Team-BHP - The home / office air-conditioner thread

AC User Service...

You can, and should, keep the removable filters clean. The manual will describe how to do so, but if you remove the front cover it is fairly obvious anyway. If they become clogged, it severely affects the machine performance. It should be done every few weeks --- but that is easier said than remembered <Blush>

If the internal-unit fan is covered in thick dust, it spoils its aerodynamics, and it will not blow properly. It is much harder to "self-service," but you can get up there with a paint brush and have a go. How easy it is to reach depends on the flap configuration of your particular model.

Frankly, it sounds as if you would be well advised to get an engineer to service your machine as it might have been neglected for a while. A certain amount of dust will fall or get blown in the process. Cover up nearby furniture. Even if they do not use water for the cleaning, there may be some water trapped within the machine, and it may run inside if the dissasemble the fan unit. remove any electrical/electronic items from below!

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellmet (Post 3826452)

Thanks Thad! I diligently clean all air filters on our ACs regularly. Before I call Whirlpool, how much do you think this will be set me back by ?

If you are upto a DIY job, you can clean the IDU yourself but will need some elbow grease. I have dismantled most of the IDU for deep cleaning and washing as it was dripping water inside the room.
If not, you can call a technician. A few months back I paid 1500 for deep cleaning. They removed the IDU and washed it in some chemical that removed the dirt inside. However, the technician was an unscrupulous guy (from a franchise) and he partially closed the gas valve so that the cooling was less. When I called him back for the lower cooling he said I may need to fill gas and he charged me 1200 for it. Its some crap that I should have spotted early but once he had everything unpacked, I couldnt do much... lesson learnt, and hopefully you can watch out for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by diyguy (Post 3826520)

That's real sad. Was he not from the company itself? I've read in the last few pages of how after a deep cleaning job new problems seem to crop up. 1500 is a lot to pay to have your AC sabotaged.

I'm going to first try with some home-made cleaner (dishwash soap and ammonia) and try to see if I can spray it on the fins and other parts to dislodge/kill bacteria and mold.

Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellmet (Post 3826530)

Was he not from the company itself?

I had called the company (Daikin) and they have outsourced this to ASCs in different parts of the city. This sort of tomfoolery is very difficult to prove. He had dismantled the ODU and when I questioned him on gas level, he plugged in his valve meter into the gas valve and without opening the meter rotary valve, he was showing me, see no gas, there is absolutely no gas in the ac... I wonder if I look so stupid: :Frustrati
This really pissed me off and I have decided to do all cleaning myself and only when an ac fails, will I call for repair...

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellmet (Post 3826323)

Guys, one of our ACs is starting to smell (indoor unit). I looked at the unit and there's a lot of dust and some moldy looking stuff. Is this user-serviceable or do I have to call some guy to clean this mess up? How much can I expect to shell out for this service and will it make a mess of my house ( I believe they're going to use liquids to clean the thing)?

I am assuming that you are referring to a split AC.

Looks like a lot of dust and mould has accumulated. I would recommend a competent AC mechanic who knows his job. He will have to
. Clean the filter.
. Clean the Evaporator coil, preferably with water and if that is not possible with air compressor.
. Clean the water outlet. This is often overlooked. If the passage is even partially clogged, not only will it start smelling, but water will start leaking, spoiling the walls.

I would also recommend that he checks for any leaks, as this is the best time when he has every thing open.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WorkingGuru (Post 3826797)

Need to buy an A/C for my office. Its a 12' x 15' room with a 15ft height.

PayTM is selling a Voltas 185EYS 1.5Ton 5 Star Split A/c for Rs.35,340/- with a Rs.10,000/- cashback.

Abit hesitant as I don't know if the brand is decent.

Stay away from Voltas if possible. The fit, finish and quality is not close to what you get on other brands. Ours makes a lot of noise and we had to get the ODU fan replaced (broke into a million pieces), and gas re-filled twice in a span of 3 years. Last year, we also had to replace the circuitry as the soldering came off and the AC went crazy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aroy (Post 3827007)

Thank you. I did some preliminary cleaning of the flap and the horizontal swing flaps yesterday (and whoa there was so much dirt!), and also sprayed some home-made cleaner on the fan to kill any bacteria for now. I guess a professional mechanic's visit is due.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellmet (Post 3827021)

Thanks for the heads up!

I was hoping some of the online sales going around had something nice, but looking around in 3 apps on 1 phone is confusing making like crazy!

Any suggestions from anyone would be greatly appreciated!

My budget is ~26k & I'll need a 1.5 tonner, preferably split A/c.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WorkingGuru (Post 3827053)

For that budget, Whirlpool might be a good choice. We've a whirlpool AC and in the last 5 years we've had to not take care of it in anyway (but for airfilter cleaning - the AC reminds us to clean it!). But, when I bought it, the salesman told us it came with a japanese compressor which is what attracted me to it. There'll be other models with non-Japanese compressors and I wouldn't recommend those models. The reason - we have two Whirlpool fridges, one of which has a Japanese compressor and has been running for a decade. The other one's has had the compressor fail on us twice in 5 yrs.

However, it'd be impossible to find out the origin of the compressor online, and would only be worse through an app! I'd recommend you head down to your local home appliance store, find a model you like and then search for a good price online.

Does anyone know of a professional service in Hyderabad who can recharge refrigerant into our fridge? We had someone install a new compressor a month ago, but all the symptoms the fridge is showing make me suspect the system's low on refrigerant. We're trying to call the same guy, but you know how these guys work - once the money is in the pockets, they never show up again.

Well, to be fair to the trade, we have one guy, and he works on all our ACs and fridges on two locations.

But he never shows up because he is now snowed-under with work. But when a guy is just around the corner, at least one can moan at him.

The reason why we don't go to someone else when he is too busy to give quick service, is that we have no doubts at all about his honesty and integrity.

There is one hall that I go to for music concerts more than any other, so I have come to know its owner and the guy who does the sound (and other practical stuff: his original trade was electrician). They have at least five or six split ACs, of various age and brands (Hitachi, LG, Panasonic; maybe more). I had the idea to ask them about their reliability experience. Actually, my wife asked the sound guy as his English is not that good but heaps better than my Tamil, and he said: "Panasonic: three years and not one problem."

It's a small straw poll, of course, but those machines are getting quite heavy use most evenings, and sometimes during the days as well, including marriages, etc, complete with fire and smoke.

Actually, I was at a function there yesterday morning which included fire. They have a good extractor fan, and it was nothing like the smoke-filled house-warmings I have experienced, but there was still enough to give me a rough voice for two days, so the ACs must "feel" it too.

I'm reading the Panasonic brochure :D

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