air conditioning
Discussion
does anyone know if you can kick start your air con..have the same trouble each year and have to have it re gassed. Works perfect for the summer that we do have then when winter comes and its not in use it seems to seize up again.Anything i can do or have i got to pay and have it done again 520d 2009.
Try running it at min temperature and max fan speed for a few days. That seemed to improve the aircon in my E46. No idea what the problem was - presumably previous owner didn't use it enough.
If this fixes it, leave it on! Don't turn it off! I'm sure some people do get lucky, despite switching their aircon off sometimes. And I bet it's possible for your aircon to break even if you use it all the time. But if you leave the aircon running all the time, it seems to massively tip the odds in favour of your never having a problem.
If this fixes it, leave it on! Don't turn it off! I'm sure some people do get lucky, despite switching their aircon off sometimes. And I bet it's possible for your aircon to break even if you use it all the time. But if you leave the aircon running all the time, it seems to massively tip the odds in favour of your never having a problem.
No idea whether it’s true or not about the seals drying out, but I haven’t turned my ac/climate off for years, except to verify the % difference in fuel usage.
Unless you’re running something from the 80’s, running the ac compressor is less than 1% worse economy compared to not, in my experience. You can get that back by looking further down the road & not accelerating as hard. In other words, I can’t justify turning it off.
Set it to 20’, and auto, and forget about it. Never have steamed up windows (those days are gone - more’s the pity!) - unless you’ve one of the skin conditions that ac exacerbates, that’s fair enough.
Unless you’re running something from the 80’s, running the ac compressor is less than 1% worse economy compared to not, in my experience. You can get that back by looking further down the road & not accelerating as hard. In other words, I can’t justify turning it off.
Set it to 20’, and auto, and forget about it. Never have steamed up windows (those days are gone - more’s the pity!) - unless you’ve one of the skin conditions that ac exacerbates, that’s fair enough.
My issue with AC in the winter months is it'll shut down below 4c or something like that. Then all the collected moisture evaporates and makes your cold windows very steamy and there is nothing you can do about it. I'd rather avoid that on a cold winter's night by not using the AC at all.
And the other one is by using the AC all the time, it's constantly damp on the evaporator which leads to those nasty smells. Ugh, no thanks.
And the other one is by using the AC all the time, it's constantly damp on the evaporator which leads to those nasty smells. Ugh, no thanks.
Edited by chrisgeary on Wednesday 18th April 20:10
chrisgeary said:
Is there any proof that not using car AC causes seal failure? Perhaps I've been lucky but after 25 years of driving and keeping some cars for in excess of 7 years at a time, how come it's never happened to me?
Absolutely there is.Ask any qualified refrigeration engineer and they will tell you that the formulation of the stuff they put in does 2 functions, it is a refrigerant and a lubricant for the moving parts & the seals.
Just because you have been lucky/only owned new cars doesn't mean the laws of physics can be forgotten.
- because for those, the electric motor is inside the hermetic can alongside the compressor, runs in the same oil etc.
For car a/c, the compressor is externally driven by a belt from the crank - there has to be an unavoidable lip seal on the compressor pulley shaft.
Oh, and the compressor lines in the fixed equipment you mention are all metal hardlines; since the engine moves relative to the body, you have to use flexible hoses. But these are very, very much better in terms of gas-tightness than they used to be, say post late 90s.
For car a/c, the compressor is externally driven by a belt from the crank - there has to be an unavoidable lip seal on the compressor pulley shaft.
Oh, and the compressor lines in the fixed equipment you mention are all metal hardlines; since the engine moves relative to the body, you have to use flexible hoses. But these are very, very much better in terms of gas-tightness than they used to be, say post late 90s.
Regarding lubricant, it used to be the case that when regassing the old refrigerant was extracted to the point where there was a small vacuum in the air con system, THEN the correct amount of lubricant was introduced to the circuit and drawn in by the vacuum before the system was repressurised with fresh refrigerant. My impression is that today a regassing is just another squirt of gas, no lubricant, and pay here. Running the system through the winter keeps all the seals flexible whereas turning the system off allows them to harden. I never turn mine off and have gone, in one car, 18 years without touching anything and without any problems, smells or anything else
It needs leak testing to confirm the source of the leak. The most common cause on your car is the condenser, you can sometimes see a leak if the oil has run out with the gas.
Like this:
http://m.coldstar.co.uk/site/bmw_e60_aircon_13.htm...
Like this:
http://m.coldstar.co.uk/site/bmw_e60_aircon_13.htm...
zinzan1001 said:
Aircon was re gassed and lasted about 2 weeks, it has now stopped working again. have kept A/C on at all times so there is obviously another problem , but what!! any ideas lads
As per your own admission in your first post the system has been dry for most of each year, you can't expect that after that it will be perfect when treated the way it should have 9 years ago.Two years ago I sold a 2001 e39 that was on its original gas from the factory.
zinzan1001 said:
Aircon was re gassed and lasted about 2 weeks, it has now stopped working again. have kept A/C on at all times so there is obviously another problem , but what!! any ideas lads
It's leaking gas, most places put dye in with a re-gas, just get black light and you'll spot the leak pretty quick. Common place to leak is from stone damage on the condenser Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff