How often should air conditioning be serviced?
For home systems, once a year keeps the unit at spec — clean filters, clear condensate drain, a coil clean and a refrigerant and electrical check. Commercial systems generally want servicing twice a year (pre-summer and mid-season) because they run harder for longer, and larger systems carry legal F-Gas leak-check requirements based on refrigerant volume. A neglected system doesn't usually fail dramatically — it just quietly cools less while costing more to run.
What a proper AC service includes
Filter clean or replacement, indoor coil inspection and clean, condensate drain check (blocked drains are the number-one 'why is it dripping' call), outdoor unit inspection, electrical connections, operating pressures and temperatures checked against spec, and the results recorded.
The efficiency argument
Dirty filters and coils make the unit work harder to move the same heat — the compressor runs longer and your electricity pays the difference. A service typically pays for itself in running costs alone on a heavily-used system.
Commercial: the legal layer
Systems above certain refrigerant volumes carry mandatory leak-check intervals under F-Gas regulations, with records. If nobody's mentioned an F-Gas log for your building's kit, that's worth a conversation — we'll tell you plainly what applies.