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One thing that I have noted with LG is that try hard to cater to the consumer problems. So the introduced 5 year warranty for PCB, 5 year extended warranty for appliances, reduced the price of most components, and I believe that they addressed corrosion of fins and pipes of AC in harsh environment by applying special corrosion resistant coatings.

Now every one is coming up with same ideals. That is the power of one company taking initiative to cater to the consumer interests and the rest have to follow if they want to remain in the game.

I completely agree. Have seen that side of things even for our 11+ yr. old LG Front load. :thumbs up
LG service is by far the best in the general area I live in.

But even then I would not liken them to a Toyota (whatever that's supposed to imply). rl:

The mechanic came yesterday and replaced the board. Although it cost 12k, the AC is running fine as before. But this was an unwanted spend, which I may not have needed had it been a fixed speed compressor AC. All the more reason to not go for inverter, unless it comes with 5 years warranty on the PCB.
Has any one taken the AMC for electrical appliances from Urban Company? It costs Rs.2400 for 4 appliances of your choice for one year. They promise guaranteed repairs with no charge for labor or spare parts.
Only Discretionary gas filling in compressor driven appliances (AC, Fridge) is not covered as it is classified as accessories. But in case of manufacturing defect which causes leakage, gas filling is covered. I am thinking of taking this as an insurance for my ACs. Whether something goes wrong or not, at least the larger part of costs is covered.

Only while your appliance is under standard/extended warranty. I have had horrific experiences with their out of warranty repairs with appliances such as microwaves and refrigerator.

As per my last ordeal they told me that compressor of my 8 year old refrigerator is bust and it will cost 6000. What seemed a small door adjustment was quoted a repair bill of another 5000 for entire door replacement. They suggested to change the entire refrigerator as its parts availability would also be an issue. I had made up my mind to go for a new one the next day. In the mean time due to a communication gap my dad called a local repair guy while I was at work. He diagnosed the issue as a relay fault and replaced it along with door adjustment for INR 1200. I wrote to LG about the entire experience and haven't received any response yet. :Frustrati

My experience with most A/c brands is that nowadays no one company builds products that are very durable. If you want minimum gas leaks then just go for a model that has anti corrosive coating on cooling coil and condenser. I am personally avoiding inverter A/c for now but they are going to be the norm going forward with probably lower part failures.

Hi Guys,

Need some advice please. We are experiencing regular power failures which can last from a few minutes to 12 hours. The situation is getting worse every year and this year with temperatures hovering near the 40C mark, life without an A.C. has become unbearable.

I presently have 2 x 2.0T normal Daikin split A.C's which are 11 years old.
They are located in the Master bedroom and the Hall/Dining room. Considering the power fluctuations, trips and other issues they have given me sterling service and are still going strong. The only problems I have faced with these 2 A.C's have been due to power fluctuations.

However, needless to say, during the frequent power cuts these A.C.'s are pretty much useless.

My plan is to replace these 2 A.C's with 2 x 1.5T Dual Invertor A.C's from Daikin.

I already have a 5.5 Kva Microtek Invertor with 4 batteries and the plan is to add another 2 batteries to this Inverter.

I will then connect these 2 new Invertor A.C's to the Inverter and hopefully will be able to use at least 1 A.C. at a time during black outs.

I am hoping to get at least 4 hours back up from the batteries but am not sure.

Is anyone here using a similar setup? Is my idea feasible?

Any advice or suggestions would be welcome.

I had initially thought of purchasing a small generator but, apart from the cost, there are too many issues with that plan hence my decision to go down this road.

Regards,
SS

One of my friends living in rural area, has been using some sort of 12 battery inverter system for his 3 storey house owing to long power outages, and he confidently states that their ACs run fine on the inverter when power's out.

But that is some expensive machinery, both inverter and that large battery pack is going to cost you some money.
You can call the Battery guy, he can recommend the right setup for your needs.

Also AC wise, I feel you should not let go off the reliable old friends that you have. Those 2 ton Diakin units are bulletproof, atleast keep the one in the hall.

The Inverter AC's start without any surge, ramping up slowly over two to five minutes. In contrast the older AC's start up instantaneously and the surge current can be any where between 2 to 4 times the normal running current. This happens every time the compressor restarts.

So you have a dilemma - whether to replace the older AC's or not. There are a few options that you can explore if you want to keep your old AC's :-

1. Beef up the UPS rating. 2 x 2T AC will consume approximately 2 x 10A = 20 A while running and upto 50A when starting together. That translates to a UPS of at least 10KVA, preferably more.

2. Get a 10 or 14KVA generator with AMF panel. That can be programmed to start after say 1 min of power off and stop after 1 min of power coming. This is preferred method for long duration power cuts as batteries for say 5 hours power cut would be prohitively expensive.

Of course you can go for newer Inverter AC's and connect them to the UPS, but even then long term power cuts will not be solved.

A 1.5 ton 5 star rated inverter AC like daikin will consume about 1350watt each. Which combined will be about as much as your current single 2ton AC.

So yes getting a 5 star inverter AC means you reduce power consumption and also get increased back up time.

You currently have 4 lead acid batteries. Being a 5.5kva inverter, it will mostly be connected in series for 48v. So you cannot add just 2 more batteries, you will have to get 4 more batteries. Also if your old batteries have lost lot of capacity, when you connect new batteries in parallel, the old batteries will get overcharged or over discharged.

For 4 hrs of back up you will need 4x 200AH lead acid batteries of C10. Which cost a total of around 80k or so.

