What happened when I
put off cleaning the AC
for 3 summers
The day the electricity bill arrived, I checked the number three times.
Let me start with a confession.
In the 3 years I've lived in this apartment, I never once cleaned the AC. "I'll do it next month" repeated every summer, and before I knew it, 3 years had passed.
And this summer, that bill arrived. The electricity bill. I checked it three times.
Year 1 summer — no problems
When I moved in, the landlord installed a new AC. The technician said, "Clean the filter once a year." I said "sure, sure" and moved on.
That first summer was truly cool. Five minutes after turning it on, the room was chilly, and the bill was reasonable.
That thought was the start of 3 years of regret.
Year 2 summer — there were signs
When I first turned on the AC, there was a musty smell. I caught it for a moment, then it seemed to fade. I figured it was just the smell of being off for a while.
July's bill was ₩12,000 higher than the year before. "Did the rate plan change?" I wondered.
Looking back now, the signals were already there. The musty smell on startup, the longer cooling time, and the slightly higher bill.
But I ignored them. Too busy, too lazy, figured it was nothing.
Right. It was still cool. Still.
Year 3 summer — it really began
It took 15 minutes to cool down after turning on the AC. In year 1 it was 5 minutes.
The smell no longer faded. The more I ran the AC, the stuffier the room felt.
And in the third week of July, I noticed small black specks flying out near the AC vent.
Black specks were flying. At first I thought it was dust. When I caught them in my hand, they were something else.
In that moment, the 3 years came back to me. The fact that I'd been running this and breathing for 3 years came back to me.
And then the bill came
At the end of July, the electricity bill text arrived. I saw the number, put the phone down, then picked it up again. Looked again. And again.
I checked three times.
Same month last year it was ₩105,000. Two years ago ₩98,000. This year it was ₩187,000.
Almost double. Same home, same AC, same summer.
When the AC filter and interior get clogged, cooling efficiency drops. When efficiency drops, the compressor runs longer and harder to hit the same temperature. It uses more electricity. The longer you skip cleaning, the more expensive your bill becomes — by design.
I contacted PanSol
The next day I opened the PanSol app. I connected with an AC-cleaning specialist partner. Two days later the partner came.
The partner opened the indoor unit cover. He took out the filter.
I'll never forget that moment.
I calculated the loss
After the partner finished cleaning and left, I pulled out the calculator. Exactly how much had I wasted over 3 years?
I wasted nearly ₩300,000. One AC cleaning would have been ₩30,000, but I skipped 3 years and paid ₩300,000.
"It wasn't that I skipped cleaning.
I paid for it in electricity instead.
Far more expensively."
So here's what I do now
I asked the partner what to do from now on. The answer was simpler than I expected.
- ๐ธEvery May, self-clean the filter before first use. Take the filter out, wash it with water, dry it completely, then reinsert. Takes 30 minutes. The bill savings show up immediately.
- ๐Once a month in peak summer, check the filter. Dust builds fast when run times are long in summer. Just taking it out once a month to look gets you halfway there.
- ๐งEvery 2 years, a pro interior cleaning. You can wipe the filter yourself, but the heat exchanger and drain pan need a pro. A 2-year cycle stops mold before it takes hold.
- ๐If you smell something, act that same day. A musty smell on startup = a mold alarm. Once the day passes, you forget again. The day it smells is the day to act.
- ๐If your bill is up 10%+ from last year, check the AC first. Reduced AC efficiency is the most common cause. When the bill looks off, suspect the AC first.
This summer was different
The first time I turned on the AC after cleaning, the room cooled in 3 minutes. It felt like year 1's summer had come back.
The August bill text came. This time I only looked once.
In one month it dropped by ₩84,000. The ₩98,000 AC cleaning cost was almost recovered in a single month.
Even now, every May I take out the AC filter.
Last year it was a chore, this year I just do it.
Because I remember that ₩187,000 bill.
Book an AC cleaning today,
and this month's bill changes
Verified partners · Upfront quotes · Safe escrow · Completely free during beta
Book an AC cleaning now →๐ก Send this to someone who keeps putting off their AC cleaning
