Two quotes for "aircon servicing" can carry the same price and describe different jobs. One is a wipe and a rinse. Another is a checklist in which the gas pressure is measured and the electrical connections are tightened. The price does not tell you which one you are buying. The checklist does, but only if you read the verbs.
This post goes through the general servicing checklist published on our aircon servicing page, one line at a time: what the line means in practice, whether it is work done to the unit or only a look at it, and what it leaves out. Every price below comes from our published price list.
What you pay, and what the visit starts with
General servicing is priced by the number of indoor units: $45 for 1 unit, $70 for 2, $95 for 3, $115 for 4, and $25 per unit from 5 units. The price shown is the final price. The $45 minimum for 1 unit covers the visit, the 9-point pre-check and standard servicing.
The pre-check comes first. All nine points are completed before any servicing or repair work begins, so the work that follows matches what the unit actually needs. The 9-point pre-check is a separate list from the servicing checklist below, and it is the reason a visit can end with "this unit needs a different job" instead of a service that was never going to help.
The published time for the service is 30 to 45 minutes per indoor unit, and about 90 to 120 minutes for a typical 3-bedroom flat with three units, including the pre-check, the servicing and the final test. If you are planning a day around it, how long aircon servicing takes, by number of units works it through.
The eight lines, and which verb is doing the work
The published scope of a general service has eight lines: clean and inspect the air filters; wipe down the evaporator coil surface; flush and vacuum the drainage pipe; check the fan blower and bearings; test the refrigerant pressure (the gas check); tighten the electrical connections; verify cooling performance; and a visual outdoor condenser inspection.
Read the first word of each line. Clean, wipe, flush, vacuum and tighten are things done to the unit. Inspect, check, test, verify and visual are looks and measurements: they produce a finding, not a change. Neither kind is better, but they are not the same thing, and a quote that only says "servicing included" does not tell you how much of the visit is each. Counted line by line, four of the eight are work and four are a look or a measurement. Here they are, grouped by type rather than in the published order.
The four lines that are work
- Clean and inspect the air filters. The filters are the coarse screen behind the front panel. Cleaning them is the one line an owner can do alone, and our guide to washing the filters yourself says where that stops. The "inspect" half matters too: a torn or warped filter lets dust past, and that dust ends up on the coil behind it.
- Wipe down the evaporator coil surface. Two words carry the meaning here: "wipe" and "surface". The wipe reaches the face of the coil, the part you can get at once the filter is out. It does not dissolve the mould and biofilm that build up inside the coil. That is the job of a chemical wash, whose published steps apply a coil-safe cleaning solution to the evaporator coil, leave it to dissolve the grime, and then pressure rinse. Our servicing page itself lists a persistent foul smell as a sign that a chemical wash is needed instead of a general service.
- Flush and vacuum the drainage pipe. This is the line that prevents water leaks. Our pre-check page calls blocked drains the number one cause of aircon water leaks in HDB and condo units. Flushing pushes water through the pipe and vacuuming pulls out what is stuck in it. You can watch part of this happen: our note on what your technician should show you before they leave suggests asking to see water run through the drain pan. A drain that keeps choking after it has been cleared is a different question, covered in why a recurring drain choke keeps coming back.
- Tighten electrical connections. A plain work line, and one nobody sees. It means tightening the connections that are already there. It is not electrical upgrade work: a new isolator or a dedicated point is a separate job.
The four lines that are a look or a measurement
- Check the fan blower and bearings. "Check" here means spinning the blower and listening. The pre-check describes it as a spin test that listens for bearing noise and looks for a cracked or unbalanced wheel. The wheel is checked, not cleaned. Cleaning and balancing the blower wheel belongs to a chemical overhaul, and the blower wheel is the part a general service does not reach.
