Split Air con

[CaptainRAVE]

30c in my room atm, wish I could justify proper AC but its not warm long enough

I hate the heat so much that a couple of days use and I’m happy with the cost. Other bonuses include it being pennies to run, no outside noise from open windows to disturb my sleep on days that aren’t ‘too hot’. It is especially beneficial in my gaming room where my ‘too hot’ days extend well beyond the summer. A portable unit is decent, but nowhere near as cheap to run and darn noisy.

 

[Stu999]

What are the servicing requirements for a mini split and how much does it cost?

 

[China Man]

Hot enough now to start using the air con, we just turn on an hour or so to take the heat out of the rooms. I set timer to switch off for all our units at mid night and at 7am, just incase anyone forget and leave it on all the time

 

[CaptainRAVE]

What are the servicing requirements for a mini split and how much does it cost?

Have never had ours serviced other than the free one when we had with the second half of the install, in reality they did very little.

The quote for the service of each unit was ridiculous, I’ll just save the money and replace any units if they stop working.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

No offence to any air con/heat pump installers who may be reading this but the 'servicing' side of these units is just a warranty racket.

Other than cleaning the filters and condensers, there is literally nothing to do and anyone can do basic cleaning.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

No offence to any air con/heat pump installers who may be reading this but the 'servicing' side of these units is just a warranty racket.

Other than cleaning the filters and condensers, there is literally nothing to do and anyone can do basic cleaning.

They just hoovered ours out. I can do that.

Now all the holes, pipes etc are in place I can’t imagine a new unit install being that much more costly than the unit itself.

 

[RJC]

Servicing is really as other mentioned clean indoor filters, clean condenser coil, Might run the leak detector around the outdoor fittings.

I remembered when I was younger we had a site with a load of splits and I took a log of each one, superheat & subcool, condenser air on /off ect.

Unlike a bigger unit were you can do oil changes, oil filter and drier cores.

 

[Dureth]

Looking for a sanity check on a quote I’ve got for a 5 unit multi-split install.

Daikin 9.0kw 5Mxm90 multi split, wall mounted, external pipe trunking

5x Daikin split 2.5kw perfora (ftxm25)

Electrical installation inc new spur from fuse box

Estimate is 3-4 day install.

£12,170 all in fixed price
Zone 5 sw London

Seems v pricey compared to the low end units others have quoted me but I’d rather go for the Daikin tbh and want to check I’m not being a complete sucker here.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Daikin, at least years ago, used to be much better for efficiency and noise. That’s why we paid for them.

 

[China Man]

Looking for a sanity check on a quote I’ve got for a 5 unit multi-split install.

Daikin 9.0kw 5Mxm90 multi split, wall mounted, external pipe trunking

5x Daikin split 2.5kw perfora (ftxm25)

Electrical installation inc new spur from fuse box

Estimate is 3-4 day install.

£12,170 all in fixed price
Zone 5 sw London

Seems v pricey compared to the low end units others have quoted me but I’d rather go for the Daikin tbh and want to check I’m not being a complete sucker here.

Back in Feb 2024

Mitsubishi heavy industry
5 Wall units and 1 big outdoor unit
1 ducted unit in loft and 1 smaller outdoor unit
Inc electric
11k all in

SE London Zone 5

The installer was rubbish, I do have a working system but they did not do a good job, over promise and under delivered.

 

[Dureth]

So 12k all in for Daikin isn’t an unreasonable quote then, excellent!

 

[China Man]

It all depends on the design, here was my quote and need to add electric work as my ducted unit is in front of house and bigger unit at the rear so 2 separate electricity supply lines running 30m length etc

air conditioning installation.
Description Quantity Unit Price Amount
Outdoor unit 1 2,157.40 2,157.40
2kw evaporater 1 425.88 425.88
2.5 kw evaporater 2 459.55 919.10
3.5 kw evaporater 2 472.29 944.58
Evaporater 2.5 kw 1 393.12 393.12
Discharge plenham 1 89.50 89.50
Return air plenham 1 129.60 129.60
Condenser for ducted system 1 518.70 518.70
Materials 60m 1/4 pipe 1 77.32 77.32
60m 3/8 pipework 1 159.10 159.10
1/4 lagging 1 21.75 21.75
3/8 lagging 1 23.94 23.94
60m Cable 1 150.00 150.00
Trunking 1 190.00 190.00
Ofn 1 125.00 125.00
Ductwork and plenhams for room entry 2 259.80 519.60
Infa red receiver for ducted control. 1 129.90 129.90
Labour 5 575.00 2,875.00
Subtotal 9,849.49
Total GBP 9,849.49

They did not finish the job and I have to get celling air in and out grills and also a adaptor for the loft unit cassette, found a leak in the loft and fixed it myself for another £20

Broken tiles, touch up here and there still need to be done

 

[Mesai]

So 12k all in for Daikin isn’t an unreasonable quote then, excellent!

