Brivis Ice Cooler installed.....

kassan1973 · **Posted:** Feb 01, 2009 9:07 am

**Phoenix** wrote:

OK, heres a question for you guys then.

We had our Ice unit installed, and supposedly gassed, then they moved it, and replumbed it.

Does it need to be re-gassed??

Because it wasn't at the time??

Also should we have got a new plumbing cert. if they moved it and re-plumbed it a couple of weeks later???

I'm wondering if thats one of the reasons why ours isn't as effective, but also the fan is not blowing as hard as i'd think it normally would.......

Does anyone know???

Most A/C units inc brivis are pre charged to handle up to 15 mtrs of piping they usally get vacuumed down and the valves are opened .The pipes in our install are 15 mtrs in lengh and it wasnt topped up .But i know some installers do add gas no matter what the pipe lengh.
When your unit was moved you would have lost all the gas in the lines and evaporator in the roof this would be quite a bit i would imagine . speask with Herman at dandy if hes still there and get it checked i also have to ring him about the same issue .
Thanks Dean

**Phoenix** · **Posted:** Feb 01, 2009 9:17 am

Verrrrrrrrrrrry interesting, thanks so much Dean.

Otherwise i would have continued to whinge about the product when its the installation that is the issue.

I will also chat with him about the fan. (my usual contact has been Steve R) It has been an issue since we had the heating installed too, some rooms just dont get much air flow through....and since its the same fan, you can imagine how effective it all is!!! :roll:

Thanks Dean! ::kissed::

wakeboardandy · **Posted:** Feb 01, 2009 9:21 am

My parents evap cooler was keeping the house inside at 27 degrees when it was 44 outside last week.. humidity was below 10%..

So if an evap can keep the house comfortable on the hottest days we have had in over 100 years, I don't see why you would want to pay the extra 6 or 7 thousand for refridgerated that doesn't seem to drop the temperature any more.

kassan1973 · **Posted:** Feb 01, 2009 11:28 am

wakeboardandy wrote:

My parents evap cooler was keeping the house inside at 27 degrees when it was 44 outside last week.. humidity was below 10%..

So if an evap can keep the house comfortable on the hottest days we have had in over 100 years, I don't see why you would want to pay the extra 6 or 7 thousand for refridgerated that doesn't seem to drop the temperature any more.

.

Did you measure with a hum meter? Have been in several house's on similar days and are terrible you can wipe your hand across a bench and its damp.
With refridge you get none of this.

wakeboardandy · **Posted:** Feb 01, 2009 11:40 am

kassan1973 wrote:

Did you measure with a hum meter? Have been in several house's on similar days and are terrible you can wipe your hand across a bench and its damp.
With refridge you get none of this.

Of the 20 years or so that I have lived in evap cooled houses, nothing has ever been damp, like what you mention. Benches are dry, leather lounge suites that have air blowing directly on them are also always dry. Maybe there was something wrong with their air cons as evap coolers shouldn't make things damp.

Brad75 · **Joined:** 30 May 2008 **Posts:** 120

Refrigerated cooling is designed to do a 13 degree drop in temparture from outside air temparture so if it's 44 degrees outside inside should get down to 31 degrees so if you were getting lower than that it is a bonus and yes evaporative coolers have been doing better the last few days because the weather has been a very dry heat where the evaps sometimes work better than refrigerated units evaps mainly struggle when it's very humid.
I know all of this because i am a heating & cooling installer and operate my own business and was sick of all the phone calls i had over those hot days from people saying my aircon should reach 20 degrees inside their houses .

wakeboardandy · **Posted:** Feb 01, 2009 12:49 pm

Thanks Brad for the info.

My split system that I have in my rental now couldn't get below 29 in the 40+ degree days, which I thought was pretty good.

But as you say evap can work better when it is dry heat... and I can't remember the last time we had a humid hot day in melbourne.. it was certainly a few years ago..

kassan1973 · **Posted:** Feb 01, 2009 3:03 pm

**Phoenix** wrote:

Well we finally had our Brivis Ice unit installed...well sort of????

The installers from Dandy Air turned up as booked a few weeks back, there has been a delay getting the Ice unit in from Brivis, but it was now available and was ready for installation...

So they turn up...

Problem #1.
No power has been run for the unit....hmmm we specifically paid for 3 phase and had surge protection put in for the cooler and they didn't run the wires from the meter box??? derrr????

Problem #2.
The position of the pipes that were installed were such that this is what it looked like when they installed the unit:

[ img ]

It seems that they have not even bothered to measure the unit and think to themselves, hey its going on a small wall, why not centralise it and move the pipes accordingly over???

Too big a decision i think for those concerned!!! :evil:

The view from the laundry door:

[ img ]

Luckily i stuck my head out to check how it was going and told them to stop....dont even bother finishing the install if that is where its going!!!

My kids would run out of that door and rip open their arms on that unit!!!
No way was i going to accept that!!!

So on the phone to our CSR who says i should speak to the Handover dept. I then called the Handover Mgr and the Supervisor to get someone to decide what to do....The guys from Dandy Air said someone would have to pay the $300 to have it moved....hmmm well it sure as hell wont be me!!!!

So eventually the Handover Supervisor rings back, they have the all clear to move it...but if we have any issues he will call me back on Wednesday to discuss....still waiting for that call.

Here is what it looks like now....still not central, but better, but i'm not sure about the distance it now is off the brick wall.....

I would love to hear from those who already have these units what your thoughts are in regards to the installation. Matt or Vanderlay perhaps??

[ img ]

[ img ]

[ img ]

Not sure about the pipework though.....

Still waiting for power to be installed and then the techs have to come back and set it all up... But seriously, how hard can it be to centralise it on the one wall???

