Importance of Aircon Servicing

Frequent scheduled servicing would ensure that your aircon units are operating at its maximum efficiency and is effective in cooling your homes.

Air-conditioning is a luxury that we take for granted and a necessity and mainstay in our daily lives. Our Xool Professionals recommend that home-owners service their aircon once every 3 months. Our experts break it down into 2 key reasons:

Efficiency:

The most important step to ensuring continued efficiency of your aircon, is to replace or clean the aircon filters routinely. Through frequent usage, the system’s efficiency is reduced significantly as filters are clogged and these dirty filters block airflow. You could possibly lower your air conditioner’s energy consumption between 5% to 15% if the issue is addressed early, and a replacement of the dirty filter with a clean one is done. Filters may need more attention if your air conditioner is in constant use (more important if you have petsin your homes!).

Another key component of the aircon is the condenser coil. Its main function is to make sure that hot air gets removed. The air conditioner’s condenser coil collects dirt over the period of usage. A clean filter is essential, however, the filter does not completely prevent the evaporator coil from collecting dust and dirt. Dust and dirt will reduce airflow and form a thick insulating coat over the coil- thus significantly reducing its ability to absorb heat. It is important to check your aircon coils routinely! 

Effectiveness:

Neglecting necessary maintenance would lead to decline in the performance of your air-conditioning unit while increasing the amount of electricity and energy use and monthly electricity bills. Regular servicing could also help to extend the lifespan of your unit. With a well-maintained unit, you can be certain that the possibilities of malfunctions and a total unit replacement is reduced. 

In addition, while having air conditioning helps to dehumidify your homes and reduce extra indoor moisture, it is important to note that Singapore has a high humidity range of 65% - 96%. This high level of humidity sets the perfect condition for mould to grow and prosper. Mould could grow inside air conditioners, which also means the spores would have a direct route into each room of your house. These mould spores can cause mild/serious health issues such as running nose, increased asthma attacks, etc. Regular maintenance of your aircon unit is important as it prevents mould from growing in your aircon and allows it to do its job effectively and protect your health and wellness! 

If you want to protect your wellness while maximising the full usage capacity of your air conditioning units, do not hesitate to give us a call or book an appointment with us online. Our highly trained and experienced technicians will be happy to help you diagnose and troubleshoot your aircon.

Why is my aircon status light blinking? 5 tips and what you can do about it!

Last Updated : 12 June 2018

You come back after a long day at work, grab a delicious slice of pizza and about to start that evening Netflix marathon. After getting comfortable on the couch, you turn on the good old trusty aircon and a gush of cool breeze flows out. Ahhh, the comfort of modern living!

Netflix and aircon...

That’s not it though, you realised that your aircon status light is blinking. Blink…blink..blinkity…blink it goes! How to make it stop? Is the aircon spoiled? What does the blinking mean?

There are many causes for the aircon status light to blink. Its purpose is to notify homeowners that their aircon is not operating optimally and requires attention.

In some cases, you can fix it on your own without having to call a technician by following some simple troubleshooting steps. This will save you time and also money for that long awaited fancy beach vacation at Maldives.

Before you start, we recommend that you check your owner’s manual and look for error codes related to your issue. Error codes provide important information that will help you to identify the root cause and determine the next best course of action. As this differs by brand and model, we will be working on a separate article to cover that.

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The top 5 common problems and what you can do
 

1. Electrical Issues

When there is abnormal power draw or load in the aircon, the status light will be triggered. This can be either issues with the PCB (printed circuit board) or the electrical wiring. The process to troubleshoot and fix the issue is through isolation testing and should be done by an experienced technician. If there is a faulty PCB or power cable, then replacing the faulty part as soon as possible is recommended. Sometimes, an electrical surge may be the cause, so one thing you could try is to reset the power to your aircon unit, for most modern homes, this would be a switch near the outdoor unit that you can turn off and back on.

Try reseting the power to the aircon unit.

2. Filter Alert

Clogged up or incorrectly fitted filters can be signaled with blinking lights as well. The purpose of the filters is to purify the air that is fitted to the indoor aircon unit, making sure only the fresh air gets to the room. Eventually, the filters in the aircon get dirty due to debris and dirt collected over time. In such cases, all you need to do is to clean the filters.

3. Maintenance Alert

Sometimes, the blinking light is time-based and is a signal that the unit is due servicing. In this case, just ensure that the filters are cleaned and checked. If a deep cleaning is required then you can contact a trained professional to perform a chemical cleaning or overhaul. Find out more about our deep cleaning options and what it can do for you.  

4. Low Refrigerant

Low refrigerant flow is another cause triggering the lights to blink. It is an alert system notifying that the refrigerant is lower than the required level for smooth operation. This requires immediate attention as prolonged use will not only result in unnecessary electricity consumption, but it may also cause permanent damage to the compressor. The refrigerant level can be confirmed by conducting a pressure test, and leaks should be identified and fixed as topping up refrigerant gas is a short-term fix. The refrigerant is in a closed loop system and no topping up of gas is required under normal operations.

