Looking for some recommendations around brands and some general advice before getting a new ducted aircon installation in a 3 bedroom home.
I am leaning towards getting a 12kw 2 zones, 6 outlets Daikin (FDYQN125 12.5 kw cooling and 14 kw Heating Standard Ducted System) with the AirTouch 4 system integration and have been quoted $9.3k for it. Does that sound reasonable?
Thanks in advance
Either Mitsubishi or Daikin, not keen on Fujitsu
Any particular reason?
Had a Fujitsu rust out the compressor after about 6 years, Using a mix of Mitsubishi Elec and MHI at the moment. So far so good. Got some older MHI that are 8+ years old, still going strong as good as the day installed.
Daikin seems to have a good name and seens lots of OLD Daikin around. Haven't used one myself.
Yeah, heard it is a well-known brand in hot and humid countries like Singapore. Hoping to use it more often in summer than in winter. These compressors should last a while, don't they? 6 yrs sounds like a faulty one.
@Dr-StrangeLove: Sorry, it was 4 years the Fujitsu unit failed, it was just 1 year out of warranty, (thinking they had 5 years, but no its 3 years). This was the folks house, got the install back and moaned a lot, he said it happens and had to take it up with Fuji for a repair as its out of warranty. It was the middle of winter and the only source of heating, The installer was a Fuji only man so quoted on another Fuji, yeah not going to happen.
We installed a ME unit the next week and its been great!
@Dr-StrangeLove: Lucky this was just a split, so only a couple of thousand to replace, wasn't worth spending months chasing Fuji for in the middle of the winter why the folks sit freezing! But yes not a very good experience with Fuji on a few levels.
I've got MHI installed at my place, also recommend them too!
Who are you thinking about going with?
@JimmyF: I am still leaning towards the Daikin (FDYQ125 12.5kW model specifically). MHI was my second option but I had once airbnb'd at this place which had it installed and got a loud banging noise every time it was turned off/on. Might have been the way it was installed but MHI is pretty good brand globally. A little bit pricier than Daiking from the quotes I got ($700) but a good brand nonetheless.
I am still getting my head around how the zoning thing works. I was hoping I'd get control in each room individually but turns out that would be way too expensive. So there would just be two zones in my case - 1 shared between the bedrooms and other shared between the kitchen and the living room. We generally use it in kitchen, living room and only one bedroom most of the times (unless there is a guest using one of the other rooms which is a rare thing) so wondering if it would be expensive in terms of energy consumption
@Dr-StrangeLove: Either would be fine. my MHI splits don't make any banging sounds if that helps :)
As for zoning, yes to zone each room gets costly, you need temp sensors and a zone kit/damper as well, and then need to think about the return air extra.
Best to split the house up into time usage zones. So living areas, master bedroom and other bedrooms etc
Best to split the house up into time usage zones. So living areas, master bedroom and other bedrooms etc
Yeah looks like that's the only option now. Will split between bedrooms and other places as they are mutually exclusive to a some extent of time.
Cheers on the advise
@Dr-StrangeLove: yeah generally once you go to bed, you stop using the living areas etc. So that seems to be the way most are split for zoning.
Split the master off incase the other bed rooms are not used down the track to save power.
A friends house has the following zones
master, guest bedroom, living areas, 3 kids bedrooms.
only 2 of the 3 kids rooms are used, but to keep zoning cheaper, they are all grouped as one and the guest room is rarely used, so that was zoned off to save running costs (and is in a different part of the house).
Anyhow food for thought, but it sounds like you have given it some thought.
My only words of advice is if you are running ducts in the roofspace, it gets VERY hot or cold up there , so pay extra to get the higher insulated ducts and the system will work way better. Heaps of threads of poor performing central units over on WP that have been traced down to cheap thin ducts in 60+c roof spaces. Basically all the cool is sucked up from the heat in the roof while moving through the vents before getting to the room. So the air leaving the air handle is a few degress, but at the vent its 20ish, not enough to bring a room down quickily etc. Basically wasting all this cooling power.
@JimmyF: That's really good advice. Thank you. I live in a smaller house than most modern houses are so probably will just split to two zones considering how insane the system costs.
I'll definitely mention the higher insulated ducts to the contractor during the installation. Is that like thicker ducts so there is good insulation? Is there any particular figure I can mention to understand the thickness of the ducts to the contractor? It surely sounds like something to think of considering the hotter summers in Australia.
@Dr-StrangeLove: Yes ask the R value of the duct work being installed.
The cheaper stuff is R0.5, the more costly stuff is R1.5 or R2 all the way up to R4. The higher the number, the less AC output lost to the hot/cold roof temps.
@JimmyF: Great, thanks again. I wonder if I can repay you in any way for all the great advice you have provided in this forum :)
@JimmyF: It appears the quote includes R1 as the value of the duct. Looked it up https://www.polyaire.com.au/products/flexible-duct/firebreak… and sounds like that is sufficient as it operates between -20C to +80C which is a pretty decent spectrum of temperature to operate on.
I have however asked for a cost change in case R1.5 or R2 is needed and waiting for it. But it looks like R1 would do just fine.
@Dr-StrangeLove: All good, just happy to help. Spend the money on R2 ducts instead :)
Well at least they are using R1 ducts, not the lowest that company sells, which is R0.6
https://www.polyaire.com.au/products/flexible-duct/
But they do a R1.5 and R2 and R4. Try to got he R2, even they say the thicker insulation and R2.0 rating. Provides significant reductions in heat loss/gain. Which the R1 doesn't say. They all run in those temp ranges, its just how much of the heat when its 70c in the roof, enters the ducts.
@JimmyF: Yeah, they suggested R1.5 would cost like $400 extra but suggested not to go with it. In their opinion, it is not a good idea as the ducting is so big and heavy they have seen it collapse on itself because of the weight.
Don't go with LG, cheaply made and noisy.
Go Daikin. Have had a ducted 12 outlet 5 zone 12.5kw system for 18 years. Hasn’t missed a beat
Yes.