Vehicle Manufacturers recommend having your Air Conditioning system service (an Air-Con Regas) every 2 or 3 years because the system can loose between roughly 5% and 15% of its refrigerant gas every year, through the hoses and connections in the system.

A lower gas pressure reduces the ability to pump the lubricating oil around the system, leading to potential damage of expensive components such as the compressor, condenser and evaporator and the dying out of the system's hoses.

Yes, and most likely sooner than if you used your Air-Con daily.

Air conditioning refrigerant gas does not get "used up" when the air conditioning system is turned on. The system loses gas naturally through the porous rubber hoses and the system-connections / joints.

In fact, by not using the system, the lubricating oil is not being pumped around the system, which will cause the hoses and connections to dry out, which will increase the rate of gas lose; especially if they dry out enough to crack and break.

The first part of an Air Conditioning Service (or Air-Con Regas / Air-Con Recharge) is to remove all the old refrigerant gas, oil and leak detecting UV dye present. This is done using negative air pressure to create a vacuum.

Once the system is clear of any gas, oil and dye the vacuum is held for a minimum 20 minutes, as this provides a reasonably accurate indication that the system is free of any leaks.

After passing the vacuum test, the air conditioning system is then refilled to the manufactures specification with the vehicle-specific quantities of refrigerant gas, lubricating oil and leak detecting UV dye.

In very few instances this can happen, yes.

As a standard part of an Air-Con Regas, the system is tested to ensure it can hold a vacuum, which is a negative air pressure of approximately -14.5psi.

However, if the air conditioning system has not been maintained with regular servicing, then some of the hoses and connections may have dried out and become brittle. As such, after a Regas when the system is operating at around 80 psi positive pressure, a leak might develop due to the increased gas pressure.

If this happens, we can perform a high-pressure test by completely emptying the air conditioning system and pressurising with using Oxygen Free Nitrogen (OFN). High-pressure testing is a chargeable service.

Once the leak has been identified and fixed by us (or a 3rd party we approve), we will perform the 2nd Air-Con Regas free of charge to ensure your Air Conditioning is working correctly.

The entire process takes around 1 hour.

We offer Air-Con Regas (or Air-Con Recharge / Air-Con Service) in Sheffield, Lincoln, Worksop, Gainsborough and Market Rasen. For Branch contact details visit our Branch Locator