How Is Your Ac Coping With The Climate?

[Richb2004v2]

I recently had my AC units serviced after not having them touched for a while. The home ones we had done don't seem much better which is annoying. But the car AC is more of a problem as it is steaming hot in there. It's an old car to begin with but I figure there is no reason why the AC should not be good if serviced. I took it to my regular guy who filled up the gas/liquid. It was good for two days before returning to the poor function. Then the guy changed the compressor, even though it was changed less than three years ago. That was yesterday. It seemed ok at first but today returning from a shopping trip we had it on full and it just didn't seem to cool the car down as it should. My wife said it was due to the high temperature outside but I'm sure a fully functioning AC unit should cool it fairly quickly. I wanted someone else's opinion before going back to the shop to complain and have it try again.

How often do you refill the AC gas?

Feel free to move this to the motors section. I just thought AC units generally effect everyone.

[swallowtail1]

To much AC is not good for you, a big fan and a bottle of talc powder does the trick for me.

[Crossy]

Did you have it on recirculate? Car aircon certainly struggling today, but perfectly comfortable.

[somtampet]

My car gets re-gassed twice a year maximum.The house aircon is quite new and i tend not to use it for long hours as i get a sore throat from the dry heat

[Soutpeel]

Check to see if you have leaks in the system, it sounds like it.....generally once a year re-fill should be adequate..any more than that go looking for leaks...

[buddy]

Check to see if you have leaks in the system, it sounds like it.....generally once a year re-fill should be adequate..any more than that go looking for leaks...

Its the biggest scam in the A/C business, "re-gassing" or "topping" up the system.

All A/C systems (talking the most commom is vapour compression systems), be it home, car, commercial, industrial are sealed systems, you do not have to have them "re-gassed" at regular intervals.

If the shop/service centre tells you it needs re-gassing, the gas (refrigerant) has leaked out somewhere, they need to find the gas leak, fix the leak AND then re-gas.

Hope it helps.

[Richb2004v2]

The last car AC job cost approx 6000 baht plus the 1000 baht I paid him a few days ago for the refill. To be honest I had a feeling the guy hadn't done the job right. He first told me that it was a leak, then 30 minutes later that he needed to disconnect the AC supply to the rear of the cab to fix it, and finally that a new compressor was needed. However I acknowledged my own excessive suspicion of most Thai handy work and decided to trust the guys expertise. It seems this might be another instance to re-enforce my already negative view. I have the old compressor here though so might take it to bits to see if I can work out if it is faulty, who knows maybe it is but the system also has a leak.

The single home AC unit we had serviced by a different company. They spent quite a while cleaning it etc and now it is a little worse than before they touched it.

I've not had a lot of luck with AC units recently.

[somtampet]

My re-gassing costs 550 baht

[kartman]

Could be the aircon radiator infront of water radiator in this extreme heat the fan/s may not be able to disperse the heat and it is transfered into the aircon rad or they both could be full of crap on an older vehicle or both,a good blast with a powerful airline might help. Or a quick fix may be wiring up the fan/s to work all the time until hot spell finishes.

[Chunky1]

I have a brand new car. Does that answer your question?

[Richb2004v2]

I have a brand new car. Does that answer your question?

Not really no. Good luck with that though.

[kartman]

I have a brand new car. Does that answer your question?

And the aircons crap on that?.

[kenk3z]

If the A/C function only lasts a short time from being refilled with Freon, then your system has a leak somewhere.

There are Freon detectors that a good shop will have that can "sniff" the gas and beep when the leak is found.

A good leak-free system should not require a refill of gas for several years. They do leak a small amount from around a seal on the compressor which is designed to keep the seal supplied with oil. A very small amount, but one which gets larger with the age and use of the compressor.

So, you may not have wasted money on the new compressor. What you probably need to do now is find a shop that can detect and find the leak that you apparently have somewhere in the car's A/C system.

kenk3z

[PattayaParent]

I have my car AC on about 1/4 capacity and it's cool enough. Full on and it's an igloo inside but I'm only driving before 8am and after 6pm when it's cooler anyway.

It's a 2 year old Vios. The wife's 1.5 year old Yaris though has to be full on with the fan on 2 to get any cooling.

My 11 year old Corolla also had great AC.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I have a 10 year old truck.. Never refilled the aircon, still cool. I do have it on maximum these days though, for the first 5 minutes or so.

[neverdie]

The last car AC job cost approx 6000 baht plus the 1000 baht I paid him a few days ago for the refill. To be honest I had a feeling the guy hadn't done the job right. He first told me that it was a leak, then 30 minutes later that he needed to disconnect the AC supply to the rear of the cab to fix it, and finally that a new compressor was needed. However I acknowledged my own excessive suspicion of most Thai handy work and decided to trust the guys expertise. It seems this might be another instance to re-enforce my already negative view. I have the old compressor here though so might take it to bits to see if I can work out if it is faulty, who knows maybe it is but the system also has a leak.

The single home AC unit we had serviced by a different company. They spent quite a while cleaning it etc and now it is a little worse than before they touched it.

I've not had a lot of luck with AC units recently.

Richard,

Im not an air con expert.

I had problems once with a vehicle aircon system. They injected a green coloured dye into the system in order to establish if there were any leaks. Did this chap do that or was he just guessing there was a problem with the compressor. Perhaps you could have the system dyed up somewhere else then have a dig around and look for the leak yourself - it might sound silly but after visiting 3 so called aircon experts in Australia with an aircon problem, it was actually my thai GF that found the leak (& at the time she was new to the auto industry)

[Richb2004v2]

The last car AC job cost approx 6000 baht plus the 1000 baht I paid him a few days ago for the refill. To be honest I had a feeling the guy hadn't done the job right. He first told me that it was a leak, then 30 minutes later that he needed to disconnect the AC supply to the rear of the cab to fix it, and finally that a new compressor was needed. However I acknowledged my own excessive suspicion of most Thai handy work and decided to trust the guys expertise. It seems this might be another instance to re-enforce my already negative view. I have the old compressor here though so might take it to bits to see if I can work out if it is faulty, who knows maybe it is but the system also has a leak.

The single home AC unit we had serviced by a different company. They spent quite a while cleaning it etc and now it is a little worse than before they touched it.

I've not had a lot of luck with AC units recently.

Richard,

Im not an air con expert.

I had problems once with a vehicle aircon system. They injected a green coloured dye into the system in order to establish if there were any leaks. Did this chap do that or was he just guessing there was a problem with the compressor. Perhaps you could have the system dyed up somewhere else then have a dig around and look for the leak yourself - it might sound silly but after visiting 3 so called aircon experts in Australia with an aircon problem, it was actually my thai GF that found the leak (& at the time she was new to the auto industry)

I don't think he did use the dye. Another proper German auto tech had recommended I take it somewhere that did this, but since I'd already paid 1000baht to the guy and used him before I figured I was being over cautious in not having faith in him. I think I will have to spend some time today trying to find the leak. I will also have to invest in some tools to dismantle the old compressor to try to work out if it is damaged. These people are always so friendly they convince me that my scepticism is unfounded.