My woes with 1.1T Sharp AH-XP13PHT

MaRKiV

Adept
With all the hullah-bullah behind inverter ACs and spending hours and hours reading reviews about inverter AC vs conventional AC, I purchased the 1.1T Sharp AH-XP13PHT from AC Bazaar in Chennai on March 1st and installed it on 12th March.

I started using the AC from April 1st and immediately found something weird. My older carrier AC, used to be make me shiver when I kept it at 26C, but when I keep the AC temp at 24C, it doesn't cool the room enough and I sweat sometimes, not sweat dripping but feel stuffy.

Primary Problem, the AC doesn't cool enough and the ODU makes a wierd noise when it is running at full power trying to cool the room.
Other issues -
1. every one hour the IDU fan stops completely for a min or so and it restarts after that.
2. The AC IDU fan speed varied drastically its not uniform. when I keep the AC fan in Auto mode, the IDU fan speed suddenly increases to the max and then drops to more quieter speed within few seconds, this happens at random, I am not able to find a pattern.

So I called up AC Bazaar in Chennai, from where I had purchased the unit. Since they would undertake both the installation and service. (On hindsight, what was I smoking when they said they would take care of it and not the manufacturer :( )

I did notice during the installation that they did not use a vacuum pump to pump out the gas before releasing it from the ODU.

The technician comes up on 12/04 and checks the cooling, accepts that the cooling is less than its needs to be. Also the peak amps pulled when the AC was running at max was 7A, but the max input Amps should be 9.1 A. The diagnosis was that the gas in the AC might be less and so he has to come back with the gas and vacuum gauge to fill it.

On 04/18, the same technician came in and initially checked the Amps pulled and the air throw temperature. The Amps pulled was again 7A and min air throw temp was 24C when the AC was set to 16C. So he vacuumed the pipe for an hour using the vacuum machine and filled the R410a gas (approx 2Kg as per the technician's judgement) and rechecked, this time the max Amp pulled was 8A and air throw temp was 20C, when AC was set to 16C.

He called up his manager in the service station and I was informed that there might be a block in the caliper tube and so the AC - both IDU and ODU - needs to be bought to the service center to flush the caliper tubes with di-nitrogen gas (I might have misheard it). Also the weird noise in the ODU might be due to some oil in the compressor unit not fully lubricating it.

04/21 - Another senior technician comes to collect the unit - I was not at home this time, I had to be at work - he suggests that he will flush the gas once again and check once again before collecting the unit. Since I was not around he said that now the air throw temperature was nearing 12C and all issues have been sorted out. I asked to show my mother who was at home at that time, the temperature reading of 12C before leaving, but he couldnt completely show the temp, since he claimed that by the time the meter read 12C and he showed it to my mother the temperature has increased.

I have now spoken to the senior manager and he told me that he wanted to have the unit to test and flush it in the service center. I have asked him to come in by next monday 04/28 to collect the unit.

Now With that history here is what I wanted to know being a noob in the AC arena -
1. Is the inverter ODU supposed to make weird mixer like noise when it is running at peak load?
2. Is it advisable to send the AC unit to the service center for servicing? I have never heard of such di-nitrogen flushing or compressor oil change/service (for the ODU noise)
3. Have I been sold a Lemon? 40K down the drain??
4. Or Am I over-reacting unnecessarily and everything will fall in place once the fault is rectified in the service center.

I sincerely request the AC gurus and pandits here for their opinion and help on this matter, any help on this matter will be deeply and truly appreciated.
 
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He called up his manager in the service station and I was informed that there might be a block in the caliper tube and so the AC - both IDU and ODU - needs to be bought to the service center to flush the caliper tubes with di-nitrogen gas (I might have misheard it)...

copper tubes need to be flushed with something inert to get rid of the impurities and primarily - moisture. so, nitrogen gas comes to the rescue. also, nitrogen gas at high pressure helps in finding any leaks in the pipes.
 
Just get the pipes vacuumed and the gas filled up to correct levels and you will be fine. Dont worry. By the way how big is your room? sqft?
 
The technician already vacuumed the pipes and refilled gas during the 04/18 servicing and in spite of that, the room isn't cooling sufficiently.

The room is 120 Sq.ft, middle floor, SW located, with very min direct sunlight on the walls.
 
In the user manual/installation manual, it is mentioned that refrigerant required is around 740gm. So most probably the 2Kg claim was BS.
What kind of noise comes from the ODU? Is it a high pitched whine?

