AC gas leak scam: What is it and how to stop this from happening to you

AC Gas leak scam

Summers are here and with that comes the time when you need to get your air conditioner serviced. And, one of the most common words from the service person is “Sir, AC ka gas leak hai. Refill karna padega”.

The problem here is that you don’t know the right amount of gas pressure you need to have and whether the service person is telling you the right thing about the gas leak. And, this is where the AC gas leak scam happens.

Let’s understand it in details:

AC gas leak scam: How it works

Let’s understand this step-by-step:

Step 1: Imagine you have an AC at your home which needs service.You call the service person – from a local or authorised service center.

Step 2: The cleaning process starts.

Step 3: In the middle of the process, the service person calls you and mentions: AC ka gas leak hai.

Step 4: You ask how much it will cost for the refill.

Step 5: Service person says some amount.

Step 6: You bargain a little and then agree.

Step 7: The service person refills the gas and takes money from you.

Now, the process looks and feels alright and there’s nothing wrong in it. Sometimes there could be an actual gas leak and refill is required. But, how do you know this, if there’s genuinely a gas leak in the AC.

If there’s no gas leak, the service person pretends to fill up the gas and charges the money. And, this is the scam we are talking about here.

What’s the solution?
Well, the solution is simple – know how much gas pressure the AC requires to function properly and deliver optimal cooling effect.

To solve this, we discussed with a new AC installation person how much AC gas pressure is actually required for an AC to work properly. And, here’s what you should know. Refer to the table below: Do note that this data is for 1.5-ton AC.

Simply start the AC before the service has started and ask the service person to take the reading of the gas pressure while it is running. If the pressure is around the above-mentioned value, you don’t need a refill.

Do the same thing when the AC is turned off. When you have both the reading, just match them with the table and then proceed with the service.

This will let the service person know that you are aware of the right AC gas pressure that’s required.