Table of Contents
The short answer
Three different jobs are sold under the name AC cleaning, and they deal with three different parts of the system. AC cleaning, usually a split-unit wash, takes the dirt out of the indoor unit: the filters, the cooling coil, the fan and the drain tray. AC servicing is a check of the whole machine with the routine cleaning that goes with it: filter, gas pressure, drain line, thermostat, electrical connections, and a cooling test at the end. Duct cleaning has nothing to do with the machine. It clears dust from the grilles, vents and ductwork that carry air from a concealed unit to the rooms.
Which one you need depends on the symptom. A unit that still cools but smells stale, blows weakly or has not been opened for a year needs cleaning. A unit that cools poorly, drips, makes a new noise or has not been looked at by a technician since last summer needs servicing, and possibly a repair. Dust blowing from ceiling vents, dark marks around the grilles or a home that has just been renovated points to the ducts. A home with wall-mounted split units has no ducts at all, so the third job does not apply to it.
IHR Dream Cleaning prices the first two per unit: split-unit cleaning is AED 99 a unit and AC servicing is AED 129 a unit, both set out on the AC repair and servicing page. AC duct cleaning starts from AED 350 for a studio or one-bedroom apartment and from AED 750 for a villa, with the final figure confirmed from photos or a free inspection. The sums for typical homes are worked through in AC cleaning and duct cleaning prices compared.
First, find out which system your home has
The right job depends on the equipment, and homes in Abu Dhabi use several quite different kinds. You can tell them apart in a couple of minutes without opening anything. Look at the walls, look at the ceilings, and find out where the outdoor unit is, if there is one.
Wall-mounted split units
A white indoor unit sits high on the wall of each room, with a matching outdoor unit on the balcony, an outside wall or the roof. The indoor unit holds the filters, the cooling coil, a long barrel-shaped fan and a drain tray. The outdoor unit holds the compressor and a second coil that gets rid of the heat. Copper pipes carrying refrigerant join the two. There are no ducts: the unit takes air from the room, cools it and blows it straight back. This is the most common system in the city's villas and apartments. Its older relative, the window unit, puts the same parts in one box set through the wall and needs the same care.
Ducted split units
Here the indoor unit is hidden above a false ceiling, often over a corridor, a bathroom or the entrance. All you see is a slotted supply grille in each room and one larger return grille, usually hinged, with a filter behind it. Short runs of duct carry the cooled air to the grilles, and the outdoor unit sits on the roof or a balcony. The hidden unit needs the same washing and checks as a wall unit, done through an access panel in the ceiling. The ducts and grilles are a second place for dust to collect.
Fan-coil units on a building's chilled water
In many towers the cooling does not come from a compressor of your own. The building, or a central plant serving several buildings, chills water and pumps it to every apartment. Above your ceiling is a fan-coil unit: a coil the chilled water runs through, a fan, a filter and a drain tray, with ducts and grilles like those of a ducted split. From below the two look the same.
The difference matters when something goes wrong. There is no outdoor unit belonging to the flat and no refrigerant gas inside it, so a gas refill is not a job that exists for this system. Weak cooling can come from your own fan-coil unit, which gets a dirty filter and coil like any other, or from the building's side: the chilled-water supply, or the valve that lets it into your unit.
Package units on villa roofs
Many villas are cooled by one or more large package units on the roof. Everything is in a single metal cabinet: the compressor, both coils and the fan. Insulated ducts run from the cabinet through the roof into the ceiling space and on to grilles in each room, and a large villa may have one unit for each floor or wing. The filters are sometimes behind the return grilles indoors and sometimes inside the cabinet. Anything on the roof is work for a technician.
Telling them apart at a glance
If you are still not sure, photograph the ceiling grille or the wall unit, and the thermostat, and send the pictures with your booking. A technician can usually tell the system from those.
| What you see | System | Jobs that apply |
|---|---|---|
| A unit on the wall of each room | Wall-mounted split | Unit cleaning, servicing |
| Ceiling grilles, and an outdoor unit that is yours | Ducted split | Unit cleaning, servicing, duct cleaning |
| Ceiling grilles in a tower, no outdoor unit | Fan-coil unit on chilled water | Unit cleaning and checks, duct cleaning |
| Ceiling grilles in a villa, a large cabinet on the roof | Package unit | Servicing, duct cleaning |
Who looks after which part
Before booking anything beyond a filter wash, find out whose equipment it is. In a rented home it is the maintenance clause of the tenancy contract, not custom, that decides whether the tenant or the landlord arranges and pays for AC work. In a tower the building's management usually runs the shared plant. Some buildings also maintain the fan-coil units inside the apartments, and others leave those to the owner or the tenant.
