[praful]

Complete AC noob here, need some help!

I want to pick up two units for my parents' apartment in Pune which is terribly hot and dry these days. One unit for their bedroom is approximately 176 sq feet and another for their living room is approximately 297 sq feet, but the living room has additional spaces like an open wall with the kitchen which is approximately 100 sq feet, one connecting corridor of approx 50 sq feet and another corridor of 40 sq feet.

I imagine the living room is going to be tricky considering the 'leak' spaces that it has which will hugely impact the cooling capacity.

Open to suggestions, just looking for reliability more than bang for the buck.

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by praful

Complete AC noob here, need some help!

I want to pick up two units for my parents' apartment in Pune which is terribly hot and dry these days. One unit for their bedroom is approximately 176 sq feet and another for their living room is approximately 297 sq feet, but the living room has additional spaces like an open wall with the kitchen which is approximately 100 sq feet, one connecting corridor of approx 50 sq feet and another corridor of 40 sq feet.

I imagine the living room is going to be tricky considering the 'leak' spaces that it has which will hugely impact the cooling capacity.

Open to suggestions, just looking for reliability more than bang for the buck.

While AC for living room will be any day better but given your situation and location, isn't a large air cooler be also an option? Since Pune is Dry (compared to Mumbai), air cooler will server a good purpose and you don't have to close the room for the same. Only con with the air cooler is the noise I believe but you can explore that as an option.

[praful]

Originally Posted by sunilch

While AC for living room will be any day better but given your situation and location, isn't a large air cooler be also an option? Since Pune is Dry (compared to Mumbai), air cooler will server a good purpose and you don't have to close the room for the same. Only con with the air cooler is the noise I believe but you can explore that as an option.

You are right, considering the weather it might make sense to have an air cooler, but they are cumbersome and noisy and cool only if you are in the field of the fan movement.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by praful

Complete AC noob here, need some help!
Open to suggestions, just looking for reliability more than bang for the buck.

Cooling a bedroom is easy so pickup any unit that you fancy.

As for the living space, find a unit with a good BTU/Hr rating (Higher the better) coupled with a high cubic feet per minute (CFM rating). The latter relates to the amount of air the indoor unit can move or push out. The latter may lead to higher noise than your bedroom unit but I don't think you care so much as long as it cools a large area, fast.

Get an inverter unit for the bedroom and a fixed speed or non-inverter unit for the living space.

Safe to say most of the reputed brands are reliable these days. Identify a good dealer or reseller. This ensures excellent after sales support.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by praful

Complete AC noob here, need some help!

I want to pick up two units for my parents' apartment in Pune which is terribly hot and dry these days. One unit for their bedroom is approximately 176 sq feet and another for their living room is approximately 297 sq feet, but the living room has additional spaces like an open wall with the kitchen which is approximately 100 sq feet, one connecting corridor of approx 50 sq feet and another corridor of 40 sq feet.

I imagine the living room is going to be tricky considering the 'leak' spaces that it has which will hugely impact the cooling capacity.

Open to suggestions, just looking for reliability more than bang for the buck.

There has been a lot of discussion on the quality of construction, reliability and efficiancy of various brands available. But very little on the cost of maintenance and response of the manufacturers to service calls. As AC's require regular service, and fail a few time during their service life of 10 years or more, a quality service is way more important than efficiency, looks and features.

First of all check the service reliability and quality of brands you fancy. Next check the types of extended warranty available, scope of work and cost.

In Delhi I found the LG has the best service, best Extended warranty (all lparts and labour included) and some of the lowest prices (festive discounts, CC schemes etc). The other manufacturers are slowly catching up with LG, so you should also examine their extended warranty schemes.

Coming to units

. For bedroom a 1.5T Inverter is sufficient. Mind you the current 1.5T Inverter can deliver upto 1.8T for half an hour. It also throttles down to upto .4T (~20%) capacity once the room is cool.

. For drawing room it depends on the usage and number of persons in the room. Nominally a 2T should work if the room needs cooling for short period. If the bedroom is connected to the drawing room, then when required you can run the bedroom AC to augment the cooling of the drawing room.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by sunilch

Only con with the air cooler is the noise

The biggest con with an aircooler is the need to fill water.

[directinjection]

Originally Posted by carboy

The biggest con with an aircooler is the need to fill water.

That's not a hassle when your cooler has float valve and is connected to an overhead water tank through a pipe. Water goes into the cooler tank and is cut off automatically once full. The design and quality of evaporative coolers has improved much over the years. If your location has hot and dry days for a few months, coolers make sense. I have installed both ACs and coolers in my Delhi NCR located house and these days I'm using coolers only. I find the natural cooling of a cooler better than that of an AC. Of course, the story is different during the humid months!

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by directinjection

That's not a hassle when your cooler has float valve and is connected to an overhead water tank through a pipe. Water goes into the cooler tank and is cut off automatically once full. The design and quality of evaporative coolers has improved much over the years. If your location has hot and dry days for a few months, coolers make sense. I have installed both ACs and coolers in my Delhi NCR located house and these days I'm using coolers only. I find the natural cooling of a cooler better than that of an AC. Of course, the story is different during the humid months!

