Metro

Thursday July 2, 2009

Educate air-con owners on upkeep

By JOSEPHINE JALLEH


AIR-CONDITION technicians must now educate homeowners about the proper maintenance of the air coolers instead of just installing them blindly, said Penang MCA Public Complaints Bureau deputy chairman Lee Thuan Chye.

He said there was a growing number of cases where house owners reported that their household items, ceiling, walls and floors, were damaged when the air-conditioner leaked water.

‘‘It is time that technicians teach consumers how to maintain their air-conditioners, especially since more people are installing such devices in their houses as they are relatively cheap,’’ Lee told a press conference on Tuesday.

He also urged high-rise building management and maintenance operators to make it a standard practice to prohibit air-conditio-ners from being installed outside the units because if they were not properly supported or installed, they could cause serious harm to neighbours if they fall.

Trouble brewing: The walk of Block 354 at Gat Lebuh Macallum damaged by water seeping from air-conditioners.

Air-conditioners, if not well maintained, could cause damage to houses, especially when wa- ter seeped through and caused the floors to become slippery, he said.

The latest case was a housewife who discovered that the parquet floor in a bedroom of her Gat Lebuh Macallum apartment was damaged by water which seeped through the wall from an air- conditioner pipe installed outdoors.

Cheah Guat Cheng, 55, who lives on the 18th floor, said she only found out about the damage when she removed a cupboard which was earlier placed on the damaged area.

She found out later the culprit was an air-conditioner belonging to a unit on the 19th floor.

Lee said the air-conditioner’s owner blamed the leak on the main water connection pipe.

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter Star Metro on Facebook Star Metro on Twitter