Bonaire Integra VSL75

Don't spend money on this product – I had Bonaire installed on 6 January 2000. This was a replacement of a Brivis, which I had close to 20 years. Firstly I noticed that the Bonaire wasn't as effective as my Brivis was previously. Didn't cool as well, left the air moist, the fan speed was lacking range, water was dumped much more often. The pump needed changing after the first… Read more

season, which is probably not much more than 2 month of use. Now, dead again, in the middle of summer leaving us without cooling. I am on my way to purchase a new cooler, but I would never consider a Bonaire again, nor should anyone else if you want your home cooled and a cooler that works.

Bigger let down then Joker 2 – Absolute peice of sh!t, nothing but disappointment. Rebuilt motor 3 times, 2x 24v solenoids, now no power to solenoid. 2026 fan only running on high now and no water to pump, had to send control box away for repairs. Heap of junk... Show details

Absolute Rubbish – I absolutely loved my first Bonaire , it lasted nearly 20 years. I replaced it with another Bonaire in 2018 , every year since installation it’s needed a new water pump . I would never recommend Bonaire to anyone . Thankfully I’m covered by consumer protection law and they are responsible for footing the bill every single time . Show details

BEWARE of a lot of scam and rogue greedy repairman making the unit seem trash when it is not! – We have had this unit for 20 years. It has been great except once something small broke we needed a repairman to come and fix it. He fixed it and all seemed good..... However after this, right as every summer ended in around March of every year, the aircon seemed to always fail. We would leave it and get it repaired the summer after. What was… Read more

happening is every time we turn it on at the end of summer, it was working but extremely slowly. No matter how high we put the remote setting, the air was barely coming out as the fan was so slow. Going onto the roof to check, and everything seemed to be working correctly. The water was coming out, the fan was spinning (very slowly) so we had no idea what was wrong.

For years this problem kept happening. Summer ends, our system seems to go to this very slow mode and we'd have to get the repairman back to "Fix it". He would charge $250 each time as a minimum and even said at times that he needed to put a new motor in or new other things in (all were rubbish) so as to even charge us more.

After a while we got sick of this. This unit was the top of the range at the time of purchase and there is no way that on a yearly basis this problem kept happening.

I was convinced that there was some secret code being used via the remote. I asked others in the air con industry about this. They basically laughed at me about the notion of a secret code. To be fair, these guys specialised in refrigeration not evaporative units. I was convinced though. The last time we had the dodgy repairman come, I hid and noticed he was actually too lazy to even go on the roof and fixed it from the ground.... I played dumb and asked question. I got him to tell me that with my remote he could actually turn on the neighbors Bonaire system too!

Finally I had enough. That last time he fixed it at the start of the summer but now it "broke down" just 2 months later! I spent a good 6 hours in the sweltering heat of a day without aircon searching for a secret manual (not actually knowing it even existed). I had tried searching for several times before and never found anything but this time I found what I needed. There indeed was a hidden code. There are 2 hidden codes..... One changes the minimum fan speed setting, the other the maximum fan speed setting. When I saw the secret "Maximum fan speed setting" it had been set to 1 (when it should be set to 35). With this setting at 1, no matter how high you put the system on (including putting the system on boost), the aircon unit will basically be doing nothing.

As soon as I changed this hidden setting to 35, the cooler came on as fast and as good as new.

A few other things. I then verified that my remote is able to work far into my street even from inside my car. So what this dodgy guy was doing is driving past my house when he was in the area, changing this setting to make us think it wasn't working and then come and "Fix It" and make easy money. Remember he even admitted that with my remote, he could access my neighbors Bonaire unit. So all he needed was a remote and could do this as he pleased.

It is true that to change the setting you need to turn the unit on. However, the moment you turn the unit on, it first of all goes into "Pre-Cool" mode. There is a good 5 minutes of time it goes into Pre-Cool mode. For those that don't know what this mode is, what happens is water fills inside slowly and it then wets the pads around it. After the pads are wet enough, only then the aircon motor and fan turns on. So this means that when this is happening, the unit is very quiet and you wouldn't know it is on. So this 5 minutes of quiet time gives the dodgy repairman, ample time to change the maximum fan setting down to 1 and then quickly turn it off and leave.

So all those people that are saying that their unit is faulty and always breaks, perhaps you have a dodgy repairman doing something similar. As soon as I figured out this problem, we have had around 7 years of perfect use and it still is going strong today. Also even after I figured out the problem, for the next year or 2 on a regular basis the aircon would all of a sudden work at the very slow speed. When I check the hidden setting on my remote, sure enough the maximum fan setting was changed to 1 each time. No doubt he kept trying to make money from us again. After 2 more years of him mucking around with this, he realised we weren't getting him again and that fan setting has never been changed to 1 since!

This crook would have taken so much money from us over the years for this it is really disgusting! In the process he also made us think that the Bonaire unit was trash too (perhaps similar to a lot of others here too).

