. There is provision to do the same in the indoor units.

I have a similar setup in my house.

[drpullockaran]

Originally Posted by KPGB

Just a silly query - my room has gaps in the doors ( there are 3 doors by the way ) and I am planning to install an AC...don't know if I need to take care by some way to close the gaps - just read something about door sweeps when I was searching on the net.. Are these useful ? and do the installation guys recommend something for this or even do they help fix this ?

Thanks

Hey that ain't no silly question.

Call me silly if you will but I have all the windows open all the time which are mosquito net proofed though.
There are 5 windows in all and each window being 10 square feet. It does not cool down to chill levels but keeps us comfortable whether during the day or night. Temperature in Kerala never crosses 37 degrees where I live. Those living in hotter climates will not have the luxury of getting fresh air.
I do not expect my AC to cool below 26 degrees too.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by bblost

yes you can.
the pipes instead of going outside from behind the indoor unit, will come out from the sides. A small piece of plastic in the indoor unit will need to be removed. There is provision to do the same in the indoor units.

I have a similar setup in my house.

Only it looks very awkward, also the length of the piping makes a huge difference in the cooling, so keep it short.

[khoj]

Originally Posted by spyking

Need some help..

I live in an old house, that has 3 feet thick plaster walls and would like to ac a small mezzanine section, that is 8ftX11Ft with a 20Ft high ceiling. There is a 3ftX6ft glass door that leads out to a tree covered balcony, that is facing the south.

The usage will be basically during afternoons and weekends, just to get the room slightly cool (25-26) only during the summer months. Basically my study/comp room. There is wooden staircase that occupies half the room, that leads out to the terrace, the ceiling is, wood slabs with concrete over it.

What capacity ac should I be looking at? Looking at spending the minimum possible amount.
I can use only split as there are no windows.
Also, if I don't drill a hole through the wall, Can I still use a split, by routing the pipes out through a skylight?

Thanks!

You can achieve the desired result by using a 1.5 tons though in view of the high roof, the skylight, exposed roof etc the actual capacity required would be slightly higher.

Routing the pipes through the skylight will make it difficult for you to deal with the gaps around. Instead take the tried and tested method of using a concrete drill bit and making a clean hole rather than obe made by hammer and chisel. The pipes can simply pass through from behind the machine instead of the sides. Any reason why you do not want to drill a hole in the wall?

Originally Posted by petroguzzler

Is this the mercedes before the 90's(w124,w123) or the mercedes's after that(w210,w211)?

Yep, Merc with the single lamp headlights, the BMW would be the pre Bangled version and the Audi from the time before it grew the Bulgarian beard

[Wimwian]

Originally Posted by Wimwian

I need a window ac this time, so Panny is out. As far as building equity with the dealer is concerned, I got mine from ezone where there's no point as the manger/salesmen keep changing.

Finally ended up getting the General AMG13G for 22.5K from Vijay Sales. It was installed yesterday. Although my flat has a standard sized slot for ACs, this machine is much smaller than other 1 tonners. The installer had to attach extra wood panels for which he charged 400 bucks.

I haven't used the AC much so can't really comment on the performance, but initial impression are good.

[shankar.balan]

samsung I ve found is first class. excellent after sales service too.
a 1 tonner with 3 star rating, including stablizer and installation free, costs a total of about 23500/- in Bangalore.
A good price in my opinion.

[vasudeva]

I have been using General 1.5 t window ACs since 2004. One was bought in 2004 and the other in 2005. The 2004 one was sold in 2011 after 7 seasons of usage with it giving no problems at all. No gas leakages, no thermostat failures or anything at all.

The 2005 one is still going strong in its 7th year. Last week, I replaced the 2004 General AC with a 2 t General window. The older one was sold to a person who had bought a Samsung in 2008, which was nearing end of life in 2010 itself. Could be a defective piece or a cheaper version (he bought it for 18K in 2008).

For window AC, I am sticking with General for as long as it maintains the same or even somewhat lesser standard. The cost is higher but it pays more through better cooling, longer life, lesser maintenance (only service), and better resales. I have been using window ACs since 1997 and except for General, none of them could last beyond 3-4 years. Of course they could have lasted longer with substantial repair costs.

[bblost]

@spyking.

I forgot to add. There are three pipes that exit in the indoor unit.
2 of them carry the refrigerant gas. One of them drains the condensed water.

Take special care of the drain pipe. It should go down straight without any upturns. That will cause a water block and eventually mildew formation. It can happen with just a day or two of usage and is characterized by a foul smell.

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by vasudeva

For window AC, I am sticking with General for as long as it maintains the same or even somewhat lesser standard. The cost is higher but it pays more through better cooling, longer life, lesser maintenance (only service), and better resales. I have been using window ACs since 1997 and except for General, none of them could last beyond 3-4 years. Of course they could have lasted longer with substantial repair costs.

Not taking anything away from General but I would like to make a point about LG too. They are quite maligned otherwise.

We had 3 Window ACs in three bedrooms in Goa in 2002/03. High humidity and high ambient temperatures is a norm where I stay. The coastline is about 200 meters from our house.

We got 2 Generals and one LG. And all three are working great. Actually exceptionally well. Touch wood.

The LG keeps up with the Generals quite well. My dad strictly follows the service schedule and maintains a log of all repairs done. Presently the log of repairs for all three is blank.

So I guess not taking anything away from the mercedes and bmws of the ACs, the maruti's too keep up with the hallowed/costly brands quite well.

