How much does aircon servicing cost in Singapore?

For a typical HDB home with 2–3 aircon units, you're looking at roughly $90–$150 to service everything in one visit. A single one-off unit is closer to $90–$130. Chemical wash is more. Gas top-up is more again. And most one-off repairs land somewhere in $120–$250.

That's the short version. The rest of this is for anyone who wants to understand why the prices vary so much, what the common upsells sound like, and how to tell when a $25 flyer is a deal versus a trap.

Why prices vary so much in Singapore

Aircon servicing in Singapore is one of the most quoted home services and one of the most inconsistently priced. Part of that is genuine — there really is a difference between cleaning a filter and dismantling a unit for a chemical wash. Part of it is less genuine: there are companies running $25 flyer prices to get a tech inside your home, knowing they'll find $200 worth of extras to do once they're there.

Most reputable companies in Singapore quote within a fairly tight range. If you're seeing something dramatically cheaper, ask what's included before saying yes.

General servicing

This is the routine maintenance most households need every 3–4 months. The work involves taking the front panel off, washing the filter, hosing the indoor coil, flushing the drain pan, and checking the outdoor unit. It takes 30–45 minutes per unit when done properly.

Pricing depends almost entirely on how many units you're doing in one visit. Two or more units in the same trip, the price drops to $30–$50 per unit. A single one-off unit costs $90–$130 because the tech still has to come out, set up, and leave for just one. The more units you bundle, the better the per-unit rate.

Most of our regulars are on a 3-monthly schedule with us doing their whole house each visit. That works out to about $240–$300 a year for a typical 3-unit HDB. The unit lasts longer, the bill is lower, and you don't end up paying for emergency calls.

Chemical wash

Chemical wash is what you need when general servicing isn't restoring cooling anymore. The coil fins inside the indoor unit have a layer of biofilm — mould, dust, and oily residue that's hardened into a thin paste — and no surface wipe is going to get it out. The whole unit has to be dismantled, the coil soaked in a cleaning solution, the drain pan deep-cleaned, and everything put back. 2–3 hours of work per unit.

For a single wall-mount unit, that's $150–$220. For multiple units in the same visit:

• 2 units: $280–$380
• 3 units: $400–$540
• 4 or more (whole-home): by quote, usually around $130 per unit at scale

Cassette and ceiling-suspended units cost an extra $30–$50 each because they're harder to dismantle. If you're unlucky and have one of those, you'll already know.

Most homes need a chemical wash every 12–18 months. Sooner if the unit smells musty when it switches on, or if the cooling has gone weak even after a regular service. If your aircon smells like a wet towel, chemical wash time.

Chemical overhaul

Chemical overhaul is the next level up, usually only needed when a unit has been badly neglected. The whole indoor unit comes off the wall — fan motor, blower wheel, coil, casing — and each part is soaked separately. The outdoor unit gets the same treatment. Half a day of work, sometimes more.

Pricing is $250–$450 per unit. Most people only need this once, after which a 3–4 month general schedule keeps things out of trouble for years.

Common customers for overhaul: people who've just moved into a place where the previous owner clearly never serviced anything, and households where the units have been running for 2+ years without proper maintenance. If you have pets or do a lot of frying at home, overhaul gets you back to baseline faster.

Gas top-up

If your aircon cools nicely for the first 20 minutes and then starts blowing warmer air, your refrigerant might be low. There are a few important things to know about gas top-ups in Singapore.

The price depends on which refrigerant your unit uses:

• R32 (modern units, roughly 2018 onwards): $120–$180
• R410A (mid-age units, 2010 to 2018): $140–$200
• R22 (pre-2010 units): $160–$240, more expensive because it's being phased out

If you're not sure which one your unit uses, the model sticker on the outdoor unit will tell you. Or send us a photo and we'll tell you.

