Best Air Con Service In Pattaya

[tropo]

ummm... the take the whle unit off the wall for cleaning??

I don't want to imagine the mess that would be!

They take the plastic cover off and remove the water tray and rotary fan blade for cleaning, and spray water into the fins. When the water tray is removed you have easy access to the drain pipe.

It doesnt make much mess as they use a plastic sheet to collect the cleaning water.

my experience with such workers is black handprints on the walls, doors left open to invite all moskitoes in, banging the furniture with their equipment and generally leaving a mess.

It's not exactly a fun time, but I've not had problems with black handprints or damaged furniture. I make sure the furniture is well out of harm's way. Obviously the doors will be open - there's not much you can do about that.

[tropo]

The filters should be cleaned every week. It was the air-con service guy who told me that. I used to clean the filters every 3 months but that is just not good enough. The air quality is much better inside my room now.

I clean my filters on a need-to basis. A quick inspection does the trick. Even if you keep them very clean the inside of the unit still becomes extremely dirty over time. You'd wonder if the filters are of any benefit at all.

Edited July 10, 2016 by tropo

[KittenKong]

Yes, having clean filters doesnt actually seem to achieve very much and mine never seem to be very dirty. But once I have put a chair under the air-con and clambered up and opened the unit to check them I may as well take them out and rinse them under the tap. So I do it every first of the month, regardless of what the warning light says. It also allows me to see how much gunge is on the rotary fan.

[MoD1977]

Hi Guys,

 

does anyone have cleaned his aircons just recently and was satisfied with the work?

I'm looking for a good company what do all the work whats needed (clean, flush drain, check and refill gas, ...)

I have 3 wall mount and 2 casset type units to be cleaned.

whats about Numchai, are they any good?

 

[giddyup]

On 09/07/2016 at 8:06 AM, manarak said:

I guess everyone has these obstructed pipes problems once in a while.

I wonder why these pipes are not equipped near the aircon unit with some sort of valve and connector where one could connect a tube to just blow the crap out after closing the valve on the side leading to the AC unit ?

This would make cleaning obstructed pipes so much easier.

The last time I took a deep breath and blew into the pipe from the outside and a black gooey mass shot out onto my living room's floor. The pipe was ok after that.

Second - aircon service.

As far as I can see, the aircon service guys don't do much more than just take out the filters, clean these and clean the other parts of the unit a bit and then put everything back. It's something I can do in under 10 minutes per unit, is it really worth calling someone to do it when there is no worry about gas levels?

Another problem is that many of the workers just make everything dirty.

My bedroom aircon stopped blowing cold air, so I stuck the garden hose in the condensation outlet and a whole lot of black algae/gunk came out. After that the aircon worked perfectly again. Only had it "serviced" 6 months prior, so I doubt they bothered to do that.

[Techno Viking]

1 hour ago, MoD1977 said:

Hi Guys,

 

does anyone have cleaned his aircons just recently and was satisfied with the work?

I'm looking for a good company what do all the work whats needed (clean, flush drain, check and refill gas, ...)

I have 3 wall mount and 2 casset type units to be cleaned.

whats about Numchai, are they any good?

 

Yesterday the AC in  my bedroom started dripping water on the floor and as it had been 6 months since last service I thought I would get all my 5 AC's serviced.

 

Called Apichet Air at 3.30pm and they arrived withing an hour.

 

All 5 cleaned, serviced (1 needed an engine mount) and gas checked/topped up (3 were ok, 2 needed gas). 2500 baths all in and took an hour.

 

Number is 0868383397.

[KittenKong]

4 hours ago, MoD1977 said:

whats about Numchai, are they any good?

 

I would describe their cleaning service as variable, which is a word that gets a lot of use in Thailand. I would not use them again for cleaning though I would buy another air-con from them and have them install it.

[KittenKong]

3 hours ago, giddyup said:

My bedroom aircon stopped blowing cold air, so I stuck the garden hose in the condensation outlet and a whole lot of black algae/gunk came out. After that the aircon worked perfectly again. Only had it "serviced" 6 months prior, so I doubt they bothered to do that.

 

That algae can grow very fast depending on how you use the air-con. I squirt a little vinegar onto the indoor radiator fins every couple of weeks. This drips down into the condensation tray and flows away through the down-pipe. The acidity kills the algae.

 

Just standard white kitchen vinegar mixed 50/50 with water and applied using an old plastic window-cleaning spray. You only need a few squirts.

