I need to vent a little and ask questions.

1. I am really struggling to remove the drain pan and the blower wheels from my acs to clean. I have a daikin, mitsubishi and panasonic and none are easy.
2. I feel that a bi-monthly or even a 3 month self-service should eliminate any 'surprise' leaks I might get but I'm not sure now. I feel a 6 month or 1 year service schedule should be good enough - I feel it's mostly the drain pan and blower wheel that might be most difficult to clean. Spraying coil cleaner is not hard and washing the filters is easy
3. So I tried to use a cleaning bag but the water was just spilling everywhere. I threw away the bag. I have tried it once or twice before and usually it's very messy. I use the manual spray and even then it's messy. I tried cleaning the blower wheel today too but it was disastrous.

Questions
1. Which are the easiest acs to clean? I feel like I need to change all of them so that I can really do it. My Daikins are the newest, from 2015 and 2016 but even those are a pain.
2. It's usually my drain pan hole that leaks and I can't even see where the hole is to clear it. How do you clean it?
3. Do cleaning bags work?? Which ones do you recommend? What kind of spray do you use and should I be investing in those pressure washers? Or should I not go through the hassle and just use a coil cleaner till my service schedule is due?
4. Are current airconds as hardy as the old york and carrier acs? I just feel I should get the R32 refrigerant ones but mainly I want easy access to the blower wheel. Also I want smart acs but do these tell you when your acs need servicing and the energy consumption?
5. Does vacuuming work for you? Is that how I can get the dust from the blower wheel??
6. What about if I just used a brush to clean?


I'm just upset that I can't do a simple thing like remove the drain pan or the blower wheel... help.

This post has been edited by pigduck: Mar 1 2021, 09:04 PM

Wow!

Update : just get aircond man to service much easier.

This post has been edited by pigduck: May 7 2021, 02:27 PM

Q.

1. Does 5 star energy rating really help save electricity?
2. What about multi split AC? Does it save energy and electricity? I was looking, the compressor is 3hp then I can only get like 3ac at 1hp each or 2hp + 1hp or 1.5hp + 1.5hp
3. What about R32 airconds? Do they save electricity?

So then the goal word be to get a 5 star + R32 aircond then I should see significant savings in my TnB bill?

My compressors are on the 5th floor and I live on 3rd floor so will this affect my electricity and would I save if I merged my compressors?

My guess is all the airconds have to run at the same time to be efficient. If I only 1 1hp aircond using the 3hp compressor it will become inefficient?

This post has been edited by pigduck: Mar 5 2021, 08:32 PM

Why is this so?

What are intra-brand series?

I'm looking at non-inverter China brand with wifi function - are the spare parts easy to find in market?

Otherwise it will have to be a daikin non-inverter. but they don't have auto clean mode. It has wifi and while the app they show screenshots of canggih power consumption, is not true. i bought the dongle for my basic non-inverter and doesn't show. i'm thinking of ftkf 'cos of removable drain pan.

What are thoughts on auto clean mode? Do we need it or is dry mode enough?

Yesterday our Panasonic EcoNavi from many years ago leaked like crazy. I opened it to see that the drain pipe was clogged And putting it back together again after so many years of servicemen manhandling it, it's all falling apart. plus i think it's been a bit wonky. think something zapped a few months ago and now the remote has a hard time detecting stuff. time to change.

what is this golden vs blue fin? vs green?



This post has been edited by pigduck: Mar 3 2022, 12:42 PM

Thanks!!

Gree and Midea - OK! I'll look at those.

What is a good BTU for 1HP and 1.5HP?

Freeze drying the gunk sounds like a marketing scam. hahaha

Also I think your'e right - it might be that the piping needs to be redone - do aircond men usually change these out when they change the new airconds?

It leaked in the middle of the night and I had to take out the drain pan (which seems easier on a panasonic than a daikin - i still don't know how to remove the daikin ones) and blow into the drain pipe to clear it. nightmare.

This post has been edited by pigduck: Mar 3 2022, 03:09 PM

Reading this thread makes me feel all sorts of things.

I think I'm going to try and find 4 star energy rating non-inverter ACs that MAYBE run on R410a (1st priority) then R32.

I've shortlisted the Mitsubishi GK series but then I'm reading through the thread and seeing that Mitsubishi isn't so great these days?

I'm also looking at Midea because of their All Easy Pro series which looks like I can remove the blower wheel to clean and it's only 1 screw so easy maintenance.

And also looking at Gree non-inverter just 'cos it's cheap and has wifi and auto clean...

I'm using Daikin now and while it's OK, they don't seem to have non-inverter that's on R32 with 4 star ratings?

The Panasonic is the one that is very problematic. It had fungus a couple of months ago and recently had that middle of the night leak because the drain pipes were clogged with white jelly/slime. Uncool. I realise now that maybe the AC needs to be changed. It's constantly needing to be serviced.

Question on pipe lines. The reason why I want to stick to R410 non-inverter is because of the existing pipes to compressor and everything else. I don't even know if these existing pipe lines can support anything higher than 1.5hp. Maybe the current pipeline is only for 1.5hp and that's why it's problematic?

It's hard to find R410A ACs these days?

The Haier and Hisense brands look good too. also Carrier.

This post has been edited by pigduck: Mar 5 2022, 09:26 PM

who buys RM6,000 airconds??

I think it's a faulty model.

