Air-con

[kirakun]

Chris

I will be getting Mit Starmex instead. Same combination for fan coil but its a 28kBTU compressor, i.e I can get both 13kBTU fan coil up working to its potential as compared to the Toshiba. Furthermore, Starmex is quieter and boasts easy cleaning and maintenance. Pricewise, I will have to pay between $200 - $250 more though.

 

[jwchris]

there was some talk abt toshiba's being made in japan while mitsubishi is made in thailand..

I like the design of mitsubishi.. but thot that for 200 - 250 more.. i'll willingly remove the front cover of the aircon to clean... anyway, for mitsubishi.. although the front panel is flat.. the air actually comes in from the top and that will still get dirty.. on top of that... i think the larger grills in front allows for more air to flow and hence adds to the efficiency of the unit..

Tat's my 5 cents worth.. hee..

 

[parn]

Hi Ali G (keepitreal) ,

Where do u get the air-con from?

i was quoted $2150 for Mit. star-mex non-inventer from one of the shop in IMM starting with 'Hong ...' Thinking of getting a system four but the salesman quoted me an additional $1500 just for the Living room !! He claim that i need the 28BTU...

Any one can advise?

 

[jwchris]

To find out the cooling capacity required for your living room... use this formula..

Room Area BTU = Length (m) x Width (m) x 337

Note: 1kW = 3412BTU

From wat I know.. unless you got a very powerful unit, you'll not be able to cool the living room properly... Other factors also include the amount of heat entering the room due to the sun, etc...

 

[winendine]

Hi bros,

My contractor recommended Carrier brand to me although 'm looking for other brand. Is this brand reliable? N how is its aircon performance compared to popular japaniese model like Mit and toshiba.

 

[miralyn]

I jux brought Toshiba-RAS3M20UAX3 (Sys 3) @ $1748 w brackets, from Carrefour. So far the 2nd lowest quote got was from Tai Wah (got 4 branches) $1698 w brackets. Didnt get cos piping warranty 12 mths, Carrefour 15mths.

The contractor for installation is Transform which Havery Norman oso engage, so tink shld b trustworthy enough. Insisted on black trunking which they dont recommend cos no false ceiling.

Any 1 who got same model or from Carrefour can share experience?

 

[chillia]

hi Miralyn:
i intend to get Toshiba Sys3 oso..is your invertor or not?
is it gd?

 

[miralyn]

Hi LiA,


I got it installed 3wks already but no chance to use s not shifted in yet....but so far nv heard any complaints fr others.

Mine is not inverter type s oni MSB uses regularly. Even sales person oso comment min 2 units usage den inverter function is beneficial.

So depend on ur judgement. FYI toshiba is under Carrier.

 

[chillia]

but the salesperson said it's Carrier who went under Toshiba le.

 

[miralyn]

I c... Got different impression cos warranty card stated :

Toshiba Airconditioning Sales & Svcs
(A Divison of Carrier S'pore (PTE) LTD)

 

[miralyn]

Out of curiousity, checked Carrier website. And extracted below that seems support Toshiba is under Carrier not vice versa.

Extract: In 1999, Carrier integrated Toshiba’s air-conditioning division and assumed all operations of marketing and servicing all Toshiba air-conditioning systems.

No matter which co., actually went under, Carrier got impressive track records etc. Supreme Court. You can check out their site: http://www.carrier.com.sg

 

[ah_bui]

isnt a-star and all best under the same company?
thats wat i know of.

 

[ayane]

anyone has any comments on Toshiba and Mit starmex? cant decide between the 2. looking for system 4 inverter. thanks.

 

[ridhwan82]

hi ang,

yes essentially they are from the same company. but then alas i would say serously speaking can forget about them. cos they are not really that honest as i had found out. you can try and ask them and see what you will get at the end of the day. it will piss you off till you feel like strangling them

 

[ridhwan82]

hi ayane,

depends on what you actually and on another note check with you what are tou requirements of cooling?

3bedrooms and a hall or 4 bedrooms. and whats your running amps like? if i am not wrong toshiba doenst step down to 8.5amps limitation so need to take note.

