What drives compressor AMC cost
An AMC fee is labour plus parts plus risk, spread over a year. Every driver below changes one of those three. If you know which ones apply to your machines, you can predict roughly where a fair quote should land and spot one that is too low to be honest. For what an AMC is and what a good visit looks like, see our compressor AMC page; this page is about cost.
| Driver | How it moves the fee | What to tell the provider |
|---|---|---|
| Machine size (kW) | Larger machines take bigger, dearer filters, separators and more oil, and more time per visit | Model, kW, nameplate photos |
| Running hours per year | Consumables are changed by hours, so 8,000 h a year needs roughly twice the parts of 4,000 h | Hour-meter reading today and a month ago |
| Compressor type | Screw, piston, oil-free screw, centrifugal and portable diesel units have very different service content | Type and drive (fixed or variable speed, electric or diesel) |
| Oil-free or oil-injected | Oil-free screws have no separator but need stage, cooler and gearbox attention and costlier overhaul provisions | Air-quality requirement and machine type |
| Scope | Labour-only is lowest; comprehensive adds consumables; full-service adds wear parts and overhaul risk | Which parts you want included, by name |
| Consumable quality and oil | Genuine or equivalent kits and synthetic oils with longer life change both price and interval | Present oil type and grade |
| Overhaul provisions | Airend, motor bearing or stage overhauls inside the fee add a large, hours-based provision | Hours since last overhaul |
| Response terms | Guaranteed attendance times, out-of-hours cover or a resident technician cost more | How critical the air is and what standby you have |
| Location and distance | Sites far from Hyderabad add travel time and stay to every visit | Site address and access rules |
| Number of machines | Several machines on one site share travel and visit time, so cost per machine falls | Full asset list, including dryers and filters |
| Age and condition | Worn machines carry more parts risk; a comprehensive fee may need an initial inspection first | Last service report and known faults |
Indian conditions push several of these up. Dusty sites near roads, crushers or cement handling shorten air-filter life. 45 °C summers in poorly ventilated compressor rooms age oil faster and foul coolers. Monsoon humidity loads drains, filters and dryers. A quote that assumes clean, cool conditions will be short of parts by the second half of the year.
Contract types and who carries the cost risk
Names vary between providers. Read the schedule of what is included, not the title on the first page.
| Item | Breakdown call (rate agreed) | Labour-only / non-comprehensive | Comprehensive | Full-service |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planned visits and inspections | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Labour for scheduled services | Billed per call | Included | Included | Included |
| Filters, separator, oil | Billed | Billed when due | Included as listed | Included |
| Wear parts (valves, drains, hoses, belts, sensors) | Billed | Billed | Usually billed | Usually included as listed |
| Airend or stage overhaul | Quoted separately | Quoted separately | Quoted separately | Sometimes included at stated hours |
| Who carries parts cost risk | Owner | Owner | Shared | Mostly provider |
| Relative fee | Lowest fixed cost, highest uncertainty | Low | Medium to high | Highest |
| Suits | Standby or rarely used machines | Sites buying their own parts, light duty | High-hour production machines | Owners who want one fixed annual figure |
Full-service contract vs comprehensive AMC
A comprehensive AMC normally includes labour and the routine consumables named in the schedule: filters, separators and oil. A full-service contract goes further and moves more of the parts and overhaul risk to the provider, often including wear parts and planned overhauls at stated hours, and sometimes availability or uptime terms. It costs more because the provider is pricing those risks into the fee. If two quotes both say “comprehensive”, compare the parts schedules line by line; one may be closer to full-service than the other.
Illustrative cost build-up for 37 kW and 90 kW screw compressors
The tables below show how a fee is assembled for an oil-injected, fixed-speed screw compressor. All figures are (illustrative; not anyone’s price). They are there to show the structure, not to quote. Assumptions: a minor service (air and oil filters) every 2,000 h, a major service (air and oil filters, separator and oil) every 4,000 h, 12 visits a year in total, oil at ₹550 per litre (illustrative; not anyone’s price), and a site in Hyderabad.
