Hydraulic brakes (Ekar) - how often do I need to refresh?

[makoti]

Still stumbling around the disc brake world, and wondering how often I should change/refresh the fluid. It's two seasons old, and has about 1000 miles on it. Mostly gravel.
1000miles doesn't seem like much, but is the two years the issue?
Also, something I can do myself? Or just easier to drop it at the shop and let them do it? I'm happy messing with sealant, pull cassettes, tape bars and such, but don't mess with headsets or BB's, for reference on my willingness to work on my bike.

[prototoast]

My personal feeling is if the brakes still feel fine, no need to change the fluid.

If the brakes are starting to feel worse than they did when you first got them, I would do it myself. It's not that hard--you basically just screw something in to the caliper and shifter, squeeze a syringe, then pump the brakes a few times.

[fa63]

I try to bleed my SRAM brakes once a year (DOT fluid) and Shimano every other year (mineral fluid). I once went several years (three or four, can't remember exactly) without rebleeding my XTR brakes; they still worked great but when I finally bled them, the fluid was absolutely disgusting... It shows you that brakes can still work fine even with contaminated fluid, but leaving dirty fluid in there can damage the seals etc. Better safe than sorry, IMO.

[bikinchris]

Every couple of years, I would flush the whole system out. If you go through brake pads very fast, maybe more often.

[weaponsgrade]

I let my Shimano hydros go well past two brake pad changes thinking it'd be fine because it's a sealed system and mineral oil doesn't absorb water like DOT fluid. When I did eventually get around to it the fluid coming out was an inky black. I plan on doing more frequent flushes in the future - at least once a year. I don't know what Ekar is like, but flushing Shimano is very easy. Despite the flush, I couldn't tell any difference in brake performance, but I figure the contamination can't be good.