Coolers are fine when the weather is dry, but fail during monsoons. Another thing to note is that coolers consume quite a lot of power. A dessert cooler for a large area will need at least 700W fan, water pump and a lot of water. With advance in inverter technology, the current lot of AC's consume much less power. For eaxample, my 2T AC

. 9.6A initially
. 5.0 A after an hour
. 1.5-2A once the room has attained set temperature
. 0.5 A if the ambient is cool

In contrast a cooler will consume 3-4A constantly.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by Aroy

.... Another thing to note is that coolers consume quite a lot of power. A dessert cooler for a large area will need at least 700W fan, water pump and a lot of water. .....

I use a 24 inch fan in a large cooler body. The cooler does an excellent job during the dry heat days (typically 2½ months each year). One large cooler serves my (3 bedroom + study) house well at a fraction of the cost of the ACs which I have to use when humid heat begins. The bonus with the cooler is that the 2 bathrooms and the kitchen also get cooled, which is something the ACs cannot achieve. I run the cooler at a total electricity consumption od about 220 watts (the maximum is easily 500 watts, but I run it at slow speed for excellent cooling and very low noise).
The ACs that would need to run when humid days begin, to cool the same areas are as follows: two 1 ton, two 1½ tons and one 2 tons unit. The cost is prohibitive compared to what I incur with the cooler. The large cooler pays back for itself (approx cost Rs.18000 today) with ONE year of 2½ months usage!

I am fortunate that the goemetry of my house is all contiguous spaces; this permits one large cooler to do the job well with no losses to open areas.
Needless to say the cooler is plumbed to the water main and does not need to be monitored for water level. These days it is running continuously 24X7 and the enire house is at temperatures between 23°C to 26° C on very dry days and 25 to 27° C on the slightly humid days like today (RH above 32%). Yes I have meters installed all over the house (temp, RH and energy meters).

[saion666]

I got the piping work of my ac completed yesterday. The ACs wil be installed a month or two later.
However was browsing through videos in youtube and came across that inverter acs need 4core power cable whereas fixed speed ac need 3core power cable.The whole setup at my place has been done with 3 core power cable.
So questions:
1. What happens if i run an inverter ac using a 3 core power cable.
2. What is this extra core used for in power cables.
3. Did i just limit my options to fixed speed ac only. :(

[aim120]

Originally Posted by saion666

I got the piping work of my ac completed yesterday. The ACs wil be installed a month or two later.
However was browsing through videos in Youtube and came across that inverter acs need 4core power cable whereas fixed speed ac need 3core power cable.The whole setup at my place has been done with 3 core power cable.
So questions:
1. What happens if i run an inverter ac using a 3 core power cable.
2. What is this extra core used for in power cables.
3. Did i just limit my options to fixed speed ac only. :(

The AC compressor needs 3 core cable from the socket/stabilizer but the cable going from AC outdoor unit compressor to Indoor unit needs 4 core cable which is typically included with the AC typically upto around 2.5m length.

[saion666]

Originally Posted by aim120

The AC compressor needs 3 core cable from the socket/stabilizer but the cable going from AC outdoor unit compressor to Indoor unit needs 4 core cable which is typically included with the AC typically upto around 2.5m length.

Yeah its pre-installation and i will not be using the cable provided along with the ac, its a 10m distance from ac to outdoor unit. Can you please let me know if the cable from ODU to indoor unit can be used with a 3core one.

Below photograph to understand my predicament. A wall panelling will be built above this.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by saion666

I got the piping work of my ac completed yesterday. The ACs wil be installed a month or two later.
However was browsing through videos in Youtube and came across that inverter acs need 4core power cable whereas fixed speed ac need 3core power cable.The whole setup at my place has been done with 3 core power cable.
So questions:
1. What happens if i run an inverter ac using a 3 core power cable.
2. What is this extra core used for in power cables.
3. Did i just limit my options to fixed speed ac only. :(

The incoming power to the Inverter AC is a normal 3 core power cable - L, N, E.

The cable from the IDU to ODU is a 4 core cable - L, N, E and C the control line that communicates between the MB and the Inverter Controller. The inverter AC will not work without this 4 core cable, though at times the installation boys use the E (earth) line as C (control) line. But that is dangerous, as any current leakage may blow the MB.

If the cabling from IDU to ODU is already installed in concealed duct, then you have two options

1. Replace the 3 core cable with 4 core cable (advisable).

2. Put an additional single core line in the duct.

[saion666]

Originally Posted by Aroy

1. Replace the 3 core cable with 4 core cable (advisable).

2. Put an additional single core line in the duct.

Thanks a lot, added a 4 core cable for the rooms where i plan to install inverter ones, kept the ones in dining hall and living room as it is,will go with fixed speed ones there.

Now i have another query though, is 2.5 sq mm 3 core cable enough for a 1.8 ton fixed speed ac?

[naadopaasaka]

I'm not sure if this is the most appropriate thread for this. But I'll give it a shot.

I seem to be allergic to mold. It causes a constriction in the lower respiratory tract and significant breathing difficulties. This makes staying in hotels with central air-conditioning rather unpleasant. Are there any workarounds? I intend to get myself tested for the mold allergies to have a clearer picture, but is there any way to address the issue?