AC Cleaning in Dhaka: How Often, What It Involves, and Why Your Bill Went Up

An air conditioner in Dhaka runs eight months a year through some of the dustiest air in South Asia. It is also the appliance people clean least. If your AC cools slower than it used to, if the bill climbed without the tariff changing, or if there is a smell when it starts up — it is almost certainly dirty. Here is what AC cleaning actually involves.

Why a dirty AC costs money

An air conditioner works by pulling room air across a cold coil. Dust coats the filter, then the coil itself, and that layer insulates exactly the surface that is supposed to transfer heat. The machine runs longer to reach the same temperature, the compressor works harder, and the unit ages faster.

The bill is the first symptom most people notice, and by then the coil has usually been dirty for a season.

What you can safely do yourself

Switch it off at the breaker first. Not the remote — the breaker.

1. Filters, every two weeks in summer. Open the front panel, slide the mesh filters out, rinse under a tap from the clean side backwards, and let them dry fully in shade before refitting. This alone restores most lost cooling.
2. Wipe the front panel and the louvres with a damp cloth.
3. Check the outdoor unit is not blocked by a cloth, a plant or a bird's nest, and that nothing is stacked against it. It needs to throw heat away.

That is the safe list. Everything past it involves electricity, refrigerant and fins that bend if you touch them wrong.

What needs a technician

• The evaporator coil — jet-washed with a collection bag fitted so nothing drips onto your wall or floor.
• The blower wheel — the cylinder that pushes the air. It packs with felted dust and is the single biggest cause of weak airflow.
• The drain line and tray — a blocked drain is why an indoor unit drips water onto the wall. Standing water in the tray is also where mosquitoes breed.
• The outdoor condenser — washed and the fins straightened.
• Gas pressure — checked, not automatically refilled. An honest technician does not top up gas on every visit: a sealed system does not consume refrigerant, so if it is low, there is a leak, and refilling without finding the leak is selling you the same gas twice.

The smell is a warning

A musty smell when the AC starts is mould on the coil and in the drain tray. You are breathing that air all night. It is a health issue for anyone in the house with asthma or allergies, and it does not clear on its own — the unit stays damp and dark, which is exactly what mould wants.

A burning or electrical smell is different. Switch it off at the breaker and call someone. Do not run it.

How often

• Filters — every two weeks while it is running daily.
• Full service — twice a year in Dhaka. Once before summer, once after the monsoon. Roadside or construction-facing flats need it more often, not less.
• Before you switch it on for the season — always. Running a dust-packed unit for a week does more harm than the whole previous summer.

What we do

Our AC cleaning service covers the filters, evaporator coil, blower wheel, drain line and tray, and the outdoor condenser, with a proper collection bag so your wall stays clean. We check gas pressure and tell you what we find rather than upselling a refill.

Getting the whole flat done at once is worth it — book AC cleaning alongside refrigerator cleaning or a deep clean and one visit covers everything.

Book online or call +880 1719-950059. We cover every area of Dhaka.