 

I agree that many people who service air-cons here never clean that down-pipe or the small pipe that leads to it from the condensation tray.

[KittenKong]

3 hours ago, Techno Viking said:

All 5 cleaned, serviced (1 needed an engine mount) and gas checked/topped up (3 were ok, 2 needed gas). 2500 baths all in

 

What proportion of that was to do with the gas top-up? How many kg/lbs of gas and how much per kg/lb?

This gas charge is something that I am trying, unsuccessfully, to get to the bottom of.

[manarak]

by the way, regarding aircons... does anyone know what could cause an aircon unit that hasn't run for a while to not start anymore? and how to get it running again? 

thanks!

[Techno Viking]

Just now, KittenKong said:

 

What proportion of that was to do with the gas top-up? How many kg/lbs of gas and how much per kg/lb?

This gas charge is something that I am trying, unsuccessfully, to get to the bottom of.

ive no idea.

 

Was quoted 500b per unit over the phone and thats what I paid, I guess they "won" because only 2 of the 5 units needed gas but one of the units had a dodgy mount and they hit it first and sent one of the lads back to the shop to get parts.

[Techno Viking]

1 minute ago, manarak said:

by the way, regarding aircons... does anyone know what could cause an aircon unit that hasn't run for a while to not start anymore? and how to get it running again? 

thanks!

it does not turn on or it does not blow cold air ?

[tropo]

31 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

 

What proportion of that was to do with the gas top-up? How many kg/lbs of gas and how much per kg/lb?

This gas charge is something that I am trying, unsuccessfully, to get to the bottom of.

They make it easy... a round 1000 baht to fill any system from empty. This is probably where they make the most profit as they have the refrigerant in a large cylinder that they probably paid peanuts for.

 

I have a custom aircon system in my (rental) condo. It was somebody's idea of a sick joke. They have to take the indoor unit out of the ceiling space to clean it (3 man job). By taking it out I mean vent all the gas, cut the pipes, disconnect wiring, clean it, rewire it, resolder the pipes and then refill it with refrigerant. 3000 per unit x 6.

 

Good air conditioning servicemen are few and far between (in actual fact, non-existant because even the "good" ones are so-so), so you're actually lucky if you can get anyone during this time of the year as they are so busy. It's more a matter of can you get anyone rather than how much.

 

 

[Techno Viking]

2 minutes ago, tropo said:

They make it easy... a round 1000 baht to fill any system from empty. This is probably where they make the most profit as they have the refrigerant in a large cylinder that they probably paid peanuts for.

 

I have a custom aircon system in my (rental) condo. It was somebody's idea of a sick joke. They have to take the indoor unit out of the ceiling space to clean it (3 man job). By taking it out I mean vent all the gas, cut the pipes, disconnect wiring, clean it, rewire it, resolder the pipes and then refill it with refrigerant. 3000 per unit x 6.

 

Good air conditioning servicemen are few and far between (in actual fact, non-existant because even the "good" ones are so-so), so you're actually lucky if you can get anyone during this time of the year as they are so busy. It's more a matter of can you get anyone rather than how much.

 

 

I thought they could recover the gas ?

[manarak]

3 hours ago, Techno Viking said:

it does not turn on or it does not blow cold air ?

nothing at all happens.

 

last time the aircon service was here, he got it working in no time and said I should have it running from time to time or the same will happen again... so what's wrong?

 

[Techno Viking]

Just now, manarak said:

nothing at all happens.

 

last time the aircon service was here, he got it working in no time and said I should have it running from time to time or the same will happen again... so what's wrong?

 

you should follow their advice.

[manarak]

41 minutes ago, Techno Viking said:

you should follow their advice.

not possible and not what I was asking about?

[tropo]

3 hours ago, Techno Viking said:

I thought they could recover the gas ?

I don't know.  

 

All I know is they vent it all and refill it later at the cost of 1000 baht per unit.

 

 

[topt]

5 hours ago, Techno Viking said:

ive no idea.

 

Was quoted 500b per unit over the phone and thats what I paid, I guess they "won" because only 2 of the 5 units needed gas but one of the units had a dodgy mount and they hit it first and sent one of the lads back to the shop to get parts.

So effectively they did not charge you any extra for the gas or for the parts? That is most unusual. Standard cleaning starts normally at 400 - 600 but any gas refilling, and certainly parts,  has always been extra in my experience.

