To AC or not to AC… that is the question (in the winter):
The use of the vehicle air conditioning system during the winter while living in extreme climates, such as that in Canada is almost out of the question. During the winter months, We are exposed to Very cold temperatures. Therefore, it is safe to assume that there is no need to activate your vehicles AC, correct?. I mean how bad can it be?, what could possibly go wrong…
That assumption is far from reality. The Air conditioning system in your vehicle is designed to be activated occasionally at the least. The generic Air conditioning system consists of an evaporator, a condenser, a compressor, fans, and a throttling valve. Moreover, There is piping, and fill / charge valves, where the Refrigerant can be added. (in a lot of the cases, the refrigerant is R134a). The piping and all the attachments are connected to each other to make up the sealed system. The sealed system is in place to house the refrigerant, after all, that’s what makes the cooling magic. the system is pressurized, so all the different mating surfaces have O-rings preventing the gas/liquid refrigerant to escape.
The Refrigerant (some call it Freon, we’re not going to get into why this reference is wrong in here) charge in your vehicle has oil added to it. The job of the oil is to lubricate the moving parts when the AC is activated. Moreover, the oil needs to circulate in the AC system to keep the o-rings and charging valves from getting too dry. If any of those components dry out, they could introduce a small leak in the system, where it might take the system days if not months to leak out the refrigerant.
Diagnoses:
When a shop diagnoses a leaky system, they usually do a vacuum test. The vacuum test involves emptying / or purging the system. Then vacuuming out any residue (they keep track of the intensity of vacuum using a gauge). Then the technician waits for some time to see if the vacuum decreases (which means that there is a leak). If the vacuum test passes, the specialist then adds Refrigerant and oil (according to the vehicle specifications). Moreover, they add a dye that shows up when using a black light. So that any leaks can be detected after the repair.
General tips:
There is one important point to note here. A lot of AC systems fitted to cars now a days, are smart, where they don’t necessarily activate in cold conditions. But when using the defogging function, that is a trick to force the Air conditioner on in some cars during the winter.
Another general tip is, in a lot of cars, if your AC seems to work better (blow colder air) on the driver side than the passenger side or the opposite. Then chances are, you are low on Refrigerant. If your AC is not working properly and your vehicle is equipped with an electrical fan for engine cooling. Then the first thing we recommend is to check if that fan is operational. Some systems are made to automatically shutdown when the system reaches abnormal operating temperatures (hence when the fan is not working correctly).
So, In conclusion, The Short answer is Yes. We actually recommend to activate the AC every couple of weeks, for at least a minute at a time.
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