One thing we feel strongly about: a proper gas top-up always includes a leak test first. Refrigerant doesn't evaporate the way petrol does — it's a sealed system. If your gas is low, there's a leak somewhere, and topping up without finding it means you'll be back here in 3 months paying for another top-up. We test pressures before we top up, every time.

If a leak is found, repair cost depends on where it is. The common one is a copper joint at the outdoor unit, which is $80–$150 to braze and re-seal. A full re-gas after fixing a big leak runs $200–$350.

Common repair pricing

These are the calls that come in most weeks, and roughly what each one runs.

Aircon dripping water indoors is almost always a clogged drain line, which is $80–$130 to flush. Sometimes it's a frozen coil from restricted airflow ($90–$150), and occasionally a cracked drain pan ($100–$160). We'll diagnose before quoting.

Outdoor unit running but indoor blowing room-temperature air is usually a failed capacitor on the outdoor unit, which is $120–$180 to replace. Less commonly, it's the compressor itself, in which case the unit usually needs to be replaced rather than repaired.

Aircon won't turn on at all — first thing we check is the MCB at your DB box. Sometimes it's tripped and you don't even know. If that's the only issue, the call is just our diagnostic fee. After that, we check remote batteries (which catches more people than you'd think), then the control board. Total cost usually $80–$180.

Control board fault — the brain of the indoor unit. If it can't read the room temperature, it won't signal the compressor to start. Diagnosis plus replacement is $150–$300 depending on the brand. Daikin and Mitsubishi-Heavy boards usually run higher.

On-site diagnostic is $80 when you don't know what's wrong, and we waive it if you proceed with the recommended repair. We don't guess and we'll never push a fix we can't explain.

Things that change the final price

A few situational things can push pricing up:

• After-hours visits, Sunday, or public holidays usually carry a 20–30% premium
• Same-day emergency callouts add a small premium to the diagnostic fee
• Outdoor units on high ledges or hard-to-access balconies add labour time
• Specialty brand parts (Daikin, Mitsubishi-Heavy, premium European units) sometimes need to be ordered

None of these should be a surprise on the invoice. If we know upfront that any of them apply, we tell you on WhatsApp before coming out.

The $25 flyer question

We get asked about these almost every month. The honest answer is that nobody can profitably service an aircon for $25. The cost of cleaning solution, the tech's time, the travel, the van — none of that comes close to fitting inside a $25 invoice.

What actually happens is that the $25 visit is structured around upselling once the tech is inside. You'll be told the gas is low (top-up: $150), the coil needs chemical wash (additional: $180), or that the unit really should have a chemical overhaul (another $300+). The $25 walks in. The bill walks out substantially higher.

We'd rather quote a real price upfront and not need to invent reasons to add things on. If a quote is dramatically cheaper than everyone else's, that's the part to be suspicious of, not the more honest higher quotes.

The licence point

Aircon work in Singapore involves refrigerant handling, which requires the technician to hold an EMA ME05 licence (L1 or higher). It's not optional. If a company can't provide a licence number on their invoice, the work isn't legally compliant, and your appliance warranty may not cover any damage caused by the service.

We're ME05 L1 licensed and HDB-certified. The number is on every quote and every invoice.

How we quote

WhatsApp us a photo of the indoor unit, the brand and model, and a sentence describing the problem. We'll give you a ballpark within 10% before sending anyone out. On-site, we confirm before starting. If we find something unexpected — and sometimes we do — we stop and check with you before adding to the job.

Same-day service is usually available for fault-fix jobs. Island-wide.

To summarise

Most aircon work in Singapore in 2026 falls within these ranges:

• General servicing: $30–$50 per unit when bundled, $90–$130 single one-off
• Chemical wash: $150–$220 per unit, less per unit when bundled
• Chemical overhaul: $250–$450 per unit
• Gas top-up: $120–$240 depending on refrigerant type
• Common repairs: $80–$300 depending on the fault

If a quote sits outside those ranges in either direction, it's worth asking why before saying yes.