@villa-tech-raj
Villa owner slowly kitting the place out with smart-home tech. Learning what's worth wiring in vs not.
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Our Fujitsu split AC has started blinking the operation and timer lights in a repeating pattern, with no code on any display. (I have seen the same on the 'General' units too.) Ho…
Our Mitsubishi Electric split has thrown a fault — there's a code showing on the wired controller and the indoor unit's light was blinking earlier. I don't want to just start swap…
Over the last few months the airflow from our AC has dropped off a lot. It still switches on and the air is cool-ish, but it's blowing much more weakly than it used to, and the fl…
After the plumber replaced a valve yesterday, our water ran brown/rusty for a bit and then cleared. This morning it came out slightly cloudy/milky again from the cold tap. Is this…
The water tank on our villa roof keeps overflowing — there's a constant trickle (sometimes a stream) running out of a pipe and across the roof, and our water bill has crept up. It…
Just went through our first proper Dubai summer and I'm baffled: the cold tap runs genuinely hot — sometimes hotter than the hot tap for the first minute — and the "cold" shower i…
We've got a ducted system in a newish villa and there's a faint brown ring appearing on the ceiling near one of the vents. Someone mentioned insulation, and now I'm confused becau…
Our Carrier split AC in the villa started flashing one of the small lights on the indoor unit last night — a repeating blink, then a pause, then again. The remote still works and…
Our Emirates Hills villa has a pool plus a lot of outdoor water — irrigation, water features, outside taps. Lately: the pool circulation feels weak, we seem to be topping up more…
We're close to buying a resale villa — not a new handover, so there's no developer defects-liability period behind it. It shows really well, freshly painted, but I keep hearing th…
We're in an established Jumeirah Islands villa and a few plumbing things are surfacing, the water heater's clearly original, pressure varies, and I'm not sure when the water tank…
Our LG split AC runs literally all day but the cooling is weak, the house never really gets cold in peak summer, and there's no error code on the display at all. Everyone immediat…
We're in an established Arabian Ranches villa and I'm realising the plumbing is a two-part job here: the house side (the water heater is clearly original, some pressure variation,…
Our Samsung split has started showing a code on the display and I cannot tell if it is serious. Sometimes it is dF, sometimes CF, and once it flashed what looked like an E or C co…
Our Gree AC has stopped and is showing a code with a letter and number on the indoor unit. Before calling anyone I would like to understand roughly what the common Gree codes mean…
We're in one of the older Meadows villas and while everyone talks about the AC on these Emaar homes, I'm finding the plumbing is what actually keeps cropping up, a bit of pressure…
Our O General AC has stopped cooling and it's just blinking the little lights on the indoor unit, there's no error number like I've seen on other brands. How am I supposed to know…
We're putting a brand-new split AC into our apartment as part of a refresh and I want it done right, because I've heard a badly-installed new unit can underperform or fail early e…
We're in an Al Nahda tower and when the AC, oven and kettle are all going the breaker trips, and sometimes the lights dim for a second when the AC kicks in. It's a fairly full fla…
In our Silicon Oasis place a couple of rooms never really get cold while the rest are fine. It's the district cooling setup with the fan-coil units rather than normal splits. I ca…
Went out to the villa's outdoor AC unit because the cooling had dropped off, and the top fan isn't turning. The unit is clearly powered — it hums, I can feel it running — but the…
I like doing my own maintenance where it's sensible. With AC, I already wash the filters, but I'm not sure how far I can safely go on the coils — the outdoor unit and the indoor o…
The waste-disposal unit under our kitchen sink has jammed (it just hums, or does nothing) and it's started to smell. I'd rather not call someone out if it's a simple fix. How do I…
Our Arabian Ranches villa has a lot of built-in joinery, wardrobes, doors, cabinetry, and it's all looking tired now: worn finishes, some doors dropping, a few swollen edges. I do…
Our Daikin AC shut down and is showing an error code, a letter and a couple of numbers on the remote. Before I call anyone I'd like to understand how to read it and roughly what t…
We've had a renovation with new/altered wiring — moved sockets, new lighting, a new circuit or two. - Before we use it all, what electrical inspection or sign-off should happen —…
We want to open windows and the balcony door in the cooler months without letting bugs in, so I'm looking at insect/mosquito screens. - What are the options — fixed mesh, sliding,…
I keep hearing big appliances should be on a "dedicated circuit," but I don't understand which ones actually need one, or why. - Oven, AC, water heater, EV charger, washing machin…
Planning to fit a 7kW home EV charger, but our villa already runs three ACs, a pool pump and a big kitchen, and I don't want to bolt on a big new load and start tripping the main…
I'd like a proper video door intercom on our existing villa — see and talk to whoever's at the gate, ideally from my phone too. This is separate from a full smart-home/KNX decisio…
Kitting out our villa with smart-home tech, and I'm torn between a proper wired system (KNX) and just using Wi-Fi smart switches/devices. - What's the real difference (reliability…