[KittenKong]

4 hours ago, tropo said:

They make it easy... a round 1000 baht to fill any system from empty. This is probably where they make the most profit as they have the refrigerant in a large cylinder that they probably paid peanuts for.

.................

Good air conditioning servicemen are few and far between (in actual fact, non-existant because even the "good" ones are so-so), so you're actually lucky if you can get anyone during this time of the year as they are so busy. It's more a matter of can you get anyone rather than how much.

 

My experiences contradict pretty much all of that.

 

All my aircon service people have quoted around 20-30B per <measurement> for topping-up the gas, depending on which type of gas is used. What isnt clear is the nature of the <measurement>. Most say per kg but they dont specify if this is a kg weight of liquid gas or whether it is kg of pressure in whatever way they measure it, not that it makes any real difference. These prices are for topping-up which would normally only require a small amount of gas and would never require the unit to be completely emptied and refilled. And whilst several people have said to me that my unit currently has 9<measurements> and that it should have 10<measurements> (all measured with a pressure gauge, so presumably a pressure), no one has ever been able to express in a way I can understand how much gas they will put in to achieve that, or around how much the total cost will be. They just repeat the litany of 20-30B per <measurement> and I am none the wiser.

(For comparison, it is not beyond the wit of man to know that to refill my half-full 70 litre diesel tank will require about 35 litres of diesel and so will cost around 35*25B)

 

As for them being busy, I have never waited more than one day for any of them to come. The people I used 6 months ago and again recently always come the same day or the next day, and charge the standard 400B for a good enough job that I will get them back again next time. The number of people whom I would get back again I can count of the fingers of one hand finger, simply because they dont always do a proper job.

[KittenKong]

6 hours ago, Techno Viking said:

Was quoted 500b per unit over the phone and thats what I paid,

 

500B to include a small amount of gas and perhaps some small accessories sounds about right, especially if you are having multiple units done. My belief is that one or two kgs at about 20-30B per kg is probably what is required for topping-up in most cases.

 

I had four thick rubber mounts replaced once and they charged me 50B for them.

[tropo]

54 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

 

My experiences contradict pretty much all of that.

 

All my aircon service people have quoted around 20-30B per <measurement> for topping-up the gas, depending on which type of gas is used. What isnt clear is the nature of the <measurement>. Most say per kg but they dont specify if this is a kg weight of liquid gas or whether it is kg of pressure in whatever way they measure it, not that it makes any real difference. These prices are for topping-up which would normally only require a small amount of gas and would never require the unit to be completely emptied and refilled. And whilst several people have said to me that my unit currently has 9<measurements> and that it should have 10<measurements> (all measured with a pressure gauge, so presumably a pressure), no one has ever been able to express in a way I can understand how much gas they will put in to achieve that, or around how much the total cost will be. They just repeat the litany of 20-30B per <measurement> and I am none the wiser.

(For comparison, it is not beyond the wit of man to know that to refill my half-full 70 litre diesel tank will require about 35 litres of diesel and so will cost around 35*25B)

 

As for them being busy, I have never waited more than one day for any of them to come. The people I used 6 months ago and again recently always come the same day or the next day, and charge the standard 400B for a good enough job that I will get them back again next time. The number of people whom I would get back again I can count of the fingers of one hand finger, simply because they dont always do a proper job.

How can your "experiences contradict pretty much all of that" when you've never had a system entirely emptied and filled again? Good luck getting anyone to charge you by the liter.

 

Last month I had 4 outdoor (split style) units replaced and 2 others serviced. All required a complete fill. The complete job cost nearly 90k.

 

It's easy to get any so called aircon servicemen to come and service basic split style units, but try to get them to do anything out of the ordinary. I had the best guys you can get here in Pattaya (highly recommended, very busy, and at least a week to get hold of if you're lucky) yet they were not great. They always try to do everything as quickly as possible and cut corners. You've got to watch them all the time. The main problem is they are not engineers and don't understand much besides basic installation. They installed one unit near a balcony end (3 sides) and I discovered long after they left that hot air was being sucked in through the condenser coils (the hot air was circulating from the front fan around to the back), causing the unit to work much harder than it should.

 

How about you do the rest of us a big favour and name the amazing aircon people who do such a good job for you. I really would like to know.

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2017 by tropo

[KittenKong]

7 hours ago, tropo said:

How can your "experiences contradict pretty much all of that" when you've never had a system entirely emptied and filled again? Good luck getting anyone to charge you by the liter.

