Does air conditioning maintenance have to be expensive?

Maintenance of a car’s air conditioning system is an important part of maintaining its efficiency and performance. An inadequately serviced system can fail or lose its properties, necessitating replacement or repair.

But does air conditioning maintenance have to be expensive?

Air conditioning maintenance can require a sizable budget if it involves replacing individual parts or repairing more complex faults. On the other hand, it does not have to be so if you take care of it in advance using the right products and do it yourself. It is worth remembering the three most important steps:

1. assess the condition of the air conditioner by checking the pressure measurement – for this we can use a tube with a pressure gauge, which we connect to the low pressure valve, thus obtaining its measurement. The preferred and correct operating pressure of the air conditioning system should be 25- 45 psi,
2. if there are small cavities in the air conditioning system, they should be eliminated. For this purpose, you can use a sealant for rubber parts to take care of minor leaks in parts of the system,
3. the refrigerant deficit created due to leaks should be replenished. This can be done by using natural hydrocarbon gas to replenish the air conditioner, which contains, in addition to the refrigerant, compounds that take care of proper lubrication of the entire system.

Regular attention to the efficiency of the AC in the car allows you to extend its life and performance. Taking care of smaller leaks in time allows you to prevent compressor components from seizing up or other malfunctions that will require service intervention and costly repairs, and component replacements. Your car’s cooling system needs to operate with proper refrigerant pressure and lubrication.

Doing air conditioning maintenance yourself not only saves you money, as you can seal and refill your car’s air conditioning system at a much lower cost (than that of a car service center).

Leaving deepening leaks without intervention after time we will seize, for example, the air conditioning compressor. Its regeneration is the cost of €85-130. Often, however, this type of repair is not possible and the situation requires the replacement of the entire compressor, and this cost, depending on the type of car, oscillates between €210-420 (excluding repair costs). For this reason, it is worthwhile to prevent damage by checking the pressure in the system from time to time, and replenishing any losses with the appropriate means.