4 Reasons To Get Your Air Con Re-Charged

As we move into summer, making sure your air con is working properly for those scorching hot (fingers crossed!) days is an absolute must! Especially when stuck in the inevitable traffic in and around Skipton! A lot of manufacturers recommend recharging your air con roughly every 2 years, so let’s have a look at 4 reasons why recharging your air con is so important. First, however, are some key signs that it might be time for an air con recharge:

• It doesn’t feel as if any cold air is being released when you turn on your air con system
• System is blowing hot air only
• More difficult to de-mist windows
• Bad smell coming from the air vents when AC is turned on

So what reasons are there why you should recharge your air con system?

Fuel Efficiency

When your air con refrigerant is low, the air con system uses more fuel to try to work harder to produce cold air. Which in a time of rising fuel prices, is obviously not ideal. We’re often asked whether using the air con costs a lot in fuel. The obvious alternative to using the AC is to put the windows down. However, this isn’t totally fuel efficient in itself because when you put the windows down, the car becomes less aerodynamically stable and creates ‘drag’, therefore more fuel is used to power the car along. So the short answer is, yes, both air con and winding the window down do use a small amount of fuel, but the comfort and convenience of turning on the air con on a blisteringly hot day far outweighs this small cost in our view!

Safety

Similarly to fuel efficiency, recharging your air con ensures that you are not burning through fuel which powers the air con compressor. As the refrigerant is extremely cold, this helps to keep the air con compressor cold. If you are too low on refrigerant, the compressor can reach dangerous levels of heat and fail. This applies in winter too, by turning on warm air conditioning you can demist your windows – but if you do not use this over winter the system may seize up which can prevent it from functioning correctly in warmer weather. As air con is considered to be a luxury rather than a necessity, recharging your air con does not come under your MOT or servicing.

It’s quick, and gives you peace of mind

Part of the process of recharging your car’s air con is attaching it to a machine that gauges how much gas is still being circulated through the compressor. In this process any old gas is sucked out, replacing it with fresh refrigerant. Ensuring that everything is working correctly and refilling your air con compressor with fresh refrigerant on average only takes 45 minutes! You should also be able to notice a temperature change immediately after the process is complete.

Your air conditioning starts to smell bad

Aside from the fact that you probably don’t want to be greeted with musty smells on a hot sunny day, smells from your air conditioning can be an indicator of something a lot more serious. The evaporator part of your air conditioning system can be prone to the build-up of bacteria, mould and fungi. This can be rectified from a debug service which decontaminates your system.

It’s always better to be safe rather than sorry when it comes to any element of your car, and at Peter Watson Garage we are always happy to have a quick check and advise whether we think there are any issues with your car. Pop into our garage or contact us to get your air con unit recharged today!