Three questions settle it. What does the contract say about AC maintenance? Does the building have its own AC contractor who must be used, or at least told? Does an outside technician need a work permit or a booking for the service lift? If the work touches a building's shared system, its management may need to approve it or isolate the supply first, so ask before the visit is booked.
AC cleaning: what a split-unit wash does
An AC cools by pulling room air across a cold coil of thin metal fins. Everything in that air lands on wet metal: house dust, the fine sand that comes in on windy days, cooking vapour, hair. The filter in front of the coil catches the coarse part. The rest sticks to the fins, to the blades of the fan behind them and to the tray underneath that collects the condensation.
Three things follow as the layer builds. Air has a harder time getting through, so the room takes longer to cool and the unit runs for more hours to do the same work. The tray and the drain hose grow a slime that can block the outlet, and water that should run outside starts dripping down the wall. And the damp dirt begins to smell, most of all in the first minute after the unit starts. In a humid Abu Dhabi summer a unit takes a great deal of water out of the air, so the drain is working hardest in the same months as the unit.
What a wash normally covers
A wash is done with the power to the unit off, the front panel open and a catch bag hung beneath to carry the dirty water away from the wall and the furniture. The list below is the trade's usual scope. Units differ, and so does what can be reached without dismantling, so confirm when you book what the visit covers for your model and whether the outdoor unit is included.
- The filters are taken out, washed and left to dry.
- The coil fins are washed with a cleaner made for coils and rinsed, working along the fins so that none are bent.
- The fan wheel is cleaned. A layer of dust on its blades cuts the airflow more than most people expect.
- The drain tray is cleared and the drain line flushed, so water runs freely to the outlet.
- The louvres, the casing and the front panel are wiped.
- The unit is run, and checked to see that it cools and drains.
What a wash does not do
A wash is the right job when the unit cools as it should and the trouble is dirt: grey fur on the fan blades or the louvres, or filters that clog again within a couple of weeks. It does not add refrigerant, replace a part or find a fault. If the unit is cooling badly, cleaning may help, but book it as a service so that someone measures before they wash.
AC servicing: the checks that cleaning leaves out
Cleaning asks whether the unit is dirty. Servicing asks whether it is working properly, and answers with measurements. Our published process for a service visit is short and runs in a fixed order.
- You describe what the unit is doing and what type it is, so that the right technician and parts are sent.
- The technician inspects it: gas pressure, the condition of the filter, the drain line, the thermostat's calibration and the electrical connections.
- If something needs repairing, you are given a price for parts and labour before any repair or gas top-up begins.
- The routine work is done on the same visit wherever parts are available: filter cleaning, drain clearing, thermostat calibration.
- The unit is run and checked for correct cooling and airflow before the technician signs off the job.
What each check is looking for
Gas pressure comes first because it is the most misunderstood. The refrigerant travels round a sealed circuit and is not used up, so a low reading means some has leaked, and topping up without finding the leak buys a few weeks. When a unit really needs gas is the subject of AC gas refill: when it is needed and when it is not.
The drain line is checked because a drain that is blocked, kinked or sloping the wrong way sends condensation back into the room. That is the usual cause of water dripping from an indoor unit. The thermostat is checked because a sensor that reads wrongly stops the unit before the room is cool, or never lets it stop, and both feel like poor cooling.
The electrical connections are checked because a loose terminal heats up and can damage a control board or trip the breaker, and a weak capacitor makes the compressor struggle to start. Last comes the cooling test. The gap between the temperature of the air going into the unit and the air coming out tells a technician whether it is moving heat as it should.