If you are still confused, you can try to go to honx tax at imm, you can ask them all the question that you want and they will educate you. they can give unbiased opinion and you can ask all that you want. worth a try.

alternatively if you want ask me i would say that they are both on par just that toshiba air con has not been tested to be energy saving whilse mitsubishi has been proven as well as daikin with 4 ticks (the most efficient label product)

for more information on the testing and all read http://www.neec.gov.sg

anything just post to this forum and we can share and discuss..

if you are feeling a little more patient in readin more article you can go to read this another forum opened up by one person to assist others who are amateur to the technicalities of buying air con..

http://singapore-aircon.blogspot.com

ridz

 

[seany]

When decided on a brand, go their webby and look for its dealer. Don't go to a shop and ask for many brands. They would surely promote the particular brand that they distribute as they would get more commission etc. Sales man are good by condemming a brand and pushing another thus learn to differentiate sales talk and actual quality of brands. =)

 

[jiamin_loh]

Hi all,

Just need to find out whether anybody looking for air con contractor??? I am staying in a 4 room resale flat in Bedok Reservoir, we save quite alot for aircon installation in our house bcos my hubby knows some suppliers from the aircon industry(able to get good price)... Please send a e-mail to [email protected] if you are interested.

 

[alice5]

Anyone got any experience with Cheng Coon aircon installer ?

 

[happielee]

Hi guys,
Just wondering wat material your air con people use to seal the holes that the trunking runs thru both OUTSIDE and WITHIN the house?
My air con was sealed with a "rubbery" material that seem like silicone.
I was wondering :
- Is this the norm?
- Can it be painted over?
Thanks!

 

[marchbride]

Hi all,

Not sure this is the correct thread to post my qn but here goes..

Is there a need to remove and re-install all the aircons of a resale flat? We have currently bought a resale flat and the prev owner has only stayed at the flat for 2years and the aircons look quite new.
Thanks!

 

[ridhwan82]

well if its still working.. then i dun see a need to change.. unless tyou are really bothered about the design or the brands or something.. then you go ahead. but since its there just enjoy.

but what brand is it anyway? and what model is it.. checn on the side of the indoor unit it will; mwrite..

 

[tingshen]

hi all, just wondering, does Sharp or Panasonic has any inverter model? Thanks!

 

[ridhwan82]

sharp im not too sure.. but iknow panasonic not as yet. but sanyo has

 

[tingshen]

Is there any special selling point for Sanyo? I think my house used to use it b4.

 

[ridhwan82]

well the only selling point at the present moment that i know of is that its relatively reliable brand and also cos of the quaint brand name that most of the older generation tend to like. like posb etc..

but if you are looking for inverter i would say that daikin, mitsubishi and toshiba could probably be one of your choices.

of course it depends on your needs, your current electrical load, etc...

 

[tingshen]

me moving to new flat once it's renovated. So I have no idea how much to expect in terms of electricity bill.

I will still prefer sharp and panasonic(national). Waiting for them to come out the inverter model and do more comparison.

 

[ridhwan82]

well it would be good if you can predict what will be the usages of the air cons in the respective rooms like

eg MBR 8 hours daily.
Rm 1 6hours daily
Study 2 hours daily..

etc.. t

then you can calculate how much will it cost to run inverter VS NON inverter.. yeah..

panasonic from what i gather iwll not be rolling out any inverter anytime soon.. and also sanyo i think they have inverter but the specs a bit hushed cos they cater to private residential.. so yueah...

 

[nurse]

hi

anybody got good recommendation for air con servcing company? mine is mcquay brand.

txs!

 

[jlowe014]

hi, I am thinking of installing air-con for 3 bedrooms and my living room. Should i get an inverter system 4 or either a non inverter system 2+2 or system 3+1? My id says 2+2 is better but the air con vendors i spoke to all recommended inverter system 4.

would appreciate any advise. thanks

 

[ridhwan82]

sorry to reply so late.


the answer is it depends.

one thing is that..capacity of the outdoor vs the btu that is needed to cool the rooms.

and of course the main thing lies in the usage patterns of your air con in the respective rooms.

Shed some light on the above matters then we can work things out yeah>

Finally is your flat capped at 11.0 amp of 8.5 amps running operation?

 

[ridhwan82]

hi nurse

you can try honX taY.. you can locate them at the website w w w. h o n X t a Y . c o m.s g

can try there okie?
change the above X to g and Y to r..

 

[man_tou_bear]

Hi Ridz,

Got some qns on aircon. WHat is the most impt thing to look for when buying an aircon? Installation? Insulation? BTU?

I am thinking of getting a system 3 inverter from Mit. I live in an EM, would that be enough? There is an electrical loading for my block.