Even I have the XP13PHT and am not happy with the ODU. My grandmother has the XP13LV. It is installed in the room next to mine. The ODU runs very silently. Almost noiseless if heard from a distance of 5-7ft. But my ODU has a high pitched whine.
Even I am not happy about the cooling. Though mine is not as extreme as yours, I feel that the XP13LV cooling was much more for same temperature. Will test it this weekend by setting the AC's to same temp and running them for some time.

During the installation of the XP13LV, they did not do vaccuming. But during the installation of XP13PHT, they did so. But in XP13PHT, there is a join in the copper pipe. Is there anyway I can check if coolant is leaking? The joint is under the white foam and weatherproof tape. In the end, they did not check for leaks at the joint. They used soap water at the ODU input/output and IDU input/output.
 
Also the peak amps pulled when the AC was running at max was 7A, but the max input Amps should be 9.1 A.
This seems incorrect too. If its running at 7A then its using : 220 x 7 = 1540W, which is more than what even the 1.5T should use.
 
In the user manual/installation manual, it is mentioned that refrigerant required is around 740gm. So most probably the 2Kg claim was BS.
What kind of noise comes from the ODU? Is it a high pitched whine?

I too felt that the claim of 2kg was a bluff since, only 1.5kg of the R22 gas is needed for conventional AC and R410a requirement is half that.

What kind of noise comes from the ODU? Is it a high pitched whine?

My AC doesn't make just a high pitched sound, but rather a high speed whine coupled with high fan speed sound (like the one we get from conventional compressor AC ODU).

But during the installation of XP13PHT, they did so. But in XP13PHT, there is a join in the copper pipe. Is there anyway I can check if coolant is leaking? The joint is under the white foam and weatherproof tape. In the end, they did not check for leaks at the joint. They used soap water at the ODU input/output and IDU input/output.

I too have joint in the copper pipe, which was welded during installation. Only the soap water test was done to make sure that there is no leak at that weld points too. Is there a better way to check for leaks?

This seems incorrect too. If its running at 7A then its using : 220 x 7 = 1540W, which is more than what even the 1.5T should use.

The IDU has a label in it which says the Max Amp is 9.1 A. And this was tested by opening all the windows and doors and running the AC at 16C.
 
The IDU has a label in it which says the Max Amp is 9.1 A. And this was tested by opening all the windows and doors and running the AC at 16C.
That would be the startup inrush current rating, for you to size your electrical socket and circuit breaker/fuse. But as per the website the 'running' current should be ~5.1A (or less). If its using more, then something is wrong.

On a side note, can someone clarify the specs for the new XP13 series? Sharp's website is pretty sketchy about details. It mentions the XP13PHT as having a compressor cooling capacity of 2.8kw, and a power consumption of 1.01kw. Thats a really low COP of 2.77.
 
On a side note, can someone clarify the specs for the new XP13 series? Sharp's website is pretty sketchy about details. It mentions the XP13PHT as having a compressor cooling capacity of 2.8kw, and a power consumption of 1.01kw. Thats a really low COP of 2.77.

XP13 (Sharp Printed Brochure):

EER ( W/W) : 4.02
Runing Current (A) : 5.10

There seems to be an error in PDF brochure on Sharp's website. It mentions "Runing Current (A) : 7" for XP13 as well as for XP18 which can not be true.

Sharp_Specs.jpg
 
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That would be the startup inrush current rating, for you to size your electrical socket and circuit breaker/fuse. But as per the website the 'running' current should be ~5.1A (or less). If its using more, then something is wrong.

On a side note, can someone clarify the specs for the new XP13 series? Sharp's website is pretty sketchy about details. It mentions the XP13PHT as having a compressor cooling capacity of 2.8kw, and a power consumption of 1.01kw. Thats a really low COP of 2.77.

I read that the Rated EER of 4.02 put on the brouchre was calculated based on Singapore standard and not by indian standard. The real EER is 3670/1010 = 3.63 which makes it a OK-ish 5 Star AC, not an outstanding one.

XP13 (Sharp Printed Brochure):

EER ( W/W) : 4.02
Runing Current (A) : 5.10

There seems to be an error in PDF brochure on Sharp's website. It mentions "Runing Current (A) : 7" for XP13 as well as for XP18 which can not be true.

