[JuniorSpies]

I'm confused by the conflicting information on the Whirlpool forums and the websites of fridgies. Some say you need to have your aircon unit serviced regularly and sometimes regassed, others say you shouldn't need either and should replace your unit once it starts to play up.
I'd like to save the $$ if I can and I hear that aircon units in landfill are even worse than batteries so I'd rather keep my unit if I can.
Have you ever had your air conditioning unit serviced and regassed? How much did it cost? Any unexpected costs I should be aware of?

[Jemstar]

Our ducted aircon has never been regassed as it's not been necessary, but we service it every couple of years. It was an expensive investment, I think it's worth looking after. Filters etc do need replacing from time to time as well. Ours is being done in Feb. It costs abut $120 from memory for the service and obviously if you need any parts, those are paid for too. In 10 years we have had to replace one zone motor (not to do with the unit itself) and we will replace the return air filter with this service for the first time since we had the system installed.

This post has been edited by Jemstar: 19/01/2013, 10:25 AM

[bark]

You definately should get your aircon serviced and cleaned regularly to have it working optimally. As far as I'm aware, you only need to detAs when required, so not very often. Mind you with the carbon tax now, the gas is quite pricey but def better than replacing a system. That's just ridiculous.

[yeah]

My DH is a refrigeration mechanic.

If your aircon needs regassing then it must have a leak somewhere which needs to be fixed before putting gas in. We have split systems which require R22 gas. The prices of refrigeration gas rose significantly at the time the carbon tax was introduced but we are not allowed to lay blame on the carbon tax. Our former business partner got into a lot of trouble with the government as he had sent out a letter saying that the prices were increasing due to the carbon tax.

R22 is currently $64.92 per kilo. We got an email from our supplier the other day saying that from 1Feb it will increase by 30%.

You have to do the math - price of fixing leak plus recharging of gas (plus callout and labour) versus a new aircon plus installation fees and make your decision from there.

At home, my DH just cleans out the filters of all of our splits and has never touched them again mechanically after initial installation. We have been here for nearly six years with no issues with our air cons.

Hope I helped.