How often should air conditioning be serviced? (and F-gas rules for businesses)
Once a year is the sensible default for most home and small office systems — and Daikin says its warranty is only valid if annual maintenance is carried out. Businesses may also have a legal duty: under GB F-gas rules, systems holding 5 tonnes CO₂-equivalent of refrigerant or more must be leak-checked at set intervals.
Here’s what that means in practice, what a service actually involves, and what it costs.
Why servicing matters (and what it won’t fix)
An air conditioner is a sealed refrigerant circuit plus fans, filters and a drain. Left alone, filters clog, coils collect dust, and condensate drains can block. The result is usually a system that works harder for less, smells musty, or drips water down the wall.
A service keeps it running as it should. It won’t turn a badly sized or poorly installed system into a good one, and it won’t make an old unit as efficient as a new one. If something’s fundamentally wrong, we’ll tell you rather than keep charging you to look at it.
How often?
| Situation | Our advice |
|---|---|
| Home system, normal use | Once a year |
| Home system under Daikin warranty | Once a year — it’s a warranty condition |
| Office, shop, server room or heavy use | At least once a year; more often where the load or environment demands it |
| Business system at or above 5 t CO₂e | Legal leak-check interval applies (see below) |
Between services, you can keep the indoor unit’s filters clean yourself — your user manual shows how. That’s the single biggest thing an owner can do.
What an annual service usually includes
A standard air conditioning service normally covers:
- Cleaning or replacing indoor unit filters
- Cleaning the indoor coil and fan, and checking for odours
- Clearing and testing the condensate drain and any pump
- Inspecting and cleaning the outdoor unit coil and checking for damage or obstructions
- Checking electrical connections and controls
- Checking operating pressures and temperatures in heating and cooling modes
- A leak check of the refrigerant circuit and connections
- A service record for your warranty file
What it costs
Our annual maintenance visit is from £120 for a single system, with extra indoor units at £40 each. So a multi-split with three indoor units would start from £200 (£120 + 2 × £40).
We service systems we didn’t install, including other brands.
Commercial systems, VRF and multi-site estates are quoted individually — see commercial air conditioning.
Warranty: why skipping a year can cost you
Daikin is clear on the condition of its residential warranty: “a warranty is only valid if annual maintenance is carried out”, and it “reserves the right to ask for proof that this has been carried out.”
In other words, a missed service can hand the manufacturer a reason to refuse a claim. Keep every service record.
Domestic vs commercial: what’s actually different
At home, servicing is about reliability, air quality, efficiency and keeping your warranty. The F-gas leak-check duty is set by the amount of refrigerant, not by whether the building is a home — and most single-room domestic systems sit well below the threshold. If you’re weighing up whole-house heating instead, see our air source heat pumps page.
For businesses, there’s more to it: legal leak-check intervals, records you must keep, and often several systems across a site or estate. We run planned maintenance for commercial clients with 24/7 support, and handle commercial heating through our maintenance and servicing team.
F-gas rules for businesses (Great Britain)
In Great Britain, F-gas controls come from the retained EU Regulation 517/2014 as it now applies in GB law. NetRegs publishes the guidance for businesses in Scotland.
Who is responsible?
The operator of the equipment — generally the business using it, not the engineer who services it. If you rent or lease equipment, responsibility depends on the agreement.
Working out CO₂-equivalent
Leak-check thresholds are set in tonnes of CO₂-equivalent (t CO₂e), not kilograms. Government guidance: multiply the refrigerant charge in tonnes by the refrigerant’s global warming potential (GWP).
- R32 has a GWP of 675 under the regulation. 5 t CO₂e is roughly 7.4 kg of R32.
- R410A: government guidance puts 500 t CO₂e at 239 kg, so 5 t CO₂e is roughly 2.4 kg.
- The charge is on the outdoor unit’s rating plate, plus any refrigerant added on site.
