Hanoi Seeing the forecast of the first heat wave coming, the households on the same floor of Mr. Hoang Hai's apartment building in Bac Tu Liem district simultaneously ordered workers to come and check during the two weekends.
Ten days before, the families had discussed and agreed on personal matters to ensure everyone was home. After checking, most only needed cleaning, a few machines needed gas.
When Mr. Hai's family checked, they discovered that one of the machines had a problem: it didn't cool when turned on, and the error light kept flashing and couldn't be turned off by the remote control. For two days, the technician tried many different ways but couldn't fix it.
This used Japanese air conditioner has been with the family for 10 years. It would be a pity to throw it away, so he called two more teams of technicians but they were all stumped. In the end, he had to buy another one to replace it, costing 8.5 million VND.
Mr. Hai's house, living in an apartment building in Bac Tu Kiem district, replaced the air conditioner to prepare for the summer of 2024. Photo: Hoang Hai
On the occasion of Hung King's death anniversary, Mr. The Hung, in Quang Trung, Ha Dong, called a technician to service three air conditioners.
He said that during the heat wave of over 40 degrees last year, two air conditioners simultaneously "went on strike". He called the repairmen but they all made appointments, some agreed but didn't come. Several nights were so hot that he couldn't stand it, so his wife and children had to take each other to a motel. "It was a waste of money, and I was both angry and tired," he said.
This year, he called early in the season and the mechanic came right away. All three cars needed cleaning, but otherwise there were no problems. The family spent a total of 500,000 VND.
As an electrician in Ha Dong district, Mr. Nguyen Van Tu, 32 years old, said that the demand for air conditioning maintenance and inspection is increasing sharply even though it is not yet the hot season. For the past two weeks, his team has been continuously receiving orders and has been fully booked. The most crowded are residents of apartment buildings, often people gather together to do a whole floor, dozens of apartments at a time.
"During the day, the whole team cleans and maintains people's homes, and at night they come back to fix broken machines, so they are very busy," said Mr. Tu, an air conditioner technician with 7 years of experience.
Air conditioning teams in Thanh Xuan district also said that at the beginning of the hot season, the demand in apartment buildings is higher than in private homes. Last week, his team worked in different buildings in the same apartment building. According to him, for the past two years, people have been conscious of checking their air conditioners before the hot season instead of waiting until they see a problem and then calling the technician.
With 13 years of experience in the refrigeration industry, Mr. Tran Van Dung, owner of a refrigeration company in Hanoi, said that the weather is getting hotter, the need for air conditioning will return. But during the winter when not in use, this device accumulates a lot of dust and dirt, can become a shelter for insects, snakes; at the same time, it can also have errors such as still working but not cooling, water leakage, circuit errors. The remote control does not remove the battery, in many cases the battery leaks and oxidizes the spring.
Hiring a cleaning and maintenance service before the start of the usage season is necessary, helping the machine cool deeply, cool quickly, and save electricity. Depending on the machine's capacity, the cleaning cost ranges from 150,000 VND or more. During the process, errors can also be promptly detected for repair.
Mr. Dung gave an example of a new customer working in An Khanh. The machine in the living room had not been cleaned for a long time and was close to the kitchen area, so it accumulated grease and turned into glue. It was turned on for hours but did not cool well. The machine emitted an unpleasant odor.
The National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting predicts that this summer will be a hot season with record high temperatures. The average temperature of the whole country is expected to be 0.5-1.5 degrees Celsius higher than previous years. In extremely hot weather, air conditioning becomes an indispensable item.
Mr. Dung said that in recent years, not only his business but also all other places have run out of workers during the hot season, unable to finish the work, leading to slow customer service, and many cases of customers not being able to come to appointments. "Of course, the service cannot be as good as it is now," Mr. Dung said.
To ensure health, Mr. Dung recommends that families should clean the air conditioner 1-3 times a year depending on the installation location. Restaurants need to be cleaned almost every month because of grease accumulation. During use, people should also clean themselves every two weeks by removing the mask and filter. Use a damp cloth to wipe the mask and spray the filter under the tap to clean the dirt.
Families should start doing this now. At the same time, check to see if the system is cool enough as required by sensing the outlet temperature. Many machines have a small difference in outlet temperature and room temperature, the power consumption is still the same, but the cooling speed and coolness are poor. At this time, you need to find a professional maintenance unit for support.
Phan Duong
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