To be honest, I don’t service mine every single year, but I do clean it and test it every so often when I’m in dry-dock. I do get it serviced no less than every other year. The question you really need to ask yourself is do you trust your life to that piece of equipment that has been hanging up for a year? Although it may not be all that cheap to service it, my first thought is better safe than sorry.. Of course, no one here has seen your equipment and can really make the call, you just have to decide if it’s worth the chance or not..
Maybe, if you know anyone at your LDS, you can get them to do a visual inspection/test on it instead of charging you for a full service..
Dale