How often to service
Our service page gives six to twelve months as the normal interval in Abu Dhabi's dust and humidity, ideally with a visit before the summer, when units run hardest. Homes on the desert edge, where sand clogs filters faster, and homes by the sea, where salt air is hard on outdoor units, do better at the shorter end. A sealed apartment that is used moderately and has its filters washed on time sits at the longer end. Between visits, the unit tells you if the gap was too long: slower cooling, a smell, or water where it should not be.
Where a service ends and a repair begins
A service is routine work at a published price. A repair is whatever the inspection finds: a leak to be traced and sealed before gas goes in, a capacitor, a fan motor, a control board, a compressor. The repair visit starts from AED 99, for one technician, the first hour and the diagnosis. The parts and the gas have no list price, because they differ from unit to unit. Each is quoted once the fault is known, and nothing is fitted until you agree. Many repairs are finished on the same visit, and a part that has to be ordered means a second one.
Before you book a visit for weak cooling, a few causes are worth ruling out yourself: the mode and temperature set on the remote, a clogged filter, a blocked outdoor unit. They are set out in order in AC not cooling: safe checks before you call.
Duct cleaning: the route the air takes
Duct cleaning is for homes with a concealed system: a ducted split, a fan-coil unit or a rooftop package unit. It deals with everything between the machine and the room. That means the supply grilles, the return grille and the space behind it, the vent housings and the ductwork that can be reached. It does not touch the mechanical parts of the AC, which is why it is booked and priced apart from servicing.
Dust reaches the ducts through and around the filter, from the ceiling void where the return side is not sealed, and above all from building work: the fine dust of cutting, sanding and plaster settles inside them even if the AC was switched off at the time. Once it is there, the airflow lifts a little of it each time the fan starts and lays it on your furniture.
What a duct-cleaning visit involves
The AC stays off for the whole visit, and the team needs a power socket for the vacuum machine and a clear way to the indoor units and the ceiling panels. Our published process runs in six steps.
- Before the visit you tell us the type of property and system, the number of vents and where the ceiling access panels are, and you send photos of any visible dust. The job is scoped and quoted from that.
- On arrival the technician checks the accessible vents, grilles and duct openings against the agreed scope, and flags anything unexpected before starting.
- The accessible grilles are taken down, so the duct openings and vent housings are reached properly and not just wiped from outside.
- Built-up dust is cleared from the grilles, the vent housings and the accessible duct sections, with tools suited to the system.
- The grilles are cleaned separately and refitted.
- The technician tells you what was found, and how soon your system and household are likely to need it done again.
What duct cleaning will not fix
It will not make a faulty unit cool. If the airflow is still weak afterwards, the cause is usually mechanical and the unit needs a service. It will not cure a smell that comes from a wet coil or drain tray inside the unit, which is a job for a unit wash. And it will not stop mould coming back if the moisture that feeds it is still there. Dark spots around a vent can be plain dust stuck to a cold, damp surface, or they can be mould, and the two are handled differently: see musty smell or black spots on AC vents.
Nor is there one interval that suits every home. A sealed tower flat and a villa beside open desert collect dust at very different rates. How to judge it for your own home is in how often AC ducts should be cleaned.
The three jobs side by side
Every price in the table includes VAT. The two duct figures and the repair visit are starting prices. Gas and parts have no list price at all and are quoted after the unit has been inspected.
| Job | What it deals with | Book it when | Published price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Split-unit cleaning | Filters, coil, fan and drain of the indoor unit | The unit cools but smells, blows weakly or is visibly dirty | AED 99 per unit |
| AC servicing | Gas pressure, drain, thermostat, electrics, filter and a cooling test | Cooling has dropped, water drips, or the last check was 6–12 months ago | AED 129 per unit |
| Duct cleaning, apartment | Grilles, vents and accessible ducts | Dust from the vents, marks round the grilles, after renovation | From AED 350 (studio or 1-bedroom) |
| Duct cleaning, villa | The same, across more vents and often more than one system | As above | From AED 750 |
| Repair visit | The fault: one technician, the first hour and the diagnosis | The unit will not cool or will not start | From AED 99; gas and parts quoted before the repair |
If you need more than one, the order matters
Have the unit cleaned or serviced before the ducts, or on the same visit. A dirty fan throws dust into newly cleaned ducts within days. If a unit is both dirty and faulty, book it as a service, because the technician needs to see how it behaves before it is washed.
