Air-conditioning
and refrigeration installers and repairers
Air-conditioning and refrigeration installers and repairers install, service and repair air-conditioning and refrigeration systems in factories, offices, shops and homes.
- Employees (UK)
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- Median annual pay
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- Exposure score ?
- 0.5/10 Minimal 4.7/10 Moderate strict reading, with tools is 4.7/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.5/10
- Wage exposure
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Higher exposure than 28% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
A real share of the task list is within reach, especially drafting, summarising, research and analysis. People in this role who learn to direct AI well will pull ahead of those who do not.
If you are in this role
Treat AI like a capable junior you manage. Where you would hand a task to a junior with a clear brief, AI can do it now. Spend the time you get back on judgement and relationships.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Test electrical circuits or components for continuity, using electrical test equipment.
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Comply with all applicable standards, policies, or procedures, such as safety procedures or the maintenance of a clean work area.
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Study blueprints, design specifications, or manufacturers' recommendations to ascertain the configuration of heating or cooling equipment components and to ensure the proper installation of components.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Study blueprints, design specifications, or manufacturers' recommendations to ascertain the configuration of heating or cooling equipment components and to ensure the proper installation of components.
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Record and report time, materials, faults, deficiencies, or other unusual occurrences on work orders.
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Keep records of repairs and replacements made and causes of malfunctions.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers" (49-9021.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 30 tasks, unaided
Record and report time, materials, faults, deficiencies, or other unusual occurrences on work orders.
Keep records of repairs and replacements made and causes of malfunctions.
What still needs a person
28 of 30 tasks
Test electrical circuits or components for continuity, using electrical test equipment.
Comply with all applicable standards, policies, or procedures, such as safety procedures or the maintenance of a clean work area.
Study blueprints, design specifications, or manufacturers' recommendations to ascertain the configuration of heating or cooling equipment components and to ensure the proper installation of components.
Discuss heating or cooling system malfunctions with users to isolate problems or to verify that repairs corrected malfunctions.
Connect heating or air conditioning equipment to fuel, water, or refrigerant source to form complete circuit.
Adjust system controls to settings recommended by manufacturer to balance system.
Recommend, develop, or perform preventive or general maintenance procedures, such as cleaning, power-washing, or vacuuming equipment, oiling parts, or changing filters.
Inspect and test systems to verify system compliance with plans and specifications or to detect and locate malfunctions.
Repair or replace defective equipment, components, or wiring.
Install or repair self-contained ground source heat pumps or hybrid ground or air source heat pumps to minimize carbon-based energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions.
Install, connect, or adjust thermostats, humidistats, or timers.
Install auxiliary components to heating or cooling equipment, such as expansion or discharge valves, air ducts, pipes, blowers, dampers, flues, or stokers.
Braze or solder parts to repair defective joints and leaks.
Lay out and connect electrical wiring between controls and equipment, according to wiring diagrams, using electrician's hand tools.
Perform mechanical overhauls and refrigerant reclaiming.
Install expansion and control valves, using acetylene torches and wrenches.
Measure, cut, thread, or bend pipe or tubing, using pipe fitter's tools.
Mount compressor, condenser, and other components in specified locations on frames, using hand tools and acetylene welding equipment.
Install dehumidifiers or related equipment for spaces that require cool, dry air to operate efficiently, such as computer rooms.
Cut or drill holes in floors, walls, or roof to install equipment, using power saws or drills.
Estimate, order, pick up, deliver, and install materials and supplies needed to maintain equipment in good working condition.
Schedule work with customers and initiate work orders, house requisitions, and orders from stock.
Supervise and instruct assistants.
Lay out reference points for installation of structural and functional components, using measuring instruments.
Lift and align components into position, using hoist or block and tackle.
Install or repair air purification systems, such as specialized filters or ultraviolet (UV) light purification systems.
Repair or service heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to improve efficiency, such as by changing filters, cleaning ducts, and refilling non-toxic refrigerants.
Test pipes, lines, components, and connections for leaks.
Tasks via O*NET "Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers" (49-9021.00).
What AI can already do
4 of 30 tasks, with tools
Study blueprints, design specifications, or manufacturers' recommendations to ascertain the configuration of heating or cooling equipment components and to ensure the proper installation of components.
Record and report time, materials, faults, deficiencies, or other unusual occurrences on work orders.
Keep records of repairs and replacements made and causes of malfunctions.
Schedule work with customers and initiate work orders, house requisitions, and orders from stock.
What still needs a person
26 of 30 tasks
Test electrical circuits or components for continuity, using electrical test equipment.
Comply with all applicable standards, policies, or procedures, such as safety procedures or the maintenance of a clean work area.
Discuss heating or cooling system malfunctions with users to isolate problems or to verify that repairs corrected malfunctions.
Connect heating or air conditioning equipment to fuel, water, or refrigerant source to form complete circuit.
Adjust system controls to settings recommended by manufacturer to balance system.
Recommend, develop, or perform preventive or general maintenance procedures, such as cleaning, power-washing, or vacuuming equipment, oiling parts, or changing filters.
Inspect and test systems to verify system compliance with plans and specifications or to detect and locate malfunctions.
Repair or replace defective equipment, components, or wiring.
Install or repair self-contained ground source heat pumps or hybrid ground or air source heat pumps to minimize carbon-based energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions.
Install, connect, or adjust thermostats, humidistats, or timers.
Install auxiliary components to heating or cooling equipment, such as expansion or discharge valves, air ducts, pipes, blowers, dampers, flues, or stokers.
Braze or solder parts to repair defective joints and leaks.
Lay out and connect electrical wiring between controls and equipment, according to wiring diagrams, using electrician's hand tools.
Perform mechanical overhauls and refrigerant reclaiming.
Install expansion and control valves, using acetylene torches and wrenches.
Measure, cut, thread, or bend pipe or tubing, using pipe fitter's tools.
Mount compressor, condenser, and other components in specified locations on frames, using hand tools and acetylene welding equipment.
Install dehumidifiers or related equipment for spaces that require cool, dry air to operate efficiently, such as computer rooms.
Cut or drill holes in floors, walls, or roof to install equipment, using power saws or drills.
Estimate, order, pick up, deliver, and install materials and supplies needed to maintain equipment in good working condition.
Supervise and instruct assistants.
Lay out reference points for installation of structural and functional components, using measuring instruments.
Lift and align components into position, using hoist or block and tackle.
Install or repair air purification systems, such as specialized filters or ultraviolet (UV) light purification systems.
Repair or service heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to improve efficiency, such as by changing filters, cleaning ducts, and refilling non-toxic refrigerants.
Test pipes, lines, components, and connections for leaks.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Skilled trades occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons