The Maintenance That Actually Pays for Itself

Every maintenance company will tell you that maintenance saves money. We are one of them, so take the next few hundred words with that in mind. What we can do is be specific about which jobs actually earn their keep in a Dubai property, and which ones we would not bother with if it were our own flat.

The test is simple. Does this job either stop something expensive from happening, or reduce a bill you are already paying? If it does neither, it is a nice-to-have.

Washing the outdoor AC coil

If you only ever pay for one thing on this list, pay for this one.

The condenser outside your flat has one job: to dump the heat it collected from inside. It does that through a fine aluminium coil, and in Dubai that coil sits in the open collecting dust every day of the year. Once the fins are coated, heat has nowhere to go, so pressure rises and the compressor draws more current for exactly the same amount of cooling.

That shows up in two places. On your DEWA bill every month, and eventually on a quotation for a new compressor, because a compressor working against high head pressure for years does not last as long as one that is not.

Clearing the AC drain before it blocks

This is the cheapest job in the trade and it prevents one of the more expensive ones.

An air conditioner in Dubai runs continuously, so it produces condensate continuously, and the pan and drain line never really dry out. That is ideal conditions for the sludge that eventually blocks them. When the line blocks, the pan overflows into whatever is underneath: plasterboard, skirting, flooring, or the ceiling of the flat below you.

Flushing it through takes a few minutes on a service visit. The version where somebody is replacing a section of ceiling costs a great deal more than that, and if it reached a neighbour it costs a conversation as well.

Fixing a leak instead of topping up the gas

A refrigerant circuit is sealed. It does not use gas up the way a car uses petrol. So if your unit is low, the gas went somewhere, and there is a hole where it went.

Plenty of companies in Dubai will happily charge you for gas twice a year and never mention this. It is easy money and the customer feels looked after because the AC works again for a while. Meanwhile the leak is still there, and refrigerant is not cheap.

If you have paid for gas more than once on the same unit, you have not been buying a repair. You have been renting one.

Finding and fixing the leak costs more on the day and stops the cycle. That is the whole calculation.

Servicing the water heater

Dubai water is hard, and hard water scales up a heating element. A scaled element uses more electricity to heat the same tank and then eventually fails, usually by tripping your RCD one morning when somebody is trying to shower.

Flushing the tank and checking the element is a modest job. Replacing a heater because the tank corroded through is not, and neither is the water damage in the cupboard it was sitting in.

Tightening electrical connections

This one sounds like nothing and prevents some of the worst outcomes on the list.

Electrical terminals expand and contract with every heat cycle, and in a climate where equipment runs constantly they work themselves loose over time. A loose connection has resistance, resistance makes heat, and heat makes it looser. Left long enough it arcs, burns and takes a contactor or a board with it.

Checking and torquing terminals costs almost nothing on a visit that is happening anyway. It is one of the reasons an electrical check is worth having as part of a maintenance schedule rather than as a separate call.

What we would not bother with

Being fair, some of what gets sold in this city is not worth your money.

• Duct cleaning on a two or three year old flat with clean ductwork. Ask for the camera inspection first and decide after you have seen it
• AC sanitising sprays sold as a cure for smell. If there is growth, something in there is wet, and the wet thing is the job
• Annual deep cleaning of units that are serviced properly twice a year. Every two or three years is plenty for most homes
• A contract on a small flat with one split unit. Two visits a year booked as you need them usually costs less

The one that changes the arithmetic

Everything above is a single job. What changes the maths more than any of them is whether somebody is looking at all.

Almost every expensive repair we attend had a cheap warning first. The drain that was slow. The noise that was new. The bill that had crept up. None of those get noticed by a person who lives with them daily, which is exactly why a scheduled visit finds things that a resident does not.

That does not mean everybody needs a contract, and we will tell you when you do not. But if you own a villa, run a shop, or look after several properties, the sums stop being close.