Service content per year
| Machine and hours | Minor services | Major services | Inspection visits | Total visits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37 kW, 4,000 h/yr | 1 | 1 | 10 | 12 |
| 37 kW, 8,000 h/yr | 2 | 2 | 8 | 12 |
| 90 kW, 4,000 h/yr | 1 | 1 | 10 | 12 |
| 90 kW, 8,000 h/yr | 2 | 2 | 8 | 12 |
Unit costs used (illustrative; not anyone’s price)
| Item | 37 kW | 90 kW |
|---|---|---|
| Air filter element | ₹4,000 | ₹7,000 |
| Oil filter | ₹2,500 | ₹4,500 |
| Separator element | ₹11,000 | ₹24,000 |
| Oil charge | 20 litres = ₹11,000 | 50 litres = ₹27,500 |
| Inspection visit labour | ₹2,500 | ₹3,000 |
| Service visit labour | ₹5,000 | ₹7,500 |
Worked build-up (illustrative; not anyone’s price)
Take the 90 kW machine at 8,000 h a year:
- Labour: 8 inspections × ₹3,000 + 4 services × ₹7,500 = ₹24,000 + ₹30,000 = ₹54,000.
- Filters at every service: 4 × (₹7,000 + ₹4,500) = ₹46,000.
- Separator and oil at each major service: 2 × (₹24,000 + ₹27,500) = ₹1,03,000.
- Consumables total: ₹46,000 + ₹1,03,000 = ₹1,49,000.
- Parts-risk allowance for a comprehensive contract (early filter changes in dust, an extra oil top-up), say 10% of consumables: ₹14,900.
- Labour-only fee: ₹54,000. Comprehensive fee: ₹54,000 + ₹1,49,000 + ₹14,900 = ₹2,17,900.
| Machine and hours | Labour-only | Consumables | Risk allowance (10%) | Comprehensive | Comprehensive per running hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37 kW, 4,000 h/yr | ₹35,000 | ₹35,000 | ₹3,500 | ₹73,500 | ₹18.4 |
| 37 kW, 8,000 h/yr | ₹40,000 | ₹70,000 | ₹7,000 | ₹1,17,000 | ₹14.6 |
| 90 kW, 4,000 h/yr | ₹45,000 | ₹74,500 | ₹7,450 | ₹1,26,950 | ₹31.7 |
| 90 kW, 8,000 h/yr | ₹54,000 | ₹1,49,000 | ₹14,900 | ₹2,17,900 | ₹27.2 |
All rows (illustrative; not anyone’s price). Three patterns hold whatever the actual rates are. Consumables, not labour, dominate the comprehensive fee on a high-hour machine. Doubling the hours does not double the fee, because inspection visits and travel are fixed. And the cost per running hour falls as hours rise, which is why high-hour production machines are where comprehensive cover makes most sense. Excluded from every row: GST, travel beyond the city, overhauls, wear parts, dryers and filters.
How compressor type changes the AMC
| Type | Main service content | Cost notes |
|---|---|---|
| Oil-injected screw, fixed speed | Air and oil filters, separator, oil, drains, coolers, valve checks | Most predictable; the build-up above applies |
| Oil-injected screw, variable speed | As above plus drive cooling, cabinet filters and drive checks | Slightly more time per visit; drive repairs usually excluded |
| Oil-free screw | Air filters, gearbox oil and filter, intercooler and aftercooler, drains, stage condition | No separator, but stage overhaul is a large, hours-based item to ask about |
| Industrial piston (two-stage, base-mounted) | Valves, rings, oil, belts, unloaders, intercooler | Valve kits drive parts cost; heavy duty shortens intervals |
| Portable diesel | Compressor service plus engine oil, fuel and engine air filters | Two service schedules; site travel often dominates |
| Centrifugal | Vibration and oil analysis, cooler performance, control calibration, inlet filtration | Skill and instrumentation weighted; overhauls quoted separately |
| Dryers, filters and drains added | Element changes, dew point checks, drain tests | Low cost to add, high value; leaving them out is false economy |
Why the cheapest AMC is rarely the cheapest year
An AMC is small next to the electricity a compressor uses. A service that is skipped or done badly shows up on the power bill long before it shows up as a breakdown.
Worked example: AMC fee against energy cost (illustrative)
- A 90 kW screw runs 8,000 h a year at about 90 kW average input (illustrative). Energy: 90 × 8,000 = 7,20,000 kWh.
