Adding a single room AC to your house. Reliable unit/pricing?

[Hawk256]

I found out why most Indoneisans are so worried about the total wattage supply. If you have the old meter and pay per month there is a different minimum bill each month and there is pretty big difference in those minimums. However with prepay there is no minimum. You might pay a little more per kWh but only if you have 2200 watts or above. The minimum bill being so much higher in the past has seemed to stick in their minds. I couldn't imagine trying to get by with 2200 watts though but AC is required for me.

 

[Banana72]

Stabilizer .. those things are expensive, right?

Yep...and depending on the minimum wattage requirement, where it's made (Japanese brand made in Japan...or Japanese brand made in Vietnam, etc)....and our house is about 7,700 watts total and was told that getting an 10,000 watt stabilizer is not enough since we were told that a 10,000 watt stabilizer 'effectively' works for about 7,000 watts capacity so we got the 15,000 watt one. Were we tricked by the seller, who knows it has been quite a few years, but for sure things feel way normal since then (no flickering lights, etc no unstable AC...etc).

 

[jstar]

If you consider these things like stabilizers, don’t shop at ACE or so. There you get the Krisbow crap or a ‘Japanese’ brand like Matsunaga or Kyowa for very high prices. Then better look in LTC or Glodok where at least they know what they are talking about.

There are many products from Japanese (sounding) companies on the market which obviously are produced here or in China..

 

[Pak Tani]

It’s cooled off the last week, so this project is now on the back burner. I guess if the weather gets uncomfortable for ling enough, we’ll break down and get one.

Is it because of the weather or is the room facing south? If it's the latter, you should be fine for the largest part of the year, though the problem will probably come back in september or october when the sun moves south of Java.

 

[Jaime C]

Just to update the thread. Since we are back long term in Bandung, and it’s moderately hot in the afternoon, we decided to get a new AC unit.

Pricing has certainly gone up in the last year. Ended up paying 4.2jt for a Gree unit, with installation and install kit . 1/2 pk. Can’t even hear the fan running outside. Install done the next day. The breaker hasn’t popped once, but haven’t used it and the AC at the same time. 350 watt, I believe.

We only use it on hot days. Usually a few hours in the afternoon. I just set it to 26C.

 

[Banana72]

We set ours to 23 (even 24 on cold days)...I always sigh in silence whenever I see people/even AC technician setting the AC temp to 17....

 

[Jaime C]

After about 8 months, here‘s an update.

The upstairs breaker does pop sometimes, when using the microwave. Often I’ll turn the AC off, but if the microwave is running for a minute or more, it’s at least a 50% chance it will trip the breaker.

Mostly I keep the temp at 23-24c now. I’ll turn it off late night. My wife likes fresh air, so opens the window, with the AC off at 6 or 7am. She does complain about the electricity bill, which is about 600k a month. I think that’s 200-250k a month than before we got the AC. Seems pretty minor compared to everything else she spends money on.

On Sunday evening, the room was getting quite hot. Luckily we have a thermometer gun, and the room was 29-30 degrees, which is in the uncomfortable range for me.

Our almost 12 year old got drafted to climb the ladder and remove the filters. Seems they were quite dirty, so that needs to go on the list of things to regularly service. It’s cooling fine, now.

 

[Samoerai]

After about 8 months, here‘s an update.

The upstairs breaker does pop sometimes, when using the microwave. Often I’ll turn the AC off, but if the microwave is running for a minute or more, it’s at least a 50% chance it will trip the breaker.

Mostly I keep the temp at 23-24c now. I’ll turn it off late night. My wife likes fresh air, so opens the window, with the AC off at 6 or 7am. She does complain about the electricity bill, which is about 600k a month. I think that’s 200-250k a month than before we got the AC. Seems pretty minor compared to everything else she spends money on.

On Sunday evening, the room was getting quite hot. Luckily we have a thermometer gun, and the room was 29-30 degrees, which is in the uncomfortable range for me.

Our almost 12 year old got drafted to climb the ladder and remove the filters. Seems they were quite dirty, so that needs to go on the list of things to regularly service. It’s cooling fine, now.

Isn't it normal to clean the AC-unit every 3 months? By a 'professional'? With a high pressure water jet? I think cleaning the filters only is not enough.

 

[jstar]

Absolutely. Also the outside unit with the same high pressure water. We are lazy and let it do it every 6 months which is already a bit iffy with all the pollution here, it’s pitch black. Also cleaning the (entrance to the) exhaust pipe is important. And perhaps checking the amount of Freon.

But I do have the feeling the unit can be damaged or suffers more wear by this high pressure maintenance. The good thing is they use plastic covers and there’s no water spilling and no mess. It’s also not that expensive, we pay like 75K.

