I am planning to buy some portable air conditioner and doing some research brands like Gree or Heran pop up fairly soon. From the facts on paper, the products seem quite decent in terms of efficiency and cooling capacity. Obviously the price is very reasonable as well since they are taiwanese.
Now, I went back to Germany for 3 months this summer because of work, and when I got back the dehumidifier I have at home, from a taiwanese brand started forming ice (due to a leak somewhere in the circuit) and it was just a year and three months old. I tried to find a technical service but it was fairly hard and fixing the dehumidifier would have been as expensive as buying a new one. (Who on earth makes machines that last a year??)
Adding that to the experiences with cheap quality products that I encounter pretty much every day of my life in this country, I donāt really trust taiwanese products anymore.
Therefore, my question is about the experiences you had or have with taiwanese aircon brands. Are they trustworthy? or are the aircons breaking down after a year or two? should I look for a japanese brand instead?
I would like to trust taiwanese brands, i really do, but i canāt help feeling disappointed about reliability issues of the taiwanese products I have seen. So if my misstrust is wrong placed, please tell me.
In general I would stay away from Taiwanese brands especially
For TVs, big ticket electronic items, washing machines, air cons.
You can get a Japanese brand, and even if they are made in Taiwan,
The quality is usually better. Panasonic is usually a good choice, maybe daikin (MIT). Iāve
Used Heran brand aircons before with mixed results.the same
With their TVs.
You will find its the motherboards that often have a problem for some reason.
So yeah i almost always buy Japanese and Korean brands.
Nope. I certainly donāt. Our current apartment has brand new airconditioning in every room of the brand Ducker (éåÆ). An American brand but made in China. Cheap feel, remotes donāt work well, and one unit broke down and had to be replaced. Try Hitachi, Panasonic, Liebherr, Miele, etc. Teco (ę±å ), maybe.
According to locals and my own experience, the top three AC brands here seem to be Japanese MIT ones: Hitachi, Panasonic, and Daikin. As for portable ACs (the stand-alone kind with wheelies), arenāt they notoriously inefficient anyways? I donāt think any of the above brands sell them here in Tw so you may be stuck with Heran or Gree. Those are the top models online here by number of sales.
The thing is I want an aircon that I am able to move to a different appartment. Currently my appartment doesnāt have aircon, and my landlord does not feel like buying one. She says if, I want, i should buy it myself. So i am not planing to buy a standard one.
I am afraid you are right about being stuck with the taiwanese brands. there is one called Toyotomi which appears to be japanese, but I am not sure If that is going to be any better, even though they sell in europe and US as well.
Last month I bought a very quiet Tatung AC. It is really silent, for 4 pings area. I bought it for NT$ 9000 (new) at RT Mart in Taichung. It can cool down the room but it is not efficient. I need to close the door, let it run for about 30 minutes but it doesnt give you the ice cooling. Yesterday it was very humid, I ran my Tatung AC for 30 minutes, after that my room was still humid. And the Remote Control and the settings are very confusing. Sometimes it can cool the room well, other times it seems to stall. It was cheap though, I could just pay a guy to move it to some other apartment for NT$ 3000 (if necessary). A portable AC is very expensive, almost NT$ 30000.
And I have Sampo appliances, washing machine, oven and vacuum, they are serviceable, cheap, they are ok products. I have a very bad Teco dryer, it doesnt dry my clothes well and leave a bad smell on my clothes after 2 hours of running.
And I still have my noisy White Westinghouse, very noisy but it cools the room pretty fast (ice cooling). I moved it to the living room and I use it during day time. The Tatung AC is in my bedroom, it is very quiet but not efficient but now is fall, soon is going to be winter so it is alright not to spend $$$ to get an expensive AC.
Lots of the japanese brands areā¦Daikin is made in Taiwan, probably some of the Panasonic as well.
The Japnese still maintain their quality though prob some small differences with truly made in Japanā¦like glaringly bright LED lights and stickers whacked all over them
Over on Xiamen street, I bought a 2.5 ton hitachi second hand split unit with the inverter technology for 28K and had it installed a couple of months ago. Quiet and cooler than the window unit. My two month electric bill was 3800. Last year, it was 12,000.
Regarding Sampo AC, I found that there was only 1 service center in all of Taipei. The Sampo company does not allow for private purchase of parts or coolant; therefore, repairs must go through the central Sampo service center rather than through a local repairman. This means that you will likely end up waiting for up to 6 weeks for an initial repair service. That person will then order parts. You will wait up to 6 weeks for the parts to arrive, and another few weeks for the service call to be arranged. By the time your AC is repaired, summer will be over, and you no longer require the AC. My conclusion: Donāt buy a Sampo AC.
My comments about the local ACs follow those of other commenters above: Panasonic is probably the best in terms of noise (depending on brand), service and efficiency. Hitachi and Mitsubishi are also very good but quite expensive. If you live in a high sulfur area, go for a cheaper AC. Wherever you buy, make sure your product is coated against sulfur erosion. This includes buying second-hand.
Regarding a swamp cooler (portable AC), I agree with the comments above: buy a regular AC and move that āregularā AC with you when you move apartments. Mine was moved by the movers at no additional cost ($5000 per truck). You could reasonably move a bed, AC, and most of a living room for that price.
According to my AC guy the government will start subsidizing new energy friendly AC, AC/heaters up to 5000 NT$. He didnāt say if it must be Made in Taiwan.
Mine broke down a few days ago and got a good offer on a new one with a little higher BTU, 5000 NT$ subsidy, cooling/heating, split model, inverter. Made in Taiwan.
Is it now hooked up to Internet for IoT use?
Some western utility firms are controlling or have the ability to control peopleās home thermostats through IoT.
