[fine69]

Originally Posted by khoj

You should look at Sharp & Panasonic inverters, especially Sharp as the prices are lower compared to others and both these machines are good. Do check out Mitsubishi inverters too, again great quality but lower prices as the make does not have brand value in our markets.

I think you are right about 1.5 being the right tonnage. I spoke to somebody and he too recommended 1.5 ton instead of 1.

What about the copper/aluminium pipe decision. Do I have the option of selecting one of these two pipes or the manufacturer is going to decide this for me. Is copper still the best even when its a better conductor of heat?

And in case money is no bar then should the preference be in the order of Daikin, Sharp and then Mitsubishi?

[fine69]

We've decided to extend our budget to ~40k and go for the 1.5 ton Split AC.

Which Daikin (or other brand) model am I looking for now?

[khoj]

Sharp best reported service; good machines, aluminium, quirky looks. In case you can find 2013 models go for them, they look better and are very robust also deeply discounted. Sharp exclusive located on Rajouri garden/RajaGarden main traffic signal besides the flyover has stocks of these machines ('13) as does the Sharp dealer in Malviya Nagar, so should be available with a lot of other dealers too. Comes with install kit

Panasonic next in service, good machines, copper. No kit (correct me if I am wrong)

Daikin expensive(you might be lucky to score R22 inverters that will fall in your budget), great ODUs, must be installed by Daikin authorised dealer to avaii warranty. I am not a big fan of the IDUs that are coming out of their Rajasthan plant. The designs are bulky, gaudy and the fit and finish is crap. No kit

General, even more expensive, well engineered machines, service is not bad (if you need it). KIT ?? & you still want a General?? LOL

Mitsubishi Electric, again the quality is impeccable, service is on par with General and right now they are the only ones with fully imported machines. No idea on the kit bit, they did run a scheme last month wherein they did offer the kits no idea about this month.

Hitachi, Love to hate them. Mixed bag. Some models are good others so so. Service is completely dependent on the install dealer. Kit is included.

I might end up buying their iclean inverter 'cause the IDU is 33" wide, unless I can locate the Mitsubishi machine also with a small width IDU but the model name itself is elusive and the local dealers un aware. So might end up buying the H. The only consolation is that the iClean's IDU comes from Thailand/Malaysia assembled with components made in Japan.

Originally Posted by fine69

We've decided to extend our budget to ~40k and go for the 1.5 ton Split AC.

Which Daikin (or other brand) model am I looking for now?

[tush]

Originally Posted by fine69

We've decided to extend our budget to ~40k and go for the 1.5 ton Split AC.

Which Daikin (or other brand) model am I looking for now?

I suggest you take a feedback from those who are using as far as Daikin R32 is what if you nail down. As mentioned in my previous post I doubt their performance. Its just my personal observation.

I also came across TRANE AC ads across FB. Not sure about the brand but they claim to be very popular in US and their presence is in about 45% of huge commercial establishments(shopping malls etc) in India. This was told to me by one of their exec. In this conversation the rep also mentioned that he accepts Daikin is a good brand but he also mentions that its quality what we get now here in India has gone down since the last two-three years. The one explanation that he gave is a Daikin AC two-three years back were mostly above 40k and were hence considered premium but now Daikin's are available below 30k. So this drop in price comes when a brand targets mass market for which they have to cut quality somewhere in the product is what he concluded.

Here in Pune blue star is very popular amongst retail shops.

[vibbs]

We have three ACs in our flat in Delhi. All three are Blue Star. One of them (1.5 tonne) is 11 years old other two (both 1 tonne)are 6 and 7 years old.

No problems what so ever till date with either of the ACs and all three perform rather well in the Delhi heat. All we do is the annual servicing that's all.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by fine69

What about the copper/aluminium pipe decision. Do I have the option of selecting one of these two pipes or the manufacturer is going to decide this for me. Is copper still the best even when its a better conductor of heat?