 

[Jaime C]

My kid sometimes just hangs out in our bedroom to cool off. She’s been hinting that she’d like an AC unit, too, but I don’t think that’s gonna fly with her mother.

 

[Pak Tani]

Half a year ago we bought a ½pk Panasonic for Rp3,7jt, including pasang. Indonesian made, though imported ones from China are also available at our brick and mortar shop for around Rp500k less.
I can't say much about it except that it works properly. Not very quiet but not noisy either.
About the electricity costs.
-A ½pk ac consumes around 400Watts per hour
-1kW costs around Rp1.600
So running your ½pk a/c for one hour costs Rp640.
A 1pk a/c uses almost double the amount of electricity, und so weiter.
It is important to note that the lion share of electricity is used by the compressor in the outdoor unit. This compressor is switched off automatically when the desired indoor temperature is attained and only the indoor unit (approximately 40Watts) keeps running. When the temperature slowly rises above your temp settings again, the outdoor unit will automatically switch on.
So it's not easy to calculate exactly how much electricity your a/c uses. But a lot of it is in your own hands.

 

[Pak Tani]

After about 8 months, here‘s an update.

The upstairs breaker does pop sometimes, when using the microwave. Often I’ll turn the AC off, but if the microwave is running for a minute or more, it’s at least a 50% chance it will trip the breaker.

Just change the breaker then. Just buy a 10A Schneider at Tokopedia and swap it yourself, pretty easy task. Or let your daughter do it, it looks like she's got strong enough hands for a 12 y/o.

Dirty filters will render the a/c unit less efficient and thus more expensive to operate. Our 10+ years LG airco switches off by itself when its filters need to be cleaned. But before that, just to annoy you, it will keep you awake the whole night with an intermittend beep.

 

[Hawk256]

Just change the breaker then. Just buy a 10A Schneider at Tokopedia and swap it yourself, pretty easy task. Or let your daughter do it, it looks like she's got strong enough hands for a 12 y/o.

Dirty filters will render the a/c unit less efficient and thus more expensive to operate. Our 10+ years LG airco switches off by itself when its filters need to be cleaned. But before that, just to annoy you, it will keep you awake the whole night with an intermittend beep.

Not a good idea to incread the breaker if you don't know what size wiring was used. The wiring has to be big enough to handle the load or you are creating a fire hazard by just swapping breakers. I have seen some janky wiring here too, so I would be very cautious.

 

[jstar]

True, not many know the difference between 2,5 mm2 and 1,5mm2 and where they should be applied, they often mix stopkontak and Lampu wiring. And even 0,75 is sometimes used.

However, 16A (for 1,5 mm2) up to 20A (for 2,5 mm2) should be possible if they did not do too many crazy things. It’s not that difficult to check.

 

[Pak Tani]

Not a good idea to incread the breaker if you don't know what size wiring was used. The wiring has to be big enough to handle the load or you are creating a fire hazard by just swapping breakers. I have seen some janky wiring here too, so I would be very cautious.

You are totally correct, sir. However in this case the wiring seems to be able to handle the load (50% of the time, when the MCB doesn't ngetrip).
Still, yes better check the type of wiring first.

 

[Hawk256]

You are totally correct, sir. However in this case the wiring seems to be able to handle the load (50% of the time, when the MCB doesn't ngetrip).
Still, yes better check the type of wiring first.

I have seen a case where they connected to the meter with 4mm and had a 30 amp breaker, so far so good but as soon as the wire went inside the wall it changed to 1.5 mm and they used that to supply the breaker box. I have my suspicions on what happend but it was very dangerous to do such a thing. I've seen the same where 1.5 mm wire gets swapp with .75 mm wire somewhere down the line. The point is if you can't see both ends of the wire, don't trust it and there is still the chace that it is off somehwere in the middle.

 

[Jaime C]

Just change the breaker then. Just buy a 10A Schneider at Tokopedia and swap it yourself, pretty easy task. Or let your daughter do it, it looks like she's got strong enough hands for a 12 y/o.

Dirty filters will render the a/c unit less efficient and thus more expensive to operate. Our 10+ years LG airco switches off by itself when its filters need to be cleaned. But before that, just to annoy you, it will keep you awake the whole night with an intermittend beep.

Those aren’t my kid’s hand, but a 40 year old cousin who drives for us, plus helps with other stuff. I’m not sure what size breaker is in there now. I could ask the previous owner what size of wiring he used.

 

[jstar]

The problem is of course they don’t know what is used and there is most probably no electrical plan.

 

[Pak Tani]

That's not your daughter's hand, is it?

 

[Jaime C]

That's not your daughter's hand, is it?

Or his wife.