[diyguy]

Originally Posted by Aroy

Even my Inverter AC ( in bedroom upstairs) requires deep cleaning every six months

Aroy what do you mean by deep cleaning? My MHI is two years old and is cooling less though i get it serviced every 4 months or so. My technician cleans with a paint brush the fins and the rotating fan very thoroughly. He suggested next one to remove the IDU and pressure wash it for better cooling. Is this what you mean by deep cleaning too?

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by diyguy

Aroy what do you mean by deep cleaning? My MHI is two years old and is cooling less though i get it serviced every 4 months or so. My technician cleans with a paint brush the fins and the rotating fan very thoroughly. He suggested next one to remove the IDU and pressure wash it for better cooling. Is this what you mean by deep cleaning too?

Deep cleaning is the one where the cover of the IDU is removed and the coils are rinsed with pressure water. The amount of accumulated gunk that comes out depends on how old the AC is. In my case, the first time the quantity of dirt was staggering. I got it repeated this year as well and the dirt that came out was less compared to last year cleaning but still there was a good amount.

I also clean the ODU once a year before the onset of summer. The coils accumulate a lot of dirt and get baked on with sun and rain. With a clean IDU and ODU, the AC cools so well that I have never set the temperature below 26 Celsius.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Deep cleaning is the one where the cover of the IDU is removed and the coils are rinsed with pressure water.
I also clean the ODU once a year before the onset of summer.

Thanks Sagar, my technician removes the IDU grill and cleans very thoroughly every time he visits with a brush but for pressure wash he wants to remove the whole IDU by pumping down the gas and disconnecting the gas pipes and pressure washing the IDU in the bathroom. The ODU is cleaned every four months with air blower and soap/water applied carefully with a brush and mug. In the past other guys have used a pressure washer on the ODU as well but my regular technician does not do this. In Chennai my ac is always set to 18 in summer and maybe 22 in winter. Kids and my mom keep theirs around 20-22 too. I regularly get all acs serviced by the same guy usually.
Instead of detaching and removing the IDU maybe the URBAN Co pressure wash can be attempted as my regular guy does not do this when the IDU is mounted on the wall.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by diyguy

Thanks Sagar, my technician removes the IDU grill and cleans very thoroughly every time he visits with a brush but for pressure wash he wants to remove the whole IDU by pumping down the gas and disconnecting the gas pipes and pressure washing the IDU in the bathroom. The ODU is cleaned every four months with air blower and soap/water applied carefully with a brush and mug. In the past other guys have used a pressure washer on the ODU as well but my regular technician does not do this. In Chennai my ac is always set to 18 in summer and maybe 22 in winter. Kids and my mom keep theirs around 20-22 too. I regularly get all acs serviced by the same guy usually.
Instead of detaching and removing the IDU maybe the URBAN Co pressure wash can be attempted as my regular guy does not do this when the IDU is mounted on the wall.

That's a good maintenance schedule you have.

Yes, Chennai summers are lot harsher than Bangalore summers. I have used the Urban Company service both the time . I have been very happy.

Removing the whole IDU and cleaning in bathroom is not required when you have better and easier option from Urban company. The problem with the cleaning the coils with brush is the reach of the brush is limited and it does not clean the mold and the fungus growth. With the pressure wash, I spray dettol mixed with water on the coils after the pressure wash to kill(hopefully) the mold and the fungus. It has worked for me both the times. I used to get musty smell from AC for many years when used for more than 30 mins. All this is gone with the urban company cleaning

[Eddy]

18 degrees always? Surely that is not healthy - for you as well as the AC.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by Eddy

18 degrees always? Surely that is not healthy - for you as well as the AC.

Unfortunately yes, my bedroom ac is always at 18-20 with fan on 4 in summers and 3 in winters. This is a 5 star inverter from MHI and i am not at all happy with its cooling capability, especially in the summer. I got suckered into buying it with their slick brochures and claims of desert cooling etc... I think when going in for an inverter model, we should go up one notch higher for eg if size room suggests 1.5T, we should go to maybe 1.8T or 2T depending on the brand, to get the same effect as a non-inverter fixed speed model.

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Removing the whole IDU and cleaning in bathroom is not required when you have better and easier option from Urban company.

I will try out UC once too for this IDU water wash. During last years lockdown, when i serviced the acs myself, i did use dettol in a mug and poured it on the IDU fins too.

[Ragul]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

That's a good maintenance schedule you have.

Yes, Chennai summers are lot harsher than Bangalore summers. I have used the Urban Company service both the time . I have been very happy.

