Adding gas unnecessarily
According to Dr. Nguyen Duc Loi, during maintenance, technicians often claim that the air conditioner lacks gas and needs to be topped up. The cost of gas is often several times higher than the cost of maintenance and cleaning. In reality, the cooling problem is not due to a lack of gas.
In principle, when installing the machine, the amount of gas is carefully checked and adjusted. If there is an excess, it is released, and if there is a deficiency, it is topped up. The connections are tightened to the required torque (different sizes of connections require different torques), ensuring that they are not too loose (which can result in leaks) or too tight (which can cause them to break). If the installation is done correctly, the machine will operate for many years (15-20 years) without the need for additional gas or topping up.
The air conditioner loses cooling capacity only if the coils and pipes are punctured or if there are leaks due to rust, vibration, impact, breakage, or loose connections. In fact, if there are leaks, the machine will lose cooling completely during a long winter break, and the “cooling deficiency” problem will no longer exist.
Users can test if their air conditioner lacks gas by setting the machine to run normally. Set the room temperature to 27 degrees Celsius, set the fan speed to the highest level, and let it run continuously for about 30 minutes. The cooling coils should be evenly cold, with a temperature of about 5 degrees Celsius on all coil rows. The last coil outlet should have a temperature of about 10 degrees Celsius. The heat exchanger should be uniformly hot (all hot pipe rows), with a temperature about 15 degrees Celsius higher than the ambient temperature, and the last pipe outlet should have a temperature about 10 degrees Celsius higher than the ambient temperature. If it is not possible to check the temperature of the hot exchanger pipes, checking the temperature of the cooling coils is sufficient to draw a conclusion.
If the air conditioner lacks gas, in the above test conditions, the cooling coil temperature will not be uniform. The front coils will be cold, with possible frost formation, but the coils towards the back will not be cold. The hot exchanger will not be uniformly hot either; only the first few rows of hot pipes will be hot, while the pipes towards the back will not be hot. The less uniform the hot exchanger is, the more gas is lacking. If the air conditioner has run out of gas, both the cooling coils and hot exchanger will not function, and the compressor will run very quietly.
Focusing on billing
During the hot season, the “health” of the air conditioner seems to be a concern for many households. However, not everyone can find a reliable repair service when the air conditioner suddenly stops working during peak days. Recently, Ms. Trinh Thi Nhu Hoa (Cau Giay, Hanoi) shared that her air conditioner, which was purchased at an electronics store nearly 2 years ago, suddenly stopped working on a hot day.
“The machine was still under warranty, so I called the store, but they directed me to the manufacturer’s service center. When I called the manufacturer, they asked me to wait for a technician to be available. I didn’t know how long I had to wait, so I got impatient and called a nearby air conditioning repair shop. After a brief inspection, the technician quoted me 200,000 VND for cleaning the air conditioner, 400,000 VND for adding gas, and 500,000 VND to replace a broken capacitor. I suspected their diagnosis and only asked for a gas refill. Fortunately, after that, the air conditioner worked perfectly. A few days later, the manufacturer’s technician also confirmed that the capacitor was fine,” Ms. Hoa recounted.
Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Van Nghia (Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi) was frustrated when he almost lost money to an air conditioning technician. “The air conditioner suddenly couldn’t be turned on, so I called a technician who told me that the IC was damaged and the power supply was faulty. The cost for replacement was about 2.5 million VND. The cost was too high, so I decided to wait and explore other options. The next day, a friend recommended another air conditioner technician who found that the problem was a blown fuse and a faulty relay (an electric switch). The total cost for replacement was only 350,000 VND,” Mr. Nghia said.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan, the owner of an air conditioning repair shop in Cau Dien, said that during the hot season, each technician typically maintains and repairs 5-8 units on average, and sometimes up to 15 units on busy days. Each unit may require different services, such as air conditioner cleaning with prices ranging from 200,000 to 400,000 VND depending on the difficulty level, gas refilling with prices ranging from 400,000 to 700,000 VND depending on the type of gas and quantity, capacitor replacement on-site with prices ranging from 400,000 to 500,000 VND, and circuit board repair on-site with prices ranging from 200,000 to 300,000 VND. In addition, there are major issues such as a faulty main control unit or main power supply, which require the technician to remove the unit for replacement. For these issues, customers may have to pay between 1 and over 2 million VND.
“Not all air conditioners will have all these problems, but technicians usually diagnose more or fewer issues based on the homeowner’s living conditions and quote a price accordingly,” Mr. Xuan explained.
When asked why the prices for air conditioner repairs vary significantly, Mr. Xuan said, “The prices usually depend on whether the units are equipped with inverter transformers or not. However, technicians often consider the homeowner’s situation to assess the likelihood of having more or fewer problems and quote a price accordingly.”
Source: Saigon Sports
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