This is not a Henley issue i have to say, well i dont preceive it that way, this lies with Dandy Air...they planned the install and where it was all going, preplumbed it all and were to come back for the final installation.

I know that Matt has had issues with his install...lets hope their service has improved...somewhat..... :roll:

Hi pheonix read an old post regarding your heater combo .
You had listed a he35i i beleive brivis dont make a HE 35 only ME35 4 star heater normally they match a 21kw to their me35 and 18 kw to the 30 series either HE or ME. We had a me30xa installed with 18 kw a/c next time will get 21 kw a/c.

papa · **Joined:** 13 Jun 2007 **Posts:** 49

Afternoon All,

Interesting thread...I'm getting quotes from Dandy on refrigerated for our house.

They already quote for evap but after speaking to friends and electrical contractors I've had to rethink our cooling solution...

Will keep you posted.

Ryan Oliver · **Joined:** 08 Dec 2008 **Posts:** 502

Gday Phoenix,

Just wondering if you got all of your copper piping and preparation for your a/c unit during your build?

**Phoenix** · **Posted:** Feb 07, 2009 8:31 pm

Ryan Oliver wrote:

Gday Phoenix,

Just wondering if you got all of your copper piping and preparation for your a/c unit during your build?

Yes Ryan, we did. It was all organised by the builder and their contractors, it was one of the items included in the contract, so they did it all, but as you can see had to move it anyway at the end point....

Ryan Oliver · **Joined:** 08 Dec 2008 **Posts:** 502

Thanks very much for that.

stevew · **Joined:** 10 Feb 2009 **Posts:** 1

Hi everyone,

I've had a Brivis Ice Add-on cooling unit installed about 4 years ago. Have never been overly happy with the cold output, but this summer I have had numerous problems,,,,
With all the hot weather in Vic, it seems that my Brivis Ice was not working efficiently - by late afternoon it seemed that the air that was being blown through the ducts was actually warm, This happened about 4 times during summer on really hot days - just thought that the unit was efficient enough to cope.
Anyway last weekend when outside temperature reached 46 degrees - same problem: warm air thru ducts. So I went outside to see if I could suss anything out and would you believe it, the heater fan was going, but the Ice unit was completely stopped.
So today I rang Brivis and explained the situation. And Brivis's answer,,,,

"The Brivis Ice unit will cut off when the temperature reaches 45 degrees - this is a safety cut off mechanism to ensure that the unit is not faulty, or there is a fire."

WHAT THE???

I paid 7grand for an air conditioner that turns itself off when the temperature gets too hot!!! This is unbelievable. Will wait on a call from Brivis tomorrow to clarify the situation.

Has anyone heard of this happening? Is there anything that can be done?

I'm so annoyed - I know that the temperatures we had were extreme, but this is laughable. The bottom line is that I have to wait for the outside air temp to drop to BELOW 45 degrees, then the unit will work again...

Yours in sweaty-ness,

SteveW

kassan1973 · **Posted:** Feb 11, 2009 6:28 pm

We also have a 18 kw brivis add on and worked fantastic outside temp on sat in melb north suburbs was 46.5 and our unit ran all day without a problem cooling house at 23 deg and same temp on all 3 days over 43. I may only suggest that if the gas or refridgerant is low in the system the pressure may continue to rise on the high pressure side of the compressor causing a high pressure cutout at the time when you need it most. I have a friend who has a 21 kw version and his worked fine over all the hot days also.
Thanks

mattwalker · **Posted:** Feb 11, 2009 6:45 pm

Same!

Our worked fine all day ... no temperature issues at all.

I thinking porky pies

lisanne · **Posted:** Feb 11, 2009 7:11 pm

Those of you with the Brivis add on's, how big is your house, how many vents and how big is your cooling unit? I'm just about to start getting quotes for my 17 sq house with joined kitchen, meals and family and with 3 bedroom and a rumpus and trying to get an idea of what size unit I would need.

TIA!

kassan1973 · **Posted:** Feb 12, 2009 5:06 pm

Hi we have a 24 sq with 2 zones 14 outlets and 18 kw cooling me30 xa heater works great entire house heating and fantastic with 1 zone selected approx 15 sq and good entire house cooling .
If i had to get the system again i would opt for a 21 kw cooler for that extra cooling when we wanted entire house cooled. As a rule off thumb work on on 1kw per house sq as a minimum ours is setup to operate each zone seperately if required with no common area.
Make sure you get 3 phase power as their is only a small cost involved for cable that way whatever you decide to get can be connected.
Thanks

kassan1973 · **Posted:** Feb 12, 2009 5:09 pm

Sorry forgot to add with above combo and 3 phase power etc 10K upgrade through builer was quoted 11K to do after house built through other heater mob only difference was that i got to keep builders ducted heating if i organized after which i guess i could have sold .

rowan · **Posted:** Feb 16, 2009 10:08 pm

We are simply just not getting good results with this system is there a way of adding another unit to the 18 kw one we have at the moment to increase the cooling power of the system ? If so how much are just the units on there own "ball park figure". Anyone else have similar disappointing results with this brivis ice system?
Our system can be set to 21 on a 27 degree day and still not get the temperature down any further than to 24 it basically stays at the room temperature form when we turned it on !!

kassan1973 · **Posted:** Feb 17, 2009 12:18 pm

If you have a me30 xa you may be able to replace your 18 kw with a 21kw as the me30xa and me35 have same airflow.
I would get it checked first ie gas pressures etc by an independant refridge person. You also need to look at insulation in roof and for any lose ducts as your system should be working alot better.
How long are the A/C pipes as well if over 15 mtr in lengh the systenm will need aditional gas.

Brivis Ice Cooler installed.....

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