- At ₹8.50/kWh, that is 7,20,000 × 8.50 = ₹61.2 lakh a year (illustrative; not anyone’s price).
- The comprehensive fee built up above, ₹2,17,900 (illustrative; not anyone’s price), is 2,17,900 ÷ 61,20,000 = about 3.6% of the energy bill.
- A common rule of thumb is about 7% more power for each 1 bar of extra discharge pressure. If a clogged separator and dirty filters force the set pressure up by 0.5 bar to hold the plant, that is about 3.5% more power: 0.035 × ₹61.2 lakh = about ₹2.14 lakh a year (illustrative; not anyone’s price).
In other words, one neglected half-bar costs as much as the whole contract. A quote that saves ₹30,000 (illustrative; not anyone’s price) by stretching separator changes or skipping cooler cleaning is not a saving. Use our air compressor running cost calculator to put your own figures in.
Putting two AMC quotes on the same price basis
Two quotes for the same machine can differ by a factor of two and both be honest, because they assume different hours, parts and visits. The full checklist for judging an offer (scope, reporting, renewal terms) is on our compressor AMC page. For price alone, three adjustments do most of the work:
- Restate each quote at your real annual running hours, adding or removing the services that the hours difference implies, and ask what the provider charges if hours run over.
- Bring the visit count to the same number, pricing the missing inspections at the quote’s own labour rate.
- Price the exclusions one quote has and the other does not (oil, separator, drains, dryer elements, travel beyond the city, GST), then divide each total by the running hours.
Worked example: normalising two quotes (illustrative; not anyone’s price)
A 90 kW screw runs 8,000 h a year. Quote A is ₹1,10,000 comprehensive; Quote B is ₹1,95,000 comprehensive.
- Quote A assumes 6,000 h a year: services at 2,000 h (minor), 4,000 h (major) and 6,000 h (minor), plus 3 inspections, 6 visits in total.
- Quote B assumes 8,000 h: 2 minor and 2 major services plus 8 inspections, 12 visits.
- To bring A to 8,000 h, add the major service at 8,000 h: air filter ₹7,000 + oil filter ₹4,500 + separator ₹24,000 + oil ₹27,500 = ₹63,000 of parts, plus ₹7,500 service labour.
- To match B’s 8 inspections, add 5 inspections to A’s 3: 5 × ₹3,000 = ₹15,000.
- Quote A on B’s basis: ₹1,10,000 + ₹63,000 + ₹7,500 + ₹15,000 = ₹1,95,500.
Once normalised, the two quotes are effectively the same price. The difference was the hours assumption and the visit count, not the provider’s rates. On a per-hour basis, B is ₹1,95,000 ÷ 8,000 = about ₹24.4 per running hour (illustrative; not anyone’s price). Our supplier bid normalisation worksheet uses the same method.
What an AMC does not cover
Most AMCs, comprehensive ones included, exclude the items below unless the schedule names them. Budget for them separately.
- Airend and stage overhauls: bearings, seals and rotors wear with hours. A simple provision is overhaul cost ÷ expected hours to overhaul. For example (illustrative; not anyone’s price), ₹4,00,000 ÷ 40,000 h = ₹10 per running hour, about ₹80,000 a year at 8,000 h, set aside outside the AMC.
- Motor and drive repairs: rewinds, motor bearings, variable-speed drive faults.
- Damage from outside causes: voltage dips and phase failure, lightning, flooding, wrong oil added by others, running with a blocked intake, accident or site damage.
- Coolers and major components: cooler replacement, minimum-pressure and thermostatic valve replacement, receivers, unless listed.
- The air system: pipework leaks, drops and fittings beyond the compressor room.
- Statutory work: pressure-vessel examination and certification, unless named.
- Equipment not listed: any machine, dryer or filter not on the asset schedule by make, model and serial number.
Small 2–10 HP compressors: no AMC
Reddy Compressors does not offer AMC or service for small 2–10 hp piston compressors used in garages, tyre shops, workshops and dental practices. For these units we offer sales and hire only, and hire units come with their air receiver. For small piston units, the owner’s daily checks (draining the tank, checking oil level and belt tension) do most of the work; see our page on compressors for garages, tyre shops and service centres.
