Split Air con

[RJC]

Yesterday was a good day to have the AC on for sure! I pretty much had all my units running all day. The kitchen was the warmest room of the house (26c) but we had kept the door to the living room shut to keep that room as cool as possible (no AC downstairs). I can't believe how cool it feels outside today though, I opened my windows this morning and my office and downstairs has dropped from 25c to 21c already (AC was turned off in my lower floor when I went to bed).

When will you be getting that Panasonic unit installed @RJC? Can he do it before the end of next week lol

@1pudding1 - How is your install going?

I can, he said Wednesday on wards, we seem to have more warm weather coming so hopefully it will be operational!

 

[fobose]

Very nice

@HungryHippos Did you get to the bottom of the noise from one of your units?

 

[R4z0r]

For people with/looking at aircon. It’s worth investigating solar film for your windows too. Adding this to windows that get a lot of direct sunlight makes a huge difference to solar gain and is barely noticeable in terms of visible light that’s let in.

the stuff they used was 3M PR70, I can barely tell it’s there visibly, but immediately noticeable if you stand in front on the window on a sunny day.

I had it done and it’s dropped the temps a lot already. Having split aircon put in later but this should have a noticeable impact on the output I need from the system.

 

[HungryHippos]

If this is the show us your AC thread, then here is mine.. note the cunning use of a fake drainpipe for cable routing which matches the other side of the house. Really pleased with the LG indoor unit and the outdoor one is nice and quite, not that it would bother anyone.

Nice and neat install!

The bigger the outdoor unit the louder it can get I guess, with mine being 3 indoor ones to one outdoor one it's more of a consideration to make. Running 1 unit it's pretty quiet though for sure. All 3 on max it can go reasonably loud.

Very nice

@HungryHippos Did you get to the bottom of the noise from one of your units?

Kind of? Hard to say for sure lol! Long read ahead, I'd like to edit it shorter but it contains everything I can think of that's relevant.

All 3 of my units seem to have some kind of bug with the vanes. I set them to point the air directly downwards and initially they do that, but within 30-60 mins I find the command has been ignored and the vanes have gone horizontal instead blowing the air horizontally.

They came over last week, removed the gas from the system (confirmed no leak/loss of gas).

Removed unit from lounge wall, did something with the pipework, put it back. Regassed system and pressure tested again.

All good so far that unit is definitely quieter now.

The one in the bedroom is making noises now though instead, so can't catch a break!

I am not expecting total silence, but I find it hard to describe the noise of the unit to people when they ask what sound it's making.

Uploaded vid of upstairs one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPspI0MP2Gs

I guess no one else hears such noises as mine on their systems?

You have to have headphones on or whack the sound up to hear it properly. The gurgley/creaking sound it's making cuts over the whooshing air sound. I am sensitive to weird sounds like this so I find it bugs me being in the same room as it.

Units are operationally fine as far as I can tell and cooling performance seems good. Had them all on at 24 the other day when we had the hot weather, kept house nicely at that level. May see how they do at 23 later this week on the hot days.

I still owe them 50% of the money for the job, which I would have happily paid if it wasn't for this problem. I may need to ask what they want to do tomorrow with that, as I'd like to keep some back until the problem is confirmed as resolved.

 

[norm]

I'm surprised they ended up with a leak on the flare connection at the compressor given that the lines were pre flared, didn't see them use a torque wrench to tighten so maybe why. Good install all round, Linus didn't delve into the overall performance/noise of the system however, I know those ceiling units are a touch more noiser.

 

[RJC]

Watched that yesterday, using ceiling Cassettes.

I think they did not tighten them enough, I have never used a torque wrench on flares.

@fobose hopefully my install is tomorrow

 

[fobose]

@fobose hopefully my install is tomorrow

Sweet! I feel sorry for your friend installing it. Tomorrow is meant to be 35c here! Hopefully he can get it done in the day as looking at the forecast its going to be hot again for a while!

@HungryHippos sorry for the long delay, I have been decorating like a fiend when not at work/WFH. I have just undercoated the last door frame in my hall way (middle floor) and glossed one side of the door. Woohoo. The banisters still to go.. Anyway..

Does your vane bug happen with the remote and the app? In my office, I have mine set to have the vanes in the most upward position and they have stayed like that since I had the system installed. I think I set it with the remote and not the app.

It is a good job you have kept 50% of the payment back. I think it is probably for the best until you have all your issues resolved. I could definitely hear odd noises in both of your video's, the latest one sounds almost like a bird chirping!? What fan speed was your running at during that vid? I will set mine to the same speed later and listen carefully (and with my PC off as that sounds louder than fan speed 3/5).

