Any aircon experts can help me?

[angryfarang]

A few days ago the aircon in our bedroom died. We had the engineers out who gave us some b*llshit about it being unrepairable and we needed a new unit which is 20,000 Baht.

We told our landlady who said I had to pay for it. I told her it was her aircon, we rent the house from her, so she's responsible for repairs. She told us that because we use it, we pay for it. So I tell her OK I'll buy a new one, but I will take it with me when I leave. She told me I can't take it and if I do she will call the police and that we have to buy her a new unit.

There's no way in the world I'm treating her to a new aircon system. I've spent a lot of money on that house already, I've been there 5 years now and paid the rent on-time every month and never been late, not one single day. There's no way in the world I'm treating her to a new aircon system so I decided I will fix it myself.

OK. So the aircon is working, but no cold air, I can't hear the compressor outside working.

So this morning I got on my ladders and opened it up. A gecko has blown the thing up, poor thing climbed across a PCB and was instantly friend. I'm hoping I just need to replace the main board. Does anyone know how much they cost? Can I buy these directly from Samsung?

Any help is appreciated.

[CharlieH]

Never heard of new exchange parts on the board, my suggestion would be to try and get a compatible 2nd hand unit.

Agree with you on not buying the landlord a new one !

[angryfarang]

Surely this board can be replaced?

[johng]

I recently had the mainbord on my York aircon die

online parts manual says new board is 1300 baht...aircon "engineers" 2600 baht they had the part next day though.

[angryfarang]

Thanks John. I'll visit the local Samsung service centre here tomorrow.

[jbrain]

A PCB will be around 3000 Baht. I had some company technicians very recently on a Daikin inverter, and that one was 3400 include labor.

[ukrules]

I suggest you move out of this apartment as soon as the A/C unit is working. You're renting the A/C machine along with the apartment.

You now know that you have a bad landlord which means you will probably lose your deposit, etc as well.

[jackr]

You wouldn't have to pay for the air-con as that's wear & tear on the house, like a light bulb, innit? What will happen though is she will keep the deposit, guaranteed.

[angryfarang]

HA! The best thing is I never paid a deposit when I moved in 5 years ago, plus I lived there for a month before paying rent. No signed rental agreement with her either...

I'm definitely looking for somewhere new now.

[zydeco]

This type arrangement is not all that uncommon around here. I paid to install the "extra" a/c's in the house I rent (the garbage a/c that was here when I moved in broke down in a matter of months). I also put in an extra hot water heater. And I pay for all the little things--faucet mishaps, new door hinges and locks (after the burglar tore out the old ones trying to get in), and the repairs to the lights and doorbell. Landlady did pay for all new curtains when I moved in (cost her about 20,000 baht), a new tile floor after the flood of 2011, flood cleanup, yard maintenance, and the installation of an outdoor ceiling fan on my veranda. I do use the stuff; it does depreciate. I feel the situation is fair. I intend to stay here as long as I can. Like the village; like the neighbors; and it's becoming even more convenient. Since the first year, I've never signed another lease (I never gave a deposit). The conditions of my rent and village are among the best things I have living here. Guess this went a bit far afield from the OP. BTW, you can probably get a Panasonic for cheaper than a Samsung. I originally thought I would get Mitsubishis (that's what friends suggested) but my Panasonics are still running strong without much trouble and my friends' Mitsubishis are crashing left and right.

Edited September 22, 2013 by zydeco

[ukrules]

I've found that it doesn't pay to stay in the same place for too long. If you move somewhere new every couple of years you should always have a nice 'new' place.

People who rent out apartments or houses generally don't do anything to the place while it's being rented, they only fix them up and refurbish when they need to entice someone new to rent it from them. Most people don't appear to be long term renters and will move out after only a year or less. So if you rent somewhere for multiple years it's a different thing entirely and they won't be used to it. They expect the place to come back to them just as it was, however for a 4 or 5 year rental this is not realistic.

I think some of them are just plain dumb, they have to pay 4 or 5 years worth of maintenance / refurbishments in one go and they feel you're somehow responsible for the wear and tear over the longer period. Normally lots of small jobs would be done inbetween renters with shorter stays over the years and they won't notice it so much.

[chris2004]

How about buy a new one but when you leave replace it with the old broken one.

[vtjforyou]

Enjoy renting :-)

[isawasnake]

I have heard of this happening specifically with samsungs before. It seems you have isolated the problem. I would probably call the guys back out and show them what the problem is. You probably got further than them and now they can give you a proper estimate. I wonder if you could even take a shot at "gecko-proofing" the board by putting some casing around it? Worth a thought anyway.

If I was you, I would write down the model number. The first thing to do would be to try to find what other samsungs have compatible boards. You could then go looking for a board in a/c places that probably have a million trashed units in the back - essentially a/c scrap yards. I am sure China Town has some great places to fins stuff like this. You may be able to get a working board for 50 baht or something.

It would take some effort, but if I wanted to repair it myself, that's what I would do. I would unrepair it when I left too - they annoying landlords need to get a clue.

[angryfarang]

I'm actually getting used to sleeping with the fan on... In the process of looking for a new house at the moment, so might just leave it until I move.

[Gsxrnz]

HA! The best thing is I never paid a deposit when I moved in 5 years ago, plus I lived there for a month before paying rent. No signed rental agreement with her either...

I'm definitely looking for somewhere new now.

Awesome!

[IMHO]

You wouldn't have to pay for the air-con as that's wear & tear on the house, like a light bulb, innit? What will happen though is she will keep the deposit, guaranteed.

In Thailand, it is the renters responsibility to return the rented property in the exact same condition it was when they took it. i.e. "normal wear and tear" - even just peeling paint - is the renters problem, not the landlords.