After building work, have the ducts cleaned before the home is cleaned, and keep the AC off in between. Otherwise the first hour of cooling spreads construction dust over surfaces that have just been finished. What that first clean involves is covered in after-builders cleaning.
Start from the symptom
Most people do not begin with the name of a job. They begin with something the AC is doing. The table points each common symptom at the job that usually deals with it.
| What you notice | Most likely cause | Job to book |
|---|---|---|
| Stale smell for the first minute | Damp dirt on the coil, fan or drain tray | Unit cleaning |
| Smell that stays after the unit is cleaned | Dust and moisture in the ducts | Duct cleaning |
| Water dripping from the indoor unit | Blocked or disconnected drain line | Servicing |
| Runs all day, room never gets cool | Dirty filter or coil, low gas or a failing part | Servicing |
| One room weaker than the rest (ducted) | A dust-clogged vent, or a fault at the unit | Duct cleaning, then servicing if it stays |
| Dust on the furniture under a vent | Dust in the ducts or an unsealed return | Duct cleaning |
| A new rattle, grind or click | Loose fan, worn bearing, debris in the outdoor unit | Servicing |
| Ice on the pipes or the coil | Blocked airflow or low gas | Switch off, then servicing |
When to switch it off and call
Three symptoms mean stop using the unit: a burning smell, a grinding noise, and a breaker that trips when the unit starts. Switch the AC off at its isolator or breaker and leave it off. Do not keep resetting a breaker that trips again, because it is doing its job. If the same breaker serves other things, or the sockets nearby feel warm, the fault may be in the wiring and not in the unit, which is covered in tripping breakers, flickering lights and warm sockets.
When a home has no cooling at all in summer, say so. No-cooling calls are put first wherever technicians and parts allow, and a same-day visit costs the same as one booked a week ahead. For that kind of call, phone us on +971 52 723 5299.
What you can safely do yourself
One job belongs to the household: the filters. Doing it on time is the difference between a unit that needs a wash once a year and one that needs it every few months. Check them once a month, and sooner after a dusty spell or in a home with pets.
- Switch the unit off at the remote and at its wall isolator or breaker.
- On a wall unit, lift the front panel until it holds open and slide the mesh filters out. On a ducted system, open the hinged return grille, if you can reach it from a step ladder without stretching, and lift the filter out.
- Vacuum the filter, or rinse it under the tap from the clean side so the dust is pushed back out the way it came in. Use cool water and nothing stronger than a drop of washing-up liquid.
- Shake it off and let it dry completely in the shade. A filter put back wet grows mould, and one dried in direct sun can warp.
- Wipe the grille or front panel and the louvres with a barely damp cloth, refit the dry filter and switch the power back on.
What to leave to a technician
Everything past the filter involves water near electrics, sharp fins, chemicals or height. Outdoors, the household's part is only to keep boxes, laundry racks and plants away from a balcony or ground-level unit, which needs free air around it to shed heat.
- Anything behind the plastic of the indoor unit: the coil, the fan wheel, the drain tray, the control board.
- Coil cleaners. Household sprays, bleach and descalers can corrode the fins, and no two cleaning products should ever be mixed.
- The refrigerant circuit, its valves and its pipework.
- Electrical covers, capacitors and wiring, on either unit.
- Any unit on a roof, on an outside wall or above the reach of a step ladder.
- The inside of the ducts. A household vacuum reaches a hand's length and disturbs the rest.
When to book through the Abu Dhabi year
The weeks before the heat arrives are the time for a service. The unit is about to run almost without a break for months, and a weak part is far more likely to give up under that load than in March. A fault found in spring is a planned repair. The same fault found in July is a hot house while a part is ordered.
The second date is after the summer. Months of continuous running in humid air leave coils and drain trays at their dirtiest, and duct cleaning is often booked at this point in the year. A unit that began to smell in August is a unit to wash in autumn.
Three events sit outside the calendar. After a sandstorm or a run of windy days, wash the filters and look at the grilles again a week later. After any renovation, treat the ducts as dirty until someone has looked. And when you move in, remember that the previous occupant's filters are still in the units: a service of each one belongs on the same list as the water tank and the locks, set out in the new home maintenance checklist.
