Air con regass
 

Nice result just had my aircon regassed as it wasn't working!! Thought it may of been the condenser !! But no all good holds vacuum ,no leaks , ice cold now ready for the summer 😎

sounds good, how much did that cost you? may get it done myself

Not sure! I'm lucky as its my mates garage so I'll just pay for the gas put in.
I'll pop in and pay nxt week !

if it has no gas it has a leak , the laws of nature :-) It will fail again sooner or later , They have broken the law just filling it and not fixing the leak.
Vacuum is not the way to check for leaks as the crack will be " sucked" closed .. The official way to check for leaks is to use oxygen free Nitrogen at the normal working pressure .. this will open up the crack and you will be able to find the leak ... It will be the condenser , there is no way they can say it isn't leaking unless you remove it to check visually . ( the intercooler hides the bottom 30 % of the core ) Enjoy the cooling this weekend whilst it lasts ! ( the AC and the sun that is :-) )

Never said it had no gas!!! I said it wasn't working!!The machine extracted 40 grams of refrigerant and a little oil! I can't see how that's illegal as its all done on a very expensive machine that tests it all and won't gas it back up if there's a leak! Takes about 35/40 minutes all in !
I only presumed as my aircon didn't work that it may of been the condenser as this a common problem on the v50 !

40 g is virtually empty as it should hold about 800g when fullly charged . The law changed in 2010 regarding AC servicing , Every operator has to be certified and retrained every 3 years , especially with the new gas in the new vehicles . if the AC stops working due to lack of gas it follows that there must be a leak .. To refill it without finding and fixing the leak is the illegal bit .. Max £40000 fine . The old methods use vacuum for leak checking which is ok if you have a hole of some sort but not a crack . it won't find it . The method to be used after 2010 is to pressurise the system as in it's normal running state , the leak can be found then with some soapy water for example , But if it was the condenser it would mean stripping down and removal of the intercooler to test it properly . Anyway a lovely day i hope it lasts the summer :-)

I thought a certain amount of loss was to be expected due to the nature of the design for cars ie its not like a fridge and is exposed to the elements, thermal cycles and movement of parts etc.

It doesn't neccessarily follow that because its not working there's a big leak, if it's not been topped up for years there may be f all in it

No it is a sealed system , should not be a loss , you will find 440's S/V40 and 850s with their original gas still in , they were not prone to leaks at all . The law states how much is allowed to leak per year now since 2010 .. contrary to stuff you read on the internet , volvo AC sealing rings do not leak , they have double seals ie two concentric seal rings , and in the 17 years since AC was standard on all volvos i have never seen a compressor seal leak either . I cant speak for other makes of course .

You always get one on a forum !!
Also the Volvo v50 holds .55kg of refrigerant and the machine used is only 2 years old and yes it pressured tested the system for 20 mins! like I said if a leak is detected it won't fill it up with gas but I bow to your superior knowledge !!

I have recently got 2 cars with AC, having never had AC before, how do I know if the system is working fully? I have one of those laser temp reading devices, should I just point that at a vent and get a reading, if so what should I expect and after how much running?

I too thought a re-gas was almost routine, thanks for opening my eyes a little to the world of AC regassing.