[Kool_Kid]

Originally Posted by athul_S

Guys, any opinion on Carrier ACs?

Considering a 1.5 tonne Durakool AC for home

I had very bad exp with Carrier ACs , I have a six year old unit , but it does not work in extreme heat . the compressor does not switch on. But at night mostly it comes on.

After 3 visits by authorize Carrier service , no body has any clue. the last one told me to replace compressor ( quoted 7.5 K ) or get a new AC. He told that heat exchanger is not working properly. This has just happened after 5 year warranty expired

I do not recommend Carrier at all ,

Can any one please suggest the best way forward

[determinus]

Have not read through all the posts, but a quick note:

All a/c manufacturers (but for 3) get their indoor as well as outdoor units manufactured from one company in China. So brand matters only from an after sales support. It doesnt matter if you buy Onida or Samsung or Voltas. I am told that the only folks that manufacture their own compressors are Hitachi, Carrier and Blue Star. Even they source the indoor unit from the same place, just like others.

For home usage 2 star rating is quite sufficient, and a star above is not going to make a major impact on your electricity bills or environment. But if you are going to use the a/c for more than 12 hours, then higher ratings is better.

And, when buying a/c, I would buy from people who focuses on air conditioning than one that makes all consumer goods. In short, my vote goes to Blue Star, and though Carrier is worth the slightly higher premium for its performance, their support is very poor. I have both Carrier and Blue Star, and for an all round experience, I will go with Blue Star.

[sandeepmdas]

I differ in some points and these are marked in bold.

Originally Posted by determinus

I am told that the only folks that manufacture their own compressors are Hitachi, Carrier and Blue Star. Even they source the indoor unit from the same place, just like others.

This might be true in the case of Onida/Videocon/Kenstar. LG is among the world's largest manufacturers of OEM compressors and I assume their arch rival, Samsung, is also the same:

LG Rotary Compressor | LG Electronics Global


For home usage 2 star rating is quite sufficient, and a star above is not going to make a major impact on your electricity bills or environment.

IMO, using a 2 star for office/showroom is okay, because you can put the power bill as an expense, and the initial (capital) investment is lower, as the 2-star AC is cheaper to buy. Having said that I will NOT buy a 2-star for any purpose.

And, when buying a/c, I would buy from people who focuses on air conditioning than one that makes all consumer goods.

Hitachi makes more than 10,000 products yet their AC is admired globally.

In short, my vote goes to Blue Star, and though Carrier is worth the slightly higher premium for its performance, their support is very poor. I have both Carrier and Blue Star, and for an all round experience, I will go with Blue Star.

[khoj]

There are several companies that make compressors. Some of them make complete air conditioners too such as Daikin, Matsushita(Panasonic), LG, Samsung, Toshiba, York, Trane, Thermoking(not the Indian co.), Worthington etc.

Then there are some who only make compressors like Tecumseh, Kirloskar, Dunham Bush, Copeland, Bitzer, Chrys-Airtemp, Huali, Foshan Shunde, Jinan Benstar,Danfoss and then some that I do not know about.

Yet others like OGeneral(Fujitsu), Sharp, Sanyo, Fedders, Philco, GE, Siemens make air cons but no compressors at least not the small sizes up to 2 tons hermetically sealed ones. Though both Sanyo and Sharp have their own line up of compressors for refrigeration services.

Regarding Blue Star I am not sure that they make compressors, however they might be making only refrigeration service compressors. as for Carrier I believe that they now source the bigger size compressors from Toshiba and from other sources for their low range machines.

Similarly for indoor units too Daikin, OGeneral(Fujitsu) make them in house and I am sure so do quite a few of the others as the indoor units are the face of these brands and not many would risk outsourcing the same. Besides most of the innovations are to be found in these units and none would want their secrets out for as long as possible.

The component that is the most outsourced is the out door unit where the compressors and fan impellers can be supplied on stock transfer or specified for sourcing along with other inputs such as the tubing, heat exchangers, expansion valves, fan motors etc etc.

The perception that everything is coming from China is helped by the fact that most of the above companies do have a manufacturing base or two somewhere in China apart from the local manufacturers that exist there.

[ghpk]

Originally Posted by khoj

Last week in Delhi when the ambient was merely around 42 degree Celsius one could see several office boys and peons spray water on the sleek out door heat exchangers as the compressors tripped due to the constant hot running. It is at these moments that the better build quality and superior design of some products prove their worth and justify the premiums paid.

