Air Con

[OnMyWay]

I might need to buy some air cons, split type.

I see that TCL and Midea are lower priced.  Any experiences with these?  Last time I shopped was 9 years ago and I don't think TCL air con was around then.

[scott h]

Never heard of those two types of air conditioner. We bought carrier from SM 11 years ago and with regular maintenance we have not had any issues. 

[Mike J]

10 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

I might need to buy some air cons, split type.

I see that TCL and Midea are lower priced.  Any experiences with these?  Last time I shopped was 9 years ago and I don't think TCL air con was around then.

No experience with either brand but the reviews I see are not good.

https://www.mouthshut.com/air-conditioners/TCL-Split-Air-Conditioner-reviews-925052052

https://www.mouthshut.com/category/Midea-Air-Conditioners_reviews-925791104.html

 

[OnMyWay]

We are in a rental house right now.  In the master, it has a one year old Teco 1.5 hp split.  I like it.  Very quiet and seems efficient.  I'm not sure if it is an inverter unit. 

Teco (Taiwan Electric) is the master lessee of a nearby industrial park here in Subic Bay.  They run the park and sub-lease to other foreign companies.  They have a retail store there for their products including air con.  I have not seen Teco air con in other retail locations.  Their core business over the years was electric motors and I read that they supply the motors for Daikin.

[Gator]

12 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

I might need to buy some air cons, split type.

I see that TCL and Midea are lower priced.  Any experiences with these?  Last time I shopped was 9 years ago and I don't think TCL air con was around then.

I had a TCL brand portable unit, .75 or 1hp unit (I forget). Worked fine for the 2 - 3 years I used it. When I moved last year it wasn’t large enough to efficiently cool the new apartment.

After a bit of shopping around I bought an energy efficient Kolin 2.5hp split type. Almost a year in use and no issues. It’s quiet, efficient and cools the apartment down in just a few minutes. Cycles on and off as needed. 

Purchased it at a Savers Appliance store. Although installation was included I did have to pay about 3k extra for some wire, a 30amp circuit breaker (mounted outside near the unit) and some extra copper tubing. 

[Tommy T.]

We built our home over three years ago now. You may wish to look at my voluminous posts regarding the build...

But anyway, after serious online research and also with the advice of @hk blues, we bought all Panasonic inverter split units. We couldn't be happier. We have them cleaned and serviced maybe twice yearly, and they run great. They start off a bit powerful for the initial cool down, then slow down and become quieter within less than an hour. During the night - or whenever - they get even quieter with just a steady, cooling - no starts or stops, just continuous, quiet cooling.

One of the main reasons we went for Panasonic is that it is known (from internet research) to have sealed motherboards so geckos or other intruders do not cause issues like short circuits.

The inverter split systems are so quiet, yet efficient - in our experience. I would not even consider pricing another brand - I am sold on these!

[intrepid]

1 hour ago, Tommy T. said:

One of the main reasons we went for Panasonic is that it is known (from internet research) to have sealed motherboards so geckos or other intruders do not cause issues like short circuits.

I was not aware of this.  Good to know.  When we built our home in 2016 all my research stated the inverter motherboards we very expensive after the warranty period and most of the time were shorted by the gecko/lizards.  Because of this I stayed away for the inverter units.  I went with the Kolin brand, 7 units from three 1hp, one 1.5 hp, one 2hp, and two 3hp.  Only issue I have had has been the condensation tray over flowing when I forgot to schedule a cleaning.  Being used this much, a cleaning is needed twice a year.  I also learned a few ounces of clorox in the tray after cleaning helps slow the growth and keeps the water draining.

[Possum]

The Daikin and Mitsubishi units made by Mitsubishi Electric also have coated boards now. My top picks are Panasonic, Daikin and Mitsubishi Electric. Very hard to find good installers though as most do not know how to properly remove moisture from the lines prior to releasing the refrigerant. Proper torque is a foreign concept too. "What's a torque?"

[hk blues]

Not A/C but I have 2 x TCL TV's and would say their price/performance ratio is pretty good.  I assume the A/C would be similar but given the hassle of replacing A/C when they break I'd be leary of them for no specific reason but just an abundance of caution.  

As Tommy mentioned above, I'm a fan of Panasonic A/C.  We have had 3 now, we had to replace 1 after 7 years due to a problem with the mother board which would have been too expensive to replace given the age of the unit.  It was not due to gecko intrusion - we get the units cleaned twice a year and the technician confirms each time there are no signs of gecko intrusion in the mother board itself so Tommy's comment is valid. 

(As an aside - this is NOT true of Panasonic refrigerators as we had a very bad experience with one - one week old and numerous issues including a large amount of ant eggs in the mother board!  They (Panasonic) tried it on with me saying ant eggs null and void the warranty but I gave the Panasonic manager very short shrift with that and she gave up on that.  We swapped for a Samsung (via SM Electrical) after getting approval for this from Panasonic even though we were outside the 7-day return period.  Again, we are v. happy with the Panasonic A/C's though.)

[OnMyWay]

9 hours ago, Gator said:

energy efficient Kolin 2.5hp split type

At my last house, when I bought it in 2016, the master had a Kolin split inverter.  Must have be a few years old.  Never had an issue and it worked very well.  Very quiet.