A/C SYSTEM RECHARGE
The A/C system in your car is a closed sealed system. It may never need to be recharged. The refrigerant inside the system is pressurized by the hvac compressor ,recirculated and reused in a closed loop infinite system. The Freon(refrigerant) will change from vapor to liquid and back constantly for as long as the system is running.
The R-134a/R-1234yf install in your car is in charge of moving the unwanted elevated temperature of one room or space (the cabin inside your car ) to the outside ambient temperature where it has no impact. To accomplish this task properly a factory calculated range amount of refrigerant needs to be running inside the system.
You need to get your AC system recharged as soon as the total amount of refrigerant is too low to carry the heat from inside your car’s cabin to the outside of the vehicle.
100 % sealed air conditioning system does not exist. All a/c systems leak, and this condition is taken into consideration when the a/c charge amount is calculated when designing the system. Some amount of refrigerant loss could develop over time, but it is a minute amount, and it should not affect system operation.
How do I know if my ac in my car needs to be recharged ?
There is not a periodic service interval that you need to follow to recharge your air conditioning system. This service is system dependent, meaning every car will have unique needs for freon(refrigerant) recharge.
The first sign that could indicate that you need to recharge the refrigerant in your car’s ac system is when the system begins to cool less than it used to.
SIGNS OF LOW REFRIGERANT CHARGE:
- Poor A/C performance. A/C not cooling down the vehicle
- One Side of the car cooling more than the other side.
- Back of the car cooling more than the front.
- A/C compressor short cycling. A/C compressor turning on and off fast.
- Frost in a/c lines.
- Visible refrigerant (Freon) leaks.
A/C SYSTEM LOW ON REFRIGERANT CHARGE
Low refrigerant could mean low oil circulating and improper lubrication of the hvac compressor. Therefore when there has been a refrigerant leakage big enough the compressor gets to the point where there is not refrigerant to pump and then it pumps out the oil that lubricates the compressor’s internal components. Failure of the a/c compressor will result if the ac system is not recharged, and oil balanced properly.