[MSC]

As the current electricity bills are already very high, nor do we see any chance of the bills going down, so better go for a 5 Star rated air conditioner.
Going by performance you can opt for LG ,Samsung . In case budget a.c. is required you can opt for Lyod or even Godrej.

[sgiitk]

@MSC; Neither LG nor Samsung are considered premium. Premium by common consensus are Daikin, General and Sharp.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by MSC

As the current electricity bills are already very high, nor do we see any chance of the bills going down, so better go for a 5 Star rated air conditioner.

Another point to note (sorry if you are already aware) star ratings are provided only for non-inverter based products. Inverter based systems are better in energy efficiency. They are not given star ratings.

[srinivasu1976]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@MSC; Neither LG nor Samsung are considered premium. Premium by common consensus are Daikin, General and Sharp.

What about Trane ? Thoughts

Thanks for the suggestions Ampere, yeah I am aware that inverter models are 20% more power saving than 5 star. Also the higher the EER value the greater is the AC efficiency to cool.

My prime concern is if I go with Trane air conditioners, will that be a good choice. Few dealers were saying that the recent Daikin models are having issues with the PCB while General doesn't yet have 1 Ton Split Inverter Hot and Cold models.

How about Mitsubishi, any difference between MHIE and ME ? Huge confusion here not sure which is the trust worthy brand.

Mod Note: Please use the EDIT or MULTI-QUOTE buttons instead of typing one post after another on the SAME THREAD!

To know how to multi-quote, click here.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

R32 is essentially very similar to R410a, except th latter has some fire retardants added. Working pressure of this lot are about 2.5x higher than R22 so substitution is a nogo. My two year old Daikin Invertor is R410a, and the R22 model was available cheaper.

The AC guy finally came today. Same chap who had done the water wash. He knew the issue and directly went to the ODU and cleaned the joints and filled the gas. He claimed he filled the whole gas which I didn't believe. He just had the cylinder connected for 10-15 mins and claimed he filled upto 70psi. Charged me 1300 and gave me a 2 month guarantee for this. I am sure he did some jugaad when he was here last month so that he gets a call back. It's much more than what I paid for a gas refill in June 14 for my other daikin but can't do much. Need to find me a trustworthy guy... The gas is R22 btw.

[theexperthand]

At last, decied to go the SHARP way - brought Sharp AH-X13PET through A Sharp marketing guy and got it installed next day. The AC was delivered by premium cooling but the service was not so premium Had to do multiple follow up calls to make sure that the AC gets installed on the promised date.

The installation itself was not really professional - they did not have the circular drill to cut wall, so used a regular drill plus chisel and did not really clean up the hole.

The kit which comes with Sharp is top notch - the kit contains 3 meter copper tubes, 3 meter drain pipe, and gloves to wear during installation and a cloth to wipe the AC clean. Apparently,the guys who came to install the AC did not know that the drain pipe come with the package and they did not carry extra drain pipe, so they said they will come back on Monday to install the drain pipe. Since the draining water was making a mess in my balcony, I went and brought some flex pipe and fixed the drain pipe myself. Later while talking to Jaison (the guy from Sharp who coordinated my purchase), he told me that drain pipe is a part of the installation kit and it should be there at the bottom of the cardboard box in which the ODU came.

Since the guys did not come with a floor stand and my ODU had to be floor mounted due to space constraints, they did not remove the bottom of the cardboard box (said they will come back with floor stand on Monday and will fix the ODU) and guess what - when I checked later, the drain pipe was there

I paid 39200 including Installation, ODU stand and Stabilizer.

Originally Posted by kvenkatt

For those looking for Sharp units in Bangalore, after a bit of follow-up got introduced to a Marketing Guy 9886 006641. Nice chap. you can refer my name
-Karthic

Thank you for the number - Jaison was very helpful. I brought my AC through him.

Originally Posted by sleepyk

If the Sharp is an inverter AC, and the Panasonic is a regular one, you should go for the inverter AC as per this calculation.

http://www.hifivision.com/general-lo...nditioner.html

Thank you, went for Sharp at last.

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Both are good brands, but I will be biased towards the Sharp. I have always had the highest regard for them.

Thank you for the vote of confidence.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

But snapdeal isnt a seller, just a marketplace. What if a seller happens to be the local authorized dealer, then?

Not sure how they will identify, but what sealed my decision is - next day availability if brought from local dealer and extra warranty (Snapdeal \ Online items carry standard 1 year ac, 5 yr compressor warranty, while purchases from authorized dealer carried 4 year AC and 5 Year Compressor warranty )

--Anoop

[Thad E Ginathom]

Welcome to the Sharp club!

