February 28, 2022 / RefrigeratorPro Team
Haier is a Chinese multinational that started in the year 1984. Within less than 30 years It became one of the largest white goods manufacturers (large appliances) in the world. In fact, by some estimates, it has captured a market share of a whopping 10% in consumer durables space in Europe.
The company that started as a refrigerator manufacturer is valued at more than 100 billion dollars as of 2021.
Haier entered India in the year 2004 and setup its first factory in the country within 3 year to reduce need for importing units from other countries such as China. It is headquartered in Delhi and is known for offering affordable ACs, washing machines, refrigerators and microwave ovens in the country.
Haier’s factories in Pune and Greater Noise have a combined annual capacity of more than 1.5 million AC units. This is quite good considering India’s residential AC market is estimated to be 7 million units per annum as of 2021.
Table of Contents
Haier AC Review 2021
In this review, we will discuss key technologies of Haier and pros & cons are discussed in the end of the post.
Self Clean Technology for Long Life and Low Maintenance of Coil
One of the biggest problems with ACs is that they require constant maintenance. One such part of AC that requires regular upkeep is the evaporator coil (cooling coil in the indoor unit). This is important because according to some estimates, low maintenance evaporator reduces Air Conditioner cooling capacity by 20-25%.
To counter this, many Haier ACs come with Self Clean technology. This is a wet wash technology that can increase the life your AC with the press of a button.
Once you activate the Self Clean feature, a frost is formed on the AC’s evaporator (indoor unit’s coils). This process traps all the dust and dirt present in the coil. After some time (usually around 20 minutes), the ice melts and takes away all the dirt along with it in the form of water out of the drain pipe.
This technology cleans the cooling coils thoroughly. To improve the cleaning efficiency, the coils are usually coated with hydrophilic fins. These fins repel water and thus help ensure in up to 99.9% sterilization.
This is one of the best technologies of its kind. If you use this feature once a month, you will not even need a service engineer to clean the cooling coils. And the best part is that these ACs do not cost more. You can get this technology in as low as INR 30,000 as well.
Triple Inverter Plus Technology for Lower Energy Consumption
Haier brand is quite an expert in using existing technologies and combining and rebranding them. Triple Inverter Plus tech is one such example. This technology is nothing but convertible AC technology. It means that the AC can work in different capacities depending upon the needs and preferences.
Triple inverter technology allows the users to vary the tonnage of AC in different levels. For example, many convertible 1.5-ton ACs from Haier can run even at as low as 0.6-ton capacity.
This ensures lower energy consumption when the cooling requirement is not high. As a comparison LG has come up with 4-in-1 and even 5-in-1 ACs to give up to 5 different capacity options to the users.
One interesting feature of this triple inverter tech is that it has wide working voltage range of 140 – 264v. Which is better than traditional inverter technology that usually comes with safe working range of 170 – 240v. Hence, in a way, it can be considered stabilizer-free AC.
All this is made possible with the help of its dual rotary compressor.
Dual Rotary Compressor for Stable Cooling
Inverter ACs of most of the AC brands come with rotary compressors. They can be single rotary or dual rotary compressors. Dual rotary compressors or twin compressors are better than rotary compressors that are being used by some of the AC brands in the market. This is two rotary compressors operate with a phase difference of 180° in their mutual compression timing. This ensures more stable operation.
Some of the AC brands that use dual inverter compressors are Toshiba and Blue Star.
Smartphone Connectivity for Ease of Use
Most of the top AC brands come with connectivity features, meaning they can be connected with your smartphone. However, what differentiates Haier’s connectivity technology from others is that it allows for convenient usage not only when you are in the room but also when you are away from the AC. For example, you can use this option to cool the room 10-15 minutes before you arrive from office. This will ensure that you get cool air as soon as you enter your room. This is made possible with the help of cloud connectivity.
You can also control most connected Haier ACs with your voice if you have Google Assistant-based smart phone (android) or Alexa-enabled devices.
HEPA Filters and UVC Sterilization for Effective Air Purification
Regular ACs usually come with simple filters that have lower rate of filtration. Which means that number of pollutants absorbed per second is less.
Premium Haier ACs come with HEPA filters. HEPA stands for High-Efficiency Particulate Arresting. These are one of the most effective air filters out there and they have a high filtration rate which ensures that the filtration process is faster.
