Air Con at Motorvation

Air con Specialist for Evesham, Stratford, Cheltenham, Worcester.

When the weather is warming up, is your car cooling you down properly? At Motorvation we are well equipped and trained to deal with all aspects of your vehicles air conditioning or climate control system. So whether you need an air con service or air conditioning repair we can help. Please take few minutes to get to know us and what we can do for you.

Service Your Air Con, Why Bother?

Air conditioning in cars is quite a new phenomenon for many drivers. Ten years ago it was only fitted to a minority of vehicles but nowadays is virtually standard equipment. This leaves many owners of air con systems confused as to what needs servicing and the best way to get the most out of their vehicles air conditioning system.

There is a lot of conflicting information about air-con servicing and increased fuel consumption/environmental damage. Hopefully the following few paragraphs will help clear things up a little for you.

Firstly lets tackle the subject of service intervals. Normally a general rule of servicing would be "The more you use it, the more often you service it". But with air-con its not so clear cut. Items like the pollen filter will obviously clog more quickly the more you use the air-con/heater (all air entering the cabin passes through the pollen filter whether or not you have the air conditioning switched on). But when it comes to the refrigerant (the substance that actually cools the air), the less you use your air con the quicker it will leak away. This happens because the seal around the shaft of the air conditioning pump can shrink when not in use allowing the tiny refrigerant molecules to escape. Incidentally the molecules are so fine that they can actually escape through the rubber hoses that make up part of the refrigerant circuit - at a rate of about 10% per year! We suggest some form of air conditioning service every two years. The type of service will depend on previous service history.

Next the fuel consumption issue. It takes considerable engine power to drive the air conditioning pump (compressor). This means you will have to put your foot down a little more to achieve the same speed with the air con on as you would with the air con off. And that is obviously going to use more fuel. However modern air con systems self detect the amount of work the system needs to do in order to adequately cool the air entering the cabin, allowing the air con compressor to do less work. This takes load off the engine, saving fuel consumption. The point you need to consider is, is the slightly increased fuel cost going to be more expensive than the increased servicing costs if you leave it switched off for months on end? Given the environmental implications of the refrigerant leaking from your system, we believe the best thing for you air con system and the environment is to use the air con system year round.

So how about it? Get in touch and put us to the test. We are sure you won’t be disappointed.

Example Prices

These are example prices and may vary slightly from vehicle to vehicle. Service C includes a filter/dryer unit, the price of these vary from vehicle to vehicle. Please note all of our prices include vat where applicable.

ATA Approved Refrigerant Handling

From July 2010 anyone working on an air conditioning system, whether it be a routine service or linked to another repair, needs to hold a suitable qualification. This is because the environmental impact of unscrupulous people releasing R134a refrigerant to the atmosphere is huge. To put it in perspective a single kilo of R134a has the same global warming potential as 1300k.g of carbon dioxide. There are currently about three qualifications that fit the bill one of which is offered by the ATA. At Motorvation we always strive to be ahead of the game, so it probably comes as no surprise that we already have at least one technician qualified at ATA Gas Handling level.

What's That Smell? (Don't Blame The Kids!)

If your car smells worse than a teenagers' trainers then you may need to disinfect - the air con that is, not the teenager (well maybe the teenager as well).

Are you you suffering a musty smell in the cabin of your vehicle? Worse still is it giving you a sore throat or runny eyes? If the answer is yes then you may have a build up of bacteria inside your air con system. This is the same effect as the so called "sick building syndrome" and can potentially harbour the deadly legionella bacteria. The inside of your air conditioning unit happens to be a perfect warm, moist environment for bacteria to grow in.

If we are presented with a vehicle that has developed a smell then the first thing we will do is check that the water is draining properly from the air conditioning unit inside you car. (Part of the functionality of air con is that it not only cools the air but also removes moisture from the air entering the cabin). Next we will apply an anti bacterial treatment to the "evaporator" (The device that holds the refrigerant inside the air conditioning unit and allows the heat to exchange).

There are many differing types of treatment available and we will help you choose the system most suitable for the severity of the problem at hand.

Use It or Loose It

There is little more damaging to an air conditioning system than long periods of inactivity and even worse than that, long periods of inactivity due to loss of refrigerant.

As mentioned on previous paragraphs, as the seals around your air con system dry out, an increasing amount of refrigerant can escape. This is bad for the environment and bad for your wallet.As a rule of thumb, you can expect refrigerant losses to be around the 10-15% per year mark and once the pressure in the system drops below a certain point your air con will no longer work. The problem with refrigerant loss is that the refrigerant is what carries the lubricant around you air con system to the parts that need it (namely the compressor).

LESS REFRIGERANT = LESS OIL FLOW = MORE WEAR

When refrigerant loss reaches a certain level air (containing moisture) will enter the system, if this is left unchecked it will often leave the air con system requiring major overhaul and this is never cheap.

I know we keep banging on about this stuff and reading it back I would be the first to agree that it sounds a bit like scare mongering. But, experience has shown us that there is no such thing as a cheap air con repair. You will save more money servicing your air con, than repairing your air con. Believe us when we say its is the cheaper option.

Another point worth mentioning (here we go again) is that as the refrigerant level drops your air con compressor has to work harder to cool the air - this will have a knock effect with regards to fuel consumption and wear and tear.

Well that's enough rambling about air con. "About time" I hear you say. Fair comment, but if you do want further information just give us a call or fill in one of the forms and we'll call you.