Airconditioner with heating function - more expensive for normal maintenance?

[muzzdang]

I had used one of these professional air-cond cleaners.

They are really good and thorough, you don't want to see the accumulation of mold in your aircond (don't think those sprays can help).

Also, the air comes out smelling much better, and removing the dust and mold clears up the vents and the aircond feels much more powerful.

I'd do it twice a year, and add on a filter in the intervening months.

[big_panda]

They do a deep cleaning with some kind of Kärcher device and a specific vacuum cleaner to clens the pipes, as cleaning the filter alone will not do the trick if there is a blockage in the pipe.

The Kärcher is just a marketing gimmic. Its just a steam cleaner suppose to kill bacteria on the cooling fins. If they spray the cooling fins with a cleaning liquid, thats usually good enough. I clean my own ACs, with a full tear down, but I wouldnt recommend it unless you know what youre doing.

For self cleaning, you need:

(1) Garden hose or power washer (garden hose connected to bathroom shower hose is all I use).

(2) Cleaning bag with drain tube and bucket

(3) Paint brush to clean parts

(4) Pressure sprayer to distribute cleaning product.

(5) Patience

Picture below is before and after cleaning.

[MABinPengChau]

Also, for anyone who isn't doing this, pop off the air filters and clean them once a month or so. Helps to prevent the problem. Also can dump vinegar into the drain pan to help it from forming all kinds of algae and sludge to begin with. I had a problem with my outdoor condensate pan on Peng Chau and it would overflow and neighbor below complain- I just straigh up poured bleach into that one, nothing to get ruined from bleach.

Every time I move in somewhere, I check the air filters and they are usually disgusting, no one has ever touched them (because they don't know they need to do it).

[aquaman]

it seems like the filter is not doing its job.

[Cash Trader]

HK$950 fee for checking/coming with no credit in case any further work is commissoned
HK$1200 cleaning fee for per unit

The quote you got is very expensive. What brand is this?

For our one Panasonic split-type 2.5hp AC in our living room, it cost $900 back in June. I think it was slightly cheaper (regular price $980) because it was booked using a coupon on the website for Shun Hing, which services Panasonic ACs in HK. It can get cheaper in other times of the year (right now it's $850). No difference in cost for heat+cool ACs - I think this price is for anything under 3hp.

We've used a neighborhood AC cleaning service before, but the Shun Hing guys were the only ones able to solve our severe water dripping problem we had two years ago - basically they spent more time and took more care than the neighbourhood AC cleaning guy in cleaning out and blasting water through the drainage hose. They usually show up with a team of 2 or 3 guys, cleaned very carefully and happily answered my questions. A bit pricy, but I think it was money well spent. Shun Hing is about $200-250 more than the generalist neighborhood AC cleaning guy.

[riversidejr]

[QUOTE=Cash Trader;3954223]The quote you got is very expensive. What brand is this?

/QUOTE]

This is General - indeed expensive and no discussion - you pay 950 to then have the opportunity to pay even more for the job to be done.

Will find another more reasonably priced service.