Advice please!!

[stotts]

I'm an end user intending to have a heat pump (approx 2Kw cooling) wall mounted in my bedroom. I'm receiving different opinions from suppliers and am trying to go through a rapid learning curve. Who better to turn to than the Professionals.....so here goes..... Which is considered to be the best unit / manufacturer to consider from the point of view of reliability, quietness, features, length of warranty and any other feature considered relevant in this application. Thanks in anticipation..............

[lana]

Hi there and welcome to the RE.

If I were you I would put silence operation a priority due to obvious reasons.
Secondly I would look for a brand name which would give me a good after sales service.
Thirdly longest possible warranty (Specially for the compressor).
And the last but not the least, good control choices. I mean you could control important parameters like fan speed, temperature ranges, ...

I should add that the competition in this market is very fierce, so good brand names, would give you almost all of those mentioned.

Happy hunting.
Good Luck:)

[nh3simman]

lana offers good advice.

Nowdays, most of the equipment suppliers offer comparable equipment.

What lana did not mention is the installer. A poor installation could ruin even the best equipment.

[Electrocoolman]

Hi Stotts and welcome to RE.

As its going to be installed in a bedroom, the noise figure is one area to make sure you give due consideration to. I think that 21dba is quoted by some manufacturers [eg. SANYO] (on Low fan speed).
The other area to consider (also noise related) is how do you get rid of the condensate water. The best is via gravity which is best if the unit is mounted on an outside wall (Pipe thru wall), this should also reduce your installation costs.
Most other means involves a pump which starts and stops...generating noise.
I would always recommend an Inverter system for control, economy (look for a high COP figure) and noise. Other useful features to consider for example are fitration standards, and automatic increasing of set point during the night.
Is price an issue? If not, then any of the better known brands should give you reliability and good aftersales. Just search on the forum.
Try to avoid the cheap budget makes as they might let you down and aftersales backup can be poor.....you get what you pay for!

Most manufacturers styles are similar...but LG 'ART' series and Sanyo AIRE 75 have style, but you will find a lot said about LG on this forum!

As with other trades, word of mouth recommendations for installers can be useful....references and photos of previous jobs might be useful.

Good luck

[Andy AC]

If price was not an issue I'd go for a Daikin FTXS inverter, - very small,really well built, quiet, lots of features on the remote, small condenser. My second choice would be a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries SRK inverter, not quite the quality of the Daikin but a great bit of kit.

[coolments]

Hi I agree with Andy, i have been in the trade 18 years and installed a daikin FTXS25 DC inverter wall mount in myself in my bedroom, nice and cool with super quiet operation, not a twitter of complaint from neighbours. Make sure you get a good installer though and quality will come at extra cost, expect to pay 1.5k-2k for the install. 12 months standard warranty, extended to 36 months if you take a maintenace contract on it.

[Karl Hofmann]

I let my customers see and hear the units that I install for themselves, I have a Toshiba RAS10 inverter mounted on a rig that I carry round in my van. Plug it in to my extension lead and hey presto.. Even at full blast they are pretty quiet, but the "quiet" mode backs the fan off to a very low speed, very good for those sticky summer evenings. As has been said try to avoid needing a pump as they all make a sound when they start to pump, though If this is not an option then Sauerman pumps are nice and quiet, Always have found that the Aspen pumps have started off with a bit of a clatter.

I have an LG Artcool mirror unit in my living room and though it has been reliable, it is not the most robust unit and is certainly louder than the Toshibas.

Also worth a look are Sanyo and Hitachi (Hawco are doing them for a good price too) All three offer nice middle of the road units for a reasonable price. If your outside unit is on show, then make sure that the installer uses a decent quality wall bracket, I use BBJ or Pumphouse brackets as they tend to be a little more rust resistant. I tried a cheap wall bracket, fitted it in November but it is already rusting, something else for you to bear in mind

[The MG Pony]

Albeit they are designed for computer water cooling look into the swiftech MCP350, it is a 3/8" tube and is dead silent with 20 foot head! run off 12V and you have to hold them in order to know they are running.

[marc5180]

Id agree with Andy to. Iv installed a Daikin FTXS50 heat pump in my conservatory, great little piece of kit cant even tell that its on unless you put it on maximum fan speed but it was a bit pricey... Well worth it though in my opinion..