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Leaking aircon

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Dert42
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Leaking aircon

Post by Dert42 » Mon, 25 Aug 2014 8:54 am

Backstory: my landlord doesn't live in Singapore or speak English, so I have to email the agent to get information to him. As if she cares anymore...
Anyway:

Sometime in April the aircon in my daughter's room leaked overnight. It was decent amount. Emailed the agent, she said the drain was probably blocked and routine maintenance should take care of it. So we had the maintenance done a week earlier than scheduled.

A few weeks after that my wife and kids left for the USA for about 6 weeks and the unit was not used. After they came back, we started using it again. In about 4 days it started leaking again. I pulled the plug out and it drained a LOT of water. I put the plug back in and it didn't leak for a day. Then a day later it leaked overnight and ruined the door. We have the service coming tomorrow.

So is a routine maintenance supposed to fix this kind of thing? It seems to me the drain is blocked or clogged. Whatever was done last time seemed to be a temp fix. I think I'm on the hook for $150 in repairs. After that it's on the landlord and I need to get permission for fixes if it is reasonable to do so.

Advice?

I don't think I should be responsible for the door being damaged by the faulty appliance. I'm guessing i probably will be though.

AngMoG
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Re: Leaking aircon

Post by AngMoG » Mon, 25 Aug 2014 11:06 am

Dert42 wrote:Backstory: my landlord doesn't live in Singapore or speak English, so I have to email the agent to get information to him. As if she cares anymore...
Anyway:

Sometime in April the aircon in my daughter's room leaked overnight. It was decent amount. Emailed the agent, she said the drain was probably blocked and routine maintenance should take care of it. So we had the maintenance done a week earlier than scheduled.

A few weeks after that my wife and kids left for the USA for about 6 weeks and the unit was not used. After they came back, we started using it again. In about 4 days it started leaking again. I pulled the plug out and it drained a LOT of water. I put the plug back in and it didn't leak for a day. Then a day later it leaked overnight and ruined the door. We have the service coming tomorrow.

So is a routine maintenance supposed to fix this kind of thing? It seems to me the drain is blocked or clogged. Whatever was done last time seemed to be a temp fix. I think I'm on the hook for $150 in repairs. After that it's on the landlord and I need to get permission for fixes if it is reasonable to do so.

Advice?

I don't think I should be responsible for the door being damaged by the faulty appliance. I'm guessing i probably will be though.
Just make sure the aircon maintenance person fixes the problem when he is there. If ordered by the landlord, he will be responsible for paying and getting the aircon person. If need be, have him come back a day or two later if the problem does not disappear. This is most likely clogging of the drain pipe. This is usually fixed by vacuuming the drain pipe from the exiting side, and/or by flushing out the clog from the aircon side.

It can also be because it needs to be chemically cleaned, which should be done once a year.

I am not entirely sure how the aircon dripped for 1 night so much that it ruined the door, and you still managed to sleep in that room. Whenever that happened to me, I had to switch to fan... so yeah, you are possibly on the hook for those repairs, but try to push for the landlord paying.

Dert42
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Post by Dert42 » Mon, 25 Aug 2014 11:40 am

The door is apparently cheap and absorbed the water and is all screwed up now.
Also it was my 2 yr old daughter's room, although I probably would of slept through it as well. It wasn't splattering on the floor, it was running down the wall/door to the floor. So it was silent.

Judging by the previously damaged (and documented) floor, this isn't the first time this has happened.

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taxico
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Post by taxico » Mon, 25 Aug 2014 2:13 pm

after some frustration with my own A/C:

the drainage pipes were probably not properly laid (eg, at the right angle) or may be too small - this will mean the a/c needs regular servicing to remove the goop that clogs up smaller diameter piping in a shorter time.

your normal/cheap servicing doesn't usually take care of cleaning out the goop that forms in the radiator core (whatever those fins are called), especially at the back, just what you can see when the cover is removed.

you might find the dripping will go away (for the next 6-12 months anyway) if you do a jet or chemical clean, as opposed to a few weeks to a few months for a routine "service" clean.
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ludwig12
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Re: Leaking aircon

Post by ludwig12 » Mon, 25 Aug 2014 3:13 pm

Dert42 wrote:Backstory: my landlord doesn't live in Singapore or speak English, so I have to email the agent to get information to him. As if she cares anymore...
Anyway:

Sometime in April the aircon in my daughter's room leaked overnight. It was decent amount. Emailed the agent, she said the drain was probably blocked and routine maintenance should take care of it. So we had the maintenance done a week earlier than scheduled.

A few weeks after that my wife and kids left for the USA for about 6 weeks and the unit was not used. After they came back, we started using it again. In about 4 days it started leaking again. I pulled the plug out and it drained a LOT of water. I put the plug back in and it didn't leak for a day. Then a day later it leaked overnight and ruined the door. We have the service coming tomorrow.

So is a routine maintenance supposed to fix this kind of thing? It seems to me the drain is blocked or clogged. Whatever was done last time seemed to be a temp fix. I think I'm on the hook for $150 in repairs. After that it's on the landlord and I need to get permission for fixes if it is reasonable to do so.

Advice?

I don't think I should be responsible for the door being damaged by the faulty appliance. I'm guessing i probably will be though.
I recently had a similar issue with one of the older aircon unit. It turned out that the drainage pipe had cracked and the guy who does regular cleaning for me put tape around it and it stopped after another 2 or 3 days of leaking. Still monitoring.

If you had done regular servicing, aircon repair should be the responsibility of the landlord (please check your TA) and the 150$ deduction does not apply. In my case, we had trouble with another set of aircon units and it turned out the indoor unit leaking Feron and the whole set was replaced. All the repair and replacement were done by LL's contractor at their expense.

Dert42
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Post by Dert42 » Tue, 02 Sep 2014 11:22 am

So follow up: the regular servicing has stopped the leaking unit.

For whatever reason the aircon unit in the master bedroom started leaking. It never has before. Wife made the crew come out and look at it. They said the unit was not installed correctly and the LL should contact the installation company. They showed my wife and the pipes like physically didn't connect properly.

So she called installation company, they came out and look at it and said it was fine because it wasn't leaking at that moment. So whatever. They're getting a call the moment it starts leaking again.

Stuck for another 10 months in this place. : /
We like the location and the complex, but our unit has had the bare minimum put into it.

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