Air conditioning in Winter

[Snoodini]

Originally Posted by tiredted

Why ? because the pros of having it on constantly outweigh the cons of using only now and again , compressor life is extended and seal life is extended , win win

And having the AC on helps to keep the interior humidity down. Gothenburg is a coastal and thus humid place..... just like ALL of the UK. Bringing in fresh winter air is also bringing in humid air.

[Welton]

Our cars run the compressor for about 8 seconds upon every start of the engine regardless of whether the A/C is enabled or not. This is supposed to keep the refrigerant oil circulating although some would argue it's too short a time to do that effectively.

I don't run my A/C through the winter, the air outside is dry in winter; all the moisture is lying on the ground. Using the a/c actually increases the humidity inside the car as when you park up you have a wet evaporator sitting with a heater matrix in the same 'box'; the moisture then condenses out on the inside of the cold windscreen.

I give my a/c a workout maybe once every month or so. I've done this for 7 years and have not suffered any problems with 'seals' drying. I've had 2 regasses, the most recent in 2014 after replacing the compressor after the previous re-gas merchant failed to put enough oil in and it became noisy.

Here's the system leakage we found after the first 3 years of use:

Recommended Capacity: 530 grammes

Actual Capacity found before re-gas: 420 grammes

Loss = 20% over 3 years (6.66% per year).

[phil1968]

Originally Posted by CyberMaarten

An AC always has huge pressure in it: 15 bar. Also when it's off.

So even when there's a small leakage (often the case), it makes no difference in coolance liquid/gas whether it is on or off.

No, that pressure only exists on the high pressure side during running, it can be as high as 35 bar in really hot ambient conditions, the low pressure side of the system is generally around 4 bar. When the system is turned off both sides equalise & you get a static pressure of about 6 bar throughout the system. And yes, it does make a difference as you are keeping the seals lubricated on the compressor, running your A/C at least once a week will drastically slow down the escape of refrigerant.