We're looking to install ducted air con in a new build (probably Pana or Mitsi Electric). For controlling, I've come across iZone and Advantage Air MyAir.
We'd like a basic wall control panel (I don't think we'd need a tablet or anything fancy) but we'd like phone control and Google Home integration.
Any recommendations?
I agree. I think wifi-controlled split systems are a better option. Perhaps a good middle ground is multi-head splits for rooms next to each other. Pana/Mitsu/Daikin I'd be comfortable with. I've got a number of Fujitsus at my place but not impressed with the newer models compared with the old ones.
but then you have multiple outside units and inside units. For aesthetics, ducked is the best. We have had ours for 6 years, and not 1 single issue. Our workplace has had it for 10 years, and not 1 issue.
I'd say opposite, ducted is much better. Whole house has consistent temp, no massive units inside all your rooms, and quieter.
That depends on whether consistent temp is desirable or not… quite often (well, when the aircon was working), I wanted a cooler room but my partner finds it too cold where she is so being the gentleman, I'd obviously let her have her way with the temperature so I'm often putting up with cooling that's not to my liking.
Additionally, the outside unit is in the back courtyard. Sometimes, we only need the upstairs bedrooms cooled when the sun hits their respective sides of the building… but because hot air from the heat unit starts flowing in through the back doors, we're forced to also close the backdoors and have the aircon running downstairs too when relying on natural airflow would have been sufficient for the downstairs living area.
It all depends on the layout of the property of course, and where they decide to put the heat unit but in general, I prefer multiple split systems as the heat unit is usually just outside the room that is to be cooled so it won't force other rooms to have to close their external doors/windows. And being able to adjust each room's temperature to suit the occupant is more important to me than a consistent air temp through the household.
How big is the house and how many rooms do you want the aircon in?
Have recently started looking in to the same topic. Don't have any specific recommendations as I haven't got far enough in to it, but another option I found is AirTouch which looks very similar to MyAir but I think has a nicer looking interface on the control unit.
I think one main selling point of AirTouch, MyAir and iZone is the advanced zone control. Individual zones can be controlled to manually close the dampers individually or completely. And with optional additional sensors per zone, you can set a desired temperature in each zone and the system will automatically control the dampers to individual zones to aim for the desired temperatures. They have the intelligence built in to open up some zones as required so that you don't have for example only a single room open which would burst the duct because of too much pressure. One of them, I think it was iZone, has the option to configure a "zone" that just channels output air directly back to the inlet path, so you don't get unexpected outlets opening to release the pressure.
If you only want a basic wall control panel, and not interested in some of the advanced zone control features, make sure to check out the functionality included with the wifi controllers the manufacturers sell themselves for their own units. They should all have wifi/app control available, not sure about smart assistant though.
Thanks
I have the Mitsubishi electric app, it works fine.
Does it integrate with Google assistant?
I just use the app, it’s not something I would need google to help me with.
But apparently you can link it.
https://www.mitsubishielectric.com.au/wifi/google-assistant.…
I have ducted with My Air….best thing ever, great to control from you phone where ever…….We have 7 zones with 10 outlets and a temp sensor in each zone, great for individual comfort control. Only downside is having to cool a large area of the house at the same time……We kept a split system in our master bedroom to get around this issue.
My personal recommendation is to not go ducted and get split systems installed in individual bedrooms and living areas. When a ducted system has problems, your entire household is without aircon (which is what my partner and I are currently dealing with). At least with individual split system units, you can relocate to unaffected rooms. That's just my opinion anyway.
Pana or Mitsub (regular or Heavy Industries) are good choices!
Can't help you with the phone controls though. We don't have that on ours… wish we did. Would be easier than running down to the control panel all the time but I don't have to do that atm coz our ducted isn't working - lol