More recent cars seem to have some sort of modulation mechanism so the clunk and noticible change in engine note is not so obvious.
My 59 Astra H gives no indication of when the comprssor is running.
It's more complicated now in the EU (and we still abide by a lot of EU regs) and the gases used in car aircon has been changed by these new regs.
The type of refridgerant used in car aircon has changed and I have read elsewhere horror stories of the side effects of this change of gas.
If an older car has aircon and it works, leave well alone. If it fails, either do without or get another car.
It's possible there was no gas at all in it :-)
But it sounds like everything worked as intended :-/ They keep lots of spare "clouds of smoke" in a car. I do like the authentic sound effects. Who needs a status light on a dash, when a loud bang works as well.
Paul
some people have recharged old systems with butane fwiw. Not sure about the implications.
No gas circulation probably means no oil circulating. The oil lubricates the compressor and seals.
one of the reasons you are supposed to run it periodically even if you don't "need" it - it keeps the seals lubricated.
Observing mine over the last few weeks there seems to be around 1 mpg improvement with the aircon off and the windows open when pottering around town. I imagine it would go the other way at speed.
The gas used has been changed recently so in newer cars will be more expensive. The golden rule with air con is use it or lose it.
We've had air con on several small cars for years and it's never been an issue power wise.
You sound just like a Land Rover owner.
But does this mean the old gas remains available for existing vehicles, or the new gas can be used in older vehicles or neither of the above?
PS Did they use ammonia in the old days?
You can find articles on this stuff.
However, the demand will start shrinking with each passing year because no new vehicles after 2020 will be able to use it."
Which is a bit unlike R12, where refills were being done with recycled gas, because they were not allowed to make "new" gas.
You can collect some refrigerant gases, using a vacuum pump and a zeolite cylinder to capture the gas. People certified to work on such systems, know the details of capture. You're not supposed to "vent to air" on any refrigerant, if you can possibly avoid it. This is one reason I cannot take my old fridge to the metal scrap, as it must be drained first. And getting someone to drain it, is the problem...
My new fridge is filled with pentane, which does not particularly need to be captured, but is flammable. I have no idea what the recycling strategy is for those. Wiener roast ? Bonfire ? Only time will tell.
Paul
The quickfit link suggests that the cheaper gas is still available for old systems and the more expensive for newer.
A garage local to me that does ac recharge at 12p/gram or 17p/gram (+VAT) depending on the age of the car and/or what it was originally gassed with. They state older system take between 650g and 1200g of gas whereas modern systems typically take 400g to 650g (unless you drive a dual ac Chelsea tractor).
They also charge £40 for the ac service, which is the full extraction, vacuum, drying. recharge with gas, oil and leak detection dye. Because of the cost of gas they will not proceed recharging if no existing gas is found in the system but instead offer an optional nitrogen pressure test to try to identify leaks.
As others have said, if you car is fitted with ac use it occasionally to get the oil circulating which lubricates the seals.
How do they weigh it?
no idea but its all done automagically.
On 06/08/2022 17:57, Paul wrote: <snip>
</snip>I'm not sure what the relevance of the number of cylinders is.
I used to have a Nissan 2.0 4 cylinder estate with climate control. I left it set to 23 all year round, except just occasionally when the sun was really hot when I dropped it a couple of degrees. I never knew when the compressor was running - It Just Worked.
Until somebody drove into me that is :(
Andy
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