Visited a friends shop who deals in meds, and found he installed a Drip to keep pouring water on the "heat exchanger"


while this looks odd, but he said it helps you keep the cooling at its best and put a little less load on your compressor when its 46�°C .

[Hashim]

haha that looks like a "sick AC" lying on bed with drip. Is he using saline water or normal tap water? he should use distilled water else soon there will be salt formation on coil and cooling will be effected.

Nice trick but I doubt that single pipe will be able to wet whole coil evenly!

[ghpk]

Hashim, he's using distilled water, not saline.
I know there should be a water dispenser like we have in desert coolers, a pipe with holes at even distance so water comes out equally from all holes.

[anuj1237]

hi people. Im planning on buying a split ac for my home. my usage is about 4 hours per day and will be using it on an average of 5 days a week for the next 4 months. mainly in the night. I really am very confused if 2 star is enough for my usage or should i buy a 5 star? which will make more sense for my usage.

also. we are plannin on doing some small renovation work to our house like painting, changing furniture, windows etc. will it be a problem if i install the AC before the renovation work? because we want the AC now and the renovation work will start only in 2 months.

pls answer both my questions. thanking you in advance.

[anuj1237]

also..how is the whirpool aviator series??

[Sahil]

Have lost the remote of our "Mitsibushi Heavu Industry" where can I get a new one from in Mumbai?
This AC's remote is different from the regular Mitsubishi split AC remotes such as the Mr.Slim series etc.

Btw, we have tried every brand in our homes and office- from low cost TLC to General to Daikin. By far Mitsubishi is the BEST ! And most power saving too as you could set it's temperature to 26c and it will chill faster and better than a Daikin at even 21c. The regular series are brilliant available via Mitsubishi offical India dealers, but the ones in the grey market are the 'Heavy Industry' series which are even better,unbeatable to say the least.
After much trial and error with these brands, its only Mitsubishi for me now on, period.

[jesal]

after some long crazy research i decided to go multibrand at my place. picked up 1 hitachi 1.5 ton with 3 yr warranty for 32k from croma under exchange and 1 daikin 2 ton 4 star for 47k from another local dealer. hitachi is a 5 star. now 2 are pending mostly getting general ones 2 ton for 37k each

[khoj]

Originally Posted by jesal

after some long crazy research i decided to go multibrand at my place.

now 2 are pending mostly getting general ones 2 ton for 37k each

Since you are on a multibrand drive, why not get one General and another from Panasonic or Mitsubishi. Then you will have a cool Quadrangle.

@anuj1237

I really am very confused if 2 star is enough for my usage or should i buy a 5 star? which will make more sense for my usage.

also. we are plannin on doing some small renovation work to our house like painting, changing furniture, windows etc. will it be a problem if i install the AC before the renovation work? because we want the AC now and the renovation work will start only in 2 months.

Even a non star air con will suffice for your usage. The question is should you pay less up front and then pay more for the usage. Do a bit of calculations based on the input power for the two and electricity cost at your place and decide accordingly.

As for the renovation if you have a window air con it will not be a bother and it can also be easily reinstalled. The split however is a different beast. If you need to take it off and reinstall you are looking at re installation charges + gas charging/top up or you will have to really cover it up well and hope that it is not spoilt(indoor unit) because of repainting etc. Best would be to hire out a unit for a couple of moths and install your own once the renovation is done. you could do the concealed piping work during the renovation.

[Delta Wing]

There just ain't anything that's not there on TBHP. Amazing info on A/Cs.

@khoj: Awesome contribution. Mods, can the thread be renamed 'khoj: for an air conditioner!' ?

Need some help. Have been putting off buying an A/C for years for the fear of making my a** lazy but the insane mercury everywhere is now compelling me. Simple things like covering the windows with white fabric/chart papers and putting white awnings and recirculating air at night helps to bring down the temperatures by upto 5-7 deg C but with outside at 41-42 dec C, the house still sizzles at ~35 and barely comes below 30 by midnight. The trouble with buying A/Cs is, I move locations frequently which makes repeat installations a pain. Then even in the house, if I put a window or a split unit, it is sufficient only for that one room. Given that I'll be only in one room at a time for one-two hours and in the bedroom during afternoon/night hours, having multiple units is pretty pointless. If I just put one unit in the bedroom where I sleep, I'll become a bedroom-hermit. Again, installations problem remains.
Then came across portable A/Cs. But very few models and little information about them exists. Apparently they're not so popular with consumers. Noone says anything about these on this thread either. Is it due to their high cost (LG 2.0 T unit costs 45 K and upwards) or poor efficiency or poor cooling? Also saw one Seagull co. selling smaller 0.8/1.0 T units (price not known as yet), are these any good? Are there other reputable co.s that sell portable units?