 

This thread appears to be about regular servicing of standard units. Everyone apart from you seems to pay about 400-600B for this. In that respect my experiences, and those of everyone else, seem to be the opposite of yours. I dont know why.

 

I didnt mention litres but all air-con service places I have spoken to do indeed charge for topping-up gas by the kg (without specifying if it is a weight or a pressure, or how many would be needed). Topping-up is an occasional part of a standard clean, though not required every time (my unit has never been topped-up in 4 years of daily use and regular cleaning) . Emptying and refilling is not very common at all, except perhaps for you.

 

 

7 hours ago, tropo said:

Last month I had 4 outdoor (split style) units replaced and 2 others serviced. All required a complete fill. The complete job cost nearly 90k.

 

 

What relevance does this have to a 400B standard clean?

 

 

7 hours ago, tropo said:

It's easy to get any so called aircon servicemen to come and service basic split style units, but try to get them to do anything out of the ordinary. I had the best guys you can get here in Pattaya (highly recommended, very busy, and at least a week to get hold of if you're lucky) yet they were not great.

 

Again my experience is that no one takes a week to come and that everyone comes within a day or so. Your mileage clearly varies. I dont know why, especially as even you say that your people are not exceptional.

 

 

7 hours ago, tropo said:

How about you do the rest of us a big favour and name the amazing aircon people who do such a good job for you. I really would like to know.

 

I have given their location in here, with Street View links, several times recently. The information is available to anyone who wants to look back for it. I have no idea of their name or phone number though.

At no point did I ever describe them as amazing or even very good. I described them as good enough at cleaning for me to use them again. This alone makes them stand out from the crowd.

[tropo]

8 hours ago, KittenKong said:

 

This thread appears to be about regular servicing of standard units. Everyone apart from you seems to pay about 400-600B for this. In that respect my experiences, and those of everyone else, seem to be the opposite of yours. I dont know why.

 

I didnt mention litres but all air-con service places I have spoken to do indeed charge for topping-up gas by the kg (without specifying if it is a weight or a pressure, or how many would be needed). Topping-up is an occasional part of a standard clean, though not required every time (my unit has never been topped-up in 4 years of daily use and regular cleaning) . Emptying and refilling is not very common at all, except perhaps for you.

 

 

 

What relevance does this have to a 400B standard clean?

 

 

 

Again my experience is that no one takes a week to come and that everyone comes within a day or so. Your mileage clearly varies. I dont know why, especially as even you say that your people are not exceptional.

 

 

 

I have given their location in here, with Street View links, several times recently. The information is available to anyone who wants to look back for it. I have no idea of their name or phone number though.

At no point did I ever describe them as amazing or even very good. I described them as good enough at cleaning for me to use them again. This alone makes them stand out from the crowd.

This thread is "the best aircon service in Pattaya", so anything regarding aircon servicing is relevant.

 

It's ridiculous to argue that your experiences are the opposite of mine when your requirements are different. i.e. you have a different type of system. You are cleaning. I am repairing and replacing.

 

Many people have to pay for a full gas fill. i.e. When installing new units or replacing old ones... or repairing old systems. Just because you haven't had to do it yet is irrelevant. I didn't know you were the spokesman for everyone on this forum. I'm sure I'm not the only one that requires more extensive work.

 

Until you get servicemen to do something besides a basic clean you will never know how good they are. The people that do your jobs would probably not be capable of doing mine. The people that do more complex jobs are busy and not available the same day. They need to make quotes first and buy parts before they do a job. 

 

Back when I had basic units to clean (for 500 baht) I was still disappointed with all who came. You were probably just lucky, or perhaps have lower standards for what you call "good work".

 

Having recruited electricians, plumbers, painters and other tradesmen over the years, I conclude that exceptional tradesmen are non-existent in Pattaya. They never do work to my standards. Maybe I'm just too fussy.

Edited June 19, 2017 by tropo

[how241]

In my experience, they usually charge 200-300 baht to add gas.  It doesn't seem to matter if it needs a little or a lot but just a general charge to add gas.

[KittenKong]

2 hours ago, tropo said:

This thread is "the best aircon service in Pattaya", so anything regarding aircon servicing is relevant.

 

It's ridiculous to argue that your experiences are the opposite of mine when your requirements are different. i.e. you have a different type of system. You are cleaning. I am repairing and replacing.

Well, if your complex and expensive repairs are relevant then my simple cleaning demands are equally relevant. And so the comparison should be valid. It is certainly valid in as much as no one else here seems to have to wait as long as you do, nor do their needs appear to be as complex as yours.

