Background: Why We Chose the Health+ LG Aircon

So, my family needed to change our air-conditioning system.

The 8-year-old Toshiba aircon was fine. The real problem was the poorly fitted piping system. As a result, only 1 room was cold when all 3 units were turned on, and the pipes had grown mouldy over the years. The cost of replacing the pipes alone didn’t make sense, so we decided to just change the whole thing along with it.

(By the way, Toshiba’s home appliances arm was bought over by Midea back in 2016, which explains why the recent Toshiba washing we bought already broke down twice in 2 years. Our previous washing machines, mostly Hitachis, a Sharp and even an LG, easily lasted 7 years, at least, with no problems. Thankfully, it seems like the Toshiba Airconditioner business is not part of Midea. Also, did you know that Ka Laundry Pods does not exist in Japan?)

When we made the decision to get Health+ LG aircon, it wasn’t even on our radar. Heck, I was on a mission to avoid any Korean brands. Samsung seemed to have reliability issues (on top of being one of the most prolific bullsh*tters in the world), while the market didn’t seem to have much experience with LG air-conditioners. There were no reviews, and most resellers were clueless. There was even one really well reviewed seller I spoke to that decided to stop selling LG and Samsung because of all the complaints they received.

Our first choice was Mitsubishi’s new ‘5-tick’ system (See NEA’s revised energy rating system here). We didn’t want to spend that much money, however, so we then decided on a much cheaper, ‘4-tick’ model from York, which we had a positive experience with some years back. That was however out of stock, and it was to be so to be for almost half a year from our preferred store.

In the end, we were recommended the LG Health+ air-conditioners as they fit our requirements. We wanted to least have a ‘4-tick’ power rating, since all 3 rooms will have the aircon on at least 8 hours a day, and it had a reasonable price since the LG aircon option was about 25% cheaper than the Starmex. What really closed the deal for me, was LG was throwing in a 5-year warranty for the blowers (aka fan coils) and the whole compressor as well.

Note that this is not the reseller’s warranty. This extended warranty was granted by LG themselves. But as we’ll learn later, it’s a bit of a scam.

Regret

Loudness

The first few months were ok. My biggest gripe was its volume. Despite its claim that at it’s softest, it’s only about 1db louder than the Mitusbishi Starmex, in practice, the LG aircon is actually audibly louder.

Note that it’s not super loud. However, compared to my old Toshiba, and now, the Mitsubishi Starmex, even at its lowest speed, the LG air-conditioners were definitely louder. And with both Japanese air-conditioners, there’s an additional ‘silent’ mode, which makes it even softer. There’s no such option in the LG aircon we bought.

Everything else worked well, and it was damn cold for the first 3 months, after which it settled down to ‘normal’ levels.

Then, 6 months later, the rattling started.

Shaking Things Up

I was so pissed with this episode that I intended to post up videos of all the recordings I’ve made when my LG aircon rattles in the middle of the night. But I’ve decided not to, out of respect for the LG Service team who really tried their best to help me.

Except for that one guy who 1. kept accusing me of faking evidence because he couldn’t tell the difference between air blowing across a microphone and a mechanical rattle and 2. saying that it’s rattling because the rotary fan is dirty.

I’m like, dude, I’ve lived in 7(+?) different homes with all the different brands of air conditioners throughout my life. Sanyo, Carrier, Daikin, York, etc, and we service them 1-2x a year with no rattling. If the LG unit is rattling so hard just because of a little but of dust, how poorly made must LG air-conditioners be?

Anyway. Long story short, they came to replace my rotary fan and motor 4-5 times, and when that failed, I pushed them to replace the entire fan coil unit for free, even though it was after the 1st year warranty, because the problems technically started 6 months into the 1st year of usage.

That fixed it. For 3 months. Then the rattling started again. On the *NEW* unit.

Luckily, this wasn’t terrible, and I was able to stop the rattles. Then I started getting news about the other 2 units gently rattling as well. I was so tired from that episode, and these rattles were not terrible, so I decided to let it go.

Compressor

It’s 3.5 years later. And a new noise appeared, this time from the compressor.

It started off as a low volume, high-pitched whine. Soon though, it became loud enough that you could hear it through the wall. Then, it grow louder, so loud you could hear it from 1 block away (I stay on a 2nd Floor HDB apartment).

Oops.

Time to put the 5 Year Warranty to the test

Warranty. Sort-of.

So. This is what you’re expected to spend to get your LG Aircon’s Compressor fixed while under warranty:

$100 – for the initial appointment to check.

$0 – Replacement Compressor, as it’s under warranty.

$550 – ‘Labour Charge’ to repair/replace the ‘free under warranty’ component.

$80 – to top up gas.

Total: $730.

Wait, there’s GST on top of that. So, to repair a compressor under covered under warranty, it’s almost $800, or about 32% of the cost price to do so.

Yea. W. T. F.

So you want to know what we did?

We switched to the Mitsubishi Starmex 5-Tick Airconditioner. It has been 1 year, and there has been no problems whatsoever. Didn’t even service it until recently. No rattles despite a once-a-year service.

The LG Aircon Extended Warranty Scam

From the way they charge, it’s obvious that they simply parked the cost of the replacement compressor into ‘labour’.

A $100 labour charge would be reasonable. $200 would have been pushing it. $550 without GST, just to replace the compressor? It’s obvious you’re trying to pull something here.

LG Aircon Review Conclusion

If you want to buy LG air conditioners…

1. Try the ‘Made In Korea’ models instead, some tell me they’re ok.
2. Don’t buy into their Extended Warranty scam. Expect to pay a lot after the 1st year.

Or. Take the lead of that reseller I spoke to and avoid Samsung/LG aircons.

But. I’d again like to say that the service team, in general, really, really tried their best to help me out. When the LG engineers from Korea came to Singapore, they also tried to visit for a diagnosis, but I was very busy then and was enable to attend to them.

In a nutshell? Good service, bad product, scammy warranty policy.