[Gansan]

This happened last night around 9 PM. My friend's mother and 12 yo son were sleeping in a room with the AC on. It is a five year old Blue Star window unit. Suddenly his neighbor rang him up and warned that burning smell was coming from the AC. He burst in to the room in panic and saw a foot high flame inside the AC. Fortunately his mother had already woken up by the smell and used the remote to switch it off. His son was still blissfully sleeping. My friend switched off the main, yanked off the cable and poured a bucket of water inside the AC to put off the flame.

It seems some capacitor has to be replaced every two years to prevent this flame out. Can Khoj please clarify? This is the first time I have heard of this. It really is scary to think what would have happened if this occurred a few hours later with everyone fast asleep.

[khoj]

Originally Posted by Delta Wing

There just ain't anything that's not there on TBHP. Amazing info on A/Cs.

@khoj: Awesome contribution. Mods, can the thread be renamed 'khoj: for an air conditioner!' ?


Then came across portable A/Cs. But very few models and little information about them exists. Apparently they're not so popular with consumers. Noone says anything about these on this thread either. Is it due to their high cost (LG 2.0 T unit costs 45 K and upwards) or poor efficiency or poor cooling? Also saw one Seagull co. selling smaller 0.8/1.0 T units (price not known as yet), are these any good? Are there other reputable co.s that sell portable units?

Delta Wing now you are embarrassing me. I am just another guy who googles around and eats up the sales and service personnel's heads. That is all there is to it.
There are fellow members whose contributions have and will continue to enrich the thread. It is a team effort, it is just that from time to time we are either the lead flier or the wing man but always a team. I trust your comment on title change will be treated as a compliment that it is and nothing more.

As for the portable air cons it has been discussed on posts 756 to 759 see the link below for a post from team member Pallavi who started the discussion and located the Indian vendor http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadget...ml#post1774863

Originally Posted by Gansan

This happened last night around 9 PM. My friend's mother and 12 yo son were sleeping in a room with the AC on. It is a five year old Blue Star window unit. Suddenly his neighbor rang him up and warned that burning smell was coming from the AC. He burst in to the room in panic and saw a foot high flame inside the AC. Fortunately his mother had already woken up by the smell and used the remote to switch it off. His son was still blissfully sleeping.

Gansan, they were very lucky. Last year a friend of mine left the main switch to his air con ON when he left on a tour, the machine though was not running. But the heat generated during those two days just by that supply trickling to the air con was enough to melt some stuff inside and start a fire. By the time fire brigade came in and broke down the front door his entire bedroom was gutted. The air con was made by a very slickly and heavily advertised price warrior brand who introduce new models every season.

My friend switched off the main, yanked off the cable and poured a bucket of water inside the AC to put off the flame.

In panic even I would do the same, but water should not be used on fires that involve electricity. The better thing to use would be sand of course but inside a house you could use wheat or gram flour. Caked mud from a flower pot would also do well to cut off the oxygen supply without allowing the absorbed water to spill around.

It seems some capacitor has to be replaced every two years to prevent this flame out. Can Khoj please clarify? This is the first time I have heard of this. It really is scary to think what would have happened if this occurred a few hours later with everyone fast asleep.

At first look a leaking or burst capacitor seems to be the source. However it could also be a loose connection involving spliced wire, the wire compound may not have been flame retardant. It could also be inferior insulation tape or even non flame retardant PU foam pads or heatlon which are used as vibration and sound dampers that could have fed the fire.

I do not want to sound as if I am preaching but this is what i said a couple of pages back

My views are pretty much there in my previous post. I expect an air con to last for at least 10 years or more before it starts to grumble and I just do not like the build quality of their machines.

This problem has started to occur more frequently than ever before due to higher usage as well as ever increasing ambient temperatures all over. On the other hand component's design and the safety factors are being trimmed to save on costs. This is a deadly cocktail and with no straight forward solution. It is not practical for all to invest in a better designed product but then again we should pay attention to the units during annual maintenances and forcibly ask the technicians to check the conditions of various components and check and re tighten all connections especially those which involve spliced wires, check the insulation tapes used and replace these if required. A physical inspection of capacitors, fan motors, connectors, compressors can reveal a lot to the trained eye. A few extra bucks spent for these small things can save a lot of trouble later on.

Go to the link below and click on the 'View Technical Superiorities' link which reveals a bit about why some manufacturers demand a little extra for their products. :: Welcome to the OGENERAL AIR CONDITIONERS :::