How often you must leak-check
| Charge (t CO₂e) | Without automatic leak detection | With automatic leak detection |
|---|---|---|
| Under 5 | No mandatory leak check | — |
| 5 to under 50 | Every 12 months | Every 24 months |
| 50 to under 500 | Every 6 months | Every 12 months |
| 500 and over | Every 3 months | Every 6 months (leak detection required) |
Hermetically sealed systems have no maximum interval unless they hold 10 t CO₂e or more.
If a leak is found, it must be repaired as soon as possible and re-checked within a month to confirm the repair worked.
Records
Operators must keep records for each system — refrigerant type and quantity, CO₂e, refrigerant added or recovered, who did the work and their certification, and leak-check dates and results — for at least five years.
Who can do the work
Leak checks, installation, servicing and recovery must be carried out by appropriately qualified people. Thermal Care is REFCOM certified for F-gas, so refrigerant work is handled compliantly and recorded properly.
What’s changing?
As of mid-2026, Defra has said it won’t legislate this year to change the GB HFC phase-down schedule, which remains in place from January 2027. Its 2025 consultation focused on the phase-down; leak-checking, certification and record-keeping still follow the retained regulation. The existing GB ban on placing new single-split systems on the market with less than 3 kg of refrigerant of GWP 750 or more has applied since 1 January 2025 — that affects new equipment, not the servicing of existing systems.
Frequently asked questions
How often should air conditioning be serviced at home?+
Once a year is the sensible default, and it’s a condition of Daikin’s warranty. Clean the filters yourself in between — your manual shows how. If the system runs hard all year, sits in a dusty or kitchen environment, or you notice smells, drips or weaker performance, have it looked at sooner rather than waiting for the annual visit.
How much does an air conditioning service cost?+
Our annual maintenance visit starts from £120 for a single system, with each extra indoor unit at £40. A three-room multi-split starts from £200. Commercial systems, VRF and multi-site contracts are quoted after we’ve seen them. We’ll confirm the price before booking.
Will you service a system you didn’t install?+
Yes. We service systems installed by other companies. We’ll check it over, tell you honestly what condition it’s in, and give you a service record. If we find a problem from the original installation, we’ll explain it and what fixing it would involve, rather than just ticking the box.
Does my business need F-gas leak checks?+
It depends on the refrigerant charge in tonnes of CO₂-equivalent, not the size of your business. Systems at 5 t CO₂e or more need checks at least every 12 months, more often as the charge rises. For R32 that’s around 7.4 kg; for R410A around 2.4 kg. You must also keep records for five years.
What happens if I skip a service?+
Nothing dramatic straight away, but filters and coils clog, efficiency drops, and drains can block. With a Daikin system, missing annual maintenance can invalidate the warranty. For businesses with systems over the F-gas threshold, missing a required leak check is a compliance breach, not just a maintenance gap.
Get a straight answer
Want your system checked by an F-gas certified team — whether we installed it or not? Call 01506 894600 or book a service. Read more about our air conditioning service.
Sources
- Checking F gas equipment for leaks (GOV.UK, updated Aug 2026) — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/checking-f-gas-equipment-for-leaks
- Calculate the CO2 equivalent quantity of an F gas (GOV.UK) — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/calculate-the-carbon-dioxide-equivalent-quantity-of-an-f-gas
- Stationary refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps: F-gas controls (NetRegs, Scotland/NI) — https://www.netregs.org.uk/environmental-topics/air-pollution/fluorinated-gases-f-gases/stationary-refrigeration-air-conditioning-and-heat-pumps-f-gas-controls/
- Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 as retained in GB, Annex I (GWP values) — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2014/517/annex/I
- Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 as retained in GB, Annex III (placing-on-market prohibitions) — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2014/517/annex/III
- Defra consultation: F gas Regulation in Great Britain — reform of the HFC phasedown — https://consult.defra.gov.uk/fluorinated-gases-and-ozone-depleting-substances-policy-team/f-gas-regulation-in-great-britain
- Defra delays GB F-gas phase-down (Cooling Post, 16 May 2026) — https://www.coolingpost.com/uk-news/defra-delays-gb-f-gas-phase-down/
- Daikin UK residential warranty — https://www.daikin.co.uk/en_gb/residential/services/warranty.html