In this educational blog posts, we discuss 5 things you need to know about your car’s air conditioning system including:

  1. The effect A/C has on defrosting your windshield
  2. The fact that your air conditioning system should never need charged
  3. You should never use store-bought cans of refrigerant
  4. Issues with your A/C can have a negative impact on the environment
  5. Not all air conditioning issues are caused by low or no refrigerant

THINGS TO KNOW

  1. The effect A/C has on defrosting your windshield

Your car’s defroster is tied into the air conditioning system. While that means it can get quite warm and very cold, it also means something else. If you’ve ever had to use a humidifier in your home during the winter because your furnace was removing too much moisture from the air, you’re already familiar with what’s going on here.

Your air conditioner (whether it’s set to cold or hot) condenses the moisture out of the air into water. This condensation is vented through a drain hose that runs from behind your glove box out the bottom of the car. The system then pumps dry air into the car. When you turn on the defroster, it pumps dry air up toward the windshield. This helps to evaporate the moisture.

  1. Your system should never need charged

In a perfect world, the A/C system is a completely closed and isolated system that should never need to be serviced, but we know we do not live in a perfect world and sometimes there are things that happen to create A/C leaks. Some of these things are corrosion to the A/C condenser. Much like your vehicle radiator, it is exposed to the elements such as salt and debris which can lead to leaks from damage to the aluminum material they are made of. Also, the rubber hose can break down due to the heat of their environment as well. Other repairs sometimes require removal of the Air conditioning components which will result in leaks in the o-ring seals if not replaced.

  1. Never use the store-bought cans of refrigerant

The air conditioning on your car is very precise and requires the exact amount of refrigerant to keep it working correctly. By purchasing an installing the DIY refrigerant recharge kits from Walmart or PepBoys you run the risk of overcharging or undercharging the system which will do equal damage to the compressor and precision pressure switches. Secondly, these kits most often contain sealers that cannot be removed from the air conditioning system once they are introduced.  These sealers will also destroy the precision AC machines that are used to service the vehicle.

  1. Issues with your A/C can have a negative impact on the environment

As with all human activities, refrigeration and air conditioning applications have an impact on the environment, contributing to ozone depletion and global warming. … Direct: The leakage of refrigerant gases into the atmosphere which can cause ozone depletion and contribute to global warming.

  1. Not all air conditioning issues are caused by low or no refrigerant 

Many air conditioning issues are not due to lack of refrigerant but are electrical issues. There are many electrical components that is mistaken for lack of refrigerant.