LG S18EQ (18,000 BTU, 5 kW) - Standard Plus wall-mounted inverter air conditioner with remote control

The S18EQ: the same mechanics, simpler control

The S18EQ is a wall-mounted inverter split of 18 000 BTU: 5.0 kW of cooling, 5.8 kW of heating, up to 50 m², refrigerant R32. Technically it is a twin of the PC18SQ (item 1808): a Dual Inverter compressor, classes A++ in cooling and A+ in heating, an indoor unit of 998 by 345 by 210 mm weighing 12.7 kg, an outdoor unit of 870 by 650 by 330 mm weighing 38 kg, 31 dB(A) indoors and 52 dB(A) outside. The pipework is identical - a 1/4 inch liquid line, a 1/2 inch gas line, runs to 25 m, 15 m of height difference. The only difference on the card is control: here there is only an infrared remote, with no built-in Wi-Fi and no app. For a good number of sites that is not a compromise but a deliberate choice, and below we set out which ones.

Remote-only control: where it is an advantage

The absence of Wi-Fi removes a whole class of problems: the machine needs no router, does not depend on a network password, does not lose its connection when the provider changes and requires no account in an app. In a public space - a reception, a classroom, a reading room, a clinic consulting room - remote control is often all the staff need, while an app goes unused. Where the machine is operated by older people or by rotating staff, a simple remote with large buttons proves more reliable than a smartphone. There is a practical security side too: a machine with no network module does not add another device to the organisation's local network, and that is sometimes the decisive argument for medical and government institutions. The flip side is obvious: remotes get lost, and a spare is worth buying at once, because without it only basic functions from the button on the casing are available.

How to add central control without Wi-Fi

If control more capable than a remote is needed later, the catalogue has wired solutions for LG systems: wall controllers of the PREMTB001 family (item 1897), the AC EZ central controller PQCSZ250S0 (item 1905) or the touch-screen AC EZ Touch PACEZA000 (item 1906). Such controllers connect by cable and provide what an infrared remote fundamentally cannot: temperature range limits for staff, mode locking, scheduling and control of several machines from one place. For a site with several rooms that is usually a sounder arrangement than an app on one employee's phone. There are also network modules such as the PWFMDD202 (item 1903), but compatibility with a specific indoor unit must be checked against the manufacturer's documentation, because the list of supported series is limited. We verify compatibility before the order, so that a controller does not arrive with no way to connect it.

Care: filters, coil and drain

In spaces where the machine runs daily, 90 per cent of problems are dirty filters: airflow drops, cooling capacity falls, consumption rises and the compressor works in a worse regime. Mesh filters are rinsed in warm water every two to four weeks in intensive use and dried before refitting; in a cafe or a salon the interval shortens to a week. The indoor coil is cleaned once a season, and that is already a service job: dust on the fins together with condensate creates the environment in which a smell appears at start-up. The drain line is blown through before every season: it is a blocked drain, rather than a fault, that most often causes dripping from the unit. The outdoor unit is washed free of dust and fluff without aiming a strong jet straight into the fins, so as not to flatten the louvres.

Installation: the drain and the details that decide the outcome

The drain hose is laid with a constant fall of at least 1 cm per metre, with no sags or loops where water stands - that is exactly where smells and biofilm begin. Discharging condensate onto the facade or the pavement is a bad idea: it belongs in a storm drain or the sewer through a trap, and where there is no fall, a condensate pump such as the ABDPG (item 1914) is fitted. A mesh or a valve against insects goes on the free end of the hose: ants and spiders crawl into the tube and block the flow within a single season. In heating mode condensate forms on the outdoor unit during defrost, and its discharge is planned so that water does not freeze on a walkway. The hole through the wall is drilled with a fall to the outside and the sleeve is sealed, otherwise rain driven by a side wind runs along the pipes into the wall.

Warranty and availability

The warranty on the card is 24 months, the manufacturer country is given as Korea and the country of origin as China, so it is accurate to speak of Chinese assembly to Korean documentation. For a machine working in a commercial space, what matters more than the warranty term is the conditions for keeping it: installation by a certified crew with a record of works, evacuation and a completed warranty card. In some markets the EQ line is already marked as discontinued, so batches are limited and availability should be confirmed at the time of ordering. The practical consequence: if two or three identical machines are needed for a site, they are bought in one batch, because buying the same model again a few months later may be impossible. Spare filters and a spare remote are also sensible to take at once.

Which jobs it fits and where it is out of place

The S18EQ suits a reception, an office, a classroom, a small shop, a pharmacy, a reading room or a workshop of 35-50 m² where remote control covers every need and network functions are superfluous. It is also the right choice for a site with no Wi-Fi at all, or where connecting third-party devices to the network is forbidden by internal rules. Where the model is out of place: spaces that need remote management - a rented flat, a country house, an office with irregular hours; those need the PC18SQ (item 1808). Nor should this machine go in a bedroom: 31 dB(A) from the indoor unit is audible at night. And for a space with partitions a wall unit is unsuitable on the principle of air distribution - that calls for a cassette or a ducted system.

How it differs from neighbouring models in this catalogue

The PC18SQ (item 1808) is the same machine with built-in Wi-Fi and the LG ThinQ app: every technical parameter is identical, the difference is only in how it is controlled. The S24EQ (item 1811) is the larger model of the EQ line at 6.6 kW of cooling and 7.5 kW of heating for spaces up to 70 m², likewise without Wi-Fi. The WZ18AWN (item 1806) is the Inverter Pro at 5.05 kW with Wi-Fi and a lighter 11 kg indoor unit, but with lower heating output of 5.1 kW. The H18S1D (item 1802) is the Deluxe rated A+++ at 23 dB(A): dearer, quieter, more frugal in daily duty. The CT18R (item 1836) is a cassette of the same output that needs a suspended ceiling, but distributes air four ways and is run from a wired controller, which in a public space is often more appropriate than infrared.

Tell us whether you need remote management: if not, the S18EQ gives the same output more simply, and we will select a wired controller if control does turn out to be needed.