windsordave

Hi all

There used to be a great thread here about the different types of air conditioners - with contributions from a real live air conditioning guy! But I can't find it now ... in fact theres a bunch of stuff I cant find anymore - has there been a big archiving activity or something?

Anyway, my question. We are just about to get our house fitted with ducted air con and I'm debating which brand to go with. I seem to recall that Daikin was way ahead of the rest but that's not what I'm hearing from some installers (actually all that I have spoke to!).

What are your thoughts? Anyone got any good / bad experiences with ducted?

OH and also - anyone got any recommendations for air con installers in the Redlands?

Cheers!
Dave

rancid

We have Daiken. Its brilliant. My inlaws bought it for us and it was the only one they would go with as they are so happy with both theirs and their parents too.

DrWho

Daikin's the best...

windsordave

Wow! Thanks both!

Daikin seems to have it at the moment! ... Can anyone compare Fujitsu to Daikin for ducted?

Thanks!

busterboy

How much per room?

I have two back rooms with no aircon and ducted heating/aircon in all other rooms.

DrWho

Daikin don't really consider they compete with Fujitsu... They think they have a much better product, service, backup, etc... Try Panasonic or Mitsubishi instead and then compare them...

busterboy

Oh knowledgable one...can I have an answer too?

DrWho

Can you extend your ducting to the other 2 rooms...? If not then you need someone to have a look at the rooms to see what's what... Sorry, might not have been much help...

simsy

Yep Daikin is one of the best manufacturers.
Mitsubishi are on their tail in the well known manufacturers catagory.
I would try Temperzone, Actronair, Panasonic and Fujitsu (well known because of Mark Taylor advertisments).
Ducting can be extended, but would not recommend - if u have a good zoned AC system, it may be possible though.
The ducted unit is usually sized for at the most 80% diversity so on the very hot days the AC will not cool all your rooms the same time (it may be sized as a Day/Night configuration also - living areas in day, sleeping areas at night).
Costing can be difficult but for a new system budget (Daikin / Mitsubishi), calculate at $1250/Grille (eg if you want 8 averaged sized rooms ACd it should cost about $10,000+GST)
[Im not an installer, but have site managed and priced a few]
Marti

busterboy

Thank you kindly. I will put that on my list of tradesmen who a)aren't interested and b)never turn up. (wry smile).

busterboy

Very useful. Thank you.

DrWho

Don't be stupid. You gave no idea of floor area, orientation, ceiling height, construction materials, usage patterns, etc, etc. Take my advice and get someone out to have a look...

Tiawamutu

Hi Dave,

It was probably the thread I started last year. I did a poll on which air con was best. Ducted reverse cycle came out tops.

It's 9 pages long so good luck

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...01#post5640501

Also, this time of year is the best time to buy it, as it is winter and I have seen places knock a few grand off their systems.

stevelaird

Hi There speaking as a air conditioning engineer waiting on his visa to go to Oz i would deff say daikin before Fujitsu but the unit i would recommend would be toshiba they are the best units for servicing and reliability. What i would also sudjest would be to go with different heat pump split systems. the reason being if you ducted unit breaks down you would loose all cooling throughout the house but with separate split systems you would only loose cooling on the unit that has broke down. I have accepted a job as a service manager in Adelaide have been told that there is a three month waiting list to get a service engineer out to domestic breakdowns so be very careful if you go for a ducted unit. If you can afford splits go with them.


cheers steve

windsordave

Hi again all ... and thanks for the responses so far. We're choosing between Daikin and Fujitsu and, although everyone tells me that Daikin is better, I'm yet to understand why. The tech specs for the 2 are very similar, so what is it specifically that justifies the extra 1.5K in cost?

Also, can anyone give me a guide price - we're looking at ducted, 15KW, 5 zones and 10 outlets.

Also, how have you obtained a lower price through negotiation? The supplier we want to go with is only slightly more expensive than the other quotes we have.

Thanks again!

Dave