Should You Repair Or Replace Your Aircon?
The repair-or-replace call should come from the unit's condition, not the first quote you receive. This tool weighs unit age, refrigerant type, what failed, and the quote against replacement, then shows the reasoning so you can sanity-check the next step.
Run The Diagnostic
Answer one question at a time. The form skips ahead the moment an answer is decisive on its own. Most cases land on a verdict in two or three steps.
How We Think About It
Repair-or-replace advice shifts depending on whether the visit is framed as a repair call, an installation quote, or a general diagnosis. A flat 50% rule also misses Singapore-specific factors like refrigerant type, climate, usage, and install patterns.
The real answer depends on five things working together: unit age, what specifically failed, what refrigerant it runs on, how the repair quote compares to a new unit, and whether this is part of a pattern. The calculator above weighs all five. The sections below show the reasoning so you can compare it against your quote and decide what to check next.
Signals To Weigh
Two columns of indicators. Most real cases mix both, so the calculator weights them. This list shows them on their own.
Lean Toward Repair When
- Unit is under 5 years old
- Failed part is a capacitor, sensor, fan motor, or drain
- Repair quote is well under half of replacement cost
- Refrigerant is R32 or R410A
- First major issue in the last 24 months
- Unit is still under manufacturer warranty
Lean Toward Replacement When
- Unit is 13+ years old
- Compressor or coil leak on a 10+ year unit
- Refrigerant is R22 with a major component fault
- 3 or more major repairs in the last 24 months
- Repair quote is more than half of a brand-new unit
- Unit needed a refrigerant top-up more than once in 12 months
Common Mistakes When Deciding
Four patterns we see repeatedly when people make this call without a framework.
Replacing too early for a small fault.
A capacitor failure on an 8-year-old unit is usually a modest repair, not an automatic replacement case. Check the failed part and repair cost before replacing the whole unit.
Repairing too long on a declining unit.
Several major repairs in a short period make replacement more sensible than another isolated fix. Compare the total recent spend against a like-for-like replacement.
Trusting one recommendation without the diagnostic context.
A quote is easier to judge when it spells out the failed part, unit age, refrigerant type, repair history, and replacement comparison. Those inputs matter more than the label “repair” or “replace.”
Ignoring refrigerant type.
R22 is being phased out in Singapore. Top-ups keep getting more expensive, and a major repair on an R22 unit rarely pays back even when today’s price looks reasonable.