Air conditioner reliability

The most reliable air conditioner brands, as chosen by the CHOICE members who use them.

Ashley Iredale

Last updated: 05 March 2024

Every year, the CHOICE reliability survey asks thousands of members about the air conditioners they own, what they think of them, and how they've held up over time.

More than 6000 members took part in our 2020 reliability survey. The information they provided gives us a really good indication of how various air conditioning brands stack up over time – something we can't test in our labs.

Use this article to find the most reliable air conditioner brands from our latest survey.

How we get the data

In total, 6009 members participated in our Product Reliability Survey, 2020. Of these, 58% said they had bought an air conditioner brand new.

About the scores

Reliability

Reliability figures are based on owner assessment, not test data. We use the data we collect from members to rate the most popular brands for reliability. We take into account the age of the products so we can compare fairly between brands.

Owner satisfaction

We asked owners to tell us what they thought of the products they own, rating them from excellent to terrible. We've used this information to give each brand an owner satisfaction rating so you can see what people who use the brand, day in day out, think of them.

Brand reliability results are for CHOICE members only.

Our guide to buying the best air conditioner is free and has lots of great information and advice.

Our brand reliability scores helps guide you when choosing a product – with the knowledge that the brand is well regarded by CHOICE members for customer satisfaction and reliability.

Unlock this article and more

Information you can trust
See the best brands
Avoid the worst performers

Join CHOICE

or Log in

The top performers

Most reliable brand

Mitsubishi Electric.

Highest owner satisfaction

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, Daikin, Fujitsu and Panasonic.

This year, more than 3500 people told us about their air conditioners. Most of our members who have an air conditioner said they have a split or multi-split system (70%), while 25% have ducted air conditioning, and three per cent have a portable air conditioner.

Reliability and satisfaction

For our reliability data, we looked only at split-system or wall/window air conditioners. Mitsubishi Electric tops their list for reliability, In terms of reliability scores by type of split system, single splits were more reliable than multi-split, scoring 89% and 73%, respectively. Split-system air conditioner owners were also more satisfied – giving them a score of 89% – than owners of multi-split systems (86%).

Major problems

We also asked respondents who bought their air conditioner in the past 10 years whether they had experienced any major problems. The most promising result was that 76% said they hadn't, while 24% said they had. However, only 13% of all respondents had contacted the brand for service support, of which half had done so after experiencing a major failure.

Noise levels

Less promising results were that 4% of buyers said their air conditioner was too noisy, 4% had problems with the remote control, 3% had difficulties with the temperature or thermostat, 3% had experienced electronic control failures, and 3% reported ineffective cooling or heating. Owners of LG (11%) and Panasonic (9%) air conditioners were more likely than owners of other brands to report their unit being noisy.

Air conditioner performance

Air conditioner performance by brand
Brand	Reliability score*	Satisfaction score
Mitsubishi Electric (271)	94%	90%
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (251)	90%	94%
Daikin (503)	88%	91%
Fujitsu (321)	88%	88%
Panasonic (191)	86%	87%
Other (155)	84%	82%
LG (55)	79%	80%
Average (1578)	88%	89%

Sample sizes in brackets. * Differences of three percent or more are significantly different.

Single vs multi-split system reliability and satisfaction
Type	Reliability score*	Satisfaction score
Split system (1633)	89%	89%
Multi-split system (85)	73%	86%
Average	88%	89%

Sample sizes in brackets. * Differences of two percent or more in reliability are significantly different.

Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.

Join the conversation

To share your thoughts or ask a question, visit the CHOICE Community forum.

Visit CHOICE Community