Maintenance
How Often to Service an Air Conditioner
Once a year is the floor where cooling runs for months. What the interval changes, and what a second visit is actually for.
Where the air conditioner runs half the year, one maintenance visit is the minimum. In a short northern summer, that same visit still matters, because the machine sits and then has to work on the worst day.
A second visit is for a symptom, not a calendar. Weak cooling, ice, water at the air handler, or a breaker that trips are not 'wait until next spring' problems.
What changes the interval
Pets, a house under renovation, and cottonwood season load a filter faster than the date on the filter frame. Check it monthly in those houses. Change it when you cannot see light through it, not when a sticker says so.
A system over ten years old, or a heat pump that does all of the cooling, deserves the spring visit even if last year was uneventful. Age is when small leaks and weak capacitors show up.
What you should not buy
A club membership that exists to sell a replacement is not maintenance. Ask what readings the visit includes. If the answer is 'we will look at it,' you are paying for a sales call.
The shops in this directory are owner-operated. Ask the owner what the tune-up includes before you book it.
Ready to call a shop? Find independent AC repair by city.