Daikin encourages pre-summer AC test

JAPAN: Daikin is to encourage domestic customers in Japan to join in its annual pre-summer Switch on! Campaign and test run their air conditioners before the summer season begins.

The initiative, conducted by Daikin in Japan since 2016, seeks to spread the peak of call outs and repairs in July, when air conditioners are turned on in earnest, by encouraging consumers to carry out a test run from May to the first half of June.

Involvement has grown over the years, with Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of the Environment calling for the implementation of test runs of air conditioners. The Japan Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Industry Association has also designated April 10 this year as Air Conditioner Test Run Day. 

According to Daikin, domestic air conditioners have a “designed standard usage period,” of around 10 years. An awareness survey into years of usage, daily usage, and the implementation status of test runs found that 32.8% of households own air conditioners manufactured more than 12 years ago. The average service life of home air conditioners was found to be 13.2 years.

The survey has also revealed that about half of households have not cleaned the air conditioner’s filter for more than a year. In the Japanese summer, Daikin recommends cleaning the filter every two weeks, but the survey results show that 45.8% have not cleaned the filter for more than a year. Studies have shown that if the filter is not cleaned for a year, it will waste about 25% of its power consumption, as well as dirt on the filter potentially causing an unpleasant odour.