Removing the whole IDU and cleaning in bathroom is not required when you have better and easier option from Urban company. The problem with the cleaning the coils with brush is the reach of the brush is limited and it does not clean the mold and the fungus growth. With the pressure wash, I spray dettol mixed with water on the coils after the pressure wash to kill(hopefully) the mold and the fungus. It has worked for me both the times. I used to get musty smell from AC for many years when used for more than 30 mins. All this is gone with the urban company cleaning

How much does it cost you for the deep cleaning? Is it part of a standard service offering from UC or do you negotiate the extra work? I would like to do mine.


PS: unless the room is sealed and AC capacity sizing is correct - setting it to 18C will be actually counterproductive on AC health and also spike your electricity bills. The ideal recommendation is to set it to 24C. The main relief comes not from absolutely low temperatures but lowered humidity. From my personal experience - If I get 63% humidity levels or lower and actual room temperatures around 24C-26C, then I do not notice variations in the weather outdoors throughout nor feel the uncomfortable sweatiness and stickiness. In effect like a climate control indoors.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by diyguy

........ I got suckered into buying it with their slick brochures and claims of desert cooling etc... I think when going in for an inverter model, ......

Have you checked if the high and low side refrigerant pressure is as per the requirement?

Originally Posted by Ragul

How much does it cost you for the deep cleaning? Is it part of a standard service offering from UC or do you negotiate the extra work? I would like to do mine.

.

It is their standard service. It cost be around 600 plus tax this time .

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Have you checked if the high and low side refrigerant pressure is as per the requirement?

No i have not because this is in its second year and in the winter it was very cold. I have a sonoff wifi switch hooked on this ac and the thing that i dont like about these inverter acs is that i cannot force it to run on full steam, atleast i have not found a way. My sonoff shows me that the unit is consuming only 632w against a full steam wattage of 1650 or so. I rarely see it at the 1600+ consumption level even if my setting is 18 degrees and fan at full speed.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by diyguy

No i have not because this is in its second year and in the winter it was very cold. ....i dont like about these inverter acs is that i cannot force it to run on full steam, atleast i have not found a way. My sonoff shows me that the unit is consuming only 632w against a full steam wattage of 1650 or so. I rarely see it at the 1600+ consumption level even if my setting is 18 degrees and fan at full speed.

It is a problem with inverter ACs. If the IDU's fins are clogged (they will within 4 months), they will not run at full speed no matter what you do. This is the reason why you need to use pressure wash every 4 months. The deep cleaning clears the clogged fins and the compressor will go full speed.
The fixed speed compressor is better in this and their control board knows only to turn on/off unlike the complicated inverter control board which controls the compressor in a seamless way from 0 -100 %.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by diyguy

Aroy what do you mean by deep cleaning? My MHI is two years old and is cooling less though i get it serviced every 4 months or so. My technician cleans with a paint brush the fins and the rotating fan very thoroughly. He suggested next one to remove the IDU and pressure wash it for better cooling. Is this what you mean by deep cleaning too?

My LG Inverter is three years old. Somehow my bedroom AC's get a lot of dust. This has been a bane for ages with my window AC's getting clogged and requiring a thorough wash at least twice a year.

Coming to the LG split.

First year the dust jammed the condenser. It was a joint effort of dust and high humidity during rains. After inspecting the unit, the technicians decided to dismantle the IDU. They then took to our garden a gave it a thorough wash. You had to see the dirt that came out











That was quite some job.

Next year they did the washing in-situ











So that is deep cleaning. By the way the cleaning after dismantling was way better than in-situ.

If you are wondering about gas, don't. The system just pumps all the gas into ODU, and the proper valves are closed, so practically no gas is wasted.

[wheelguy]

Originally Posted by Aroy

So that is deep cleaning. By the way the cleaning after dismantling was way better than in-situ.

If you are wondering about gas, don't. The system just pumps all the gas into ODU, and the proper valves are closed, so practically no gas is wasted.

Cleaning makes quite a difference in performance, seems like they did a nice job. If you don't mind, how much did they charge you for in-situ cleaning and for dismantle cleaning?

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by Aroy

By the way the cleaning after dismantling was way better than in-situ.

Thanks i have gotten the dismantling and cleaning with chemical done once by Daikin company sent technician and once by a known guy. The known guy pressure washed and messed up by dropping the IDU cylindrical fan and breaking one of its locking points. He also did not fasten the nut well between IDU and ODU leading to a gas leak. That episode cost me 11k or so and since then i have been averse to allow these technicians to fiddle with a well running system. I will try the insitu wash once with UC. Btw can an air blower be used for the fins to unclog them?

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by diyguy

. Btw can an air blower be used for the fins to unclog them?

Won't work. The dust will be baked on. When you call the UC AC service, ask them to clean the blower fins as well.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

Cleaning makes quite a difference in performance, seems like they did a nice job. If you don't mind, how much did they charge you for in-situ cleaning and for dismantle cleaning?

As I had a 5 year extended warranty it cost ZERO.

In fact in the past 3 years they have dismantled and cleaned the IDU twice and done pressure in-situ washing three times.