[ukrules]

You wouldn't have to pay for the air-con as that's wear & tear on the house, like a light bulb, innit? What will happen though is she will keep the deposit, guaranteed.

In Thailand, it is the renters responsibility to return the rented property in the exact same condition it was when they took it. i.e. "normal wear and tear" - even just peeling paint - is the renters problem, not the landlords.

This is just plain wrong. There's no such thing as a zero risk business, especially property rentals.

If the apartment burns down or even worse the building collapses are you expected to refurbish it to it's former glory and start replacing A/C units that were damaged ? I don't think so.

The same principal applies to anything that's rented along with the apartment.

[angryfarang]

OK. So I say I don't repair the aircon and leave in a month or two - what could happen? I'm guessing any dispute would be a civil matter?

My landlady took no deposit for me.

I also spent a lot of money on ceiling fans & blinds for the house. I built my own wall around the land to keep my dogs in.

Should I take the fans and the blinds? What about knocking the wall down? Or maybe that's a bit much....

[pmarlin]

You wouldn't have to pay for the air-con as that's wear & tear on the house, like a light bulb, innit? What will happen though is she will keep the deposit, guaranteed.

In Thailand, it is the renters responsibility to return the rented property in the exact same condition it was when they took it. i.e. "normal wear and tear" - even just peeling paint - is the renters problem, not the landlords.

Just not true, Just make sure you have good lease contract that spells out who repairs what. In mine I only have to pay for repairs less than 1000 baht. In my three years in the same condo I've had air conditioners repaired twice at no cost to me. Also, had a cracked bathtub replaced by the landlord at no cost to me.

Edited September 23, 2013 by pmarlin

[IMHO]

You wouldn't have to pay for the air-con as that's wear & tear on the house, like a light bulb, innit? What will happen though is she will keep the deposit, guaranteed.

In Thailand, it is the renters responsibility to return the rented property in the exact same condition it was when they took it. i.e. "normal wear and tear" - even just peeling paint - is the renters problem, not the landlords.

Just not true, Just make sure you have good lease contract that spells out who repairs what. In mine I only have to pay for repairs less than 1000 baht. In my three years in the same condo I've had air conditioners repaired twice at no cost to me. Also, had a cracked bathtub replaced by the landlord at no cost to me.

Sure you can come to a deal in the rental contract. I'm just citing standard Thai law.

[Pib]

I recently had the mainbord on my York aircon die

online parts manual says new board is 1300 baht...aircon "engineers" 2600 baht they had the part next day though.

A similar thing happened to one of my York split air units a few months ago....the circuit board in the outside condenser/compressor unit smoked itself...melted part of the circuit board...right where the power connects to the board...tripped the circuit breaker. I figured the compressor may have shorted out to cause such damage, but the compressor tested OK. Didn't seen any remnants of geckos or anything. Oonly the board needed replacement....took the repairman about 2 days to get a new board (I kept the old board)....unit still working...the board cost around Bt1500 baht plus another Bt1000 for labor.

[angryfarang]

I took the board to Samsung this morning, they put the part number in and told me they couldn't get it as the board wasn't made any more. They told me the unit was over 6 years old - which is strange because it was installed about 3 years ago.

Anyway, I'm just going to have a new system installed and keep her old one. When I move out I'll put her old unit back for her.

[isawasnake]

Buy a mitsubishi

[Jitar]

You wouldn't have to pay for the air-con as that's wear & tear on the house, like a light bulb, innit? What will happen though is she will keep the deposit, guaranteed.

In Thailand, it is the renters responsibility to return the rented property in the exact same condition it was when they took it. i.e. "normal wear and tear" - even just peeling paint - is the renters problem, not the landlords.

Just not true, Just make sure you have good lease contract that spells out who repairs what. In mine I only have to pay for repairs less than 1000 baht. In my three years in the same condo I've had air conditioners repaired twice at no cost to me. Also, had a cracked bathtub replaced by the landlord at no cost to me.

Sure you can come to a deal in the rental contract. I'm just citing standard Thai law.

I wonder if the Thai Law requiring tenants to return the property to original condition still applies to the OP with no signed lease and no deposit?

Strange that my landlords in the past have repaired air-cons etc and not asked me to pay, I must have been lucky.

[IMHO]

I wonder if the Thai Law requiring tenants to return the property to original condition still applies to the OP with no signed lease and no deposit?

Strange that my landlords in the past have repaired air-cons etc and not asked me to pay, I must have been lucky.

There's good landlords and bad - I too have fixed things for renters, replaced hot water heaters, pumps etc - there was one family so dirty in one of my houses that I used to send a cleaning team around every couple of months just to keep it looking reasonable for the sake of me keeping face with the neighbors (until their lease ended and I could kick them out).

Most rental contracts do have compromises on who pays for what - but in the absence of a contract you would be subject to Thai law, which says the rented property (be it a car, house, or jet ski) must be returned in it's original condition. The same goes for borrowed property as well (i.e. where no payment is involved).

Edited September 23, 2013 by IMHO

[Khun Jean]

I recently installed new air replacing old and somewhat noisy ones.

Agreed with the owner that we buy it and in return the rent stays low.

Also the electricity bill is about 1000 baht a month lower, about a year and we come out positive.

Most of the time it is best to share the costs. For a owner it is often difficult to pay the whole bill as they are living of the rental income and not have much to spare.

[angryfarang]

I'd already bought the aircon unit in the 2nd bedroom and spent over 50,000 baht building a wall around the property. My landlady is very rich, she's building 3 new houses near us.

Anyway, I bought a new aircon from homepro today - 12,000 BTU Panasonic for 16,500 including fitting. I'll stick her old unit in my spare room and install it back when I leave, taking my units with me.