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O General... Maybe O Nida's brother?

;)

We are so fed up with the company that Samsung use (Alpha in Velacheri) that we have given up calling Samsung for service and problems, and now use a local-workshop guy.

SAMSUNG
I have two Samsung split ACs in my office. A 1.5T in my room and a 2.0T in the staff room. It is just over an year since they were installed, and they worked without any fuss or issues till now. They cool very fast.

The weather here is very hot & humid, but the 1.5T cools the 16'x18' feet room with two servers, one pc and a huge UPS unit in about 10 min. I usually keep the temp at 25 or 26, any lower and it gets too chilly for me.

The 2.0T is in a 22'x18' room with 15 staff and workstations and it does an excellent job of helping them keep their cool :) The blower is not intrusive even at the max speed setting. We usually leave it on auto and don't even notice the sound.

Overall I am quite satisfied with their performance till now. And they seem to go quite easy on the power consumption too. And the dealer did give the three free services with a little prodding from my end. I hope the ACs will provide at least five years of service before I have to replace them.

VOLTAS
We have two 1.5T Voltas window ACs in our house. One is 10 years old and one is 7 years old. Both provide decent cooling, but do seem to consume a bit more power. The 7-yr old one is very quite and smooth. One can hardly make out the blower noise in the room. The 10-year old one is a like a diesel engine. It starts with a roar and when the compressor turns on, the sound is like trucks down-shifting on the high-way. Maybe it is time to retire it as it has given years of trouble-free service.

But the newer Voltas do not seem to be nowhere as good. We have seen one in a friends house and it struggles to cool the room making lot of rattling & wheezing noises. Also the guy who services the ACs says that the older Voltas weigh a ton and need atleast 3 or 4 people to install them, while the newer ones are a lot lighter and two people can handle them easily. Maybe Voltas has cut down on quality to match the Korean on-slaught.

CARRIER
We needed a window AC in our kids room. Since VOLTAS did not seem to have the same quality as before, we wanted to go with Samsung. But no dealer in town had a star-rated Samsung Window AC. So we decided to go with the 2-star Carrier Durakool 1.5T window AC. It was a mistake. The unit was unbelievably noisy and was emitting a foul chemical smell. I think we got a defective unit, but the dealer refused to replace it. We escalated the issue to Carrier corporate and sent a legal notice about filing a case in the consumer court. After a month of negotiations, Carrier forced the dealer to take back the unit and refund our money. I am very satisfied with Carrier's response to my complaint and how they handled the issue.

We bought 2 Lloyd window ACs in 2008 (1 ton each - with remote) for our home in New Delhi. While the cooling is decent, they start up with a crazy roar, enough to scare somebody and are very noisy during operation too.

Ah, thanks Sam. Noisy means they are out. I really really want a Hitachi but the budget would not permit it as I need to get 3 :(
Tried Onida at an uncles place in Delhi the day before, I am impressed. It was a 1 T AC but was extremely effective at 25 degrees setting in a decent sized bedroom (10*12 types)

For window aircons it's all a simple question of whether it's a reciprocating compressor or a rotary one.

The rotary was less noisy and consumed less power. The reciprocating was more repairable and worked for more years.

At least that's how it used to be some years ago. I wonder if technology has changed.

hmm so its an efficiency Vs longevity kind of decision . I am planning to go and check Samsung and Onida now, based on the feedback.

I thought Rotary ones are more noisy;yes recip ones are repairable and longer lasting

No. 100% not. The rotary ones are less noisy.

I have seen the performance of Carrier at office and found that their room ACs are crap in terms of cooling.
I have used a 1.5 ton Voltas AC for home and found it to be very good with least mtce except for its plastics which are poor includng the vent louver es.

Recently purchased a 1 tonne LG Split AC spending 20 K. Very dissppointed in terms of aesthetics and performance. Already having problems with the thermostat not cutting off and 72 hours have passed by after lodging complaint and no response yet.
Think big mistake in purchasing LG.

I just bought a Samsung 1.5 Tonne AS18UA model from X-CITE, Hyderabad.

Paid 24990 for AC, Stabilizer (Keeline KL 400 KV).
Price also includes free delivery and installation.

I am not sure about the support struts for the outdoor unit.
Maybe I might need to pay the extra 800 or so. Not sure about it.
Credit Card Payment with no extra CC usage charge.

Repeat Samsung customer.

Got myself a Hitachi 1.5 ton window AC (dual motor) for 26,900 including stablizer. This will be the most hard working AC in the house.

Now looking for a 1.5 and 2.0 ton ACs for occasional use. Can't decide on the brands.

Any idea how Voltas is ? The 1.5 ton 3 star EER unit retails for on the road cost of 22,900.

Replaced my LG A/c in 3 years , as water started leaking through the Indoor Airflow. Now using Voltas. Very Very happy with it. My dad's room is also fitted with LG and the indoor unit is to be replaced as its not working properly. The guy who fitted the A.c and was trained by LG , also a well known person to me , says , LG's plastic quality is poor compared to Voltas .

Split or Cassette? Carrier split is crappy, while the cassette is fantastic, I have both.

Though I dont use either of them still I feel Carrier window is also not bad.

I thought I'd record my recent AC buying experience. After much dithering and suffering Mumbai's intense humidity for the past couple of weeks, I decided to buy a one-ton Hitachi window AC (RAV014EOD). I bought it from Croma in Juhu for the listed price of Rs 22,490, but I got to choose a free electronic accessory worth Rs 1000 into the bargain. I opted for a handheld blender.

Delivery was prompt -- the unit came securely packed next morning at 10 am. The installation was done the same afternoon by two guys deputed by Croma, and they did a decent job. My bedroom had a small window, so there was no need to break the wall. However, the hole was a bit too large, so they filled the gaps with wood (see pic). The wood needs a coat of paint, but I think I'll do that myself.

The disappointment came the next day in the form of the "demo technicians" ostensibly deputed by Hitachi. They were supposed to call before they came in the morning -- they didn't. They turned up in the afternoon, shabbily dressed, and couldn't speak a word of English. They explained how to use the remote, but as I had played around with it the night before I was quite an expert in the device.

I found this casual approach very surprising for an "international" product. All this may be forgiven, but when they asked to borrow my phone to call their next customer, I felt Hitachi was seriously jeopardising their image as a "premium" brand. In contrast, the LG service guy whom I had called to repair my microwave was prompt, well-dressed, and spoke good English and Hindi.

So much for the buying experience. The product itself is working splendidly, but I must admit it's been only two days since installation. It cools my 120 sq ft bedroom very fast, and makes very little noise. There are a plethora of modes and a full-featured remote. The high Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) of 10.6 was the main reason I went for it. I hope it reflects in my monthly electricity bill, especially since I intend to use it for only 3-4 hours a day!