Bandung · West Java · 768 m above sea level
Tap water here leaves the pipe at 22-24 degrees all year, six degrees colder than Jakarta. A closed 400-litre tub absorbs 432 watts rather than 516, and the electricity is Rp 177,000 a month instead of Rp 214,000 — the lowest of any large Indonesian city.
Most sellers quote a single load figure and leave it there. Here is the Bandung breakdown for a closed 400-litre tub held at 5 degrees, straight out of the same model that drives our calculator.
The line worth staring at is condensation: 97 watts here against roughly 170 watts in a lowland coastal city, because the cooler, drier highland air holds less moisture to give up on a cold surface. That single physical difference is most of the gap between Rp 177,000 and Rp 214,000 a month. It is also why an imported tub designed for European air behaves closer to its brochure in Bandung than anywhere else in Indonesia — though still not at it, as the imported tubs guide explains.
| Volume | Holding load | Chiller | First fill | Electricity / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 250 litres, one bather | 330 W | 0.75 PK | 7.1 h | Rp 132,000 |
| 400 litres, the usual size | 432 W | 1.5 PK | 4.9 h | Rp 177,000 |
| 600 litres, two in turn | 556 W | 1.5 PK | 7.9 h | Rp 232,000 |
That 600-litre row is the one Bandung clients should read twice. In Jakarta or Surabaya, 600 litres forces a 3 PK chiller. Here the same volume still sits on 1.5 PK, because the load is lower and the tub starts from 23 degrees rather than 30. The tub is bigger, the machine is not, and the difference in capital cost is around Rp 22 million. If you have ever wanted a two-person ice bath, Bandung is the cheapest place in Indonesia to own one.
Bandung is not one climate. Dago Pakar and Ciumbuleuit sit between 800 and 1,000 metres with incoming water at 21-23 degrees and genuinely cold night air; Buah Batu and the southern flats are 700 metres and a couple of degrees warmer. On the upper slopes a compressor runs roughly a third of the time rather than half, and some clients there run the tub without a chiller for weeks in the dry season, topping up with block ice. Forty minutes further up at Lembang, 1,312 metres, tap water is 18-20 degrees and a 1 PK unit is enough for 400 litres.
We re-measure the incoming water at survey for exactly this reason, because a figure taken from the city centre can cost you a chiller size in either direction. Run your own address through the chiller calculator and bring the result to the conversation.
A lot of Bandung work goes into pre-war villas and guest houses around Setiabudi and Ledeng where the incoming pipe is corroded galvanised steel. Rust particles block a 20-micron cartridge in days, so we normally replace the run from the meter to the tub in PPR while we are there — a few hundred thousand rupiah of pipe that saves a cartridge a fortnight for twenty years.
The second pattern is the weekend house owned from Jakarta. Those tubs stand unused for five days a week, and the honest advice is to leave them running rather than cycling them: holding costs Rp 177,000 a month, while refilling and pulling down from scratch every Friday costs more in water, time and compressor starts. Fit the lid, set 5 degrees, and let it hold. Who does what if nobody is in the house is covered under maintenance.
Bandung takes heavy afternoon rain for months at a stretch. Rainwater raises the TDS of an open tub quickly and washes grit off surrounding surfaces into it. The insulated lid earns its place here as a rain cover, and we set the overflow slightly lower than in dry cities so a downpour runs out rather than over the rim.
Shells travel from Cikarang along the Cipularang toll road in three to four hours, and eighteen working days is the figure from deposit to cold test. Because the first fill only takes 4.9 hours here, installation and handover fit comfortably into one day — the only city on this list where that is true without an early start. Jakarta is the obvious comparison: same shell, same crew, six degrees warmer water and Rp 37,000 a month more to run.
Of the cities we cover, yes for a large city: Rp 177,000 a month for a closed 400-litre tub. Only small highland towns beat it — Batu at Rp 158,000 and Berastagi at Rp 146,000, where the tap is already at 17-19 degrees.
In the dry season on the upper slopes, some clients do, using block ice. Expect 18-25 kilograms per session in warm weather and much less up at Lembang. It is a reasonable way to test the habit for a month; it is not a way to hold 5 degrees every day of the year.
Because the holding load is 556 watts rather than 671, and the tub starts its pull-down from 23 degrees rather than 30. Both sides of the sizing rule stay inside what a 1.5 PK unit delivers. The rule itself is written out in the chiller sizing guide.
Only helpfully. Cooler condenser air means better real output — 2.14 kW here against 1.95 kW in Jakarta from the same 1.5 PK unit. Air density at 768 metres is not low enough to matter for the fan.
Eighteen working days from deposit to cold test, with three to four hours of road time from Cikarang. Because the first fill is under five hours, we install and hand over on the same day.
Langkah berikutnya
In Bandung the altitude of your street changes the answer. Dago at 900 metres and Buah Batu at 700 are not the same calculation.
We reply with sizing, the right chiller and a full price.