 

[ridhwan82]

hi man_tou_bear

well it depends on what you mean by important. every aspect is important. of course.

But firstly you have to determine you room size as this will affect what capacity that you need to take in terms of the air con.

And the capacity that is needed will also affect your choices of air con due to cofiguration.

Eg if your 3 rooms require say 12k + 12K 9k btu then you are better off with inverter as the non inverter may not be able to support such configurationsx

Versus 3 rooms requiring 9 + 9 + 9 then you can have the option to get inverter or non inverter.

then after deciding these, it will narrow you down to several brands,

which then only you choose based on preference and of course features and power consumption if you are looking to save. i.e. inverter saves more than non inverter in some way depending on usage.

so consider your usage when looking at inverter or non inverter in the case if your config is 9+9+9.

if you are having the 12+12+9 inverter models will eliminate a lot of the brands in the market.

then comes the part about the installation. then get the contractor to quote you with specifications of the grade of the copper pipes, diameter (refer to the respective company's guidelines) and also recommended class of insulation. minimum of class 1 and also like diameter of the drainage pipes.

so you see the importance is at each step of the decision making and not which is the most?

here's waht you need to do..

post he dimensions of the respectivce room
then also include details of the usage of the rooms. especially where concurrent operation is in concern.

if you are looking at 3 rooms to cool then i would think that there shouldnt be any problem in terms of the loading factor. unless your rooms are huge then its a big difference.

hope that helps

 

[man_tou_bear]

Hi Ridhz, thanks for the detailed explanation.

Here are the dimensions for my MBR, 4.7 x 3.9m, bedrm 2, 3.8 x 4.1m and bedrm 3, 3.5 x 4.1m.

We are using bedrm 3 as our study. it has morning sun though. since we are at the corner of the building, that room has no 'neighbouring walls' to keep it cool.

Bedrm 2 will be empty and use for the kids room when they arrive cos its bigger and cooler.

The MRB has a bit of the aftn sun... I m a big environmentalist (work in the env industry) hence all the appliances i choose are energy saving etc.. hence tot of using an inverter.

What abt different brands of insulation? I heard that Armaflex is very gd.. is that true? Oh yes, i live on the highest floor!

 

[jlowe014]

Hi Ridhz,

How do I check the electrical loading of my flat?

 

[hello88]

Hi JL,

over here http://www5.hdb.gov.sg/bn25/isos119p.nsf/Search?OpenForm

 

[iceblue27]

hey ppl, need advise i not familiar wif the aircon.
would like to find out wat's the rubber for? the hollow part is for the metal thg,it is jus for installation purpose rite?

cos i wen to see aircon. i forgot wat brand(start wif A) is tt rubbet but its a class A.

 

[suresh]

hey ridz! how can u be so dishonest? U r actually a salesman from hon* ta*...

 

[ridhwan82]

hey you,

thats very rude of you to accuse me on such grave matter when you have not even asked me personally what do i do.

how dare you! if i was a salesperson from honx tax dont you think that i would have told them so?

do you want me to sue you?

 

[tcflabby]

Hi everyone,

I just bought my aircon. Considered panasonic, toshiba, mitsubishi, sharp.

Finally gotten a non-inverter Sharp System 2 at $1554.

 

[evd]

Hi everyone, I found this thread very useful for my aircon search. Has anyone ever heard about Cools*rv*? Replace * with e. Just want to check whether anyone has encountered problems or bad experience with the company, cos their quotation looks attractive

 

[jackohy]

I have just bought a new house and the aircon was left behind by the owner.
Need your advice on the following matter.
My contractor aircon guys (BestCool) make a report on my aircon status as below:

A. Master bedroom fancoil, internal cooling coil badly blockage, dirty require
chemical wash
B. Condensing unit (outdoor) also badly blockage, dirty, require chemical wash
C. "Compressor" serving fancoils at room 2 and 3 running in high AMP,
on/off itself within 3 min. Unable to run in normal

Comments: No point repair, found that compressor valve also not so good now.

My contractor stated that if the CU is not in good condition then doing the
chemical washing will be a waste of $. He would rather me to get a new aircon
system than to repair the CU.

I've also enlisted the help of Jeffrey (from aircon-blog forum) and cool s*rve to help
me check the air-con as well.

Jeffrey's comment was that my CU requires chemical washing and the aircon in
room 2 and 3 will be colder. He also inform me that mbr fc is dirty.

