As per the thread '
Zoning advice for air conditioning my home' I have been looking at installing the Actron Ultima reverse cycle air conditioning unit, that is until I have seen the prices and for the pricing would be expecting to see gold plated accessories.
The Actron has some impressive features and after reading
Ancient Mariner's post on the Actron air conditioners I expected to pay a premium compared to the Daikin but I never expected I could buy 2 Daikin air conditioning units for the price of one Actron
I cannot afford $50k of air conditioning so that rules out the Actron.
Can anyone see any problem with the Daikin quote?
Thanks in advance.
We are getting a 17KW Actron ESP+ for $14,500 in our 2 storey new build with 6 outlets. Was told the Ultima would be an extra $1,000 to $1,500, so no more than $16,000.
I would get some more quotes for the Actron from some different suppliers.
Someone's having a laugh...
The Ultima's are very time consuming to setup correctly and when you are having things like multiple return airs for each zone, etc you're adding a lot of installers hours... Having said all that you should easily be able to take $10k - $12k off that price with another dealer...
The Daikin prices are fine but make sure you get the Daikin zone controllers and not some naff light switch to control the zones...
And that someone is not me.... If the units were not so good I would have just said forget it and moved on.
The guy for this quote could not understand that if it costs X to install to the entire house then adding a 2nd unit will be 2nd unit + a smallish extra not 2x.
The only other Actron outlet in Canberra does not install me with confidence that he could install a unit on time and have decent follow up service.
b0b555 I sent you a PM
Would be interested in the outcome. Can't see how the quote for the Actron can't come down significantly.
The cost of the Actron 'premium' is usually no more than about 10% above Daikin. I've even heard of people getting Actron cheaper than Daikin, although perhaps not the Ultima. But whatever, there is no way Actron is double the cost of Daikin.
Your quotes don't make a lot of sense to me. At $26k with 4 returns the quote for the 23kW system seems a little high, but not that far off. But another $26k for a 17kW secondary system seems way over the top -- are you sure it's not a typo?, i.e., it's actually $16k and change?
If it is correct I'd find another installer, even if they have to come from NSW. Call Actron and tell them your difficulty and ask them to suggest an Actron Platinum dealer. For what you're doing I certainly wouldn't want an installer who had never before put in an Ultima. TBH, a handwritten quote for something that expensive would put me right off -- they can't print out a nice looking quote but they want $52k from you?!
With respect, may I also suggest you revisit your zoning. I can see you're looking to put in a very high end system but I really can't see why you need all those zones. I suspect you could get away with just one unit, with maybe a little compromise in usage patterns.
Hi Ancient Mariner,
I am in contact with another installer now through the Actron regional rep and I hope to have a quote by Friday.
I will look at one unit but I am not sure it could do all the areas we would want, need to have a very hard look at the sums.