[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by manim

... this annual re-filling seems to me to be a racket and/or a shoddy job to me.

With no attempt to trace and fix the leak, this is absolutely shoddy. Local-street AC mechanic would do better than this!

[Gansan]

^^ The technician said the new inverter Acs with R 32 gas (refrigerant) have this issue. Because the gas is at double the pressure in the unit as compared to the older R 22 gas, according to him. I have to check it out with some others, I am hearing this for the first time. But everyone who approaches us for AMC, including the manufacturer, harp about this gas filling as if it will be a regular feature.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

With no attempt to trace and fix the leak,

Originally Posted by Gansan

^^ The technician said the new inverter Acs with R 32 gas (refrigerant)

I called the technician again and checked. He says the gas can sometimes escape through the valves in high pressure systems, due to vibration from compressor. Says there are no other leaks because it is a new unit with copper coils, that it will be his responsibility to come and fill free gas again if the pressure drops (due to the AMC in force), so that is the first thing they ensure. I will see how it performs for another couple of months. Would like to know if anyone else faces this kind of issue periodically, as this is my first episode.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by Gansan

They cleaned the indoor unit and outdoor unit with brushes - I always wash and clean the filters every 10 days so But it seems this gas filling will be an annual ritual, which was not the case with my old window unit.

The frequency of cleaning the internal filters is not required. Attend to it every month or two months based on condition. Those meshes are very fine and will not survive for much long at the rate you are cleaning it. Accumulation of little dust is not going to cause harm to you. Those filters are designed to do that.

There is a small leak somewhere in the system and that needs to be eliminated. You may have to pump in some uv dye to trace the leak. The correct way to do this is to over charge the system slightly and let it sit for a few days and observe the pressure gauge. The unit should be left idle and the pressure gauge should stay where it is. Where there is a leak, you will find traces of the dye and whatever that part or component is, will have to be replaced. This is the approach many take for cars as its difficult to access parts that are internal to the car.

A year is too soon for a new aircon to spring a leak. Either there is a bad flare, the evaporator or condenser is out or the joints have not been torqueued enough at the IDU and ODU end.

[Gansan]

^^ The filters need to be cleaned every 100 hours of operation as per user manual. I just wash it by using the hand shower, no soap or scrubbing. I have been doing it with all my Acs for more than a decade, nothing happens to the filters.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Gansan

... I have been doing it with all my Acs for more than a decade, nothing happens to the filters.

I agree. But when I need to clean a filter between service visits, I might not wash it. I find I can remove the dust by using a paintbrush. One downside to this is that there can then be a lot of dry dust to blow around! I do it outside.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by Gansan

I have been doing it with all my Acs for more than a decade, nothing happens to the filters.

In that case, good.

I approach this based on the condition of the filters. Not what the manual says. 100 hours may be needed for places like Delhi or if you live close to construction sites. We used to live in Bangalore and the filters would start to look dirty only after 2 months of use. I could keep using the aircon without a problem. I have no data to prove this. I felt the filter performed better when there was some dust accumulation on it versus nothing. The narrowing of those fine gaps means it trapped even more dust or soot.

Another option is to vacuum the filter.

[sinhead]

Originally Posted by Gansan

^^ The cooling coil of a Samsung split unit in my home was replaced with an after market one four years ago. It has been good so far.

Thanks once again. I got the aftermarket coil. It is doing fine till now. Cost me 8k for the coil and 3k for gas filling. They dismantled the idu and took it to get the new coil fixed.
I think I was fooled for gas filling because the valve / screw at the odu should have been closed when idu was dismantled.

[sinhead]

Guys I need some advice regarding this hole for the idu pipes.

Is such a big hole needed ? Should these bricks be supported with some metal sheet or something else?

I was thinking of getting a round metal pipe wide enough to accommodate the idu pipes, cut off the excess length beyond the brick wall, and fill the remaining gap - between the bricks and the metal pipe with concrete.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

[Ragul]

Originally Posted by sinhead

Guys I need some advice regarding this hole for the idu pipes.

Is such a big hole needed ? Should these bricks be supported with some metal sheet or something else?

I was thinking of getting a round metal pipe wide enough to accommodate the idu pipes, cut off the excess length beyond the brick wall, and fill the remaining gap - between the bricks and the metal pipe with concrete.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

The wound or hole in the wall pic you posted is typically the norm in India where a local installer at best does a shabby job. What you suggest is exactly what even I thought should be done but quality of labor expertise in our market is different. I am yet to discover which machinery or drill bit can be used for smoothly bore-drilling a neat round hole of a specific diameter of a few inches just enough to insert a pipe through a 6-9in brick wall. Would love to find out.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by sinhead

Guys I need some advice regarding this hole for the idu pipes.

Is such a big hole needed ? Should these bricks be supported with some metal sheet or something else?
......
.....

This mounting base-plate for the IDU seems to have been fixed in place quite some time ago; the fasteners are all rusted!?

[saket77]

Originally Posted by sinhead

Guys I need some advice regarding this hole for the idu pipes.

Is such a big hole needed ? Should these bricks be supported with some metal sheet or something else?

I was thinking of getting a round metal pipe wide enough to accommodate the idu pipes, cut off the excess length beyond the brick wall, and fill the remaining gap - between the bricks and the metal pipe with concrete.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Typically what’s done here. If you can find a grommet, then it will be good. What I did is fill the gap with white cement and later got that area repainted. And for finishing touch, added a desk grommet purely for aesthetic reasons. I don’t think that brick would need extra support of a metal pipe, but if you can one, it will be good.

[Makin Rulesz]

Originally Posted by Ragul

The wound or hole in the wall pic you posted is typically the norm in India where a local installer at best does a shabby job. What you suggest is exactly what even I thought should be done but quality of labor expertise in our market is different. I am yet to discover which machinery or drill bit can be used for smoothly bore-drilling a neat round hole of a specific diameter of a few inches just enough to insert a pipe through a 6-9in brick wall. Would love to find out.

I got it done recently through my interior contractor. They used something called "core cutting machine" to drill a hole in the concrete wall.

[Benoit]

Having used LG 1.5 ton 3 star AC for over 2 years while staying with my roommates, I found LG to be good. So I chose LG to buy for my home in 2019. The overzealous me chose to buy 1.5 ton inverter AC with 5 stars rating. After 2 years of usage now, I can say that cooling is relatively slower than the non-inverter model, which I think is expected.

The biggest bummer is that, the filter is on the top and exposed (unlike in the other brand where the filter in inside the front part). Due to this, I have clean the filter every month.

So, I advise people to check the filter position and then the AC, and I ask them to buy inverter models only if they use AC a lot.

Hope this helps someone here.

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by sinhead

Guys I need some advice regarding this hole for the idu pipes.

Is such a big hole needed ? Should these bricks be supported with some metal sheet or something else?

I was thinking of getting a round metal pipe wide enough to accommodate the idu pipes, cut off the excess length beyond the brick wall, and fill the remaining gap - between the bricks and the metal pipe with concrete.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Any half-good AC technician should have a core cutting machine which can core out a fixed diameter circle on the wall( very similar to the core on your computer desk ). It comes with varying drill sizes - 4 inch/6 inch etc.

It should be the default choice for regular walls. One doubt I have is that it may not be recommended to use on the concrete load bearing pillar or beams.