What It Really Means To Recharge The AC In Your Vehicle

As soon as the warm weather starts to show its face, you start seeing advertisements urging you to recharge your AC. With so many people advertising that you need to recharge your AC, it may seem like a good idea. But what does it really mean to recharge your AC?

Recharging Your AC Is A Real Thing

Recharging your AC is a real thing; it is not a scam run by oil change businesses and car mechanic to get you to spend some money. It is a necessary type of maintenance that needs to be performed from occasionally in order to keep you cool when it is hot outside.

What Really Happens When A Mechanic "Recharges" Your AC

Like how your car engine needs oil to keep everything running smoothly, your air conditioning system in your car needs refrigerant. The refrigerant allows your air conditioning system to work correctly and allows you to feel cool on hot summer days.

Just like with your oil, what the mechanic actually does depends on how much refrigerant is still in your vehicle.

First off, they check the level of refrigerant to determine how much you have and how much refrigerant you need. If the level of your refrigerant is only a little low, they the mechanic who is working on your vehicle can just 'top it off', just like they would do if you had only lost a small amount of oil.

However, if the level of refrigerant is really low, then it is going to take a little more work to get you back on the road. The mechanics will need to drain out the refrigerant that is still left in your system. After they drain the old refrigerant out, similar to how they drain the old oil out of your car when you get the oil changed, they will then refill the reserves with new refrigerant. This is actually what it means to recharge your AC.

If You Have Lost A Lot Of Refrigerant, You May Need A Little More Work

If there are no leaks in your air conditioning system, you should not lose any refrigerant. If your refrigerant levels were extremely low when the mechanic checked it out, you may want to ask them to try and identify if your system is leaking refrigerant.

It should not take a skilled mechanic very long to identify and fix the source of the leak. If you fix the leak, you will not have to recharge your AC quite as often, and your vehicle will not be leaking out any mysterious liquids anymore.

If your AC does not feel as cool as it once was, you probably should take advantage of all those deals you see being advertised, and roll in to have your AC recharged by places like Modern Auto Air. Getting your AC recharged is very similar to changing the oil in your vehicle, expect this time, your changing the refrigerant instead.