Jakarta · DKI Jakarta · 8 m above sea level
Jakarta is our largest market and the one with the most constraints: a 2.1-metre service lift, a floor slab that has to carry 780 kilograms, and mains water at 28-30 degrees that never cools by itself. All three are settled before we quote a price.
Jakarta mains water sits at 28-30 degrees all year and the afternoon air reaches 34. A closed 400-litre tub absorbs 516 watts continuously and the largest single contributor is not the heat of the air but condensation: with a dew point around 25 degrees, a 5-degree water surface pulls moisture out of the air every hour of every day, and every gram that condenses dumps its latent heat into the water. A 1.5 PK chiller rated at 4.2 kW delivers 1.95 kW against 5-degree water with its condenser in 34-degree air — the lowest real output of any city on this site.
Most Jakarta apartment lifts take 2.1 metres standing, and a 400-litre shell is 1.6 metres long — fine on its side, impossible with a rim that cannot be tilted. So for towers we either build the shell 2.05 metres tall on its end, or we build it modular in two halves bolted and sealed on the balcony. Modular adds about Rp 4 million and one day on site, and it is the only option in several central buildings whose goods lift is 1.9 metres.
Then there is weight. A 400-litre tub with water and a bather is roughly 860 kilograms over less than 1.5 square metres, while a typical residential slab is designed for 750 kg per square metre distributed. That is not automatically a refusal — spreading the load across a steel frame and a 1.8 by 1.8 metre platform usually brings it inside the design figure — but it is always a calculation, and for towers we ask for the structural drawing or a letter from building management. A stainless steel ice bath is about 90 kilograms lighter than terrazzo and is what we usually propose above the tenth floor.
| Volume | Chiller | Pull-down to 5 °C | Electricity per day | Electricity per month | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 250 litres | 1 PK | 7.6 h | 3.6 kWh | Rp 157,000 | one person, a balcony |
| 300 litres | 1.5 PK | 5.5 h | 4.1 kWh | Rp 176,000 | a couple, a small terrace |
| 400 litres | 1.5 PK | 7.8 h | 4.9 kWh | Rp 214,000 | the size most often ordered |
| 600 litres | 3 PK | 5.2 h | 6.6 kWh | Rp 284,000 | two bathers at once, a house garden |
Note the jump at 600 litres: the chiller goes from 1.5 to 3 PK, because holding twice the load and still pulling the tub down inside eight hours is a different machine, not a bigger one. That step is the single most expensive decision on the page, and the reasoning behind it is set out in the chiller sizing guide. You can run your own numbers on the chiller calculator.
A large share of our Jakarta enquiries come from people on two- or three-year contracts in Kemang, Pondok Indah, Menteng and SCBD. The advice is the same every time: unless you own the property, do not buy anything cast in place. An acrylic or 316 stainless body on a frame drains in twenty minutes, unbolts from its hoses and travels in a van — to another Jakarta address, to Bandung, or onto a ship. Cast terrazzo is a decision about the building, not about you.
The second lease question is the condenser. It needs a fixed outdoor position with 60 centimetres of clear air on the intake side, and in most towers that means the service balcony with written permission from building management. We have done more than a dozen of these in central and south Jakarta and the permission request is routine, but it is easier before the deposit than after the crate arrives. What the crew installs and in what order is described under installation.
A 1.5 PK chiller draws 1,400 watts and a 2,200 VA connection carries it. What damages compressors in Jakarta is voltage sag during evening peaks in older neighbourhoods. Where we measure below 200 volts at the socket we fit a stabiliser; damage below 180 volts without one is excluded from the warranty, and we say so at handover with your own measurement on the sheet.
Yes, subject to three things: the shell fits the service lift, the slab carries the load once spread, and management allows the condenser outside. We have done more than a dozen in central and south Jakarta. Send us the lift dimensions first — everything else follows from that.
Eighteen working days from deposit to the cold test. Three to five of those are drawings and your approval of a physical sample. Modular apartment shells add one day on site for bolting and sealing.
Imported on-off units run 52-58 dB at one metre, similar to a mid-size split air conditioner, and in a tower that is audible through a party wall at night. The inverter chiller holds under 48 dB. On a shared balcony we fit the inverter as standard.
Municipal supply is, with a 20-micron cartridge. Shallow borehole water in parts of south and east Jakarta is high in iron and needs a 50-micron pre-filter and an ion-exchange medium on the inlet, otherwise sediment and scale damage the evaporator within a year.
If you chose a portable, acrylic or stainless body on a frame, yes — drain, unbolt, load. Cast terrazzo or an in-ground concrete plunge stays with the building. Decide this at the drawing stage rather than at the end of the lease.
All of them, from the Cikarang workshop, which is inside Bekasi itself. Timings vary from 30 minutes to three hours by road. Figures for each are on the locations page.
Langkah berikutnya
For an apartment we need three numbers before anything else: internal lift height, door width, and whether building management allows a condenser on the service balcony.
We reply with sizing, the right chiller and a full price.