 

[HungryHippos]

Sweet! I feel sorry for your friend installing it. Tomorrow is meant to be 35c here! Hopefully he can get it done in the day as looking at the forecast its going to be hot again for a while!

@HungryHippos sorry for the long delay, I have been decorating like a fiend when not at work/WFH. I have just undercoated the last door frame in my hall way (middle floor) and glossed one side of the door. Woohoo. The banisters still to go.. Anyway..

Does your vane bug happen with the remote and the app? In my office, I have mine set to have the vanes in the most upward position and they have stayed like that since I had the system installed. I think I set it with the remote and not the app.

It is a good job you have kept 50% of the payment back. I think it is probably for the best until you have all your issues resolved. I could definitely hear odd noises in both of your video's, the latest one sounds almost like a bird chirping!? What fan speed was your running at during that vid? I will set mine to the same speed later and listen carefully (and with my PC off as that sounds louder than fan speed 3/5).

Oh no worries man, all been busy!

For the speed I think that's on 3/5, phone is quite near to it though. Only normally run speed 3/5.

With the vane bug, with remote definitely, I need to time it but it seems to switch it's position after about an hour. I may try putting it onto a cooling mode and setting the desired temp to above the current temp, see if it still goes an hour. Installers thought it was maybe as it had reached desired temp. I set the lounge one to 16 yesterday and there is no way it hit 16, but still noticed it.

They came back earlier in the week and re-jigged the master bedroom unit, honestly so far I think it's helped a bit. Keeping an eye (or ear on it). It does sound a bit like chirping birds from a short distance away.

Do you guys notice a funny smell coming off your units at all when blowing air? mine isn't neutral, but hard to describe. I've had a bit of a read and I know that you can get problems with things like mould and standing water causing it, but to me the units seem too new for that to be a problem.

I wondered if it was just because they are new and I need to put some airflow on them (even just fan mode maybe) for some time to burn them in a bit and get rid of that new smell. Maybe even via heat mode for a bit to burn anything off the coils.

Filters look really clean and things, and I don't smoke or anything, keep a pretty tidy house generally, so don't think it's caused by anything I'm doing. Units have been in for a little over a month.

 

[fobose]

Do you guys notice a funny smell coming off your units at all when blowing air? mine isn't neutral, but hard to describe. I've had a bit of a read and I know that you can get problems with things like mould and standing water causing it, but to me the units seem too new for that to be a problem.

Yup!! I can't quite describe it either, maybe like a damp smell from clothes left in a washing machine too long. I think I have found a cure for it as I haven't had it for ages. Basically, when I close the doors to my rooms fully, the AC unit only runs for about 10-20 mins (depending on how hot the room was) before it cuts out, then it just kicks in every now and then. This made my humidity creep up in the bedroom over night and often would get that smell when I turned the unit on the next day.

I normally leave the bedroom door open about an inch at least to allow some of the warmer air in the house to trickle in and since doing that I haven't smelled it. In my office, I often just leave the door wide open as the room is quite small for a 2.5kw unit! I don't mind that it's letting the cool air trickle in to my hall way as it helps keep the rest of the house cool.

I could be totally wrong with the above and maybe it was just a new unit smell like you say. Does seem an odd smell.

P.S I noticed the 'smell' a few days after we had the units installed in April - we ran it daily to test it was working correctly and it was quite hot at times.

 

[RJC]

That often happens to mine and other splits I have seen.

I think it’s because the coil is still damp.

 

[HungryHippos]

Yup!! I can't quite describe it either, maybe like a damp smell from clothes left in a washing machine too long. I think I have found a cure for it as I haven't had it for ages. Basically, when I close the doors to my rooms fully, the AC unit only runs for about 10-20 mins (depending on how hot the room was) before it cuts out, then it just kicks in every now and then. This made my humidity creep up in the bedroom over night and often would get that smell when I turned the unit on the next day.

I normally leave the bedroom door open about an inch at least to allow some of the warmer air in the house to trickle in and since doing that I haven't smelled it. In my office, I often just leave the door wide open as the room is quite small for a 2.5kw unit! I don't mind that it's letting the cool air trickle in to my hall way as it helps keep the rest of the house cool.

I could be totally wrong with the above and maybe it was just a new unit smell like you say. Does seem an odd smell.

P.S I noticed the 'smell' a few days after we had the units installed in April - we ran it daily to test it was working correctly and it was quite hot at times.