Sharp_Specs.jpg

This is what is put on the IDU, it has Max load of 2110 W / 9.1A seems like inverters do stretch a lot when stressed, which brings up a question as to how efficient they really are...

asAfM9q.jpg


dry nitrogen pumped into copper tubes should be able to hold a specific pressure for 30~60 mins.

Can the dry nitrogen be bought home to test the cooper piping running between IDU and ODU? Since they are going to just take the IDU and ODU to the service center, how do we check if the welding in the copper pipe is the issue? I dont think the technician is planning to take the copper piping to the service center, should I request him to take it too?

Also how much of an effect the insulating the Copper pipe running between ODU an IDU has? Mine has a portion of about 1 - 1.5 feet exposed with improper cladding, near the ODU. Could this be the cause of the cooling efficiency drop?
 
Hi, I have recently purchased the Sharp 13 PHT in HYD , it have also observed sounds similar to your AC as you have mentioned, some cranking sound comes when comressors starts(90 second) and stops(40 seconds), but during normal running the ODU seems to fine, and AC cooling is also fine , 24c complete auto mode for fan and cooling , Ac is running fine but sound comes at the starting and stoping of the cmpressor,
I have raised many requests to sharp and the shop I have purchased , 3 times service people came and said the sound is normall and due to high presure on the AC when we select lower temparatures. recently I have observed when ever we opt the option 80% power saving , we always get this cranking sound at the time of starting and stoping of the compressor. And finally left it out as I dont find any solution from them. but this type of sound never heard from any AC before, the sound itself a completely at different pitch, its not like normally AC sound with wowweeeeee, its some cranking sound comes for very short time for 40 -90 second and stops.
 
Can the dry nitrogen be bought home to test the cooper piping running between IDU and ODU? Since they are going to just take the IDU and ODU to the service center, how do we check if the welding in the copper pipe is the issue? I dont think the technician is planning to take the copper piping to the service center, should I request him to take it too?

Also how much of an effect the insulating the Copper pipe running between ODU an IDU has? Mine has a portion of about 1 - 1.5 feet exposed with improper cladding, near the ODU. Could this be the cause of the cooling efficiency drop?

no, those service engineers are supposed to carry nitrogen with them for such maintenance works. it's part of the installation /service package to check for any leaks using nitrogen. users are generally not aware of this part and dealers take advantage of this.

whenever there is a cooling related issue in an AC, copper pipes are checked first. so, you should ask your service guys to check your copper pipes as well, but at your home.

and you should fix that exposed pipe as well. though, this isn't a big issue but why waste some efficiency unnecessarily?

most of the service engineers try to cut corners but it's you who needs to be more careful when dealing with these people.
 
@MaRKiV
Why are you so fixated with the max current input? It is not as if the AC will consume it always. Most probably the rating is done at extreme conditions. i.e if the AC ad says that it can cool even when outside temperature is 50 degree C, the max current would be measured when the outside temp is >50 and set IDU temp is 16 C.
The Circuit Breaker/fuse is set based on value on max current.
 
Got the AC fitted back yesterday, now the ODU noise has reduced and it runs a lot quieter, almost 50% reduction is noise. Regarding the cooling, the room seems to get cooler a bit quicker than before, though I am not very happy with the cooling effect, when compared to my older Carrier AC. Also the water that is extracted by the AC from the room seem to have gone down in quantity, not sure if its a right measure of the AC's efficiency.

The service engineer reported that the gas was flushed and tubes were checked with dry nitrogen and the gas was recharged. No leaks or blocks were identified.
 
My 1.1T Sharp AH-XP13PHT also make the same kind of noise and the IDU stops working, when enquired about the same the seller said that is normal for an inverter AC. and also I have heard that the compressor in inverter ACs never shuts down. But in my the ODU both the Compressor and the fan both turn off.

Have I been duped and given wrong AC???? Please help!!!
 
My 1.1T Sharp AH-XP13PHT also make the same kind of noise and the IDU stops working, when enquired about the same the seller said that is normal for an inverter AC. and also I have heard that the compressor in inverter ACs never shuts down. But in my the ODU both the Compressor and the fan both turn off.

Have I been duped and given wrong AC???? Please help!!!

The ODU can stop working if the coolant does not need to be cooled any more.
The IDU can stop totally if the inside temperature is cool enough. The IDu stopping is a basic feature in all AC's. Normal AC's regulate temperature by doing this. They work at full blast and shut down when the set temperature has been reached. When the temperature inside rises, it starts again.
 
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