Air moves, but the room never cools
- Usually
- Evaporator fins packed with dust, or a refrigerant charge that has drifted low.
- The work
- Temperature split reading, fin clean, pressure check, and a report on whether the charge is genuinely short.
Wall splits · Cassettes · Ducted fan-coils
Cold air is a habit of maintenance, not a stroke of luck
Thyme Ridge services cooling units for homes and small workspaces. We read the unit before we touch it, clean where the dirt actually sits, and leave a written note of what we found.
Start with the symptom
Six things a tired unit does before it stops
Most people call us with a behaviour, not a fault code. Here is what each behaviour usually means and the work that resolves it, so you know roughly what you are booking before we arrive.
A damp mark under the indoor unit
- Usually
- A blocked drain pan, or a condensate line that has lost its fall and holds water.
- The work
- Pan lift and clean, line flush, then re-hanging the drain so it runs downhill for its whole length.
A sour smell in the first minute
- Usually
- Biofilm growing on the coil face and inside the blower wheel where a filter wash never reaches.
- The work
- Chemical wash of the coil and the removed blower wheel, then a pan sterilise so it does not return by next season.
It runs all day and never rests
- Usually
- A return-air sensor reading warm, or a loaded filter starving the coil of airflow.
- The work
- Sensor position and reading check, filter service, and airflow measured at the louvre before and after.
A rattle that changes with fan speed
- Usually
- Debris caught in the blower housing, or a wheel that has lost balance on one end.
- The work
- Housing opened and cleared, wheel cleaned and refitted true, bearings checked by hand for drag.
The outdoor unit cuts out after minutes
- Usually
- A condenser matted with dust, seed or leaf litter, so heat has nowhere to go.
- The work
- Guard off, condenser washed through from the inside out, fan and contactor inspected, then a full run test.
Three service lanes
What a visit actually covers
Every lane is priced per unit and quoted before we start. If you are not sure which one you need, describe the behaviour in the booking note and we will suggest the lighter option first.
Ridge Rinse
About 45 min per unitThe routine visit. Keeps a healthy unit healthy and catches drift before it becomes a repair.
- Filters washed, dried and refitted
- Coil face vacuumed and fins combed straight
- Drain pan and line flushed clear
- Supply and return temperature split recorded
- Remote settings and timer checked with you
- Written note of anything worth watching
Best as a mid-season top-up between deeper cleans.
Deep Chem
About 90 min per unitThe yearly clean. This is the one that removes smell, restores airflow and usually brings the cooling back.
- Indoor casing removed and bagged for wet work
- Coil chemically washed front and back
- Blower wheel removed, scrubbed and refitted
- Drain pan sterilised and line pressure-flushed
- Refrigerant pressures read and logged
- Condenser rinsed and its fan checked
Books out first in the weeks before hot weather.
Ridge Restore
Half day per unitFor units that have gone years without attention, or have started leaking indoors.
- Indoor unit fully dismantled on site
- Coil, wheel, louvre and pan cleaned separately
- Condensate line re-run or re-sloped where needed
- Fan bearings serviced or flagged for replacement
- Condenser pressure-washed and coil straightened
- Findings written up with what to expect next season
We confirm scope on site before any dismantling begins.
Units we work on
If your unit is not on this list, send the model line from the indoor casing and we will tell you plainly whether it is something we service.
- Wall split
- Multi-split
- Ceiling cassette
- Ducted fan-coil
- Window unit
- Portable
Inside a visit
How we work in an occupied room
Servicing a cooling unit is wet work carried out above your furniture. The order below is the part that keeps it from becoming your problem afterwards.
-
Sheets before tools
Floor and furniture are covered, a catch bag is fitted under the unit, and the circuit is isolated before a single panel comes off.
-
Readings first
We run the unit and record airflow, the supply-to-return temperature split and drain behaviour. Cleaning without a baseline is guesswork.
-
The wet work
Coil and blower wheel are washed with the chemical matched to the coil material, never a general-purpose cleaner that pits aluminium.
-
Drainage tested, not assumed
Water is poured through the pan and watched all the way out. A clean coil on a slow drain is a leak waiting for the hottest week.
-
Handover in writing
Before and after readings, anything we could not resolve, and the interval we would put in the diary next. Sheets come up last.
Plan the year
How often a unit really needs servicing
Run hours matter far more than the unit's age. Find the row that matches how the unit is used and treat it as a starting interval, not a rule.
| How the unit is used | Ridge Rinse | Deep Chem |
|---|---|---|
| Bedroom, roughly six to eight hours nightly | Every 4 months | Once a year, before the warm season |
| Living area, mostly evenings and weekends | Every 6 months | Every 12 to 18 months |
| Home office, weekday daytime hours | Every 4 months | Once a year |
| Studio or shop, all trading hours | Every 3 months | Twice a year |
| Kitchen-adjacent, cooking grease in the return air | Every 3 months | Twice a year |
| Coastal, dusty or building-site air | Every 3 months | Twice a year, with condenser attention |
Pets, open windows and heavy pollen seasons all shorten these intervals. If your filters look grey when you pull them, the unit is telling you to bring the next visit forward.
Before you book
Questions worth asking
The answers people actually write to us about. If yours is not here, put it in the booking note and we will answer it before scheduling anything.
Do I need to be home for the whole visit?
Only for the start and the handover. We need someone to show us the units and confirm the scope, and we would rather walk you through the readings at the end than leave a note on the counter. The middle of a Deep Chem is mostly quiet wet work.
Will a service fix a unit that stopped cooling?
Often, yes, when the cause is a fouled coil, a starved filter or a matted condenser. It will not fix a failed compressor, a burnt contactor or a genuine refrigerant leak. We tell you which of those you are looking at during the visit rather than cleaning around a fault.
Do you top up refrigerant as part of a service?
We read and log pressures on every Deep Chem and Restore, but we do not add gas as routine. A unit that is short of charge has lost it somewhere, and topping up without finding the leak just sells you the same visit again next year. We report what we measure and quote the leak search separately.
How noisy and messy is it?
Expect the sound of a wet vacuum and a pump for roughly half the visit. Furniture under the unit is covered, water is caught in a fitted bag rather than dripping, and the floor is wiped before we leave. Ducted work is the loudest because it involves working at the fan-coil.
I rent. Can I book this myself?
You can book a Ridge Rinse and a filter service without involving anyone, as they are routine care. Anything that means dismantling the unit, re-running a drain or servicing bearings should be cleared with whoever owns the equipment first. We are happy to write the recommendation so you can forward it.
What is outside what you do?
We do not install new systems, move an outdoor unit, run new pipework, carry out electrical work beyond the unit's own isolator, or service commercial chillers and rooftop plant. If a visit uncovers work in that territory we stop, explain it and do not charge for scope we cannot complete.
Can several units be done in one visit?
Yes, and it is the cheaper way to do it, since access and setup are shared. Tell us how many units and which rooms in the booking note so we can block the right amount of time rather than running late on your last unit.
Book a visit
Tell us what the unit is doing
One short form. We reply with a suggested lane, a per-unit quote and the slots we have that week. No deposit is taken to hold a booking.
What happens next
- We read it firstYour description usually tells us whether this is a rinse, a chemical wash or something that needs looking at before quoting.
- You get a per-unit priceQuoted in writing for the lane we recommend, including anything we think is optional.
- You pick the windowWeekday mornings are the quietest. Out-of-hours work for studios and shops is arranged separately.
- Nothing is assumedIf the visit turns out to need more than we quoted, we stop and ask before continuing.