According to IMD data submitted by the Ministry of Statistics, the average temperature in India has increased by 0.6 degrees in the period between 1901-10 and 2009-2018. While the increase might seem trivial, its consequences can be far-reaching.
With such rising temperature as an aftereffect of global warming, installing air conditioners in households are no more a luxury but a necessity. However, they are quite expensive and often difficult to maintain.
If your AC starts to malfunction, it can incur substantial repair cost. To reduce the financial liabilities incurred under such scenarios, insurance providers across the country have introduced various AC insurance policies. These plans can help to cover all the extra expenses that you might face.
There are many factors that might lead your AC to malfunction like:
- Leakage in refrigerant lines: ACs use CFCs and HCFCs as refrigerants to cool the temperature indoors. If there is a leakage in the refrigerant line, it might lead to serious damages to your AC. Under such situations, the exact location of the leak in the refrigerant pipe has to be located for repairing. It might lead to a costly affair. Air conditioner insurance plan is of much help in such situations.
- Ice layer on evaporation coils: Evaporation coils filled with refrigerants absorb heat from the environment. These coils require warm air around them for proper functioning. If the evaporator coils turn cold, an ice layer develops on its outer surface. This leads to outflow of only warm air or no air at all. AC servicing for replacing these coils can burn a hole in your pocket.
- Dirt layer on condenser coils: If the condenser coils are covered with a thick layer of dirt, heat exchange will be hampered, thereby leading to malfunction of several other units. An AC insurance plan can come handy for your pocket in such situations.
- Fan complications: The blower fans in an AC are an essential component. The two fans cool the evaporator coil and expel the heat absorbed outside the room. Failure of these fans leads to poor airflow and even breakdown of the AC at times.
- Leakage of central ducts: In central air-conditioning system, if there is a leakage in ducts, the cold air gets released out of the vents thereby making ACs work harder to lower the temperature of the room. This damage may be a result of poor installation of your system. This leads to a rise in the bills as well. Having an AC insurance cover is a lot of help while restoring the central ducts.
- Old thermostats: Old thermostats can be tricky with manual calibration. In newer ones, everything is automated. In case your AC is connected to an older one, it might not work properly due to faulty calibrations. Best solutions will be to recalibrate the older thermostats or switch to new ones.
- Drain clogs: The drain line from your AC expels out the moisture that is absorbed from the room interior. If the drain gets clogged, the water collected will damp your walls. Changing a drain can be a costly affair.
The cost of repairing an AC can land you with a hefty bill. Leading insurance provider, Bajaj Finserv offers Air Conditioner Insurance policy which safeguards you from paying exorbitant bills to repair your air conditioners.
It is advisable to buy AC insurance cover to avail reimbursements for the expenses that you might incur while paying for repairing services of your AC.
Other major issues which lead to damage to your expensive ACs and other electrical gadgets are erratic load shedding or a voltage drop.
A home inverter is very necessary in such cases. To make sure that your inverter, along with all your expensive electrical gadgets, function properly, it is essential to take up a home inverter insurance policy.
In this respect, damages can happen even when you are away from home. There might even be instances where several expensive electrical appliances along with your AC can get damaged due to unforeseen incidents like a burglary.
In such cases, you can buy a home protection insurance cover to save yourself from all the monetary loss incurred in due course.
Nevertheless, before buying an AC insurance plan or any such other covers, it is pertinent to check out its features, eligibility criteria, required documents and most importantly its terms and conditions for filing a claim.