5. Compressor Failed

When the compressor in the air conditioner has failed it will not be able to perform its function which is to circulate the refrigerant necessary for heat exchange through the coils of the indoor and outdoor unit. When this happens, the aircon will reflect with blinking lights and may not operate for long.  The compressor undergoes a great deal of stress in our all year summer weather, and it will wear down the same way a motor will. Grime and dust contamination will also affect it, leading to it becoming stuck. This will stop the cooling cycle, and usually, the compressor must be replaced when it reaches the end of life. The good news is that compressors usually comes with longer 3 or 5-year manufacturer warranty so be sure to check if it is still covered.

If you suspect any problems with your AC, do not hesitate to give us a call or book an appointment with us online. Our highly trained and experienced technicians will be happy to help you diagnose and troubleshoot your aircon.

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Xool Aircon Experts' mission is to provide the best experience in the air-conditioning service industry through constant improvement and building on what our customers really what.

What is Enzyme Cleaning and how does it differ from Chemical Cleaning?

There are 3 methods of deep and intensive cleaning and this article should help you decide what you need. Feel free to ring us up or drop us an email if you have questions. 

1. Chemical Cleaning 60 mins - Suitable for moderately contaminated fan coils but slightly harmful to your fan coil in the long run

2. Enzyme Cleaning 60 mins - Recommended as the safer and environmental friendlier technique for moderately contaminated fan coils 

3. Chemical Overhaul 90 mins - Recommended as the most comprehensive and effective cleaning technique 

Before

Moderately contaminated coils requires an overhaul to breathe safer air. 

After

This is how it looks like after an overhaul. Sparkles! Stop breathing contaminated air! 

Chemical Cleaning

When we perform chemical cleaning on wallmounted aircon or ceiling cassette, we do not unmount the aircon and typically takes 60 minutes for 1 fan coil unit. The process of chemical cleaning requires a pressurized stream and mist spray to penetrate and loosen grime, grease, dirt and sometimes fungi and mold. Clean water will be used to remove chemical from the fan coils and this process will now remove the loosened impurities from the coils.

The product is a blend of powerful cleaners, non-ionic penetrants and surface-active agents and inhibitors especially formulated to melt away oily deposits and dissolve scale from heat transfer surfaces such as those found in boilers, air conditioner units, and other types of heat exchangers.

Chemical cleaning of fan coil is cost effective and widely used by commercial and residential air conditioning system. We would recommend this as a cost-effective process if removing of fan coil is not possible or if fan coil is just lightly contaminated. Heavily contaminated units should consider an overhaul.

Enzyme liquid application on coils to remove impurities requires low pressure spray to avoid damaging coil fins. 

Enzyme Cleaning

Much like chemical cleaning process, we use enzyme solution instead of chemical. The process  typically takes 60 minutes for 1 fancoil unit. We recommend enzyme cleaning over chemical cleaning when we are not able to unmount to completely overhaul the whole unit. Chemical cleaning will do the job as effective as enzyme cleaning but due to the hazardous nature of alkaline and chemical, it is not as environmental friendly as enzyme. For use of chemical, we always recommend unmounting the unit so we can use large amount of water to wash off the chemical for environmental and safety reasons, especially if you have kids or pets at home that could be sensitive or allergic to alkaline/chemical particles.

When you hear the word enzymes, it sounds like some sort of miracle chemical developed in a lab. In fact, enzymes are a natural part of our world and play an important role in everyday life. They are found in every living organism and life is not possible without enzymes. Enzymes are catalysts – not living organisms. They cause natural reactions to occur faster. Enzymes either start a process or accelerate an existing process. Whenever a substance needs to be removed or transformed into another substance, enzymes are the answer. They even play an important role in our own bodies. Enzymes we produce in our body, for instance, help digest food, which is then converted into the energy we need. Enzyme Solutions has harnessed this natural phenomenon, and manufactures enzymes on a large scale. Working with our clients and industry specialists, Enzyme Solutions has developed more and more uses and products for enzymes.
 
Enzymes are all natural and effective at accomplishing the specific job targeted. Enzymes are environmentally friendly and in certain cases, actually help the task of cleaning the waste and toxic byproducts of manufacturing and everyday life. In contrast, chemicals are not limited to the task intended and often cause harm to the environment.

Our expert technicians preparing for an enzyme cleaning by securing a specially made bottom cover to ensure all water flows down to our bottle via a tube and guarantees no after service mess such as water damaging your property. 

Chemical Overhaul

This is the most comprehensive and effective process we take to remove impurities such as mold, fungi, grime and grime. One of the most obvious symptom you can detect is an occasional foul smell when the aircon is switched on. Other symptoms usually require a visual inspection which our technician can perform on site during your regular aircon service. This is a process of dismantling the whole fan coil unit and unmounting it from the wall to allow chemical and alkaline solution to soak and penetrate deep into the coil and typically takes 90 minutes for 1 fan coil unit.

The benefit of an overhaul not only guarantees a cleaner coil but it allows our technician to use large amount of water spray to remove all contaminants and chemical from the coil and ensuring a cleaner and safer environment. This process will keep your fan coils clean for years to come! 

When was the last time you check your aircon? Stop breathing dirty air!

SCHEDULE ONE NOW!