How Reddy Compressors helps
- Service including AMC for industrial compressors of all major makes: ELGi, Atlas Copco, Ingersoll Rand, KAESER, Chicago Pneumatic, Gardner Denver, Sullair, Doosan, Kirloskar, Bobcat and others.
- Independent multi-brand supplier since 2002, not an authorised dealer and not a manufacturer, with tie-ups with all major and reputed brands.
- 20+ service engineers and technicians; coverage across all of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and districts within about 300 km of Hyderabad, with project-based service elsewhere in India.
- Spare parts, air dryer service and spares, and rental air from our 50–2,000 cfm, 2–30 bar fleet when a machine is down for repair.
What to send us
- Asset list: make, model, serial number and nameplate photos of each compressor, dryer and filter to be covered.
- Hour-meter readings today and about a month ago, or daily running hours and shifts.
- The type of contract you want priced: labour-only, comprehensive, or both for comparison.
- The last service report, oil type in use and any current faults.
- Site address, distance from Hyderabad, and any access, permit or safety requirements.
Frequently asked questions
What is the price of a compressor AMC?
It depends on machine size, running hours, compressor type, contract scope, response terms, distance and how many machines are covered. A labour-only contract on a lightly used machine costs far less than a comprehensive one on a large machine running round the clock. The illustrative build-ups on this page show how the fee is assembled. To get a real figure, send the nameplate details, hour-meter readings and the scope you want, and ask for parts and visits to be itemised.
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How much does an air compressor AMC cost per year?
The honest answer is labour plus parts plus a risk allowance. For an oil-injected screw, consumables usually dominate a comprehensive fee once the machine runs more than about 4,000 hours a year, because filters, separator and oil are changed by hours. Inspection visits and travel are largely fixed. Our illustrative examples show cost per running hour falling as hours rise. Always compare quotes on the same hours and visits.
What is the difference between a full-service contract and a comprehensive AMC?
A comprehensive AMC usually covers labour and the routine consumables named in the schedule: filters, separators and oil. A full-service contract moves more risk to the provider, often adding wear parts and planned overhauls at stated hours, and sometimes uptime terms, so it costs more. The names are not standard; read the parts schedule and exclusions in each quote rather than relying on the title.
Is a comprehensive AMC worth the extra cost?
For high-hour production machines, usually yes, because consumables are a large and predictable cost and a fixed fee makes the budget certain. It also removes the temptation to stretch separator and oil changes, which costs more in electricity than it saves. For standby or lightly used machines, or sites that buy their own parts, labour-only or breakdown-call arrangements are often the better value.
Why are two AMC quotes for the same compressor so different?
Usually because they assume different running hours, visit counts or parts. One quote may assume 6,000 hours and six visits, another 8,000 hours and twelve. One may include oil and the separator, the other only filters. Ask both for the hours assumption, the visit schedule and an itemised parts list, then convert each to cost per running hour. Differences that remain after that are real.
Does a compressor AMC include airend overhaul?
Not normally. Airend and stage overhauls, motor rewinds and drive repairs are usually quoted separately, even under comprehensive cover. Some full-service contracts include an overhaul at stated hours, priced into the fee. If yours does not, set aside a provision per running hour, for example the expected overhaul cost divided by the hours to overhaul, so it does not arrive as an unplanned bill.
Do you offer AMC for small 2–10 HP compressors?
No. Reddy Compressors does not provide AMC or service for small 2–10 hp piston compressors used in garages, tyre shops, workshops and dental practices. We offer these units for sale and hire only, and hire units come with their air receiver. Our AMC service is for industrial compressors of all major makes and the dryers and filters around them.
Related pages
- Compressor AMC: what it covers and how to choose
- Screw compressor service in Hyderabad
- Air compressor repair in Hyderabad
- Compressor spare parts in Hyderabad
- Air compressor running cost calculator
- Supplier bid normalisation worksheet
- Service-level maintenance contracts
- Compressor services in Hyderabad
Technical content reviewed by D. Srinivas Reddy, Managing Partner and service engineer, Reddy Compressors. Last updated 7 November 2026. How our engineering content is reviewed.