The busy days of AC mechanics

As Dhaka continues to tackle the woes of summer heat, the business of selling air conditioners, stand fans, table fans, and coolers has seen an obvious rise.

Alongside this, the demand for AC mechanics has also increased.

Maruf Hossain, a young lad of 21 years, has been a junior mechanic in an AC repair shop in Uttara for the last four years. He claims that recently his shop manager has been maintaining a roster to keep track of their appointments.

"Every day we work from 10:00am until 11:00pm, with a minimum of 12 visits. Clients are servicing their old ACs, pumping in gas and fixing gas leaks caused by overuse that puts pressure on the compressor. Most importantly, we are installing a minimum of three or a maximum of five new ACs per day," he says, adding that his shop has six mechanics and a few apprentices working round the clock.

"Our manager is also on the roster and doing rounds with us. Our business is seeing better times now, but we are all working overtime," says a chirpy Maruf with a bright smile about his long hours, which are giving him extra pay and earning him hefty tips.

People are now very conscious about their electricity bills that have skyrocketed. "They are opting for an inverter air conditioner, which uses microprocessors to control the speed of the compressor motor. The trick is to match the output required until the room is cool enough. An inverter AC is sought after because it lowers the speed of the motor to save energy and at the same time can maintain the desired temperature," Maruf explains.

Shahana Huda, a homemaker in Uttara Residential Area said, "We use prepaid electricity and within ten days, I had to fill my card twice, paying Tk 14,000 altogether. We had guests over, so I had to run a few ACs, which are window models and extremely power consuming."

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"This is unusual times. It seems I have to apply for a bank loan to buy my electricity," she says jokingly. "Even my vehicle's air-conditioning was not working due to a failing compressor and I had to wait days for a car AC mechanic," Huda adds. 

Rashid Sharif, also an Uttara resident, explains how his prepaid electricity metre is facing capacity issues now.

"I cannot run two ACs at a time as the power trips every few hours. My metre has a capacity of seven kilowatts, but I have been told by my electrician and AC mechanic that I need to increase the capacity by a few extra watts. Now, handling this issue with DESCO is a tedious process. By the time I can run my AC without a glitch I might be a well-done steak," Sharif says sarcastically.

Shahed Latif, an event manager, explains how he bought five extra fans for his home.

"Our garage is a heat trap, even though we have the provision of fans for our guards and drivers, I added two extra table fans for them. My garage houses two dogs and the other day I saw them panting and sitting under the tap, so I installed another ceiling fan for them.

"I bought one for my mother, my son and myself, all my service people have access to extra fans other than their ceiling fans in their room," he explains the reason for adding so many extra fans to his already burgeoning electricity bill.