aircon chemical cleaning and servicing

[ttac]

Hi everyone looking for some advice.

Have been ghosting on the forums for a while..

My tenant for my place did not keep servicing records for the air con and we had to call up the aircon service to provide some documents at the end of the tenancy. Nevertheless they had not serviced it at the required intervals. The aircon service person had recommended a chemical cleaning during the 1.5 year rental period and had reflected this on the receipt. The tenant claims they had misplaced all receipts and were not told that chemical cleaning is required. From my understanding, aircon maintenance includes chemical cleaning, or am I mistaken?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Was it written into the lease?

[malcontent]

Hi everyone looking for some advice.

Have been ghosting on the forums for a while..

My tenant for my place did not keep servicing records for the air con and we had to call up the aircon service to provide some documents at the end of the tenancy. Nevertheless they had not serviced it at the required intervals. The aircon service person had recommended a chemical cleaning during the 1.5 year rental period and had reflected this on the receipt. The tenant claims they had misplaced all receipts and were not told that chemical cleaning is required. From my understanding, aircon maintenance includes chemical cleaning, or am I mistaken?

I’m not an expert, but I’d never heard of chemical cleaning until I came to Singapore. I’ve always thought it was a scam!

[abbby]

I would think chemical cleaning is a scam too...regular aircon servicing will suffice, chemical cleaning what they'll do they'll remove all internal parts, including the evaporator coils, filters, and condenser, and immerse them in a chemical solution. For all you know, by the time they remove the parts they have already damaged your otherwise good working air-conditioners.

[ttac]

Spoke to the aircon guy and another 2 just to be sure. apparently cos of the humidity, chemical clean is needed to take care gooey stuff become it turns into some sludge that clogs up the whole piping. They claim it's part of aircon servicing maintenance and they make recommendations as to when it is needed, which is roughly every year if aircon is used heavily.

[Myasis Dragon]

Spoke to the aircon guy and another 2 just to be sure. apparently cos of the humidity, chemical clean is needed to take care gooey stuff become it turns into some sludge that clogs up the whole piping. They claim it's part of aircon servicing maintenance and they make recommendations as to when it is needed, which is roughly every year if aircon is used heavily.

That's a complete and utter load of crap. "Piping" never gets "clogged". I live in Houston, Texas, where we have much hotter summers and equal or worse humidity. Chemical cleaning is unheard of. In fact, most homes use central air conditioning, as opposed to window units or split units.

It's almost impossible to reach the evaporator coils in a central air system because they are inside the plenum, in the attic. My central air conditioner lasted for more than 25 years before I replaced it, and the only reason I replaced the evaporator coil was that the new, more efficient system required it. It was never cleaned with anything.

Bottom line: At most, you face the possibility of having black mold grow on your evaporator coils. The solution to this is simple. Get a can of Lysol disinfectant spray or similar. With the unit running, spray the disinfectant into the intake grill. It kills the mold, and no more problem.

The only problem you might have is landlords who have been bamboozled by air con guys and insist that you, as the tenant, pay for this useless, and expensive, charge. I'd make sure that the lease says that the landlord pays for this expense, and then, I'd bet it never happens.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Spoke to the aircon guy and another 2 just to be sure. apparently cos of the humidity, chemical clean is needed to take care gooey stuff become it turns into some sludge that clogs up the whole piping. They claim it's part of aircon servicing maintenance and they make recommendations as to when it is needed, which is roughly every year if aircon is used heavily.

That's a complete and utter load of crap. "Piping" never gets "clogged". I live in Houston, Texas, where we have much hotter summers and equal or worse humidity. Chemical cleaning is unheard of. In fact, most homes use central air conditioning, as opposed to window units or split units.

It's almost impossible to reach the evaporator coils in a central air system because they are inside the plenum, in the attic. My central air conditioner lasted for more than 25 years before I replaced it, and the only reason I replaced the evaporator coil was that the new, more efficient system required it. It was never cleaned with anything.

Bottom line: At most, you face the possibility of having black mold grow on your evaporator coils. The solution to this is simple. Get a can of Lysol disinfectant spray or similar. With the unit running, spray the disinfectant into the intake grill. It kills the mold, and no more problem.

The only problem you might have is landlords who have been bamboozled by air con guys and insist that you, as the tenant, pay for this useless, and expensive, charge. I'd make sure that the lease says that the landlord pays for this expense, and then, I'd bet it never happens.

Ouch, MD. Grab him by the cojones, you did. The OP is the Landlord apparently. Good one. Love it!

[Myasis Dragon]

Ouch, MD. Grab him by the cojones, you did. The OP is the Landlord apparently. Good one. Love it!

I had to put up with this nonsense while renting in Singapore. I paid it only because the landlord was otherwise pretty good at taking care of issues.

[malcontent]

The air conditioner technicians here are quite useless. I told the guy directly — use a pipe cleaner, because our drain pipe was clogged. He had no idea what a pipe cleaner was and could only use his vacuum method. Two weeks later we had to call him back because the drain was still clogged and his stupid method did not work… I told him it wouldn’t.

[santiagoss]

Based on the information provided, it seems that your tenant did not properly maintain the air conditioning system during their tenancy, and the system may now require repairs or maintenance work. As the owner of the property, you have the right to charge the tenant for the cost of any necessary repairs or maintenance work that was not completed during their tenancy.

However, it is important to have clear documentation and communication about the required maintenance for the air conditioning system, to avoid disputes like this. If you do not have clear documentation or receipts showing that the tenant was informed of the need for chemical cleaning or other maintenance work, it may be more difficult to charge the tenant for these costs.

One option you could consider is discussing the issue with the tenant and trying to come to an agreement about how to handle the cost of the necessary repairs or maintenance work. If you are unable to come to an agreement, you may need to seek legal advice or seek resolution through the courts.

[abbby]

A lot of aircon guys will tell you all sorts of stories about your aircon unit to scare you and make you do unnecessary repairs and so called chemical cleaning. Only to make things worse, they reap off your whole set and later you will find more problems to the units because they have reaped off what was originally a good working air-conditioner which probably just required a gas top up.