Split Air Conditioner Recomendations

[Chieflets]

Can any recommend 3.5+ hp cooling air con?

also any bad experiences to stay away from


Chieflets

[gordonwh40]

Stay away from no name brands or brands only held by a single air conditioner franchise.. Almost impossible to get spares in the future

[ol' boy]

Basically ever since they banned the R22 refrigerant, they are all crap (comparatively speaking)... The newer 410 gas just doesn't seem to do the same job.
That said, you have no choice

I'm about to buy another split.

It will be a Fujitsu or a Toshiba, i'd also consider a Panasonic.
I used to be a Dakin man thorough and through, but after installing and testing them over the last 6 to 10 years, they aren't what they used to be.
My refrideragtion friends are of the same opinion too.
In fact, i had a customer text me yesterday to say the Dakin unit struggles to keep his Bar cool (it a 5.5M x 3.5M room with a 6Kw unit)
The other reason i personally no longer prefer Dakin is the crapy colour of the unit, its not white, its some old school weird beige colour.

As for Bad experience, dont buy a Samsung or LG etc.... You need a unit that has spent some coin on good soft starting electronics.
Good Luck, there were some great special on Splits in August, not sure how the prices are now.

[Chieflets]

Cheers for the feedback

yeah I had LG LS 243 h-2 now for 16 years and it has worked good.

unfortunately the compressor motor I think is giving way as it starts and stops and some times struggles on start up.

I was looking at the Panasonic for feature wise but also the fujitsu due to the 5 years warranty and labour

Chieflets

[LeroyPatrol]

Mitsubishi is another brand to consider.

Leroy

[admin]

Daikin, daikin and daikin You get what you pay for.

I had one in my last house and it never missed a beat and thats why I bought one in this house which has never missed a beat in 7 years (except for a refrigerant leak which was the installers fault which he fixed free of charge).

A mate bought a Fujitsu which used to drive him nuts with a clicking noise. Another mate has a Mitsubishi which he has had no problems with in 7 years.

Do NOT buy some cheap arse no name brand. It will cost you a fortune in the future when there is no spares or support.

[hoe]

I just had a daikin installed in my perth villa, it has no trouble keeping the place cool, even in the recent heatwave....

but i asked the installer what size i needed, then bought the next size up....

[admin]

I just had a daikin installed in my perth villa, it has no trouble keeping the place cool, even in the recent heatwave....

but i asked the installer what size i needed, then bought the next size up....

Great minds think alike

Mine heats/cools almost all my house and its a reasonable size long house. But its also 8/9 kw.

[ol' boy]

With Mitsubishi, there are 2 different companies.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Mitsubishi Electric

Get the Mitsubishi Heavy Industry every time!

[shred]

I have a Daikin, it seems to heat and cool fairly well. However, everyone I know who has bought a Daikin in the last 10 years has found that the air con fails catastrophically at about 6-8 years of age and has to be replaced. I notice that mine was made in Thailand - maybe that's the problem.

In any case, I expect mine to die at any time, since it has just hit the 7 year mark. My mother had a Daikin and when it failed (after 6.5 years) replaced it with a Mitsubishi Electric on the advice of a fridgie. It goes really well and the indoor unit is super quiet - a feature that is wasted on her, since she's deaf. When the time comes, I intend to replace mine with one of the Mitsubishi Electric ones or something similarly quiet.

[Drift]

Recently replaced our 20yo Kelvinator with a Panasonic Inverter and couldn't be happier. (IE: Wife isn't winging) Don't ask me what model it is but it's one of the one's with an occupancy sensor and it seems to work really well. We tend to leave it on constantly over summer set at 24 degrees. It only runs when it needs to and doesn't chew a ton of power.

[Seymour Butts]

Basically ever since they banned the R22 refrigerant, they are all crap (comparatively speaking)... The newer 410 gas just doesn't seem to do the same job.
That said, you have no choice .

Just as an aside - the R22 refrigerant, is it still available in any way - like from the short fat guy in the Frankston pub??

[ol' boy]

Yes, you can still buy it, you need it for older machines.
Plus, some of the cheap asian import splits still use it.

That was the problem with my older Fujitsu Spilt, it had a tiny leak we couldn't find, you would charge the unit and it would work for 2 weeks, then be out of charge.
It was getting $$$ wasting gas on it... it was R22.

[admin]

Yes, you can still buy it, you need it for older machines.
Plus, some of the cheap asian import splits still use it.

That was the problem with my older Fujitsu Spilt, it had a tiny leak we couldn't find, you would charge the unit and it would work for 2 weeks, then be out of charge.
It was getting $$$ wasting gas on it... it was R22.

I had that problem when I had my Daikin installed. The guy that regassed it said even a speck of sand in the thread can be responsible for it leaking. Its been fine since.

[hoe]

you can use hychill instead of R22....

[ol' boy]

Agreed admin, we pulled my unit out and bench tested it to 750Kpa with nitrogen to try and find the smallest leak, found one in a weld on an elbow... Thought we had it sussed.... refitted it... same problem...

[shred]

you can use hychill instead of R22....

Is it true that hychill is basically LPG?

[hoe]

Is it true that hychill is basically LPG?

Yes.

[jimbo123]

but i asked the installer what size i needed, then bought the next size up....

Yup, that's always a good idea.