Moreover, many ACs come with air filters such as PM 2.5 that can block only a certain type of dust particles.
HEPA filter is so effective that it is usually used in air purifiers. This is because it can remove ultrafine particles such as PM 1 / PM 2 / PM 2.5 pollutants. Here PM stands for particulate matter and number signifies the size of particles in microns or micrometers (1 micron = 0.0001 cm). Hence this AC itself works as an air purifier!
Another important air purification feature in Haier ACs is that the filter is wider and larger than other filter ACs. This ensures better protection.
Also, Haier UV Clean Pro ACs comes with LED system which disinfects indoor air by killing microorganisms such as virus and bacteria with the help of UV radiation.
Haier All Season AC for Year-Round Comfort
Haier brand is known for focusing on market segments where competitors are not present. One such area is the all seasons ACs or hot and cold ACs. There are very few good hot and cold ACs in the market and Haier is one of the few AC brands to come up with decent variety of such ACs. In fact, Haier recently launched energy-efficient CleanCool all seasons AC in India. These ACs come with Triple Inverter Plus Technology and Self Clean Technologies. Which means that they can save energy by up to 65% and also adjust temperature automatically. And Self Clean tech ensures complete indoor wet wash, ensuring long life of the AC.
These features are important because they will be used more than regular ACs. Hence, lower power consumption and long life are given due importance.
On top of all this, these ACs have a high ambient temperature of 60 degrees. This means that even if you live in an area that witnesses very high temperature, the AC will work perfectly.
This is great tolerance level. This is because many regular ACs do not have this high ambient temperature let alone a hot & cold AC.
Hyper PCB, Enhanced Copper Coils for Long Life
PCB and coils of an AC are the most important parts of an AC after compressor. Premium Haier ACs come with hyper PCB that use a special coating to make PCB stronger and long lasting.
You may be aware that copper coils are better than aluminum coils. Most of the Haier ACs come with copper coils. Additional tech is also added on top of these copper coils such as hydrophilic fins and golden fins. These additional enhancements prevent corrosion of fins even in areas with high humidity. Thus, these features increase the overall lifespan of the ACs.
Two Way Air Swing Technology for Fast Cooling
Some Haier ACs come with two way air swing technology. This technology helps in cooling in very less time. This technology pumps more air with the help of extra fans and evaporators to create cooing effect within no time. Because additional fans and evaporators are added to the ACs, these units are heavier than regular ACs.
But its important to install proper wiring system in your house before buying such ACs because weak wiring system may not be able to handle higher load of such units. Therefore, you need to make sure that you buy an AC stabilizer with these ACs.
De-Humidifier for Greater Comfort
Most of the ACs in the market some with a dehumidifier to remove moisture from the air in the room. In fact, many entry level ACs of almost every good brand has a dehumidifier. Haier is no different and its ACs come with their own dehumidifiers.
Benefits of dehumidifiers are many:
- It removes odor from the room
- Apart from removing moisture, it also removes dirt and germs from the room
Pros and Cons of Haier ACs
Haier is known for bringing new types of ACs constantly into the market. In the year 2021 itself it has launched at least two new range of ACs. On top of this, you get decent variety in ACs units, which means that you are highly likely to get an AC as per your preferences. On top of all this, you will get lower priced Haier ACs with decent technology and copper coils. This is something that sets this brand apart from other brands.
Talking about its cons, Haier is not as well known as Daikin or LG when it comes to Air Conditioners in India. Due to this, there is lack of awareness and this brand. On top of this, its global headquarters are in China. This means that there is a likelihood of facing government regulations in future, which can make purchase and maintenance of its ACs higher. Also, it employs decent amount of money in branding and promotion. Due to this, it is able to rebrand existing technologies as new technology, which has potential to confuse the customer. One example is the triple inverter plus technology, which is quite different from Samsung triple inverter technology. Finally, some of its lower priced ACs are known to produce slightly more noise.
Conclusion
Haier has seen huge growth in AC space in recent years. This is one of the reasons, why Haier invested in second factory in 2019, which is much larger than the first one. Haier’s expertise in producing cost effective ACs have meant that they have become popular in sub-30,000 range. Hence if you are looking for purchasing cost effective ACs that can run for longer period of time, then you can go with the brand.
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