After new homeowners in Tengah reported leaks in their flats' centralised cooling systems, manufacturer Daikin has stepped up rectification and quality control efforts.

So far, they have tripled the team of workers rectifying condensation issues, and doubled its quality control team to conduct extra checks and reduce workmanship issues, a Daikin spokesperson told The Straits Times.

Daikin also doubled the number of installers and will prioritise "quality work methodologies and processes" in their training, the spokesperson added.

Currently, an average of 170 Daikin workers have been deployed to carry out installation, maintenance, and rectification work every day, according to ST.

The spokesperson said more workers will be deployed as necessary.

Both SP and Daikin told ST that cases of condensation were largely caused by workmanship issues due to the “compressed timeline” to hand over units to residents.

The timeline was provided by the Housing and Development Board.

As a result, both organisations claimed they had insufficient time to fully test, stabilise, and commission the systems after installing the fan coil units, piping, and trunking.

Daikin's spokesman also said the company had to recruit skilled labour and conduct proper training within a “challenging timeline”.

Leaks reported

The new centralised cooling system in Tengah BTOs operates differently from the typical AC unit.

Instead of each household having an individual compressor, the system operates using central chillers situated on rooftops, which pipe chilled water into homes.

This would yield up to 20 per cent of life cycle savings compared to conventional aircon systems and up to 30 per cent of energy costs, HDB said.

However, the new system was plagued with issues.

In January, a homeowner complained that her centralised cooling system leaked so much that it flooded her flat while she was overseas.

Maintenance personnel subsequently confirmed that there was a problem with the insulator.

Future plans

The issue also surfaced in Parliament on Nov. 22, 2023.

In response to concerns, the Ministry of National Development (MND) said it was aware of feedback regarding water seepage and airflow issues and attributed the issues to the "compressed flat delivery schedule of the Tengah BTO projects due to extensive delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic".

This, the ministry said, resulted in "insufficient time" for testing and commissioning.

A spokesperson for SP Group told ST that they expect the number of cases still being resolved to come down to 30 by the end of March from 80 in mid-February.

It also reported that, according to SP figures, more than 1,000 households have cancelled their contracts for the centralised cooling system.

The system had over 9,000 subscribers as of Feb. 12, 2024, compared to the 10,600 households on Nov. 15, 2023, ST observed.

Top image from Shin Min Daily News and Daikin's website