COOL POWER PINETOWN: IMPORTANCE OF SERVICING YOUR VEHICLE IN DURBAN

Many new vehicles are now equipped with air conditioning. Most people rely heavily on this feature every day during the hot summer months, though of late you may not have needed it as much as you would’ve liked. Generally air conditioning units are reliable and are subject to few problems. However, that doesn’t mean that there will never be problems, or that there won’t come a time when your vehicles air conditioning system requires some sort of service. It’s no different in that respect to your vehicles engine; it will need to be serviced periodically in just the same way. Two common issues seem to affect vehicles air conditioning systems more than others. Sometimes air conditioning systems will blow no cold air, or very little, and at other times, they may blow out too much. Both of these malfunctions are annoying but neither means that you’ve necessarily experienced a catastrophic air conditioning system failure. However, each of these problems will need to be addressed and corrected and the source of the fault will need to be traced. The air conditioning system in a vehicle is made up of six major components. These components are the compressor, the condenser, the evaporator, the receiver drier, the expansion valve, and, finally, the refrigerant itself. Knowing how all of these pieces interact with each other will help you to better understand your air conditioning system and any problems you might encounter. The compressor is probably the most important component and consequently it’s also the most expensive. The compressor runs the entire air conditioning system and is driven by a belt attached to the engine. As it runs, the compressor injects cold vapours from the refrigerant into the condenser; the vapour is then converted into a liquid and then sent to the receiver drier. The receiver drier acts as a holding cell for the liquid refrigerant and removes excess moisture from the refrigerant. Liquid refrigerant is then pumped through the expansion valve where all of the pressure is removed. This allows the refrigerant to turn back into a vapour before it goes to the evaporator. The evaporator vaporises the refrigerant and absorbs all the heat from the vehicles passenger cabin. Once the heat is removed, the cold air is blown thorough the passenger compartment using a fan. If your vehicle’s air conditioning system is blowing too much cold air, there is probably a blockage somewhere in the system that is forcing more air than normal out of all vents upstream from the blockage. An air conditioning system that is not blowing enough cold air usually has a leak somewhere in the system. Finding these defects quickly is critical to maintaining you vehicle’s air conditioning system. The air conditioning systems used inside most vehicles are very complex and are made up of a system of interconnected components. Because of this complexity, it can be quite costly to have it repaired. More often than not, it is easier and less expensive to repair a vehicle’s air conditioning system at the first sign of trouble rather than ignoring the problem and allowing it to degenerate into a much more costly repair later on. If you want to ensure that your vehicle’s air conditioning system is as safe and efficient as you’d like it to be, ensure you have it serviced regularly. Nobody wants to be inconvenienced by unexpected breakdowns, so make sure you head off any problems before they happen. Look after your vehicle and it will look after you