Reliable Air Conditioning Service Company.

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Nereus
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Re: The Home Air-Conditioner Thread

Post by Nereus »

My understanding is that "inverters" change your 220volt ac to dc. With dc you can slow the motor down when you need less cooling power.
Ah, not strictly true. The AC is indeed firstly changed to DC, but the DC is used by the inverter using a method called "pulse width modulation", to produce a variable frequency AC output to drive the AC motor. The speed of an AC motor is a function of the number of magnetic poles and the supply frequency. By varying the AC frequency supplied to the motor, and hence the compressor, it can be matched to the required load. It also has the advantage of starting the motor at a very low speed and then increasing it up to about 1.5 times the speed of a fixed drive, thus reducing the big inrush of current while starting.
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Re: The Home Air-Conditioner Thread

Post by BrianT »

Hnlwayne wrote:There are several people on this thread that obviously know a lot more about air conditioning than I do but I can comment on running costs. In the past two years I replaced four ten year old Carrier split systems of various sizes with Panasonic inverter types. I got the deluxe ones that boast 60% energy savings compared to 50% for the standard inverter. This is supposed to be comparing new inverter vs. new non inverter. I am sure I am saving over 50% keeping mind I had old non inverters.

My understanding is that "inverters" change your 220volt ac to dc. With dc you can slow the motor down when you need less cooling power. It is also better for the compressor because starting and stopping is hard on them.

Keep in mind if you are going for Arctic conditions ( 23 Celsius) or less in a hot climate the inverter won't save you much because the compressor will be going full on all the time. We set ours at 26 or 27 and our savings will pay them off in less than two years. They would pay for themselves even sooner but two of them are not used much.
Thanks for this! Will refer back to this thread when I move in a few months:)
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Re: The Home Air-Conditioner Thread

Post by deepee »

Been searching for info on correct sizing of air con units for specific situations for ages. When discussing sizes with Thai "experts" always seem to be recommended the biggest (and most costly of course)unit they could push onto me based on the most minimal of my details.
So managed to find an info source which might just be getting close to being helpful.

www.fairair.com.au/calculator.size.aspx

Obviously for Australian areas but if you input "Darwin" same latitude as a close equivalent to Prachuap Kiri Khan and reverse north with south and south with north in each field you can allow for local conditions. East and west remain the same of course.
finally you will need to convert the calculated unit size from kilowatts to BTU .
Would be interested to see if anyone can compare this chart with their current air con units sizing.
Complexity is so simply overrated
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Nereus
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Re: The Home Air-Conditioner Thread

Post by Nereus »

Mostly you will be constricted by what size units are available. Here they range from 9,000 BTU, 12,000 BTU, 18,000 BTU, or if you really have a big area, 24,000 BTU which may be better served with 2 X 12,000 BTU units.

In the old money a rough rule of thumb was the area in sq feet x 25 = required BTU. Here you may want to X by 30 to cover the TIT.

1 Kw = 3412 BTU.

A lot of variables, even if you use the method that you posted. Unless you are doing a commercial installation you will probably not find any local installer that uses any type of formula. If you read through some of the previous posts most of it is good.(even that which I posted :rasta: )
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Re: The Home Air-Conditioner Thread

Post by deepee »

Nereus
Based on this chart a unit around 12,000 btu would be adequate for our living space.
Last local installer was quoting 24,000btu for this same room based on floor area calculations only. Hell of a lot of difference
eh? Still be keen to hear of how this particular chart stacks up in comparison to what other folks have installed in their places.
Complexity is so simply overrated
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Reliable Air Conditioning Service Company.

Post by jocko »

Can anyone personally recommend an excellent company for servicing and repairing air conditioning? Based in either Cha Am or Hua Hin, looking for someone really professional, some English would also be very useful. Thanks!
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Re: Reliable Air Conditioning Service Company.

Post by Dannie Boy »

jocko wrote:Can anyone personally recommend an excellent company for servicing and repairing air conditioning? Based in either Cha Am or Hua Hin, looking for someone really professional, some English would also be very useful. Thanks!
I can recommend somebody that we’ve used a number of times - he lives in Cha Am and goes by the name of Plāh̄mụk (Thai for squid) and his number is 0873477015 - he speaks sufficient English to get by - mention my name by all means!!


