Apr 01, 2016 10:36 AM
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Summers are here and everybody is feeling the heat. For me, after having gone through an ordeal of buying an AC for home recently, I thought I should jot down few important points here for readers.
This is a lengthier one but I think I have tried to make this a complete guide so that readers do not have to spend more time on other sites.
First and foremost, no such advice or reviews here can assure you of an excellent AC or a guarantee that your unit will not have issues. If you just scroll through various reviews here, you would find, all brands have issues, the same model which one recommends to buy the other would list several problems with it.Here are my tips:
Self study: If you are a novice(like I was) do some general read up on what air conditioners are, what they are made up of, what are those technical jargon etc. If it's too difficult for you to remember all that - make notes. Once you are fairly conversant with the terms and gained enough knowledge, zero down on your needs.
Your needs: Check what are your needs: like Budget, usage and so on. For example, for most of us its budget - and we expect to make best out of our budget, so you should choose the best fit spec in your budget.
What to look for: There are few important points that you need to look for(and each dealer is going to advice you more or less on similar lines):
Tonnage: This is the most important part. Based on the size of your room you need to choose a right ton AC. Over-sized AC can significantly increase electricity consumption while undersized may not cool properly.
There are sites where you can check what is the right size AC you would need for the room which is nothing but a calculation of Length, Breadth and Height of your room. So, if you measure these and multiply them, the figure that you get would approximately tell you the tonnage of AC you would need.
Here are some pointers: LxBxH(in ft)
upto 900:0.5-1 Ton upto 1400: 1-1.5 Ton upto 1900:1.5-2 Ton 2000+: 2.0 Ton
Or by Sq.ft measurements:
Less than 90 Sq.ft: 0.8 Ton 90-120 Sq.ft: 1.0 Ton 120-180 Sq.ft: 1.5 Ton 180+ Sq.ft:2.0 Ton
To put it simply: For a normal sized 2BHK, for a regular size bed rooms a 1-ton AC would be suitable, for living rooms/bigger master bed rooms - 1.5 tonne is advisable.
Star Ratings: Based on the electricity consumption perspective all ACs are given a rating(Bureau of Energy Efficiency [BEE] star rating). Higher the number, better the use of electricity by an AC. Based on hours that you use your AC for and the electricity tariffs in your area star rating can be found out but it is advisable not to go anything below 3 star. Also, for a typical home use for mostly during summer nights - there is no need to go for a 5 star one too. There is a new type now launched called'Inverter ACs' which has the lowest electricity consumption - which I will discuss below.
All other below calls are to be taken on more or less self experience:
Brand/model: My biggest worry when I decided to buy an AC was - market is flooded with several brands and models and its very easy for one to get confused. Brand - go for the one who are truly into AC business and not someone who have recently ventured in. I am not saying they are bad for instance, Daikin is a recent player and most people are going for it and the reviews have been good too. I was considering the following during my research Daikin, Bluestar and Carrier. But have ended up buying a Llyod - for two reasons: One - They are celebrating 60 years and had offer of reduced rates and two - they were offering total 5 years warranty on both Unit and compressor.
Voltas, LG, Samsung and all other players are also in the market and one can take call based on rates, availability etc
Budget/Usage/Region: Very important aspects there are ACs available from 20k to 60-70k. Your budget will basically drive most of above parameters. Lloyd 3-Star, 1-Ton, Copper condensor AC cost me 25400/-(Incl of Installation, Stabilizer)
Usage and Region would go hand in hand, meaning your usage of AC in terms of hours/day or months/year would vary based on what location you live in. For instance, for coastal regions there would be humidity, for regions which receive heavy rainfall most part of the season you may not need to use AC, for extreme cold regions the usage is going to be relatively little.
Service/Warranty: Service is directly provided by the company, so it is kind of a gamble as we know 90% of companies, no matter how big they are, post sales service in India is poor. So, I have heard of cases, where complaints not attended/resolved for days together etc. So, I cannot really advice on this - it's a gamble which even I have taken. Also 99% AC units provide 1 year Unit warranty and 4 years warranty for compressor.
Few other aspects to consider:
Condensor: Always go for a Copper one - most ACs now come with this. There is something called Coil and Fin type condenser, where coils are copper and fins are aluminium. Within this also go for anti corrosion coating(also known as blue fin).
Air filters: AC do not take fresh air and ideally work in closed door rooms and if that room/space(typically like a cabin/office) remains closed for a long time, the quality of air deteriorates. It can result in accumulation of dust. Air Filters help improve the quality of air. No need to go for high end filters for your home usage and you can clean them up yourself easily.
Need stabilizer? Ideally if there are huge voltage fluctuations in your area then you must go for a stabilizer however it's matter of some additional 1.5-2k so I would advice get a stabilizer installed.
Buy Online?This would be a personal choice - rates are relatively lesser, however I did not go following reasons. My local dealer would do the installation right on that day whereas online would take about 7-10 days. If something goes wrong during installation or soon after that, I could immediately get back to the local dealer, with online I would have had to go through a longer return process. With many sites I was not sure of the background of the seller.
What are Inverter ACs? This is new technology in the market where the condenser auto adjusts running speed and controlling voltage and current frequency and offer considerable reduction in power consumption.
Last piece of advice: Most dealers are less equipped or trained on the technicalities and evaluation of ACs, it is you who needs to do research and study of what you need and then ask dealer to provide you details on it.