[spyking]

Originally Posted by bblost

yes you can.
the pipes instead of going outside from behind the indoor unit, will come out from the sides. A small piece of plastic in the indoor unit will need to be removed. There is provision to do the same in the indoor units.

I have a similar setup in my house.

Originally Posted by bblost

@spyking.

I forgot to add. There are three pipes that exit in the indoor unit.
2 of them carry the refrigerant gas. One of them drains the condensed water.

Take special care of the drain pipe. It should go down straight without any upturns. That will cause a water block and eventually mildew formation. It can happen with just a day or two of usage and is characterized by a foul smell.

I forgot about the drain pipe. The skylight is above where I'd like to mount the indoor unit, so I might have to think of some other idea for the drain pipe. Thanks for the heads up!

Originally Posted by khoj

You can achieve the desired result by using a 1.5 tons though in view of the high roof, the skylight, exposed roof etc the actual capacity required would be slightly higher.

Routing the pipes through the skylight will make it difficult for you to deal with the gaps around. Instead take the tried and tested method of using a concrete drill bit and making a clean hole rather than obe made by hammer and chisel. The pipes can simply pass through from behind the machine instead of the sides. Any reason why you do not want to drill a hole in the wall?

Hehe, the main reason being that this part of the house is about 90-100 years old, So don't want to drill a through and through 3ft hole through the wall. Shall get the installer to give his inputs too though.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by tush

Thanks for the reply Khoj. Appreciate your help.

I thought the requirements would be generalized in that website. But yes you are right I should check the ones that are meant for our weather conditions. If anyone on our thread knows about it and could share it with us then it would be of great help.

I would definitely want to go for a Daikin but I am just not sure if 1.5 would be an overkill for my requirements.

I have posted this before, but here goes. For North Indian summer, the rule of thumb calculations handed over to me by an experienced engineer (and thoroughly validated over many installations) is

1. 1 ton for every 1000 cubic feet, or in case of modern flats 1000/9 = 111 square feet
2. 1 ton for every 5 persons in the room
3. 1 ton for every 3kw of appliances in the room.

Hence if you have a 12x15=180 square foot room, with two persons and 500w of appliances (fan, TV, stereo etc) the tonnage required is

180/111 + 1*2/4 + 1*500/3000 = 1.62 + 0.4 + 0.16 = 2.28

This tonnage would cool the room in a temparature differential of 20 degrees (42 - 22 degrees) if you can bear minimum of 25 then the tonnage comes to around 2. If day temperatures hit 45, then the tonnage may go upto 2.5. This is of course the peak cooling requirement mainly during day time. At night the temperatures hover around 36 and smaller unit would suffice.

NOTE
1. Most of the calculations on the net, ignore the fact that we in India have AC in one room, and the passages are not cooled, hence a lot of cold air leaks out. Every time you open the door (even to the attached toilet), you loose cold air. So you should have at least 15% over capacity.

2. One method of reducing the cooling requirement is to set the AC at 25 and run the fan on at slow/medium speed.

3. If the summer is exceedingly hot and dry, you can increase cooling by regularly spraying water on the rear heat exchanger. This increase the thermal efficiency by cooling the hot-end. I remember AC 20 years ago used to have a water tank with a pipe dripping water for this reason.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by spyking

Need some help..

I live in an old house, that has 3 feet thick plaster walls and would like to ac a small mezzanine section, that is 8ftX11Ft with a 20Ft high ceiling. There is a 3ftX6ft glass door that leads out to a tree covered balcony, that is facing the south.

The usage will be basically during afternoons and weekends, just to get the room slightly cool (25-26) only during the summer months. Basically my study/comp room. There is wooden staircase that occupies half the room, that leads out to the terrace, the ceiling is, wood slabs with concrete over it.

What capacity ac should I be looking at? Looking at spending the minimum possible amount.
I can use only split as there are no windows.
Also, if I don't drill a hole through the wall, Can I still use a split, by routing the pipes out through a skylight?

Thanks!

Are you sure that the wall are 3 feet thick? That wall thickness is required for six storeyed houses built at the turn of last century. Most probably you have 12 or 18 inch walls. Use a long masonry drill bit (I bought a Chinese one - 20mm diameter and 500mm long abroad, but they are available here also). Drill two holes one for the refrigerant pipes and one for the drain. Angle the drain hole slightly down. The drainage pipe should always go down, and as the skylight is higher, not possible.

For tonnage calculation please refer to my previous post

[v.anand]

Which of the 2 brands are better among 1.5 ton split 5 star AC between Daikin and Hitachi? I am looking at models presently available here.

It would also be of tremendous help to me if I can get the indicative price for the above two brands. Daikin was quoted at 41k all inclusive and LG at 36k at Reliance Digital.

Also, is it advisable to go in for the ones with inverter technology or is it merely a not so important feature?

I am more keen on R410 refridgerant as compared to R22 in view of being future proof.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by v.anand

Which of the 2 brands are better among 1.5 ton split 5 star AC between Daikin and Hitachi? I am looking at models presently available here.

It would also be of tremendous help to me if I can get the indicative price for the above two brands. Daikin was quoted at 41k all inclusive and LG at 36k at Reliance Digital.

Also, is it advisable to go in for the ones with inverter technology or is it merely a not so important feature?

I am more keen on R410 refrigerant as compared to R22 in view of being future proof.

Go for Inverter technology, as the running cost will be less for the same cooling. Both are good, but all depends on the persons installing you AC. You have to pay more for Daikin "authorised" installation, but they do a superb job.

[travelwriter]

Can anyone tell me if Hitachi is a brand worth buying (Window AC)? Any idea on the service network in Calcutta would also help.
Thanks