For Cool s*rve, they told me similar things like the mbf fc is dirty, need
chemical washing and CU is also dirty, need chemical wash so room 2 and 3
aircon will be colder. However they did stated that if the CU got problem, the
warranty might still be able to cover it and i need to get it from the
ex-owner.

Should i go ahead with the chemical washing or buy a new aircon unit?

 

[fiona]

Hmm.... another thing to consider is also the electricity bills. Last time when we were considering if we should get new ones, our ID mentioned that we dunno how long the previous owner has been using the aircon and dunno how much electricity old aircon will consume.

Just a thought.

 

[ridhwan82]

hi jack,

my personal point of view its more worth it to jut get a new air con.

let me exlpain yeah,

so far the probs that you mention is
A. Master bedroom fancoil, internal cooling coil badly blockage, dirty require
chemical wash

for this chemical wash i think it would set you back by about 200 per unit. hence with 3 units its about 600


B. Condensing unit (outdoor) also badly blockage, dirty, require chemical wash

again chemical wash for the condensing unit then i should reckon its another 200 so total now about 800


C. "Compressor" serving fancoils at room 2 and 3 running in high AMP,
on/off itself within 3 min. Unable to run in normal

alright for compressor. bear in mind that even if its within 5 years it only cover the compressor part and not the entire condensing unit and does not include labour. from what i know labour cost can reach up to about 300 you know so you add the entire cost is about 1100.

you can actually buy a system 3 non inverter at 1899 and for inverter at i think 2100 for system 3 so which is more worth it?

i thik the new one is better. plus you can get the air con installer to dismantle and re run new trunking free which is usually the case.

 

[jackohy]

Thanks fiona.
for your insightful question. I never given a thot about the electricity consumption of old aircon unit.

Thank Ridz,
once again you have enlighten me.
I have checked for the thorough chemical washing of CU (dismantle everything and wash with chemical) costs around $250 or a normal chemical washing (by just spraying chemical at compressor) costs around $100. For fcu, it costs around $200.

If i opt not to buy a new unit, i need to spend at least $350 (normal chemical wash) or $450 (thorough chemical) for both CU and FCU ... abit too much ....

My mbr is 3000mm x 5100mm (with wiw), room 2 is 2700mm x 4000mm and room 3 is 3000mm x 4000mm.
Btw for the system 3 non-inverter, which 1 should i go and what kind of btu should i get ... 12K+12K?

 

[tamarind]

Hi ridz,

Appreciate your help here.

I am using Mitsubishi air-conditioners for more than 5 years. I have called the service men to come and service twice. But all they did was open up the front cover, take out the filter to wash, wipe the unit, and put back everything. Then charge me more than $100 ! So I stopped calling them, and clean the air conditioners myself. So far, it is still very cold, and no water leaking.

The only thing is there is this musky smell if I turned the temperature to 28 degrees or above. If it is below 27 degrees, I don't smell anything. Is this normal ?

How long do you use the air conditioner before changing new ones ? I heard one salesman said 5 years. The ones in my parents' house is already about 10 years.

 

[ridhwan82]

hi tamarind,

well abou the smell.. i am not in a good position to be able to advise but i guess if the cooling part is alright then there shouldnt be anythin faulty i guess./

well for the air conditioner. well the typical so called lifespan would be abnout yeah 5 years but then this is what he meants by 5 years.

sure these machines can last for 10 years. my previous air con lasted me about 15 years but the electricity that its consuming is a lot. thats where the efficiency of the machine is questionable when the life of the machine has exceeded the 5year mark. and its efficiency continues to dwindle till its end of years yeah?

so there is no hard and fast rules on how long actuall the machine is supposed to serve you.


similar to cars i would suppose? a ten year old car whats the difference if you maintain it very well..its the effiency in the consumption yeah>

 

[latch]

Hi ridz,

would like to get your advise on the btu needed for the blower in the living/dining area. There will be a door separating the kitchen from the living/dining area.

many thanks in advance.

 

[ridhwan82]

hi ian

im terribly sorry im a bit busy at the moment would it be alright if i try to get back to you by say tmr or latest maybe thurs? sorry dude

 

[ridhwan82]

hi Ian,

i calculated for you.

MBR you require 12000 btu
BedRoom 2 you require 9000 btu
bedRoom 3 also requires 9000 btu
and finally the living dining. should need at least 24000 btu.