One last thing to show how dodgy the repairman was. This was my mothers air con and he convinced her that the unit needed "Bird protection" and would put something in it for that. He charged her $100 for that and of course never did a thing. I have been on the roof and first of all it doesn't need this and there is no birds protection done to it at all.

Too noisy – The noise is so loud. We had a VSL75 installed only two weeks ago the company who installed it have been prompt in coming out but still the noise continues. My son was listening to it outside, he said it sounds like a bearing noise. Wouldn’t recommend this product because of the noise. Perth Western Australia  Show details

Worst System we have had. as soon as it rains the A/C blows the power. for 8 years – Air Conditioning Headquaters, previously Advanced Hotwater & Air installed the Bonaire Integra VSL75 and IMMEDIATELY took no responsibility for any problems. Since then there was a new motor installed and now the same problem still arises as soon as it rains. The electrician has stated that it is a fault with the air conditioner and the contractors have not been able to repair it. Show details

Rubbish; constantly replacing parts – We have a Bonaire Integra VSL75 version 1; each season we have to replace something on it; water pump, fan motor, solenoid valve, dump valve... really not good enough. However, when it’s working it does a really good job in cooling our large house (240m2 of living). Would not recommend... Show details

Don't waste your money. These units are rubbish! – The unit installed was noisy and did not deliver any cool air. Bonaire customer service was non-existent. Even after we managed to get their service technician to come out. The unit was quieter for about 15 minutes but still delivered only extra humidity but no cool air. In the end we had it replaced with another brand at our own cost and now we are cool in summer. Bonaire is a complete waste of money.  Show details

Largest unit for a house, Nothing but JUNK – Supposedly made in Salisbury Adelaide SA. Had it on the roof just out of warranty the first time it broke down. Replaced the pump $250. Following second summer replaced the pump again and the motor due to bearing failure $550. Serviceman said you are lucky to get 2 seasons out of it but parts are cheaper. No water input, Solenoid water valve… Read more

sticks 2 times now. Had to climb up the roof and disconnect water line connection to release sticky solenoid. Old style straw evaporative still on roof for 20 years and still going. Opposition agent says Bonaire are rubbish and will replace the whole top unit with quality gear for $4000. Installers left their rubbish off cuts on the roof, didn't install the draft flap, ducting over the top of the roof man hole restricting access, electrical plastic cover in roof over the 240v live junction box left off, so they threw a pink batt from the roof insulation over it, fine spray of water was going over the insulation and onto the 240v junction box. Called out Bonaire to look, they came and nothing said. All this even after I told installers I was a government Inspector and would check their work. Only one man came back to fix things reluctantly telling me they had done nothing wrong. Place of purchase was shown proof of the faults in pictures and said it was out of character for them to do this. ABSOLUTE CRAP !

Early days – Although the installers caused damage to the ceiling. I'm quite impressed so far. Be warned that when you first turn it on, it smells like you're using an angle grinder inside with a burning metal smell. Now four days later it smells like an old mans urine as the intensity of the smell decreases. I'm told the smell is coursed by something that is… Read more

used on the pads and is normal. As for the cooling itself... quite good, it cools quickly an efficiently. It pretty quiet compared to my previous 20 year old swampy. It came with a RF remote and is pretty user friendly, apparently the remote can also operate a Bonaire heater if I need to replace the heater at some stage which is cool. So far quite happy.

Bonaire is Rubbish – Never ever will I buy a Bonaire product again. Its nearly 10 years old now. Once a year sometimes twice since new I have needed a Bonaire agent (the installer) to come out and fix it, I mean change parts ie the controller, float system, main circuit board and the motor now 3 times. The installer from Melton in Victoria always came out to fix it… Read more

during the warranty period but as soon as it was out of warranty both him and Bonaire did not want to know about the problems. Poor service and poor products. I will never touch an Australian made evap cooler again. You would think they both realise that they have lost so many sales due to customer bad experiences, people talk to family friends etc when they have been abused. I have a similar installation business but not evap cooling, if I sold my customers garbage then gave them poor after sales service I would go bankrupt in a few years. Good luck Bonaire hope you go down the gurgler soon.

Poor qualiy and unreliable – Purchased 2007, breaks down every summer. Lucky for extended warranty but does not make up for the hassle breaking down when you need it most then waiting approx 1 week to be attended. Replaced nearly all parts, sorry I will have now the fan motor has just gone outside of warranty.Not going to repair it, going to have it replaced with a Braemar… Read more

LCB550. Not going thru this every summer any more. What wasteful & costly exercise based on Bonaire so called reputation & quality.

Waste of money – We have been in our new home for 7 years now and have had repairs to the air con and heater every year the weather seal stopped working 3 years ago we have had birds nesting in the unit and a plaque of moths always over the hot period and holidays and we then have to wait for them to return to work and in the meantime we are enduring the hot weather without the cooler this is the time we need it.