Reconditioned air conditioners - are they worth it?

Design: Key Concept

Why should you go for 2nd hand air conditioners?

2nd hand air conditioners are reconditioned, chemically washed, cleaned and tested before they are reused. Aside from saving significant costs, choosing 2nd hand air conditioners helps you to play a part in going environmentally friendly too. However, there are also other practical considerations for choosing 2nd hand units over brand new air conditioners; when you are looking for replacing faulty air conditioners for rent, rental home units, rented offices or industrial units, or the place of your residence is only temporary. Aside from these considerations, if your existing faulty air conditioner units do not warrant a complete overhaul, the 2nd air conditioner market has an abundant supply of replacement parts which helps to keep your replacement costs much lower and most come with 3 to 6 months of warranty. The estimated cost savings per air conditioner unit may vary from $800 onwards depending on the air conditioner brand, model and system type.

What should you look out for while choosing a 2nd hand air conditioner?

There are 4 main factors to watch out for; firstly the vendor supplying the 2nd hand units should be offering good workmanship and price, secondly, the replacement units they offered should be free from operational defects such as water leakages, or abnormal noises during operations and thirdly the units should come at least with 3 months warranty. Finally, they should offer a good after-sales service.

Note: this is NOT a sponsored post

Why Choose CitiCool for Reconditioned Aircon?

CitiCool is the biggest vendor for second-hand reconditioned air-con in Singapore and has been in the 2nd hand air conditioner industry for the last decade. The reasons why we chose CitiCool to include:

• Being the biggest means that the chances of CitiCool having the 2nd air conditioners which either fit your budget or have the compatible units for the existing system;
• CitiCool has quite a wide social media presence with good reviews;
• CitiCool vigorously quality and refurbishment process ensures that only newer, reliable stocks from branded and reliable second hand air conditioners (eg. Mitsubishi, Daikin, Panasonic and Fujitsu) are used;
• The team that recondition the second-hand air con are veteran technicians and; 
• The reconditioned units come with a 6 month warranty period for the parts (which can be extended for free if the maintenance service is also signed up concurrently).

How is the engagement process like?

After describing our issues, CitiCool came down and did a site assessment. They discovered that part of our 16 year old Mitsubishi system 2 and system 3 air conditioners have broken down; the condenser unit of our system 2 air conditioners in the living room has broken down and the blowers of the system 3 air conditioners in the bedrooms have spoilt too. The on-site assessment is free of charge.

Image from no2co2.in

CitiCool understood our budget concerns and proposed the following to reuse most of what is left intact of our Mitsubishi air conditioner system; to reuse the condenser from the system 3 units to replace the faulty system 2 condenser. Since CitiCool are unable to replace the blowers of the system 3, the entire system 3 will be replaced with the Daikin air conditioners instead. In this way, we are able to save the replacement costs for the Mitsubishi system 2.

How is the replacement process like?

The entire replacement took around 4 to 5 hours. On the day of the appointment, 2 technicians came down at 9 am and swapped the Mitsubishi air conditioner system 2 condensers, before they proceed to remove the faulty Mitsubishi system 3 air conditioner units, and its outdoor unit. After the installation was done, another half an hour was spent running the air conditioners to ensure that the installation was successful.

Are the reconditioned air conditioners worth it?

The reconditioned air conditioners are branded (Daikin) was relatively new, and only around 4.5 years old. Furthermore, brand new remote controllers are provided as part of the package. So far, the reconditioned air conditioners have been working fine without glitches so far and the CitiCool responses are still prompt whenever we have questions. In conclusion, we are happy with the savings that were incurred and that we are able to play a part in helping to conserve the environment.