Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup • Hacker News Board

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#21

Post by kijin » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:01 PM UTC

7thaccount wrote: post #7

calvinmorrison wrote: post #2

I like that the schematics are included on the air conditioner. I have a few older appliances like this that have it, and it has helped me a few times replacing/diagnosing parts. I laughed a bit where he explains about "Humidity" and the temperature. I know Americans are fat and lazy and love our AC's, but if you spend any time on the east coast, it's a giant swamp. Life is pretty insufferable without an AC when you…

In Louisiana and Arkansas (probably several other states), the temperature can get over 100 Farenheit with super high humidity. This leads to "swamp @$$" without copious amounts of AC. Being comfortable requires AC in the home, car, and at work. In highschool gym class we would just sit in the shade under the bleachers during the summer (too hot to do anything) and be dripping sweat everywhere back in class. It was m…

We love to romanticize the past, when people supposedly did fine without energy-wasting gadgets.

The oft-forgotten truth is that people in the past just died more. And still do, in many parts of the world that are surprisingly close to us.

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#22

Post by gcds » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:02 PM UTC

Nextgrid wrote: post #20

roel_v wrote: post #9

Should've bought Daikin A/C's - their network bridges speak HTTP with a simple REST service. Highly recommend, it was very easy to integrate them into my home automation setup.

A lot of consumer-grade ACs use IR-based remotes which can easily be connected into whatever automation solution you have with something like a Broadlink bridge.

Yes, but only downside of that is beep sounds and stateless, while Echonet Lite can provide you all internal properties like outdoor temp and etc and also current settings.

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#23

Post by andrewmunsell » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:02 PM UTC

wintermutestwin wrote: post #13

djanogo wrote: post #4

Where are the refrigerant lines, how did they run them from compressor to evaporator?, I thought the biggest issue with AC self install is filling the refrigerant and sealing those lines.

There are some mini-splits that have a "quick connect" type of tether that don't require a professional to install. Here is one: https://www.forestair.ca/en/serie-mini-anglais

I looked at that model (I can't install a traditional mini-split at my apartment) as a way of reducing the noise in my bedroom b/c of the AC, but the reviews are mostly bad, and many related to issues with the refrigerant after trying to disconnect and reconnect it over time...

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#24

Post by rsync » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:02 PM UTC

Having individual heating and cooling units (per unit gas heaters!) is stupendously inefficient.

I travel in Asia fairly regularly so this isn't new to me, but even after all of these years I can't believe I continue to see shiny, brand new "high end" condo buildings in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, etc., with individual AC units hanging out the window.

Contrast this with a condo in Minneapolis that I own wherein heat and AC are central in the building and individual units can set their temperature to whatever they like - all run with tremendously higher efficiency.

It was explained to me once that there are Asian (specifically, Chinese) attitudes towards thrift that make it inconceivable/impossible to pay for AC that someone else might be using (or misusing). I don't know how true that is.

What I do know is, my building in MPLS looks very nice without several hundred crappy boxes hanging out the windows.

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#25

Post by roel_v » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:05 PM UTC

gcds wrote: post #10

roel_v wrote: post #9

Should've bought Daikin A/C's - their network bridges speak HTTP with a simple REST service. Highly recommend, it was very easy to integrate them into my home automation setup.

I have already one Panasonic AC, so mixing them didn't feel right. Plus I have few extra Echonet Lite devices in home so it would be easier for my case.

Yeah then it makes sense

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#26

Post by agwa » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:05 PM UTC

sergers wrote: post #3

Is this really specific to Japanese air conditioners? Or is this really about mini-split ac that are manufactured around the world under many companies. I don't see whats specifically Japanese outside of the person using Panasonic and is in Japan. The person could be in the USA with Mrcool mini split, it would be a similar article. Edit: title has been changed to remove mention of Japan, so my nitpick may no longer v…

I've never seen an apartment building in the US with special pipes for running the refrigerant lines. It's just not feasible to install a mini split in the US if you're renting, but it appears Japan is totally set up for it.

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#27

Post by bemmu » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:06 PM UTC

gcds wrote: post #11

bemmu wrote: post #6

I also live in Japan, and recently bought 3 new air conditioners, but my instinct was the opposite: forego anything "smart". For tech like that I want it to be as dumb as possible so that there are less things that can go wrong with it. As a bonus the dumb ones are much cheaper as well.

Those 2 AC's there almost the cheapest models you can buy for 6 tatami size and iirc they were 39k/ea. I needed to buy those modules extra to make it "smart"

Nice, your now smartened ones are actually cheaper than our dumb ones then. I was looking at CS-220DFR, also for 6 tatami, for which the best price on Kakaku is 49k (tax inclusive).

But in the end we got three Daikin ones from our moving company, because their prices were similar (actually almost felt like we get the moving service as a bonus), and it seems very convenient to have one company do everything.

Curious to see if they try to sneak in some extra fees at the last moment, because as it is I wonder if they're actually making a profit with us.

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#28

Post by roel_v » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:06 PM UTC

Nextgrid wrote: post #20

roel_v wrote: post #9

Should've bought Daikin A/C's - their network bridges speak HTTP with a simple REST service. Highly recommend, it was very easy to integrate them into my home automation setup.

A lot of consumer-grade ACs use IR-based remotes which can easily be connected into whatever automation solution you have with something like a Broadlink bridge.

You can't query those for the current room temp, current settings etc. So then if you mix the OEM app & your home automation app, things get messed up. IR bridges are a hack in home automation, when buying new stuff avoid them.

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#29

Post by gcds » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:07 PM UTC

agwa wrote: post #26

sergers wrote: post #3

Is this really specific to Japanese air conditioners? Or is this really about mini-split ac that are manufactured around the world under many companies. I don't see whats specifically Japanese outside of the person using Panasonic and is in Japan. The person could be in the USA with Mrcool mini split, it would be a similar article. Edit: title has been changed to remove mention of Japan, so my nitpick may no longer v…

I've never seen an apartment building in the US with special pipes for running the refrigerant lines. It's just not feasible to install a mini split in the US if you're renting, but it appears Japan is totally set up for it.

Impossible to live without AC in Japan. Also almost every move company can remove/install AC's pretty easily so it's kinda convient.

Also if all rooms already have installed AC's then apartment rent price is much higher than similar without it so it's 50/50 what you want.

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#30

Post by gcds » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:10 PM UTC

bemmu wrote: post #27

gcds wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those 2 AC's there almost the cheapest models you can buy for 6 tatami size and iirc they were 39k/ea. I needed to buy those modules extra to make it "smart"

Nice, your now smartened ones are actually cheaper than our dumb ones then. I was looking at CS-220DFR, also for 6 tatami, for which the best price on Kakaku is 49k (tax inclusive). But in the end we got three Daikin ones from our moving company, because their prices were similar (actually almost felt like we get the moving service as a bonus), and it seems very convenient to have one company do everything. Curious t…

Exacatly my 30k install cost for 2 ACs were high already after all works they like so it will be 15k extra I am like WHUT but oh well it's japan next time going to rent tools for 5k and materials for like 10k max.

My unit CS-229CFR with tax I think was 42k or similar and model to make it smart was +5k so it was still cheaper than cheapest smart model