Never did I expect deciding on air conditioning could be such a hassle. Quite a lot to think and ponder about. As you all know my place is a 4-room HDB; so there are 3 bedrooms and one living/dining room and original intention is to aircon the bedrooms and my living/dining room. Here are they 2 main things that I have to think about.
Aircon System Type
To be able to have 4 indoor aircon unit (3 bedroom, 1 living/dining), I basically have 2 options. One being to install a Multisplit System-4 or I could install a System-3 plus a Single Split Unit. Both having their pros and cons.
A System-4 unit would be easier to proceed since there’s just one Compressor Unit where it can be easily be installed on the aircon ledge for new HDBs. But I have heard from aircon installers System-4 units are typically energy guzzlers so looking at the current electricity tariff trend (basically up, up and up), doesn’t seem like quite a wise choice.
A combination of a System-3 unit plus a Single Split unit will be more energy friendly. But unfortunately the initial cost of installing 2 separate systems are more expensive, few hundred dollars more to be exact. And for those HDB with small aircon ledge that can only fit one compressor unit, you will have to purchase an additional stainless steel bracket to mount it on the wall. This typically cost an additional $100-$150 dollars.
Inverter or Non-Inverter
Inverter aircons are the new generation aircons. Touted to be more energy efficient to up to 30% compared to non-inverters. Of course the drawback is that it’s more expensive. For a system-3 aircon, the difference can go up to $1000 or more. But if you’re a moderate to heavy aircon user, inverter should be the way to go as you can usually break-even the upfront investment in about 4 years. Since aircon can last at least more than 5 years, from year 4 onwards you’ll be experiencing nett savings. The break-even point will be even sooner if the electricity tariff goes up.
I realise that the decision for the 2 above really depends on how fat the wallet is. If money is not an issue, go for the Inverters. Choice of system wise any of the combination mention is personal preference only. Since my wallet is obviously not that fat, I finally decided to just air condition my 3 bedrooms with a System-3 inverter aircon from Mitsubishi. Decided to not air condition my living/dining room to save cost and I probably won’t turn it on much as well. So the additional upfront cost does not really do justice to my usage pattern.
So final damage is $3009 for a Mitsubishi System-3 Inverter aircon from Gaincity. They will come and install next week… Another item solved!