--- title: "How Often Should Air Conditioning Be Serviced? | R.K Plumbing & Heating" description: "Most domestic air conditioning should be serviced once a year, twice if it works hard. What a service covers, what you can clean yourself, and warning signs." canonical: "https://www.rkplumbingandheatingservices.com/blog/how-often-should-air-conditioning-be-serviced" last_updated: "2026-08-20T22:31:37.955Z" --- # How Often Should Air Conditioning Be Serviced? PublishedMonday, 17 August 2026 Most domestic air conditioning systems should be serviced once a year. If the system works hard, runs for most of the year, or sits somewhere dusty, twice a year is more realistic. Here is what a service actually involves, what you can look after yourself between visits, and why skipping it tends to cost more than it saves. ## What an annual service covers A proper service is a good deal more than a wipe over the indoor unit: - **Cleaning or replacing the filters**, which is what most airflow and efficiency problems come back to - **Cleaning the indoor coil and the outdoor condenser**, so both can actually shift heat - **Clearing and testing the condensate drain**, since a blocked drain is the most common reason an indoor unit starts dripping - **Checking refrigerant pressures** against the manufacturer's figures, which is how a slow leak gets caught before it becomes a breakdown - **Inspecting the electrical connections and controls**, including the handset or wall controller - **Running the system in both heating and cooling**, and confirming it reaches temperature as it should Where a system has been left a long time, a [deeper clean of the internals](/services/air-conditioning-cleaning) may be worth doing on top of the routine service. The refrigerant side of the work is carried out by suitably qualified refrigerant engineers who work to us, in the same way a builder brings in a qualified electrician. ## What you can look after between services Filters are the one part you can and should keep on top of yourself. Depending on the unit and how dusty the room is, they want cleaning somewhere between every few weeks and every couple of months. Most indoor units let you slide the filters out without tools, and the manual will show you how. Keeping the outdoor unit clear helps too. Leaves, hedge cuttings and anything stacked against it restrict airflow, and a condenser that cannot breathe works harder for the same result. > A clean filter is the cheapest efficiency upgrade there is. ## Why it is worth doing Three reasons, in rough order of what they cost you if ignored. **Running cost.** Dirty filters and coils make the system run longer to reach the same temperature. That shows up quietly on the electricity bill rather than as an obvious fault, which is exactly why it goes unnoticed for years. **Catching leaks early.** A sealed system should not lose refrigerant. When the pressures drop it means there is a leak somewhere, and finding it early is a far smaller job than finding it after the compressor has spent a season running under-charged. We carry out [leak detection and repair](/services/air-conditioning-repair) rather than simply topping a system back up and waiting for it to happen again. **The manufacturer's warranty.** Most manufacturers require documented annual servicing as a condition of their own warranty. If a major component fails inside the warranty period and there is no service history to show, that claim can be turned down. ## When twice a year makes sense - The system runs most of the year, for heating as well as cooling - The property is dusty, sits on a busy road, or there are pets in the house - It is a commercial premises such as a shop, salon or office where the system runs all day - It serves a room where air quality matters more than usual ## Signs it needs looking at sooner Do not wait for the annual visit if you notice any of these: - It takes noticeably longer to reach temperature than it used to - Water dripping from the indoor unit - A musty smell when it first starts up - New rattles, buzzing, or any change in the noise from either unit - Ice forming on the pipework or on the indoor coil ## Booking a service R.K Plumbing & Heating install, service and repair air conditioning for homes and small commercial premises. We are based in Woodingdean and cover Brighton, Hove, Worthing, Lewes, Shoreham-by-Sea, Haywards Heath, Seaford, Burgess Hill and surrounding Sussex towns. If your system is due a service, or you cannot remember when it last had one, call us on 01273 911551 and we will get it booked in. There is more detail on what we cover on our [air conditioning servicing](/services/air-conditioning-servicing) page. From the blog ## Recent articles [All articles](/blog) [ 4 min ### Can Air Conditioning Heat Your Home? ](/blog/can-air-conditioning-heat-your-home)[ 4 min ### What Does Air Conditioning Cost to Run? ](/blog/what-does-air-conditioning-cost-to-run)[ 4 min ### Do You Need Planning Permission for Air Conditioning? ](/blog/do-you-need-planning-permission-for-air-conditioning)