I drive a Ford Focus 1.8 petrol which has air conditioning fitted and am a bit worried because I have not used it for about 5 weeks - mainly because the outside temperature being below 5oC. Would any damage to the seals etc have occured during this time ?
2007-12-22 22:54:08 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
The general advice is that you should run your air conditioning at least once every week or two because the lubricant keeps the seals in good condition. Allowing the seals to dry out would mean a loss of the refrigerant gas and possibly a need to replace the seals. Run AC on cool for ten minutes and then turn heat up fully to allow any moisture build up in system to dry out. If you have a climate control system then you have no worries because it is running all the time.
You probably haven't caused any damage this time but you do need to run the system to keep it in in good order.
2007-12-22 23:42:41 · answer #1 · answered by ragingmk 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
The seals are intended for cold temperatures. I wouldn't worry too much. Use it once in a while trough out the winter just to keep the gases flowing thats all.
2007-12-23 07:01:32 · answer #2 · answered by wiseornotyoudecide 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No there is very little chance of doing it any damage, however its a good idea to turn the air con on at the same time as you use the front windscreen heater to de-mist the windscreen.
Ja.
2007-12-23 14:08:48 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Here's a tip: your aircon not only cools the air, but dries it as well, so in the cold weather, it can be put to good use as a very effective means of demisting the car's interior, I used mine this morning, after I'd scraped the ice off the windscreen!
2007-12-23 10:23:24 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
When you use the heat the compressor on the AC still comes on. IT does for two reasons to remove moisture from the air going to your defrost and to heat the engine a little quicker for cold starts.
2007-12-23 11:50:51 · answer #5 · answered by Ray 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If you are using the defrost/defog on cold mornings, your a/c is running anyway. i've bought cars that were parked for a number of years and the ac still works like brand new.
2007-12-23 07:08:24 · answer #6 · answered by gravel128 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
it is routed through your Heater defroster, so when you use your defroster, your ac compressor is actually doing what most people have said, it is drying the air that comes out of defrosters, that way you wont get condensation on windshield
2007-12-23 17:16:46 · answer #7 · answered by Dennis E 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
best to run air con for at least half an hour a week
2007-12-23 07:05:25 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Probably not - but its a good idea to use it across the winter. I use mine a lot for fast demisting!
2007-12-23 06:56:54 · answer #9 · answered by Sal*UK 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I didn't use mine for a year and it was OK.
2007-12-23 07:01:28 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