liveaboard

What kind of light bulbs?
They usually mean 100W incandescent bulbs that have been outlawed for years.
Electricity is measured in watts, or watt-hours. When a salesman tells a customer how many light bulbs something is equivalent to, it's a bad sign.

The panels you describe are electric resistance heaters, and will give you exactly 1W of heat for every 1W of electricity they consume. They're cheap and easy to install.
Your reverse cycle AC unit will give you between 1.2W and 3W [depending on the unit and the weather outside] for every 1W consumed.
They're expensive and difficult to install; but you already have one.
Also, it likely has a decent thermostat and safety control on it.

peterfc

HI All and Liveaboard

Sorry but i must disagree they are not difficult to install. I installed mine and after getting all the tools and drilling a hole in the wall it was quite easy. The link below shows it being done, just connect everything together, feed the pipe through the wall and connect up. Just check the link below. If i can do it they anybody can.

Peter " Dreams can come true "

http://petersvaleboahouse.blogspot.p...-now-done.html

Fredbargate

I agree with Peter they are not difficult to fit Santa brought me one and I fitted it yesterday. However Peter says he lifted it into position himself, I got a friend to help me with that part, a few minutes work and I would not like to drop the unit for the price of a cup of tea

liveaboard

Much more difficult to than a heat wafer!
Also guys, you were supposed to attach a vacuum pump to the evaporator unit for a while before opening the valve and letting the gas in from the power unit.

Otherwise there's air trapped in your system, which lowers efficiency a LOT.

I use the vacuum pump on my car brake system.

Fredbargate

The vacuum pump is not necessary, just purge the air by opening the high pressure valve at the outside unit whilst the low pressure pipe is loose, let the gas flow gently similar to yourself whistling for 30 seconds and then tighten the low pressure pipe.
Be careful to keep your hands protected from the gas flow.

liveaboard

Fred; If it works, it works.
But...
These systems have a measured amount of gas in them, without a lot of extra. Purging with gas doesn't combine well with that situation.
Aside from air, a refrigeration system is vacuumed before use to pull out any moisture. This is very important.

It's not really very difficult to vacuum a system either, you just have to think about it for a little while and work out how to do the job with what you have available. You might be surprised to know most diesel cars develop close to total vacuum with their little brake pumps after a few minutes running.

I still say it's pretty difficult compared to screwing a heat wafer to the wall though.

peterfc

Hi All and liveaboard

I am sorry to disagree but i followed the manufacturers instructions to the letter and it worked perfect. Also i found no problem in fitting the unit on my own. These split units are made to be fitted by the customer. Perhaps you are referring to units meant to be fitted by an aircon company employee?

I also have another unit ready for when i build a master bedroom in the loft and i will install that the same as the instructions say and expect no problem.

This is way of topic.

Peter " Dreams can come true "

Fredbargate

When purging you push the air out with gas. If the world was perfect the gas would completely fill the pipes without wasting any gas. When vacuuming you attempt to remove all the air and again if perfect replace it with gas. The amount of gas lost by purging may or may not be equal to the amount used in vacuuming, however there is excess in the system, and more so if your pipe lengths are short. Most unit instructions give a maximum pipe length that can be used before any extra gas is needed.
The removal of moisture in the assembly is the most important factor because if left in the system it can freeze into ice inside the system and block some of the evaporator jets.

I have so far fitted 10 units most for myself over the last eight or so years, I am aware of only one unit failing and that was caused by dirty filters due to it's location and lack of care by the user.

5 units cost €195 each 2 cost €135 each, it was one of these that failed, all were 12,000 btu units
2 were supplied by the owners and the one I did yesterday an 18,000 btu unit cost €249.

Where did I get the idea for purging as against vacuuming? From an air conditioning company of course, one with major contracts.

liveaboard

Ok, don't want to bicker. Like I said, if it works, it works.
Still, if you're installing that many, you might consider switching to the recommended method.

Pete, yes these are meant to be installed by a licensed so-and-so. One shop even refused to sell me one when I said I'd be installing it myself. They like to get an extra cut on the installation fee.

As far as I know the pre-charged DIY type isn't available in Portugal. I know of them, but have never installed one; both units and even the lines are pre-charged, you just plug them together with just the tiniest hiss of gas loss.

steve01

we use heatwafers as background heating, very efficient in small medium sized rooms and the electricty usage doesn't seem to high.

Agcvdl

Thank you. Background heating etc is what we need from these units. Interesting comments re aircon (not the fitting!) and perhaps my misunderstanding re the relative costs of running these in a sensible way.

Merry Christmas and I hope the Algarve weather better than here in UK.

steve01

Merry Christmas.
Just on that festive note - we live in a house built to enjoy the weather, most rooms / major glass facing South and for the last 10 days we haven't used the heating or woodburner at all, most we've done is to put an extra layer of clothes on / use a rug.
We hit 26 degrees on the patio on Christmas eve lunch and had a couple of hours sunbathing.

morgan1970

Pete does know about everything, you need to use a vacuum pump on the pipes other wise you get moisture which can wreck the compressor also you need to put a electric isolater on to protect the compressor and pcb board I bet you did,t do that Pete

morgan1970

Also your better with a inverter AC unit compared to a cheap one out the supermarket which uses more electric

peterfc

Hi Morgan

What i do know is i followed the manufacturers instructions and i also phoned the supplier, i also had a separate supply from the electric to the unit by a Portuguese electricion. Everthing covered as per the manufacturer.

Peter " Dreams can come true "