Where AC sits among a home's other seasonal jobs is shown in the home maintenance calendar for Abu Dhabi. If you are weighing a yearly contract against separate visits, the two are compared in annual maintenance contract or pay per visit.
What to tell us when you book, and what happens on the day
A good AC visit starts with the description. The more exactly the job is described, the more likely the technician arrives with the right parts and enough time.
- The number of units and their type: wall split, ducted, fan-coil, package or window.
- What each one is doing and since when: weak cooling, dripping, noise, smell, not starting. Say whether it is constant or comes and goes.
- A photo of the label on the unit, or the brand and rough age. It helps with parts.
- Where the outdoor unit is: balcony, wall or roof. A ladder is brought, but a high or awkward unit should be mentioned.
- For ducts: the number of vents, where the ceiling access panels are, and photos of the dust or marks.
- Whether the unit is under a manufacturer's warranty, which can change how a repair is handled.
On the day
Clear the floor and the furniture under the indoor units and vents, and make sure the outdoor unit can be reached. The technician inspects first and confirms the scope. If opening the unit shows a different job from the one described, work stops until you have a revised figure.
At the end, each serviced unit is run with you. You check the air coming out and the drain line, and any part that needs replacing is explained before it is fitted. After duct cleaning you are shown the vents and filters, and before-and-after photos of the ducts where an access panel lets a camera in.
Every price includes VAT, and there is no call-out fee and no extra charge for Fridays, public holidays or same-day visits. Payment is online by card, from My bookings on this website once we have confirmed the price.
Common questions
How long does each visit take?
A filter clean and gas check on one split unit typically takes 45 to 60 minutes, and servicing several units in a villa is usually done in half a day. Duct cleaning in a standard apartment with a handful of vents takes one to two hours, and longer in a villa. A repair takes as long as the fault demands.
Does the outdoor unit need cleaning too?
It does, though it is noticed less often. The outdoor coil sheds the heat taken out of the room. On a dusty roof, or a balcony that faces the wind, its fins mat with dust and lint, and the unit then has to work harder to get rid of the same heat. Rinsing it is a technician's job, because it means water beside electrics and often height. Ask when you book whether the outdoor unit is part of the visit, and say where it is.
Can the AC be used straight after the visit?
Yes. A washed or serviced unit is run by the technician before leaving, and you can keep it on. After duct cleaning you may notice a faint dusty smell for the first short while the AC runs. It settles quickly as the last loose particles clear the system.
Can AC work be done alongside a deep clean?
It can usually be scheduled alongside a clean when it is confirmed in advance, which saves a second access arrangement. A deep clean wipes the grille and vent covers it can reach. It does not include the ducts or the inside of the units, which need different equipment and are booked separately, as our deep cleaning guide explains. If both are booked, have the AC work done first, so that any dust it loosens is cleaned up afterwards.
Choosing the job and booking it
Name the system, name the symptom, and the job follows. Dirt in the unit is a wash. Doubt about how the unit is running is a service. Dust on the route the air takes is the ducts.
The prices for unit cleaning and servicing, and what a service visit checks, are on the AC repair and servicing page, and the full price list has everything else. We work every day, 8 AM – 8 PM, across the areas we serve in Abu Dhabi. To arrange a visit, book online, choose split-unit cleaning, AC servicing or duct cleaning, give the number of units and reply to the confirmation email with photos.
Services in this article
All ac and air quality guides
- AC Cleaning and Duct Cleaning Prices in Abu Dhabi: Split-Unit Wash, Servicing and Ducts ComparedAC and air quality · 17 min read
- How Often Should a Home's AC Ducts Be Cleaned in Abu Dhabi? Signs It Is TimeAC and air quality · 17 min read
- Musty Smell or Black Spots on AC Vents: What It Means and Who to CallAC and air quality · 20 min read
- AC Gas Refill: When an AC Really Needs Gas and When It Doesn'tAC and air quality · 18 min read
- AC Not Cooling? Safe Checks to Make Before You Call a TechnicianAC and air quality · 20 min read
