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Aircon Systems

DRD

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Oct 26, 2014
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What are the sensible split a/c systems to install these days ? In terms of noise and electrical efficiency ?

Thanks
 
I got mine from here : https://www.aircon247.com/

Took them a day or two to get sorted... however seem to have the best prices for the smaller units.
I ended up with one of these : https://www.aircon247.com/p/9062864...lit-wall-mounted-air-conditioning-system.html for an "office" 5m x 3m, and it has plenty of power left over. Comes with a remote, or you can get a wall controller (i got mine elsewhere) for around £50. I did the install myself, got the local aircon guy around and threw him £30 to do a pressure test on my pipework... (Not essential) and then opened the pipes and off it went... (unit is pre-charged with enough gas for an up to 4m pipe run. Runs off a 13A plug.

I would say nowadays that it NEEDS to be an inverter system, since it makes things much more economical... (http://www.aircon-servicing.com.sg/articles/inverter-vs-non-inverter-air-conditioner-unit.html)

Tend to leave mine set to it's lowest for the winter (16C) to keep the cold off, and in this weather have increased this to 20C. Worth remembering Aircon's also drag the moisture out of the air, and haven't seen the humidity go higher than 55% even in the rain and Frost with the door open :D
 
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How easy is it to install one of these things?

Had this one installed in the server room at work recently, a local company supplied and fitted it and the bill came to nearly 3 times the cost of the unit (using that link). We needed the warranty they provided and it wasn't something I was prepared to take on and be held accountable for it working.

Having experienced it and been amazed at how little energy it uses (it runs off a regular plug socket - the knackered system it replaced was 3 phase) I'm keen to get another one for the home office, but would want to install it myself to save money.

Have you installed aircons in the past?
 
Nope - Never done one before, however consider myself rather handy. You will need a flaring tool (Less than £20 on Amazon), however It's a few hours work if you are handy..

  1. Drill hole in wall
  2. Mount indoor unit on wall
  3. Feed pipes out of wall
  4. Gently bend pipes to is parallel with the wall
  5. Run pipes down wall
  6. Flare pipes at the right length to reach the Outdoor unit on the ends
  7. Connect pipes
  8. Tighten reasonably tight (not too tight!)
  9. Follow instructions for charging pipe (makes a difference between units as to what order it's done - read instructions VERY carefully)
  10. Double check all fixings again
  11. Open valves
  12. Power up
  13. Set Temp
  14. Relax in the coolness :)
Think it's a 3 year warranty on most of these - however that means you have to get the local company in once a year to service it for the warranty to be valid - probably cheaper to just buy another unit if it fails...

I think in the winter, set at 15C over the winter, it was costing around 1kw per day... so about 15-20p ( I had a power monitor on it to monitor). warming is actually cheaper than cooling!!

Check the install manual for one here : https://www.manualslib.com/manual/977038/Hitachi-Rak-18peb.html
 
Mmmm sounds like more work than I initially thought :oops: I'm definitely not handy lol
 
Nope - Never done one before, however consider myself rather handy. You will need a flaring tool (Less than £20 on Amazon), however It's a few hours work if you are handy..

  1. Drill hole in wall
  2. Mount indoor unit on wall
  3. Feed pipes out of wall
  4. Gently bend pipes to is parallel with the wall
  5. Run pipes down wall
  6. Flare pipes at the right length to reach the Outdoor unit on the ends
  7. Connect pipes
  8. Tighten reasonably tight (not too tight!)
  9. Follow instructions for charging pipe (makes a difference between units as to what order it's done - read instructions VERY carefully)
  10. Double check all fixings again
  11. Open valves
  12. Power up
  13. Set Temp
  14. Relax in the coolness :)
Think it's a 3 year warranty on most of these - however that means you have to get the local company in once a year to service it for the warranty to be valid - probably cheaper to just buy another unit if it fails...

I think in the winter, set at 15C over the winter, it was costing around 1kw per day... so about 15-20p ( I had a power monitor on it to monitor). warming is actually cheaper than cooling!!

Check the install manual for one here : https://www.manualslib.com/manual/977038/Hitachi-Rak-18peb.html
When you say flare pipes paul - is that a case of cutting them to length and soldering the fittings on them to bolt to the compressor ?

Quite interested in getting one of these myself

Cheers

kev
 
When you say flare pipes paul - is that a case of cutting them to length and soldering the fittings on them to bolt to the compressor ?

Quite interested in getting one of these myself

Cheers

kev
Noo... no soldering involved... Just like brake pipes on a car the end of the ppe needs to be "flared" to match the fitting...


Especially important it's correct, since on the newer refrigerants the pressure in the pipe can reach up to 500psi!
 
How easy is it to install one of these things?

Had this one installed in the server room at work recently, a local company supplied and fitted it and the bill came to nearly 3 times the cost of the unit (using that link). We needed the warranty they provided and it wasn't something I was prepared to take on and be held accountable for it working.

Having experienced it and been amazed at how little energy it uses (it runs off a regular plug socket - the knackered system it replaced was 3 phase) I'm keen to get another one for the home office, but would want to install it myself to save money.

Have you installed aircons in the past?

You were done.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
I’ve got a hitachi system which is fine for most of the time I need it - its been great except it struggled with the league meet in the second hottest day of the year towards the end of the day and I’m going to add another unit to the pump/invertor that’s already there to solve that.(I re-used the system from my old Pinball room).

A lot of folks say buy one that will be slightly overloaded - I think the weather the last month has proven the folly in that approach - my advice buy one that is a bit over-specified you can run it at lower settings and crank it up when you need it - Also buy one that has a minimum temp option so in the winter I leave mine set to 14C and it comes on as required. I’d also buy one you can operate remotely - I often turn mine on as I head home from work.

Neil



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Noo... no soldering involved... Just like brake pipes on a car the end of the ppe needs to be "flared" to match the fitting...


Especially important it's correct, since on the newer refrigerants the pressure in the pipe can reach up to 500psi!
ah ok never done that before but clearly you need specilist tooling to do the job ? is that expensive stuff ?

Cheers

kev
 
You were done.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Well, it wasn't my money. I had a couple of quotes that were in the same sort of ball park.

How much should I expect to pay a one man band to install that unit if I were to buy it myself?
 
Well, it wasn't my money. I had a couple of quotes that were in the same sort of ball park.

How much should I expect to pay a one man band to install that unit if I were to buy it myself?

£300-400
 
to give you an idea of costs, here is what it cost me to run my pinball room (and the rest of the house!) on the league meet day which as you can see was one of the hottest days of the year. Total leccy use was £7.34 and I had the AC on full blast and then turn on a large fan around 15:30. I had 18 pinball machines on, a projector, 2 laptops, 3 50" TV screens, couple of laptops, two ovens and all the lights and neons in my pinball room. (The temperature in the graph is the outdoor temperature).

Screen Shot 2018-08-01 at 14.18.18.png
 
Wow yours is thirsty! I'll check my records later... however when i last looked mine was around 20p on the hottest day.... ahh that wasnt without loads of pins on tho...
 
yeah that was the whole house. I think mine is something similar normally - what capacity is yours?
 
I have been running a Worcester Bosch unit for 4 - 5 years at 18 degrees all year, been good so far, only used as got it cheap and installed for free
 
yeah that was the whole house. I think mine is something similar normally - what capacity is yours?

3.5kw inverter type. Saying that, my room is half the size of yours [emoji4]


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