If you are in a independent own house and have sunlight on the roof, you can put solar panels and a MPPT charge controller and use your existing inverter and batteries. In this scenario your batteries will be cycled from about 80 to 100 percent charge. Obviously if the power cut is at night, then solar won't help, unless you get new batteries.

Mixed feedback about a LG 2Ton Inverter AC service:

Couple of nights back, the AC started showing a CH23 error and refused to work. Next day registered complaint and they sent a technician home in the afternoon.

Called me to say (I was in office) the board would have shorted out due to a voltage issue and will need to be changed and will cost Rs8k odd.

Had a mini attack then :D told him there's a nice V-Guard stabilizer so how can there be a voltage issue. Asked him did you open the outdoor unit and check because we had a similar issue in another Lloyd AC due to mice.

Said no sir but confirmed because this error message is only for voltage issue!

He got the new board today, opened the outdoor unit (I was there this time), only to see a mouse running away for it's life! It was as expected, a mess inside. He had a sheepish grin on his face and i had a "i told you so" look on my face.

Cleaned up the mess, connected the wires back and with Rs. 650 service charge the AC is back to normal.

Now to find ways to stop mice from getting in.

Any tips?

Hi Rshrey22. Aim 120 and Aroy,

Thanks for all your inputs.

@RShrey22 : You are absolutely right about the 2 Daikin's. They are the "2010 model Innova" of A.C's and I really don't want to let them go. I am still thinking of a way around this problem.

I guess fitting a 10 Kva UPS as @Aroy mentioned is one way of doing it but the batteries are going to cost at least 80k + 50k for the Inverter - but that's still cheaper than a genset.
By, the way, Aroy, intention is to run just 1 A.C. at a time during a power outage.

My main issue with a genset is the noise and exhaust. I live in a small gated community and the villas are just 6 metres apart. I am fairly sure the neighbours would start complaining. Also I have been told that a genset would use about 2.5L of diesel per hour on 75% load. That equates to about Rs. 250.00 per hour running cost. Not cheap. Plus the problem of transporting diesel in jerry cans from the pump to my house and storing them when not in use...

Final option is to go the solar way as suggested by @aim120.

When I last checked 2 or 3 years ago, I was told that I would need too many solar panels to run an A.C. and it was just not feasible.

Need to do some more research on this subject. My main concern is that the concrete slab of my roof should not get damaged or punctured during installation of the panels.

The fact that I can use the existing Inverter and batteries is tempting.

I guess I need to do more research on this subject.

Regards,
SS

Check the max recorded wind speed in your city/town.
If the speed is less you can install solar panels without making any hole in the concrete slab, just the metal columns for the panel should be placed in a cement motor in a cube shape. So that the cement adhesion and weight will not make the panels blow off during high speed winds.
If its in a cyclone area, then the panel mount structures will have to bolted to the rebar area( but then again I am not sure if the solar panel itself would fair any better in such high speed wind).

Only if you use a inverter AC will it work with a inverter, since a regular inverter will have a high start current for a few seconds(and as much as 50amps of inrush current for less then a second).

A inverter AC once its has reached the set temperature will consume very less power. In my daikin 5 star inverter it consumes as low as 270 to 350watt to maintain the temperature. So at these loads its easy on the battery and solar. So lets say the power fails after the room is cooled to the set temperature, just two 400watt panels in theory could support the two 5 star daikin inverter AC.

In reality you will need about 3 to 4 panels for the MPPT to buck voltage to your battery voltage and still have enough headroom for cloudy days or temporary cloud passing by.

So not only is this option cheaper then a genset, it also saves electricity. But a inverter AC of 5 star is a must which again saves in electricity.

From the last few pages i can understand that Voltage stabilizer does not help with electrical surges, tomorrow i will be installing a 1.5 Ton inverter AC so require help narrowing down on which surge protector should i buy as havells has an option of 1, 2, 3, 4 cartridges.

I think the stabilizers (specifically for inverter AC) do have surge protectors. Do check the post by "deathwalkr"

^^ I would suggest not to buy any inverter Ac and go for a normal type, unless you are going to run multiple Acs for long number of hours everyday. The amount of maintenance issues and headache involved with inverter Acs is not worth it. It will be simpler to foot slightly larger power bills. They are very sensitive and have to be always under a warranty plan unless you are ready to pay heavily whenever some part conks out. And they will, very easily. The AMC plans themselves will cost big. Even with all that, the machine will rarely last more than five years, whereas the normal ones will last a decade or more.

I am currently facing an issue with my two year old inverter Ac which has stopped working and am waiting for the AMC technician to visit and haver a look at it. It looks like a board issue right now. He will have to assess what part is gone, then secure it, bring and fix it. Appears like a week long issue if not more, in the hottest season of Chennai. I regret having replaced my normal Samsung window unit with this Whirlpool inverter split unit. As soon as the AMC plan runs out in 2025, I will throw it away and go for another normal Ac.

+1 to this, heard the same thing from many people. Inverter units suits best if you are sensitive to power consumption and can assure steady smooth power supply, otherwise go for appliances with normal compressor.


Also, once the OEM/Extended warranty/AMC expires, you can take an insurance policy on the appliance ( AC, TV, Washing Machine, etc. )

Take the appropriate insurance policy for the appliance and you should be covered for most electrical and mechanical breakdowns barring any applicable depreciation and deductibles. You can take a single policy to cover all your appliances.