What Causes a Car's Air Conditioner to Need Recharging?

With summer finally here, the idea of riding around in a car with poor or no air conditioning is notably worse than it was just a couple of months ago. Because of this, it's easy to see why Longmont air conditioning service is in high demand now. Most of these jobs will involve recharging the system, and for this reason, plenty of shops advertise that they do this specific service.

Recharging an automotive air conditioner is done by adding more refrigerant to the system. This will usually restore the A/C's power immediately, but it's important to remember that the loss of the original refrigerant indicates a problem. Typically, the problem is a leak in one of the hoses or somewhere in the coils. If the leak isn't repaired, the recharge will eventually fail as the new refrigerant makes its way out of the system.

 

Whether it's worth it to repair a leak depends on the leak's severity. Of course, true perfect operation is only possible when everything is in top shape, so those who want their cars to be like new should go for it under all circumstances. For those who want to save money, the calculation is a bit different. These customers may find it worth it to just keep recharging their air conditioners if this is only needed every year or two. When the leak gets bad enough to require several cans of refrigerant per season, it'll be time to go ahead and fix the underlying problem.

Not all refrigerant losses are due to leaks. Car air conditioning has a pressure release system that activates when its refrigerant is unable to get cold enough. This keeps the hoses from exploding and stops other pressure-related damage, but it also causes the loss of the refrigerant. When this happens, it's important to find out what was causing the extreme pressure levels and fix it. Possible culprits are blocked tubing, failing compressor units, and coils that are blocked with debris, among other things. Until the problem is pinned down and repaired, the system will quickly release any new refrigerant that is installed.

These are some of the top problems that affect automotive air conditioning systems. Qualified mechanics will be familiar with them and their symptoms, so they'll be able to fix these issues without undue delay. A mechanic will also be able to find the less-common problems that sometimes arise, so there's no need to worry if the issue turns out to be something else.