Yeah thing is I normally just leave all my doors open, so not sure it's that exactly. Maybe overall humidity is a bit too high, although the units seem to have a dehumidifier mode, not sure how effective they are at it.

Yeah maybe a slightly damp/musty smell. I know they are good at picking up stuff in the air and focusing it more highly.

That often happens to mine and other splits I have seen.

I think it’s because the coil is still damp.

I was thinking of running the units on heating mode for a bit with the windows open, see if it helps. Although I need to do that pretty quick because next few days are set to be HOT! :O

Any other tips you can recommend for it let me know.

 

[RJC]

Running fan only will help.

I will ask tomorrow if there are any other options.

 

[HungryHippos]

Running fan only will help.

I will ask tomorrow if there are any other options.

Yeah been running fan only most of today tbh, may help a bit! doesn't use up too much power at least doing that.

I'll look out for any further replies tomorrow!

Oh btw @fobose and @RJC I did a sensible thing and had a read in the manual a bit. A lot of common sense stuff in there, and a load of things that I just skipped over, but I found 2 useful things.

Thing 1 - The manual recommends running in fan mode for a bit after cooling or drying. It said the fan mode dries the inside of unit out. Definitely not been doing that here! Shame it can't kind of automatically do that somehow after I set the unit to go off.

Thing 2 - The vanes going back into a horizontal position seem to be automatic after being set to direct air downwards. The manual said it's to prevent condensation build up. Makes sense and at least explains why I am seeing it on all of them.

 

[uncle_rufus]

FWIW the guys who installed mine said something about setting it up so that the fan doesn't cut out when the cooling does... I can't recall what their explanation was for it but it could be this I guess? So on mine the actual cooling switches on/off as the temperature fluctuates around the target temp, but the fan stays running the whole time

 

[HungryHippos]

FWIW the guys who installed mine said something about setting it up so that the fan doesn't cut out when the cooling does... I can't recall what their explanation was for it but it could be this I guess? So on mine the actual cooling switches on/off as the temperature fluctuates around the target temp, but the fan stays running the whole time

Think mine does that anyway, can hear it spin down a bit when it's hit temp but the fan never stops.

Would probably be beneficial to whack on fan mode for a bit after a long day of cooling though!

 

[fobose]

That was very sensible @HungryHippos. I will give that a go!

Curious to see some pics @RJC. I hope everything went smoothly today Is it up and running? My wife has had it on all day whilst I was at work and the whole house is lovely and cool.

 

[RJC]

Evening All,

The install went well and everything is up & running, managed to get the WiFi adapter working with the Pansnsonic cloud software.

I gave them a hand getting the unit on the roof.

Next jobs are soffits and sort out the Sun lounge, sorry sauna!

Some images below:

 

[norm]

That's a convenient out of the way location for the compressor there @RJC, when you see some mounted halfway up a wall you wonder how they got it up there without scaffolding even two people lifting it with two ladders would still be a bit dodgy given the weight. Did you have similar issues getting to the flat roof bit?

I thought you had AC already, is this replacing the other unit, or in addition to it if so where have you got the other one sited out of interest?

Does the drain from the evaporator track behind on the wall in your conservatory?

 

[RJC]

@norm the other unit sits beside this one which myself and my Dad installed a couple of years ago with the use of a scaffold tower which was fun - this
one cools the hallway (helps heating in the winter as I have no cavity) and I use a fan to assist cool my bedroom down.

This one is 5kw and cools my dinning / living room down.

The drain for the new one as you mention goes into the conservatory, beside the door, I think you can just see a white line 2 bricks up from the ground where it exits and also the isolator switch is there as well.

Edit:

Pic of original one, whilst my extension was being built;

 

[HungryHippos]

Very nice install @RJC

Had to pay the other half of the install costs today, can't really delay it more and to be fair the work they've done so far does seem to have handled the noise issue. Guy tried to tell me that the noise they were making was normal, I was like, "hold up a minute mate, if it was normal then why have the changes you've done fixed it?". Didn't have an answer for that one. Fairly sure what I was hearing wasn't normal.

Remaining slight annoyance is they have spilt something on my patio when they were here the other day, don't know if it's refrigerant or something else, but seems to have stained the flag stones.

Despite the recent rain and trying to hose it down, it isn't budging. It looks like it's got water permanently spilt on it even when dry. I was eventually going to look at changing the patio, but that was a down the line job, and may have just involved relaying the existing flagstones properly.

Spoiler: pic here