I forget how many free services one gets in the first year, but diary it and call them. We have had ours for about seven months now, and there is not much draught so cooling is reduced. I'm not panicking: I'm fairly confident that the filters need cleaning as does the Indoor-unit fan.

Frankly, none of us should be waiting for service time to get our air filters cleaned: we should be doing it ourselves. Probably once a month in a dusty area. I'm guessing that I am not the only one who is lazy avout this!

[kalpeshc]

Finalized on Panasonic 1 ton invertor and a 3 star regular (for a room where usage is going to be extremely less). Wanted to go for Daikin but the price difference is a lot when one considers installation and kit costs. Panasonic ACs come with the regular kit of 10 ft and installation is free as per some current scheme. Also, these are pure copper coil with blue fin coating. The gas used is R32.

[theexperthand]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Welcome to the Sharp club!

I forget how many free services one gets in the first year, but diary it and call them. We have had ours for about seven months now, and there is not much draught so cooling is reduced. I'm not panicking: I'm fairly confident that the filters need cleaning as does the Indoor-unit fan.

Frankly, none of us should be waiting for service time to get our air filters cleaned: we should be doing it ourselves. Probably once a month in a dusty area. I'm guessing that I am not the only one who is lazy avout this!

Thank you - will make sure to mark the dates and follow up.

Originally Posted by kalpeshc

Finalized on Panasonic 1 ton invertor and a 3 star regular (for a room where usage is going to be extremely less). Wanted to go for Daikin but the price difference is a lot when one considers installation and kit costs. Panasonic ACs come with the regular kit of 10 ft and installation is free as per some current scheme. Also, these are pure copper coil with blue fin coating. The gas used is R32.

Hi Kalpesh,

I might be wrong, but I think blue fin coating is applied on Aluminium Coils and not on Copper - Blue fin coating is kind of anti corrosive coating done on aluminium coils to protect the condenser coil from moisture and humidity.

--Anoop

[kalpeshc]

Check out the specs on their own website. They do mention 100% copper coils. This was confirmed by the dealer (Vijay Sales) too. They have a few models in aluminum coils but this one is definitely copper.

Panasonic 1 ton inverter

[theexperthand]

Originally Posted by kalpeshc

Check out the specs on their own website. They do mention 100% copper coils. This was confirmed by the dealer (Vijay Sales) too. They have a few models in aluminum coils but this one is definitely copper.

Panasonic 1 ton inverter

Thank you Learned something new today, thanks to your link.

Any idea if Sharp uses Aluminium or Copper for making the condenser? I could not find any info regarding the material for my model (AH-X13PET), but may be I did not look hard enough.

--Anoop

[srinivasu1976]

Great to see Panasonic and Sharp reviews from other buyers. Are there any one who had been using the below brands.

1) Toshiba
2) Mitsubishi Electric
3) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
4) Trane
5) Carrier
6) Blue Star
7) Whirlpool
8) IFB
9) Voltas
10) Godrej

Also kindly let me know the after sales service of the above brands if you have experienced any.

[kalpeshc]

Originally Posted by theexperthand

Any idea if Sharp uses Aluminium or Copper for making the condenser? I could not find any info regarding the material for my model (AH-X13PET), but may be I did not look hard enough.

--Anoop

I am not entirely sure about this but from what I heard from dealers, Sharp has two models, one with aluminum and one with copper coil. There's a difference of around 6-7K between the two. He did not remember model numbers and was quoting from memory.

[hrman]

I finally got an LG 1.5T, 3 star split for my parents at Mumbai. This was for the hall. They already have Whirlpool 1.5T split for both the bedrooms, and I was not so happy with Whirlpool, so decided to try the famed LG service.

http://www.flipkart.com/lg-lsa5np3a-...f-f1a319a1ee5b


I got this for 27k (30k less 3k towards installation) at Flipkart. Was booked on 10th Apr, they delivered it on 12th Apr, Sunday. The technicians came and installed it yesterday. The installation charge was some 1000 change +300 for some drain pipe. Reasonably priced. The performance of the AC is great so far, as per feedback from my dad.
The primary requirement was a brand which has great service and does not cause much troubles. Hope I have made the right choice.

I didnt go for a 5 star as there is some constraint with the size of the grill at the flat. The external unit of a 5 star AC is too large to fit in there. Our usage will be maybe 3-5 hours per day in summers and occasionally in the night. Didn't make sense to go for an inverter for this usage.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by kalpeshc

Finalized on Panasonic 1 ton invertor and a 3 star regular (for a room where usage is going to be extremely less). ...

The only doubt that I have about Sharp is whether or not the external condenser unit will stand the polluted atmosphere. Because of this, I feel I should not put all my eggs in one basket. Panasonic is top of my short list against the high prices of General and Daikin, so I am very interested in the experiences. My expected purchase date is about 10 months away.