Labuan Bajo · Flores · 15 m above sea level
Running a 400-litre tub here costs about Rp 220,000 a month, and nobody hesitates over that. What they hesitate over is water: a tub dumped and refilled every week gets through 20,800 litres a year on an island where fresh water arrives by tanker.
| Maintenance pattern | Full changes a year | Water used a year | One-off equipment | Routine work |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dump weekly, no filtration | 52 | 20,800 litres | Rp 0 | about an hour every week |
| Cartridge filter only | 12 | 4,800 litres | included in the tub price | 20 minutes a fortnight |
| Cartridge plus ozone | 4 | 1,600 litres | Rp 4.2-7.8 million | 20 minutes a fortnight |
On Flores that bottom row is not a luxury item, it is the cheapest line on the invoice. Tanker water in Labuan Bajo is both expensive and occasionally unavailable during the long dry season, and a hotel that has to choose between guest showers and a plunge tub will switch the plunge tub off. Ozone plus a 20-micron cartridge cuts annual consumption by about 92 per cent against weekly dumping, and pays for itself in water alone inside two seasons.
The tap here delivers 29-31 degrees, the same as Surabaya, but the afternoon air is what forces the size: 34 degrees with very little cloud for eight months of the year. A closed 400-litre tub absorbs 529 watts, and a 2 PK chiller standing in that air delivers a real 2.6 kW against 5-degree water. It pulls the tub from 30 to 5 degrees in 5.6 hours and draws 1,850 watts while working.
Shade for the condenser is not optional here. An outdoor unit in direct afternoon sun on Flores loses a noticeable slice of its capacity exactly when the tub needs it most, so we build a ventilated roof over it with 60 centimetres of clear air on every intake face. That is carpentry, not refrigeration, and your own builder can do it from our drawing. For a different volume, the chiller calculator uses the same model and the same Flores air temperature.
Waterfront hotels have the easier delivery and the harder installation: the crate comes off the ship a few hundred metres away, then has to pass through a working restaurant terrace. Hillside villas above Batu Cermin are the opposite — a clear site with a road that a lorry cannot climb, so the last stretch is a small truck and, occasionally, a hand-carry. Either way the shell travels in a crate we build ourselves and a technician flies in to meet it, because one visit has to finish the job.
For dive operators and liveaboards, the pattern is a burst of use in the late afternoon when boats come in: eight to twelve people over ninety minutes, then nothing. We set the target to 4 degrees to leave headroom during the rush, and specify automatic sanitation above fifteen bathers a day — that is commercial ice bath territory rather than a domestic build.
Five to eight of those days are the ship. The rest are survey, drawings, twelve to fourteen days of fabrication and the technician's travel window. We fix the freight figure inside the Rp 7.5-22 million band before the deposit, so a late sailing does not become a new invoice.
Household supply in Labuan Bajo runs 2,200 to 5,500 VA, which carries a 2 PK chiller drawing 1,850 watts as long as it is not competing with a pool pump. Hotel supplies are larger but the local network still fluctuates, so we fit voltage protection and soft-start as standard on every Flores unit rather than as an option. Compressor damage from voltage below 180 volts without protection is excluded from the warranty — with the protection fitted, that argument never arises.
Comparable islands are worth reading alongside this page: Mataram on Lombok has the same remoteness problem but cooler air and an easier ferry, while Surabaya shares the water temperature and none of the logistics. The full route map is on the locations page.
About 1,600 litres a year with cartridge filtration and ozone, for one to four bathers a day — four full changes plus top-ups. Without filtration and with weekly dumping, 20,800 litres. That is the single biggest operating decision on this island.
The afternoon air. At 34 degrees a condenser rejects heat less effectively, so the same nominal unit delivers less real cooling exactly when the load peaks. The holding load is also slightly higher at 529 watts. Both sides of the sizing rule push it over the line.
Every Flores crate includes a year of consumables — relay, capacitors, flow switch, temperature probe and cartridges — and nine faults in ten are among them. A local electrician can fit any of these with our workshop on a video call. Beyond that, a replacement unit ships and the faulty one comes back.
It can, with a stable supply and soft start, but a 2 PK chiller drawing 1,850 watts is a real load on a small genset and the starting surge is what causes trouble. Where a generator is the primary supply we specify the inverter line, which starts gently and holds a low speed.
Add ten days to the twenty-eight working days for survey, drawings and sample approval. Seven weeks before the date you want it working is comfortable; five is tight and depends on the sailing schedule.
Langkah berikutnya
For Flores the filtration question comes before the shell question. Tell us whether you are on municipal supply, a well or tankers, and how many people will use the tub each day.
We reply with sizing, the right chiller and a full price.