I'm thinking:-

1. What are your thoughts of using a 1HP non-inverter for a bigger room? So that the AC is constantly running and doesn't shut off and on if I used a 1.5HP non-inverter?
2. What are your thoughts on 1HP non-inverter vs 1.5HP inverter for a bigger room?
3. What about a 1HP inverter for a bigger room?

I feel like my lousy 1.5HP Panasonic Econavi AC that's been creating a lot of white jelly and clogs the drain since Jan, more frequently over the last two months and I'm pretty sure some part has died and that's why this happens.

Am looking at the Midea All Easy Pro Series because it's 1 screw only and I'm able to remove the pan and blower wheel together at one go.

@ceo684 - help

This post has been edited by pigduck: Apr 21 2022, 05:36 PM

It's that line

"Because oversized unit for warmer target temp will not be running long enough to pull humidity out from the room. In this situation a slightly undersized AC is better 'cos will always run to dehumidify"

How does this work with my questions?

1. We used to set it at 16 but then nowadays to save electricity, I set it to 21-22.

This post has been edited by pigduck: Apr 21 2022, 05:34 PM

Hmm.... So a non-inverter 1 HP for a bigger room?

But isn't this good to dehumidify the room since it will be running constantly and you are running at a constant and not having the AC turn off and on?

I have a Daikin that doesn't say on the remote that it has eco mode until I plugged in the dongle. so now I have smart function for my AC and it has eco mode. I have noticed for Eco Mode it fixes the temp at 24 or 25 degrees and it gets warm-ish in the middle of the night. When I use the dry mode it shuts off and on even though I set it at 22 degrees. I'm not sure if I'm destroying my AC reading through the posts about inverter vs non-inverter ACs

it will consume more energy but surely not as much as the 1.5HP

hmm non-inverter but what size to save on energy consumption.

1. If I increase the temperature setting from 16 to 22, the AC will turn on and off more frequently thus not save electricity?
2. If I set it at 16 all night, it will constantly run and not save electricity?
3. If I got an undersized (1HP) unit for a big room and set it at 16 it will run constantly but at max 1HP?
4. If I got a 1.5HP unit for a big room and set it at 16 it will run constantly but at max 1.5HP?
5. IF I got a 2HP unit for a big room and set it at 16 it will run and may shut off and on a little more?

Then a 4 Star non-inverter is what I'm looking for. I'm still trying to save electricity and set it at 22 degrees.

Right. Do you think this then causes the wet effect on the air conditioner thus creating the white jelly (mold)? I feel like my Panasonic Econavi is way too wet. I had another room that now uses a Daikin and in the past MAY have been a Panasonic used to have white jelly or ice but not anymore.

Maybe we set the temperature too low thereby creating ice / condensation on floors and the air cond was too wet and couldn't dry in time thereby creating white jelly (mold). Panasonic is really lousy now that I'm thinking of it. The Daikin also suffered from white jelly until I'm not sure what I miraculously did to stop it. I think I set the temperature higher.

So roughly,

1. use a 1 HP non-inverter at 22 degrees for a big-ish room so the compressor is constantly running and not shutting off and on
2. could use a 1.5 HP non-inverter 22 degrees for big-ish room but it might reach 22 degrees faster and the compressor cycle on and off through the night thereby wasting electricity or it runs at 1.5HP all the time vs the 1HP thereby eating more electricity anyway
3. use a 1.5HP inverter set at 24 degrees for a big-ish room so the compressor runs at a lower speed but doesn't shut off and turn on thereby saving electricity

Some times the end goals of ppl are different - some want a cool room, some want to save electricity

The claim with the 1HP is that it takes longer for the room to cool down but we want it to be a constant cooling. Different goals again.

Maybe I should find an air cond with turbo cool for the start. In my room I'm constantly adjusting the temperature and modes with my Daikin wifi remote now. So I set it to dry mode then eco mode etc etc. The problem with the Daikin remote is that I can't schedule it to say after 2 hours switch to another mode. Also it never stays on eco mode, I have to manually set that all the time.

Main functions that are good to have imo:-
1. Turbo cool
2. Schedule modes
3. Self-cleaning although I'm not sure how good this actually works besides just blow drying the fins - technically, if I can schedule modes, I can schedule the last hour to just fan mode
4. Removable drain pan - this is sooo important. I don't know how to remove my Daikin drain pans! I tried removing the blower wheel but couldn't! It's all so difficult! And because of this, I might need to pay service ppl or buy the wash bags. Over the years, I've bought the wash bags but it's cumbersome. I think Mitsubishi also allows for drain pans to come off easily.... service ppl over the years I have noticed with my air conds have wrecked a lot of my units. Broken covers, drain holes, loose drain pans, etc. It's like they are just as bad as I am but I pay them to be wreck my units. You would think as service ppl they'd know how to handle air conds that they recommend us to buy.
5. Eco mode


This post has been edited by pigduck: Apr 22 2022, 11:25 AM

the service man suggested a Panasonic so we'll see how it goes because I'm leaning towards the Midea All Easy Pro.

The Panasonic 1.5hp non-inverter apparently has the Good Design Award 2020.



This post has been edited by pigduck: Apr 24 2022, 11:56 AM

No complaints so far with the panasonic cs pn12wkh. It's basic functions and only has dry and cool which is good. Malaysians won't use all the functions anyway. I would have liked it if the WiFi dongle worked with it but oh well.