Re: The home / office air-conditioner thread Hello all,
I need some suggestions for my current situation.
Please do not mind my lengthy post.
Currently, I have a Samsung 1 ton inverter ac (AR12NV3HETUNNA), which I bought in 03/2018. I live in a second-floor flat. It ran fine for a year & a half maybe. Then it started with less cooling issues. While installing the ac, the people had installed the outdoor unit slightly higher on the low roof of my bedroom window outside, mounted to the walls. It was difficult to reach the outdoor unit unless one is a gymnast & somewhat a risk taker.
The low cooling issue, many technicians from Samsung, local just preferred to do a water wash using a pipe from afar & it cooled the room for three odd months & the issue persisted. I got to know from a local technician (say P1) that my ac takes R410a refrigerant which is a mix of two gases. He has topped up the refrigerant but to no avail. And he never responded to any of my calls later. This was the guy who couldn't reinstall my outdoor unit to a safer & accessible location as it was difficult to reach in the first place. ₹2800 (dt. 27/05/20).
Then came P2 from Urban Company. He was a daring chap when compared to P1. He managed to reinstall my outdoor unit to a safer location but told me many things can go wrong if it's a gas leak. At this point, I was ₹2800 out of my pocket without a result. So, I was skeptical about the things he was telling me & also he repeatedly asked me cash. When I had told him before he started the job that everything will be paid via my Credit Card on the app, he insisted for a long time, but I was firm. These things made me trust him less. He told me that R410a refrigerant cannot be topped up as P1 did, it has to be removed completely & refilled, then I realized I was fooled by P1. To check if there is any leak, he disassembled the outdoor unit & put soap water to see any bubbles came out. No leak in the outdoor unit determined. He then put Nitrogen in the outdoor unit at nighttime & told me if the pressure reduces the next morning, you are looking at a leak. At this point I wanted to change the technician, the next day I told him I don't like to move forward with the repair & would pay how much ever the cost was till now. He said, the pressure of Nitrogen has not reduced & there is no leak at all. I did not go ahead. ₹1438 (dt. 21/07/20), it was worth it as it was a difficult reinstall.
I booked another chap from UC, P3. He also tested the leak with the Nitrogen method. Did not find any leak, he then emptied the nitrogen & filled with R410a. The result, The ac was chilling the room like never before. I thought it's done. ₹2998 (dt. 03/08/2020), I did not care one bit. ₹2400 for refrigerant, ₹450 for missing Flair Nuts, I do not know who the culprit was for those missing nuts, but I did not care as I had a positive result.
To my shock, the problem reappeared two days ago (03/09/20). I gave the benefit of the doubt on dirty air filters & cleaned them, even though there was no dust on it. But no improvement. I called for a revisit. As Urban Company provides a 90-day guarantee/warranty for Gas Charging. The guy came today, checked for gas pressure, it was 80 psi from 140 psi. He then opened the indoor unit & told me, I have 3 leaks on the coil. The solution he provided was, they take off the coil thing out, send it to the UC head office, they will weld & remove the rust & then put some chemical coat. I asked him, how long would that last? His answer was a 6-month warranty will be provided by UC, maybe you will be fine for 8-months. The quote was ₹3000-3400. One good thing was, there won't be any charge for gas refilling. He also told me the next thing a repair may occur from the two pipes which connect the indoor to the outdoor unit. I am speechless. I asked him for options, he replied if I want to cancel the repair, I will get the gas refilling refund of ₹2400 & can go with a newer ac.
My question is, do I go ahead with a repair, being uncertain of what repair may come next?
Or, buy a new ac?
P3 told me, if I am going with the latter option, I should look into an ac that has R22 refrigerant. On a quick google search, I found out R22 is outdated & is very harmful in depleting the ozone layer when compared to others.
What do I do?
P.S: I apologize for a lengthy post & any suggestions are deeply appreciated. Thank you.
Neo |