RetireJapan

I'm moving to a (rented) apartment that doesn't have AC in the living room, but I will want to get one installed before the summer next year. I've never bought an AC unit before.

Does anybody have any tips for this? Are there any essential requirements, useless features to pass on, optimal time to buy, recommended brands, or gotchas? It's a south-facing room and I'll need to buy both the interior and exterior units. I think the exterior unit will go on the balcony.

I'm assuming it's going to be a simple process of picking out one from an electronics store and they'll come and install it.

I'm not an expert by a longshot, but before going to the store, make sure you know how large the area is you want the a/c unit to cool/heat so you can get one with the right strength. Sometimes you have to pay for an extra length of hose because of the location of the wall hole, balcony, etc. so maybe take a photo of where the a/c will go so the staff can tell you if you need to pay more.

Kind of stating the obvious, but you'll need permission from the landlord. Would recommend getting a slightly more powerful unit than you need, then you can run it at a lower setting. Apparently you can bargain with electronic stores (I never have, but I know people that do). They have some flexibility with regards to prices/points, etc.

The newer/more expensive the model, the cheaper it will be to run. The stores can explain the running costs. Heating costs more than cooling, so if you have other ways to keep warm you might be able to save money.

One other point is electrical. When I shopped recently, most places had notices up that you need a dedicated (fused) outlet for the unit. Your apt. likely has one--look for an outlet up high, near the port in the wall leading to your balcony. Likely a three pronged one, or it may have a small screw/place for attaching a separate ground wire.

If you have those--the outlet and a port--installation will be easy. If not, this is defo something in "ask your landlord" territory. In some places without a port, instead of drilling one a spacer is used on one side of a sliding door or window. It's maybe 8-10cm wide and has a port at the top for the a/c pipes. Temporary, and no drilling, but then you can close that all the way (to lock).

If there's no outlet you'll either have to pay to have one installed (wired back to your breaker box) or gamble that the installers won't say anything and will let you go with a cord down to the floor (with the smallest units, they might; with larger ones, likely not).

From my shopping, it seemed the optimal time to buy was nov/dec. The signs for adding an outlet said ¥13,000, but it may be more if your situation is 'difficult'.

RetireJapan wrote: ↑Mon Oct 14, 2019 11:23 pm Apparently you can bargain with electronic stores (I never have, but I know people that do).

Yes, I got 10% off an AC and a new car (not the same shop obviously). I lived for years in Indonesia so it kind of became second nature for me.

Thanks for the tips.

It's a new build and there are already holes in the wall for the pipe, so I don't think I'll need to ask for permission. At least I hope not...

Good tip about taking photos and pipe length - will do.

Checked the photos I took when checking out the place, and although there is a three-pronged outlet near the ceiling, the hole for the pipe is near floor level. Why?? That's going to result in a long duct through the living room - seems like a crazy design. If I'd had noticed that earlier it might've influenced my decision on wether to go for this place.

When I bought a bunch of white goods from Yodobashi, I asked them for a discount and they just said "of course" and took off a bunch as a matter of course (except for premium stuff like Dyson, and ultra cheap stuff). Also got 10% points, so spent the next few months getting free stuff with points which was quite fun (although the initial bill wasn't).

I had to buy an AC about two years ago for the same reason--moved into a rented apartment that didn't have one. I had to buy a fairly powerful/expensive one too, as it was for a very large room.

Here's my tip:

Go to the big electronics stores (Bic Camera, Yodobashi Camera, etc.) figure out the model you want and price them, talk to the sales staff if you want to. Then go online, look the model up on Kakaku.com, and buy it from the cheapest online retailer. You should find the one you want for about 1/3 less than the retail stores are selling it. I think most shops will install it for you for an extra 15.000 - 20,000 yen.

In my case I got a unit that was retailing in the stores at about 250,000 for 150,000, and they installed it for 16,000.

Check whether the socket is 100V or 200V. Smaller rooms have 100V sockets and machines, larger rooms may have a 200V socket. You need to know before you can buy.

Also know the area of your room in Japanese area measurement.

Go for a model which does a lot of self-cleaning so you don’t need to do much maintenance, filter cleaning yourself.

Negotiate on price or try to get fitting included. (Show them web sites of the same model cheaper and they may price match).

Always look at the remote control and how you clean it, as those are the two primary ways you will be interacting with the product.

If you have a large room (ie. 20jo +), it's better (more cost efficient, flexible, and resilient) to get two small ones instead of one large capacity one.

As someone who cares about design and usability, and having used most manufactures' products over the years, I am of the opinion that Daikin and Mitsubishi Electric are the best designed of the lot, in terms of both design and user friendliness. Panasonic has slick marketing but their product is a step below imo, and can be a bit overpriced. Fujitsu actually has good functionality, but their products can be on the big and ugly side. Toshiba is ho-hum/average, but nothing really to complain about, it gets the job done. Iris Ohyama and others I have no experience with. Bear in mind, this is a completely subjective assessment from a random guy on the internet, so take it for what it's worth.

I have a 200V Panasonic ‘Eolia’ in my living room.

Does the job (eco mode is literally cool) and - in 18 months - have never touched it...

Fine for heating in winter also.