Hi all,
Posting this long post over here as i 've just gotten my aircon servicing from Ah Hong AirCOOL (Uncle Yap) as my aircon in master bedroom had water leak a few days ago. hence tot of sharing my thoughts on the price and service.
initially thought of getting aircon service from big companies like DW aircon or SoCool Pte Ltd. but despite the high ratings shown, the latest reviews indicated in google were mostly negative. hence thought of trying my luck in various forums and that's where I've chance upon uncle yap.
Anyway, have told him about the aircon leak and that the leak is coming out from the outlet and not from the trunking nor the base of the aircon. he said that its just blockage in the drain pipe and that typical cleaning would be sufficient. Not sure what he meant by typical cleaning but i was told that he would charge 120 dollars for it. was taken aback initially by the cost since he said it was just cleaning. but nevertheless, i went ahead with it since i needed rectification for the water leak (clarified later that there is some sort of chemical contain and not just water, not sure if this is considered as chemical wash). on top of the cleaning service for the aircon in master bedroom area, had also asked him to do a normal cleaning for the other room and was told that the cost is 40 dollars.
with the cost agreed, he went ahead to unpack his tools and equipment. was rather impress that he has a heavy duty vacuum (Brand Karcher) to suck the drain pipe, portable handheld jet spray and self made DIY Drip tray with hose connected to drain away dirty water.
Nevertheless, the method to clean the aircon in the master bedroom was rather unorthodox as he doesn't dismantle the unit (e.g. whole evaporator coil or blower) as oppose to other aircon service company. what was done was just using the pressurised jet spray gun to spray off the dirt residing within the evaporator coil and blower and had the vacuum to suck the drain pipe from the end point. Previous encounter with gain city was that they dismantle the whole unit and wash. not sure why it wasn't dismantle but i guess it was to prevent unwanted incidental refrigerant leak if dismantle and reinstalling evaporator coil after cleaning, and, also partly that he is unsure on how to dismantle Fujitsu brand aircon as he is constantly saying how he doesn't really like Fujitsu as the design of the unit are always hard to pry open (he is no 1 supporter for Mitsubishi)
Anyway was slightly disappointed when he started to use the jet spray gun as a good portion of the water was splashed all over the wall and dripping from the back of the aircon unit and down to the floor (drip tray didn't really work as it was hung to capture dirty water from the aircon outlet) but wasn't really bothered since it was cleaned up after all was done.
with everything done, he use pressurised air to blow dry the unit and followed by clean cloth wipe down. with the master bedroom unit done, i quickly glance at the aircon unit. although the coil and blower seems to be clean, the inner part of the aircon chassis was stuck with bits of dirt sticking on it
although unit is not entirely clean, but it somehow resolve the water leak issue (had blast the aircon at 18 degree with full fan speed for 1 hour to try see if there was any leak).
with the unit in master bed room done, he went ahead with the cleaning of the next unit. This is where i am very surprise because how he clean the next unit was only to fill up two 1.5 litres of tap water and pour into the bottom portion of the evaporator coil, allowing water to flow down the aircon drip pan and into the drain pipe. followed by a brief of jet spraying at the bottom portion of the evaporator coil and the blower. cleaning only lasted 5 mins at max as opposed to the master bedroom unit which probably lasted 15 mins. the rationale given for such method was to flush down the dirt while having vacuum to suck out the dirt ah the end of the drain pipe.
Anyway this is all to it. personally I'm not sure if the price is justifiable for the overall cleanliness and the content of service provided but at least water leak is resolve (hopefully he did help to resolve it, gonna observe for the next few months though). I'm also not sure if such cleaning service is considered a norm. Uncle Yap is overall quite chatty and nice person. i cant say for sure about the technical knowledge he possess as he doesn't talk in technical details when i probe him on various aircon typical issues and components.