Forget conductivity, aluminium tends to corrode with pollution. You will need to replace the condenser every few years.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by fine69

I think you are right about 1.5 being the right tonnage. I spoke to somebody and he too recommended 1.5 ton instead of 1.

What about the copper/aluminium pipe decision. Do I have the option of selecting one of these two pipes or the manufacturer is going to decide this for me. Is copper still the best even when its a better conductor of heat?

And in case money is no bar then should the preference be in the order of Daikin, Sharp and then Mitsubishi?

I too would say 1.5t, for a shop. For a bedroom or residence a 1 ton may have sufficed.

I think you are getting confused with the aluminium condensor. Aluminium condensors have an issue, I have a Samsung which had an aluminium condensor which we had to keep replacing, and finally got it changed to a copper condensor. The pipes will all be copper I think so not to worry.

Daikin is my preference too. Have 4 Daikins at home and 1 General, and am going to replace my 1 Voltas and 1 Samsung with Daikins as and when their life runs out.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Forget conductivity, aluminium tends to corrode with pollution. You will need to replace the condenser every few years.

But so does copper. Earlier in the thread this came up with regard to the technology used by Sharp, and salt content in the air. I don't know what salt does to copper, but I do know that acid doesn't do it much good, and I'm sure there is plenty of acid in areas that suffer from industrial pollution.

What are your thoughts on the comparison?

[fine69]

So I spent the last 45 mins trying to find authorized dealers for Daikin, Sharp and Mitsubishi.

Daikin
I've been quoted 43000/43800/44200 by three Daikin dealers for their FTKP model (1.5 ton inverter AC). I think this is R-32 type.

Sharp
43000 for their 18PET model (I'm assuming its the AH-X18PET) which is without air purifier

Mitsubishi
I wasn't able to locate any dealer from their website

Now the Daikin comes without kit while Sharp is with kit. How much would the kit cost by the way? If the kit costs just ~1-2k I'm not really worried about it.

Daikin's FTKP has the advantage of running without stabilizer, not sure about Sharp's 18PET.

Daikin has got whole lot of features going for it compared to Sharp. I've almost made my mind to go for Daikin, what do you guys think?

Questions -
1. I'm assuming the installation cost of about 1500 is going to be there for both the ACs, is that right or Sharp with kit means installation free?
2. Do I need a stabilizer for Sharp and can I really avoid the stabilizer if purchasing Daikin's FTKP model?
3. Anything that I might have overlooked when comparing these two?

[finneyp]

Check out Panasonic Inverter series as well, I have non-Inverter 1.5T 3 star AC, pretty happy with its performance over last 2 summers.

[fine69]

Update: Booked the Daikin Inverter AC; Model FTKP 1.5 ton

As per the dealer stabilizer is not needed with this unit and transportation, installation, ODU stand, piping etc. would be over and above the unit price.

The dealer has confirmed the unit to be available but asked me to call them up before I go to their shop tomorrow.

[tush]

Originally Posted by fine69

Update: Booked the Daikin Inverter AC; Model FTKP 1.5 ton

As per the dealer stabilizer is not needed with this unit and transportation, installation, ODU stand, piping etc. would be over and above the unit price.

The dealer has confirmed the unit to be available but asked me to call them up before I go to their shop tomorrow.

Is it R32?

Could you ask him how much does it cost for 1 ton 3 star R32? Here in Pune it costs 31k.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

But so does copper. Earlier in the thread this came up with regard to the technology used by Sharp, and salt content in the air. I don't know what salt does to copper, but I do know that acid doesn't do it much good, and I'm sure there is plenty of acid in areas that suffer from industrial pollution.

All I can say is that my son's Samsung Split needed three condensers (Al) in four years in Manipal.

[iamswift]

Got this in facebook

[Aroy]

When sizing the AC for the shop you have to factor in the "traffic" in the shop. If there is a constant flow of customers, then their heat load as well as the constant opening and closing of the doors will increase the requirement. For example a 1 Ton may cool a bedroom perfectly, but in the same sized shop you may need 3 tons if say 10 customers come every hour and at least four of them are there at a time.