FAQ & Technical Questions
Is it worth upgrading your 3-star to a 6-star?
Considering upgrading your gas ducted heater and wondering if it’s worth paying for the extra efficiency?
Case study 1)
Mr & Mrs Jones live together and both work full time jobs. They are out most of the day during the week but usually home on the weekend, so we’ve assumed their usage per week would be approximately 45 hours. Based on them upgrading to a 3 star unit their annual costs to run this unit would be approximately $848
If they decided to upgrade to a 6 star unit their annual bill could be reduced to approximately $565
Given a saving of $283 per year, we would estimate the additional upfront cost of the unit would be paid back in less than 3 years.
Case study 2)
Mr & Mrs Smith have 3 young kids, Mr Smith works and Mrs Smith is home most days with the 2 youngest kids Their eldest child is in school. They use their unit from 7am to 9pm most days of the week. We’ve calculated their usage per week would be approximately 98 hours. Based on them installing a 3 star unit their annual costs to run this unit would be approximately $1,843
If they decided to upgrade to a 6 star unit their annual bill could be reduced to approximately $1,231
Given a saving of $611 per year, We would estimate the additional upfront cost of the unit would be paid back before the end of the second Winter.
The calculations above are real scenarios and based on gas costs of 2.09 cents per MJ/HR. Units running 35% whilst off cycle being 65% of time. We compared a Brivis Wombat 2P26 with a Starpro 6 star within a 35 square home.
What’s the difference between a cheap brand A/C and a more expensive one?
What should I look for when purchasing a split system?
There are a few things to consider when purchasing a new A/C. Is it better to get a cheap entry level one, or pay the few hundred dollars more to get a good quality unit?
In short, we would advise against buying a cheap A/C for the following reasons:
The installation cost doesn’t change – You only save a couple of hundred dollars on the purchase of the unit. The installation cost doesn’t change, regardless of the brand you’re installing.
Think about it, A/C units get a good work out. The time when you want them the most is on days over 40 degrees in summer and mornings when it’s getting close to 0 degrees in winter. The units are outside in the 40 degree heat whilst ideally you’re inside enjoying the cool; they have a hard life.
After sales service, warranty and spare parts – Your A/C is an expensive appliance with many components and from time to time things can fail. If they do, you want a reliable company (Fujitsu, Daikin, Mitsubishi Electric) who have been around for years, that are not going to try to escape their obligations within a warranty period. Some of the cheaper brands are selling units one day and gone the next (think Conia, TCL, Fujita), if you happened to purchase a cheap unit just before they went out of business you will have paid good money for a unit with now no warranty and be unlikely to get any spare parts. If your unit failed and you can’t get spare parts, you’re up for a new unit with new installation costs. More times than we can count, people have called us about an A/C they’ve purchased and can no longer get onto the installer or the manufacturer.
We would recommend checking the warranty period when purchasing your unit. As a guide cheaper units will have 3 years, leading brands have 5 years.
Noise Levels – We’ve seen it first hand, how quiet the leading brand units (Fujitsu, Daikin, Mitsubishi Electric) are compared to the cheaper ones. This is applicable to both the indoor units and the outdoor units. The indoor unit fan in a high quality unit is usually much quieter. We know which one we’d prefer in our bedroom. The compressors within the outdoor units can get very noisy with cheaper units. We would recommend checking the decibel (DB) rating when purchasing your unit.
Vibration – This mainly applies when your outdoor unit is mounted on a roof or on a wall bracket. You won’t be able to measure the vibration until the unit is installed; however, from our experience the leading units have minimal vibration during operation.
Power consumption - This is a big one, with huge variances between the quality of units, in some cases the cheaper units could draw up to double the amount of power for the same capacity unit.
We would recommend checking the power usage (usually measured in amps) when purchasing your unit.
Life of the equipment – In general the cheaper split systems will need to be replaced much earlier than a high quality unit. The compressors are a common part to fail and when they do, factoring in the age of the unit, it usually turns out it is not worth repairing. The compressors fail in the cheaper units first (potentially as early as 6-7 years, whilst the leading brands can last up to and beyond 15-20 years). Of course the cheaper units can last much longer too, but it is less likely.
What should I look for in an Installer?
Having a tradesman come to your home can be a pleasant experience or it can be a nightmare. We’ve compiled the following list of our recommendations of what to look for when deciding on a tradesman to do your installation:
Are they actually qualified?
You should expect 2 Certificates of Compliance on the completion of the installation. One covers the electrical work and the other covers the refrigerant gas side of things. Check with your installer that they can provide both certificates on completion. These certificates form part of the warranty for your unit.
See how they react when you ask to see their trade licence. All our staff can provide relevant licences on request of any job.
Do they have the appropriate insurances if there was an accident? They should have public liability and WorkCover insurance.
Are they contactable when you have any questions or hard to catch on the phone? If they’re hard to contact before the job what will they be like after you’ve paid if you have a problem with the unit?
Will they consider the cleanliness of your home and clean up after themselves?
Do they offer a 6 year guarantee on their workmanship? Airconditioning & Electrical Services provides a 6-year guarantee on workmanship.
Many small “one man band” type tradesmen only do their own work during the Summer months and stop doing installations when the seasons change. They therefore offer you no after sales support.
Is it normal for my split system to drop water?
In short, yes, but only from the correct places as explained below. Water should never drip inside your home from the facia of your indoor unit.
The term “reverse cycle” means that the split system can reverse its cycle of gas.
Meaning, In summer when the indoor unit is cooling the outdoor unit is heating, and in winter when you turn your unit onto heating the cycle is reversed so the indoor unit is heating and the outdoor unit is cooling.
During normal operation, whichever unit (ie the indoor or the outdoor) is cooling, This same unit will be dripping water.
The indoor unit will have a drain pipe connected and in summer this small (approx 20mm) tube will be dripping outside.
In winter the outdoor unit can be dripping and this is all normal.
If you ever experience water dripping from the facia of your indoor unit inside your home call us to book a service. The drain tube leading outside could be Blocked, damaged or Dislodged.