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

If anyone's in the market for a new AC, Samsung offers extended warranty + service every 4 months as a paid add-on. It costs 10k for 4 years of additional warranty - and it applies to everything : the dodgy PCBs that keep failing nowadays, the regular gas leaks - even your remote can be replaced free of cost if there's a fault! (The compressor already has a 10 year warranty IIRC and the condensor/indoor unit has a 5 year one).

This was useful for us as prior to this current set of ACs, as we seemed to be changing 3 out of 4 of them every 2-3 years. The add-on warranty needs to be purchased within 1 year of purchase - and has already paid for itself after the PCB of a Samsung inverter AC we bought in Aug 2020 failed recently. However, they'll forget about the free service if you don't push them for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 5295831)

I've always kept the fan on with the AC, and yes, it is really nice. However, AC service technicians always recommend not running the fan and the AC at the same time because dust accumulates much faster - I never listen to them :P just wanted to give a heads up to clean the filters more often if you use the fan and AC together.

Quote:

Originally Posted by earthian (Post 5294808)

Bought 10 Mitsubishi Inverter a/cs for the new house. Most of them (except the 1 T capacity) are 5*. Included is two years AMC . Warranty- 10 years for compressor and 5 years for PCB. Installation costs extra.

Very good on behalf of Mitsubishi to give 5 years warranty on PCB. PCB on inverter ACs (2 of them I guess) cost a bomb to replace. And PCBs can go kaput, especially in areas prone to voltage fluctuations without stabilizers. The whole reason I went for Panasonic inverter over LG and Daikin where the extended warranty on PCB.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 5295831)

This is such an insanely good tip, thanks guys! Started keeping the ceiling fan on low speed with the AC and it greatly, greatly helps in a uniform spread. I'm extremely sensitive to temperature changes & found this to be the best combination.

Been sleeping like a log since a couple of days. Good sleep for 7 - 8 hours = feel like I'm on top of the world.

All these years have been using the celling fan. I had already pointed out earlier in the thread
If you use it

The AC will accumulate lot of dust, including the tubes
If you have any sinus allergies, they get amplified with the fan

Tried it for some time without fan, but couldn't sleep due to the absolute silence.

I get my inverter AC thoroughly cleaned every 6 months. I have this AC guy, who comes and dismantles the entire Indoor unit and spray cleans it, shampoos the plastic parts etc. You wouldn't believe the amount of dust that comes out. From black color evaporator to the original coil color is the transformation. He washes the outdoor unit too and chares up the gas if needed. So the performance for Kerala weather is satisfactory. I feel inverter ACs are especially susceptible to clogging and its a good practice ( if you are using regularly) to strip clean it once every 6 months.

I have a Panasonic Window AC also. This is another story, no maintenance at all, extremely powerful ( can keep the adjacent room also quite comfortable). Only drawback is it is really noisy compared to inverter ACs.

Hi Folks

Need a split AC to replace my Carrier Superia 4i and Flipkart is running some promotions. I came across a pretty cheap Whirlpool 5 star AC.

https://www.flipkart.com/whirlpool-4...18e43c8967819?

Power consumption figures looks good, but am a bit skeptical about Whirlpool as a brand. I have had two Whirlpool water purifiers in the past and they always gave me trouble.

Any other brands I should be looking at?

The LG split(non inverter) is behaving weird. It is not respecting the set temperature and is cooling beyond the set temperature by a big margin. I set the temperature at 29 and the compressor stops once the room is cooled to 24 degrees(As read by the bed side thermometer). It kicks back in when the temperature rises to 28. This is causing lot of discomfort late in the night when the compressor kicks in and we are frozen to the bone!

I understand the cooling is not linear and the hysteresis is involved. But I was expecting the difference to be around 2 degrees. Not 5 degrees!

Any suggestions on how to fix this problem. Thanks in advance

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragonfire (Post 5296109)

Please AVOID Whirlpool. We've had a washing machine and refrigerator from this brand in the past, and it was nothing but agony, having to repair both multiple times.

For ACs, Daikin is really good. If your usage is moderate, simply go for a simple, non-inverter model. It will last you many years, and is virtually maintenance free except for periodic filter cleaning.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan (Post 5295969)

Can you remove the air filter, operate the aircon and let us know if the smell persists? Some of these carbon activated or electrostatic filters can cause this.

The problem you report is difficult to diagnose. If it were a refrigerant leak, then you won't have any cooling. If it is cooling, there is refrigerant in the system. Refrigerant is technically odorless, however, they do add odor for the purpose of identifying a potential system leak.

If the technician is threatening, you need to report this to LG. Such behavior is unacceptable.

Thanks sandeepmohan for the suggestion! I ran the AC without the filter, but the smell was still there. I will now write to LG and hope they resolve the issue ASAP. Will temperature rising each day, it is frustrating to watch the AC as a show piece.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arun_S (Post 5295882)

Please check your Stabilizer, whether the power output is coming as normal.

Last month just after cleaning was facing a burning smell, turned out to be Stabilizer, which had some parts which was melting due to short circuit.

Its not a burning smell. But still I went ahead and changed the plug and the switch (there is no stabilizer). The smell is still there. :disappointed

Quote:

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki (Post 5296128)

It looks like your temperature sensor has either gone bad or calibration has gone bad that it reports wrong temperature for compressor control.

Since 29degC is at the higher end of control band, did you try changing the temperature setting to different values across the range from 18degC to 26degC? This can help whether it is due to calibration setting or sensor gone kaput.

Or please get the temperature sensor checked by a technician directly.

@MBond007 - Please raise the issue with LG for compressor oil check as I requested earlier. They have to take the AC with them to check as it is not easy to detect oil left in coils. Synthetic oils though non toxic but prolonged exposure is not good for health due to carcinogenic claims.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thanixravindran (Post 5296246)

Do you mean, I set different temperatures and see how much is the actual temperature before the temperature cuts off?

Right time for this thread. Want to buy a new AC for my home and friends suggested me to go for a SOLAR Air Conditioner to avoid most of the above mentioned problems. Googled and found below companies.

Onyx, Sharada Inventions, SuryaShakti, Arka Technologies etc.

Any thoughts from the forum and any experience on which brand is the best?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodie09 (Post 5295885)

Does your ac come with a mode called Chaos logic or something similar. That's an LG term, can be different for you depending on brand. It is programmed to give that natural uneven gusts of air. Do check out the manual or the remote for such mode.:thumbs up

Nope, no mode like that. Today I did only a thorough bleach treatment and no other cleaning. Let's see if the sound stops tonight and how long it last. This could help in providing or eliminating one source.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mortis (Post 5296410)

I get this wind blowing noise only when the filters are clogged in my AC (rarely if I miss my regular cleaning) and after regular cleaning, this goes away. Does this happen on all the modes? You mentioned it is not in blower but what is blower mode - Is it the fan mode you are referring or something else?

Not related to the problem, but curious what bleach you are using and how do you do the bleach wash? Can we do it ourselves or is it by AC service person?