Split Air Conditioners - anybody got one of these?

Soldato
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I'm planning to buy and install an air conditioner for my living room. It will be a split design (1 unit goes inside while the other goes outside the house; the 2 are connected) and is similar to this model.

My intention is to mainly use it for cooling during the Summer, however, I may also use it occasionally for heating during the Winter - my Central Heating system will be the main heating system in the house.

Questions:
a. Has anyone installed a similar unit and if so how easy was it to install.
b. How does it perform in terms of its heating/cooling?
c. Is it loud?
d. Is it expensive to run during the Winter, compared with say Gas Central Heating - bearing in mind Gas isnt cheap anymore?
e. Is there any information I should be aware of before purchasing one?

Thanks
 
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"1 unit goes outside while the other goes outside the house; the 2 are connected"

Both outside? So how does it cool your house down? :p
 
divine_madness said:
"1 unit goes outside while the other goes outside the house; the 2 are connected"

Both outside? So how does it cool your house down? :p

GRRRR.

Original post edited. LOL
 
sunama said:
I'm planning to buy and install an air conditioner for my living room. It will be a split design (1 unit goes inside while the other goes outside the house; the 2 are connected) and is similar to this model.

My intention is to mainly use it for cooling during the Summer, however, I may also use it occasionally for heating during the Winter - my Central Heating system will be the main heating system in the house.

Questions:
a. Has anyone installed a similar unit and if so how easy was it to install.
b. How does it perform in terms of its heating/cooling?
c. Is it loud?
d. Is it expensive to run during the Winter, compared with say Gas Central Heating - bearing in mind Gas isnt cheap anymore?
e. Is there any information I should be aware of before purchasing one?

Thanks

I did this last year, installation was very easy, heating/cooling is good (mine is a 12,000BTU unit), loud = yes. It's supposed to be 30% cheaper than central heating. I accidentally bought one without a quick coupler connector and had to get an A/C engineer to charge the system. My bad :p
 
Skyfire said:
I did this last year, installation was very easy, heating/cooling is good (mine is a 12,000BTU unit), loud = yes. It's supposed to be 30% cheaper than central heating. I accidentally bought one without a quick coupler connector and had to get an A/C engineer to charge the system. My bad :p

Im looking at 12kBTU model. I have the option of the quick couple connectors and also the model without. The quick couple connector model is an extra £100, which is substantial, but are you saying that the model you bought could not be DIY installed?

Also, how long did it take for the installer to install the unit and how much did he charge?
 
sunama said:
Im looking at 12kBTU model. I have the option of the quick couple connectors and also the model without. The quick couple connector model is an extra £100, which is substantial, but are you saying that the model you bought could not be DIY installed?

Also, how long did it take for the installer to install the unit and how much did he charge?

Without quick connector, you cannot DIY install, you need an engineer to measure the air pressure outside and charge it up correctly so that it is in balance or it will not heat or cool at all. He charged £85.
 
Thanks for your help so far Skyfire, I appreciate it.

Even if I use quick connectors which I can connect together myself, the pressure must be balanced, surely - if so, how am I going to do that? Or when using quick connectors, is the pressure balancing not necessary?
 
Splits are pre charged for a certain length, In the manual it should state each meter of pipe work you will have to add xx amount of charge.

Rob
 
Skyfire said:
He charged £85.

Right, I just had a quote from an air conditioning guy. He says it will cost £350+vat to fit. :(

This is obviously a lot more than what Skyfire paid. I'm thinking that perhaps I am paying London prices. It looks like it would be easier for me to do a DIY install using the push-fit connectors.
 
sunama said:
Right, I just had a quote from an air conditioning guy. He says it will cost £350+vat to fit. :(

This is obviously a lot more than what Skyfire paid. I'm thinking that perhaps I am paying London prices.


Skyfire didn't pay for it to be installed though, just charged.
 
We ahve one.

Its a Cheap brand one though but i can still get the room(a pretty large one, its a kitchen and a dining room in one divided by a bench down to 16 degrees in summer :D :cool:

Its pretty quiet aswell.

They are pretty simple to install and my uncle installed ours. You just need the right tools to drill through the wall :)


Now if you want to look for a good brand lookj at Fujitsu, they would probably be one of the best around :cool:
 
Zip said:
We ahve one.

Its a Cheap brand one though but i can still get the room(a pretty large one, its a kitchen and a dining room in one divided by a bench down to 16 degrees in summer :D :cool:

Its pretty quiet aswell.

They are pretty simple to install and my uncle installed ours. You just need the right tools to drill through the wall :)


Now if you want to look for a good brand lookj at Fujitsu, they would probably be one of the best around :cool:

Ive just checked and for purchase and install of a Fujitsu air conditioner Im looking at £1100. Now, if I purchase the push fit air conditioner that I install myself it will cost me £365 - thats a £735 price difference.

Im thinking I will go the same route that you went and get the cheaper one with push fit connectors and do a DIY install. Making holes in the wall is not a problem for me as I am heavily into DIY (since I bought my own place) and have an abudance of tools.
 
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Vanilla said:
I thought the whole point in having the bit outside was that THAT is the loud part so it's near silent inside?


Yes it is and they are pretty much silent. The guy above stating they are noisey must have a cheaper brand A/C unit as Fujitsu's are silent except for the initial 10 mins when they are working hard to cool the room down.
 
Ive just taken a look and even the cheaper brands of air conditioner have relatively low dB ratings. Normally, they have fan speeds (low, medium, high). On low they make around 22dB of noise. The Fujitsus are a little quieter, but not by much. They are CONSIDERABLY more pricier though.

I can get a Fujitsu air con unit, 12000BTU, supplied and fitted for £1k. Alternatively, I can spend £365 for a DIY fitted air con unit.

In terms of heat generated per unit of power, these air con units are matched up nicely with gas central heating. There are some units available that have ratings that make them a lot more economical to run than gas central heating.
 
Got Samsung Splits throughout the house here, expect for my PC room that has one of the hole in the wall jobbies. To be honest, even with the loud ones you get used to the noise.
We have to keep ours on quite a bit to stop furniture/clothes/food going mouldy from the humidity.
As for costs, it costs about the same to keep this place cool as it did to heat my house in the UK.
Not sure about fitting costs/pitfalls as im in a rented property
 
/hijack. :p
Ive heard that theres some formula for working out what sort of AirCon units are suitable to different tasks.
Can anyone tell me what the formula is?
As we're going to be buying an AirCon unit for the Server room soon, and could do with ideas.

Thanks.
 
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