- Test the refrigerant pressure (the gas check). This is a measurement with gauges. The pre-check page says it reads the refrigerant pressure for R32, R410A and R22 systems and can spot a gas leak before it damages the compressor. A gas check is not a gas top-up. If the reading is low, a top-up is a separate line on the price list, priced per outdoor circuit and not per indoor unit: R22 $115, R410A $130, R32 $170. Indoor units that share one outdoor unit share one circuit. A dedicated pressure or leak test of the piping is priced separately at $180 per FCU (fan coil unit, the indoor unit), and the price list says that if a repair is approved on the same visit, the test fee is offset against that repair. For the questions worth asking before you approve gas work, see how to check an aircon gas leak quote before you approve it.
- Verify cooling performance. The last look, at the end of the visit. On its own it proves little, because a unit with a part-blocked drain or a slow gas loss still blows cold air on the day. The pre-check measures the difference between intake and output air before any work starts, so the useful question at the end is whether the result is better than the start, not whether the air feels cold.
- Visual outdoor condenser inspection. The important word is "visual". The pre-check describes it as a look at the fan, the condenser coil and the external pipework, to catch fan failure and coil corrosion early. The published general service does not list cleaning the outdoor unit. If you expect the outdoor unit to be washed, ask whichever company you book whether that is included, and have the answer written on the quote. The bracket under the outdoor unit is a separate thing again, covered in when a rusting condenser bracket has to be replaced. If your outdoor unit sits on a ledge that is hard to reach, say so when you book: any access charge is confirmed for your block before work starts.
What the checklist leaves out
Nothing on the checklist cleans the inside of the coil, takes the unit apart, or fixes a fault. Those are separate jobs with separate published prices:
- Chemical wash: $135 for 1 unit, $245 for 2, $345 for 3, $425 for 4, and $100 per unit from 5 units. The coil is treated and pressure rinsed in place.
- Chemical overhaul: $200 for 1 unit, $370 for 2, $515 for 3, $640 for 4, and $150 per unit from 5 units. The indoor unit is fully dismantled and each part is cleaned individually, including the blower wheel.
- Gas top-up and leak work: the top-up prices above, piping replacement at $450 per FCU, and concealed pipe work quoted after the test. The gas leak repair cost page sets out the full breakdown.
- Repairs: a standard repair (drainage, electrical) is $80. Compressor and PCB replacement are quoted on-site after diagnosis, and there is no published figure, so we do not give one here.
- Ducted and cassette units have their own published rates, $60 per unit for normal ducted servicing and $60 per unit for general cassette cleaning, and are not on the wall-mounted table above.
Is a general service enough for your unit?
Our servicing page is specific about who a general service suits: units serviced within the past 6 months, routine HDB and condo maintenance, households without strong allergies or pets, and units showing no major performance issues. It points to a different service for a persistent foul smell, for heavily fouled coils after 12 or more months without service, and for a unit that is not cooling effectively.
If your unit is in the first group, a general service is the right job and the cheapest one. If it is in the second, a general service will probably disappoint you, and paying for the wrong job first is the expensive way to find that out. The pre-check exists to settle the question. If it shows the unit needs more than a standard service, you get a quote for the right work and you decide. If you decide not to go ahead, the $45 minimum covers the visit and the diagnosis, and nothing more is charged.
On timing, our servicing page recommends every 3 to 4 months for an aircon used daily, and our chemical wash page suggests a chemical wash every 6 to 12 months on top of that routine.
Five questions that turn any quote into a comparison
- Which lines are included, and are they worded as work or as a look? "Flush the drain" and "check the drain" are not the same promise.
- Is the coil wiped on the surface, or washed with solution? They are different jobs with different prices.
- Is the gas pressure measured, and what happens if it is low? Ask who quotes the top-up and whether it is priced per outdoor circuit or per indoor unit.
- Is the outdoor unit cleaned, or only looked at? Ask for the answer in writing.
- What does the warranty cover, and for how long? Ours is 90 days on workmanship for general servicing, chemical wash and chemical overhaul.
If you would like us to do it
Tell us how many indoor units you have and when they were last serviced, and the pre-check will tell you whether a general service is the right job. WhatsApp us on 9107 2601 to book. The price on the aircon servicing page is the price you pay.