Team-BHP - The home / office air-conditioner thread

In a way back to square one. My Daikin has some leaks, and after a long down period I can expect the refrigerant R410a to have leaked away. This time I have the following in mind. Replace the split unit, I need one in the ground floor so it is not a dead loss. This time I am looking at various R410a and the like options. Suggestions please, I need a 2TR unit or at least a 1.8TR version.

What I plan is to get the new unit installed and then push to old unit to the living room complex. After debugging. I am sure it has sprung some leak. Of course now I am looking for anything (up market) other than Daikin. I am open to all major brand suggestions.

Apart from component and assembly/brazing quality control issues, is it fair to blame a brand because its machine eventually leaks? Isn't it rather like rubber tyres get punctures whatever? A consequence of copper plus corrosive atmosphere?

Interested to know your thoughts on this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 4267659)

I have no issues with the Daikin brand. It is one of the best of not the best, but but there can be some glitchy units. The reason why I now want to switch over to another brand is just for a change. i have many brands like Panasonic and others on my radar. The difference between the top end is minuscule. Then we can try and debug the old boy. I am sure we will het paydirt in both.

Nothing like good old assembled/local AC for long trouble free ownership. Those who have realised that the power saving of a 5* AC is offset by reliability and service costs should try out assembled split AC.

A friend got one installed 10 years ago, and it is still going strong - no leaks, no failures. That unit has no electronics, and the IDU is quite wide so thermal efficiency is quite good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgiitk (Post 4267387)

My Daikin has some leaks...

The Daikin I bought 5 years back lasted only two years.

Actually it was the fault of the installer who among other things did not vacuum the lines during installation. I think it had suffered permanent damage. It would not cool and it will not start most of the time with the error-light blinking.

I got rid of it (at a financial loss) and bought a General Inverter 2T, three years back. Expensive, but now I have peace of mind.

And my Window-General bought in 1995 (import from gulf) is still working perfectly, never had any leaks or any major problems so far (though in a guest room it is used sparingly).

I will buy only General brand ever.

Quote:

Originally Posted by manim (Post 4267760)

Actually it was the fault of the installer who among other things did not vacuum the lines during installation.

have had split acs installed and reinstalled about 12 times now but have not seen any installer vacuum the lines. Over the past two house moves I have used the same person and he has never done this. Not that it's a good thing, just saying. Of these., two Daikin have needed a gas refill and one Samsung. My 2T 11+year old Samsung has shifted twice with me and hasn't ever had any issue.

Guys am facing a new issue with my AC.
It runs normally without stabilizer. But when the stabilizer is connected, the indoor unit works fine, but when the outdoor unit starts up, the circuit breaker for that phase trips. This is a recent problem. AC service guys say it's the stabilizer fault, while the stabilizer guy says he couldn't reproduce the issue. Any idea what to do?

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenhorn (Post 4268023)

My colleague had a similar issue and at that time they didn't figure it was a Stabilizer issue right away. Did a lot of troubleshooting such as shift to a different room, different phase and finally took the unit to their service center to no avail. Finally was figured out to be a Stabilizer issue. I have had this issue myself of the mcb tripping due to a failed capacitor in the ODU. You could maybe have that checked as well, though it seems to indicate the Stabilizer in your case.

@manim; you have put General back on my short list. Maybe i will check out and see. If I remember General is about the same as Daikin, but a shade higher in price. Now let me get back and then proceed. You are also tempting me to take Daikin as a bad (and costly) memory.

Quote:

Originally Posted by manim (Post 4267760)

I saw on amazon. Seems that General has poor or worse reviews, so back to square 1. Now the question again goes open.

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenhorn (Post 4268023)

Check the type and rating of the circuit breaker. It should be rated at least 15A and be type "C" or "D"

When the AC switches on apart from the onrush current of the AC compressor motor, the stabiliser transformer add its own onrush current, so either you have to change the stabiliser or better still upgrade the the circuit breaker to 20A type "C" or "D"
Here is the data from Havels catalog

The home / office air-conditioner thread-mcb.jpg

the MCB running the AC is a panasonic 25A C type.
anyway I am not sure how long i will be renting this house, so don't want to invest in it (and i doubt the landlord will bother)

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenhorn (Post 4268979)

the MCB running the AC is a panasonic 25A C type.
anyway I am not sure how long i will be renting this house, so don't want to invest in it (and i doubt the landlord will bother)

If 25A "C" is tripping, then the stabilizer is the culprit, unless the MCB is faulty.