Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Training log update

Just ended a spate of flu-ishness.

Treadmill run.


Distance: 2.4km
Time: 12min
Speed: 12km/h

Friday, July 03, 2009

Hi all, a quick update on items. Have confimed the Aircon system.

Daikin 3MKS50ESG / 3 X FTKS25

Quoted $3090 with standard copper piping, amarflex insulation and bigger water pipe.

Cheers

Monday, June 29, 2009

Update: budget and list of items bought

GSS, pre-GSS, getting previous models at clearance prices.

Here's the lowdown on our budget:

LG mini-bar fridge GR-051SSF $179

Tempur Deluxe 17cm Queen-sized $2499 +$50

Panasonic Plasma Full-HD 42" THP-42S10S c/w $400 Choice vouchers $1799 +$30

LG Fridge GRM482YSQ (388litre nett capacity) $845 (with option to top up $27 to White colour, depending on kitchen interior design)

Electrolux EWF1495 8kg 1400rpm c/w $30 voucher $999 + $30

Toilet bowls / basins / bathroom / sinks accessories etc $2700 ($2500 paid)

Blanco sink c/w tap $482

Reno budget: As per Plan A $34,920 (deposit $10,000 paid)

What's being carried over:
Piano
Standing Fan
Vacuum cleaner
Microwave
Small 21" LCD TV
Mini-Compo
PCs / Mac
DVD Player (?)


Paid so far: $19303

CASHFLOW PLANNING:

Balance to be paid = $200 + $24,920 = $25,120

Items yet to be purchased :

Sofa
Dining Table
Chest of Drawers
Oven
Automatic Laundry Extender
Air Con
Curtains
Ceiling Fans
Lighting

Housewarming gifts ahoy! Hehheh, Haha

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Fans size

Fans

Spare room - 42" (with light?)
Study - 36"-42" (with light?)
Masterbedroom - 42" (no light needed)
Living Room - full is 30sqm, so 48 -52"
If at light points, then 36" / 36"

Monday, June 22, 2009

Training update

Training log - 22 Jun
Distance:3.41km
Time: 17min 22 sec
Pace: 11.78km/h

Don't know why this calculator makes me seem slower... maybe it doesn't take into account gradients? :)

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Weekend

Fri.

Had an office run at West Coast.

1.82km
9min 19sec
11.75km/h

Then frisbee lessons. Reminded myself that I have poor motor and coordination skills. Hah.

Drove back to Eunos with Roberto (in his ah-pek white "swan" brand singlet) in tow through after-work peak-hour traffic on AYE/ECP.

Back home, I noticed some 'upgrades' to the Eunos common areas. There was a fresh new green dustbin at the ground floor lift lobby to replace the one that had been missing for months! And, I saw people wearing lanyards scrambling to replace the trashbag of a dustbin in the neighbouring block! What was going on? Anti-H1N1 measures?

Oh, turns out the MP is visiting the residents in the area :)

On the way down to the car for dinner, Mom spotted a small plastic bag near the car which seemed to be moving and kicked it. A little rat scurried out! "Rats! Rats!" Heh.

Sat.

Congrats ning! :)

Went with Jas to see the contractor after driving round-and-round looking for parking in the Arab St area, then went shopping for yellow picard wallet and dinner.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Aircon research - what's the deal with COP, 4-ticks (is equivalent to 1 lice?) and all those numbers?

Been delving into some technical statistics and specs about different aircons and calculating their COP (rated) as well as their minimal consumption. This applies only to Inverter system aircons.

I have 3 rooms to cool - Master bedroom (about 2.75kW needed), Study (2.2kW needed) and Spare room along corridor (2.2kW needed), for a total capacity of about 7.15kW needed
This is the expected usage pattern: Masterbedroom will be on for sleeping at night when needed, and perhaps up to 4 times a week during the daytime afternoons. Study aircon will be used much less often, and Spare is not foreseen to be used for the next 3 years. In any case, the scenario of max capacity being used is very unlikely, given the Study will never be used together with Masterbedroom. Thus, expected usage will top out at about 5kW max.
I did some analysis of quoted power consumption and capacity figures from brochures and PDFs I managed to get hold of:


So how do I read this $%^#$ thing? :)
Well, we can conclude the Starmex is good for high capacity cooling. The starmex is the highest-rated capacity model of all, and is good for rapid cooling and for higher capacity requirements. However, its base COP of 3.11 makes it inefficient at maintaining set temperatures (which is probably the aircon's operation functional for 4-5hours out of 7 hours of sleeping at night). This is due to its minimum power drawn being 0.45kW, much higher than the 0.3kW-0.34kW quoted by other brands, for a similar min capacity of 1.4kW-1.5kW of cooling. Conclusion: The Starmex is a good aircon system, but not the best at everything, just very well-advertised :)

So, from the chart, which is the Aircon System-3 to get? The Hitachi. Turns out it has the highest rated COP AND Min. COP. It's COP for cooling 2 rooms is decent too - 3.81, and on-par with the Starmex. Just don't ever switch on all three units at overdrive rapid-cool full blast with this combi :) it drops quite badly compared to the other models, not that 2.73 is really bad, but, given its unlikely this scenario will occur, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
So the important thing when getting an aircon system is - know your usage patterns, and capacity required.