 

 

2 hours ago, tropo said:

Many people have to pay for a full gas fill. i.e. When installing new units or replacing old ones...

 

Actually I doubt that many here have, other than you.

 

Gas is invariably included in the cost of installing a new air-con in my experience, as it is for replacing an old one. All other costs such as piping etc are included also. I just pay the sticker price, less any discount that I may have managed to negotiate.

I long ago decided that if one day my air-con needs repairs totalling more than about 7,500-10,000B I would probably just dump it and buy a new one for around 30,000B which would cover all the installation costs also.

 

 

2 hours ago, tropo said:

Back when I had basic units to clean (for 500 baht) I was still disappointed with all who came. You were probably just lucky, or perhaps have lower standards for what you call "good work".

 

You simply dont read what's in front of you, do you? Several times I have pointed out that I do not consider these people to be good. I consider them to be good enough to get them back again, compared to others, including much more expensive ones, whom I consider not good enough to get back again. If you dont know the difference then I dont know how to explain it to you.

[tropo]

6 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Well, if your complex and expensive repairs are relevant then my simple cleaning demands are equally relevant. And so the comparison should be valid. It is certainly valid in as much as no one else here seems to have to wait as long as you do, nor do their needs appear to be as complex as yours.

 

You were the one who said my comments were irrelevant because you insisted that this thread is only about simple cleaning procedures. You decided to make yourself the moderator of this thread. Any comments about aircon servicemen are relevant in this thread. Go ahead and comment all you like - I won't say it's irrelevant. 

 

You simply don't read what is in front of you, do you? It should be pretty obvious that for a large job quotes have to be given and parts need to be ordered. That will take longer. I suppose to do simple cleaning procedures anyone can pretend to be an aircon serviceman and they'll come running any time of the day or night to collect your 400 baht.

6 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Actually I doubt that many here have, other than you.

 

Gas is invariably included in the cost of installing a new air-con in my experience, as it is for replacing an old one. All other costs such as piping etc are included also. I just pay the sticker price, less any discount that I may have managed to negotiate.

I long ago decided that if one day my air-con needs repairs totalling more than about 7,500-10,000B I would probably just dump it and buy a new one for around 30,000B which would cover all the installation costs also.

You doubt many have? So what? You were the one harping on about the cost of gas. I have first-hand experience on what they charge to fill a system from scratch. Actually, 6 systems were filled from scratch. I didn't even have the choice of shopping around. It was very difficult to get anyone to come over to do the job. One guy, the first recommendation, was busy in Bangkok. The guys I contacted were recommended by people who own a lot of property and get a lot of air conditioning work done. One of the people who recommended them is an air conditioning engineer from abroad.

 

Sure, I did say I didn't think they were great, but "not great" probably means "fantastic" in your estimation as your idea of a high standard of work is probably far lower than mine. 

 

Apparently, according to the decision that you made long ago if an outdoor or indoor unit required extensive repair or replacement, you'd throw the whole system out and reinstall a new one. Good on you. Does that mean everyone else is going to do the same?

 

No way! It may work for you if you're intending to stay here for the life of an air conditioning system, but many people rent and don't intend to live here for a long time (even owners ready to sell and who want to get out) and would rather pay, for example, half the replacement cost of a whole system. They are not going to spend 30k to avoid spending 10k on repairs or part replacement. I had a broken compressor on one outdoor unit, so in that case, I bought a new outdoor 18 BTU unit for 13k. I don't own it as I'm renting and I'm pretty sure the owner wouldn't want to fork out 30k instead of 13k plus installation costs and regassing. In my case, the indoor units (evaporators and fan) are industrial units and will probably outlast both of us. The problem is they are much

harder to get to and clean.

6 hours ago, KittenKong said:

You simply dont read what's in front of you, do you? Several times I have pointed out that I do not consider these people to be good. I consider them to be good enough to get them back again, compared to others, including much more expensive ones, whom I consider not good enough to get back again. If you dont know the difference then I dont know how to explain it to you.

You told me that your experiences are exactly the opposite of mine, so that means that if all my guys have been "not good", then surely all your guys have been good. Now you're saying you've had bad ones. It looks like you're arguing for the sake of argument. There's really no need to continue to explain yourself.

 

 

Edited June 19, 2017 by tropo

[Rimmer]

This topic is four years old and now we have a two person bickering fest to deal with.

//CLOSED//