I had a quote done a couple months back, Daikin vs Mitsubishi. The Mitsubishi was slightly cheaper but went with Daikin since I’ve only heard good things about them - most installers say Mitsubishi are right up there though.

So considering Daikin is more expensive and the price is probably slightly inflated for summer, seems a decent price. You also don’t want to skimp and get a rubbish installer.

 

[Dominic-Toretto]

Got 2 Mitsubishi Units scheduled for install on Monday! With a further 2 a couple of weeks after. Looking forward to escaping the heat and humidity! How do you actually use the aircon? If I set it to 16c does it stay on until it hits 16c and then turn off? Or is it like a thermostat where it just maintains 16c all day?

 

[Mesai]

Got 2 Mitsubishi Units scheduled for install on Monday! With a further 2 a couple of weeks after. Looking forward to escaping the heat and humidity! How do you actually use the aircon? If I set it to 16c does it stay on until it hits 16c and then turn off? Or is it like a thermostat where it just maintains 16c all day?

Will depend on the unit although I’m sure they all work in a similar way.

I set mine to 21-23c. If the room is already hot it’ll ramp up until close to the target, then the fans slow down to help maintain the temp. If it overshoots then the fans stop but as soon as the temp creeps up it starts pushing air again.

 

[DRZ]

Got 2 Mitsubishi Units scheduled for install on Monday! With a further 2 a couple of weeks after. Looking forward to escaping the heat and humidity! How do you actually use the aircon? If I set it to 16c does it stay on until it hits 16c and then turn off? Or is it like a thermostat where it just maintains 16c all day?

If you leave the fans in auto it'll just vary the fan speed and cycle the compressor outside appropriately to maintain your ideal temperature. Unless you're an absolute mentalist, 16c is likely to be far too cold for a normal room. 21c is where mine is set and stays. I use HomeAssistant to turn mine on and off ie the office gets turned on shortly before I need it in the morning and the bedroom gets turned on shortly before our average bedtime and off again in the morning when both of us are usually up. I seem to recall you've gone for similar Mitsubishi Zen units to me, if so you'll be able to get them online and then integrate them via the MELCloud service. Failing that, the app isn't terrible for basic things and probably way better than trying to do the same thing on the remote beyond very basic on/off/temp type settings.

 

[Reuben klang]

It removes the heat from the room/space and rejects it outside. Depending on the unit it’ll have an Air off of less than 10°c if on cooling regardless of set point. If it’s set for 21°c it’ll take the room temp down to the 21°c based on the return air sensor (or if it’s got a wired controller it’ll take the average of both, or 1 or the other depending on how it’s set up - i.e you have the controller hidden away in the cupboard no need to use that sensor). It doesn’t ‘blow’ air at what you have it set for. Similarly if you have it on heat doesn’t matter if you have it set for 23°c or 30°c it’ll have an air off of >50°c. Again depends on how good the unit.

 

[squerble]

I cannot wait until I can afford a split for our house. We live parallel to a main road, our road is the access to a train station and most of the estate, and we have very noisy chavvy neighbours, some of whom party until gone midnight, or have a wood burner going for 8+ hours a day stinking out our house which does nothing but heat up all day. The idea of being able to be comfortable and have the windows shut to keep out the noise (and smoke) is absolute bliss.

 

[andy_mk3]

The idea of being able to be comfortable and have the windows shut to keep out the noise (and smoke) is absolute bliss.

The reality is absolute bliss also. Our neighbour 2 doors down often has a fire pit going in the back garden which can stink the house out. But with AC on, windows can stay sealed shut and blissfully cool inside.

On a side note, just looked up how much energy our two indoor units used in July, approx 73Kwh, with an average price of 18.2p/Kwh on Agile, that comes to approx £13.28 to run aircon through July. Which is seriously impressive. We have the bedroom on all night every night set to 18ºC, and on the hotter days we leave it on all day at 20ºC to stop it getting really hot in there. Then the Living Room one is on throughout nearly every day at 20ºC.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

I mean we’ve only use 141kWh for the whole house this year, that’s with it on all night in the bedrooms and pumping out in my gaming room. Worth every penny. It’s a funny mentality we have in this country where we’ll pay for the comfort of heating, but it’s almost taboo to consider air con or the cost of keeping you cool. I am seeing an increasing number of houses install it though and like you say, it’s also great for a good night sleep, not only from the road noise, but also the birds that wake up early.