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Re: Reliable Air Conditioning Service Company.

Post by jocko »

Thanks Dannie Boy for this contact. For sure when I contact him I will tell him you passed me the details, does he know you as Dannie? I get the impression you may be aware of other important contacts. How about a plumber, electrician or a ceiling plasterer? Personal recommendations only please and only for professional workers who can work to a very high standard. Many thanks once again.
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Re: Reliable Air Conditioning Service Company.

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jocko wrote: Thu Dec 03, 2020 5:04 pm Thanks Dannie Boy for this contact. For sure when I contact him I will tell him you passed me the details, does he know you as Dannie? I get the impression you may be aware of other important contacts. How about a plumber, electrician or a ceiling plasterer? Personal recommendations only please and only for professional workers who can work to a very high standard. Many thanks once again.
I can definitely recommend a ceiling plasterer and electrician - possibly a plumber.

I’ll get the details from my wife and post them later :cheers:
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Re: Reliable Air Conditioning Service Company.

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Dannie Boy wrote:
jocko wrote: Thu Dec 03, 2020 5:04 pm Thanks Dannie Boy for this contact. For sure when I contact him I will tell him you passed me the details, does he know you as Dannie? I get the impression you may be aware of other important contacts. How about a plumber, electrician or a ceiling plasterer? Personal recommendations only please and only for professional workers who can work to a very high standard. Many thanks once again.
I can definitely recommend a ceiling plasterer and electrician - possibly a plumber.

I’ll get the details from my wife and post them later :cheers:
The ceiling guys name is “Somchai” and his number is 0639599799 but he doesn’t speak English so you’ll need somebody who can speak Thai - he lives in Cha Am. I’ve not used him for electrical work so can’t vouch for that but my wife says he does that too - he did our ceilings and did good work. For this man and the aircon man, mention my wife’s name Chitta.


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jocko
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Re: Reliable Air Conditioning Service Company.

Post by jocko »

Many thanks for your help.
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Re: Reliable Air Conditioning Service Company.

Post by Dannie Boy »

I’m on a roll this week. A few days ago I mentioned about the excellent service provided by B-Quick and today we needed to call in our regular air con guy Plāh̄mụk (mentioned a few posts above). One of the units must have had a blocked waste pipe because we were getting water dripping down the inside wall. He cleaned the pipe to remove any blockage, checked the gas pressure on two of the units (they were both ok). He was only here about 15 minutes but when my wife asked how much, he said it was free and refused to even accept a “small” thank you.

I hope I don’t need anything else servicing in the near future but if I do, I hope I can get similar service!!
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Re: The Home Air-Conditioner Thread

Post by buksida »

We have a problem with our Samsung a/c unit in the master bedroom. I know nothing about them but we've been told that a large radiator type thing in the outside unit is leaking and a replacement would be 4,000-5,000 baht. The unit is a 12,000 BTU Samsung and it's about ten years old.

This sounds like a lot to spend on a ten-year-old machine as it is likely to have more problems down the line so we're considering a new one.

Any advice on decent aircon units, recommended brands etc? Are those inverter-type ones worth the extra? (our electric bill is already 30% higher than the winter average and we haven't touched the a/c for the past 4 months). Is it worth getting a larger one like an 18,000 BTU or would that send the power bills through the roof? (the room is 5x6 meters).

Any advice/knowledge from a/c gurus is appreciated. :cheers:
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Nereus
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Re: The Home Air-Conditioner Thread

Post by Nereus »

The radiator type "thing" is the condensor. Not unusal to be crapped out given the age. Scrap it!

If the old one has been sufficient at 12,000 BTU, then a new one will be more than sufficient.

Invertor types SHOULD be cheaper to run, and as the technology has advanced, are now reliable. More so given that you may be looking to install some solar power.

I prefer Mitsubishi Mr. Slim, have always had good resuts with them.
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Re: The Home Air-Conditioner Thread

Post by Dannie Boy »

Most people on this forum, based on their personal experience, seem to recommend either Mitsubishi or Daikon - I’ve had both and would be happy with either, although our last purchase was Daikon.


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