Aircon spoil

[Serene79]

Can I know JB change at where? Just nice to see this topic bcos my aircon going die on me soon.

[Kb27]

I beg to differ. Whats the diff between a car compressor and a home or a fridge one? Do you service the fridge or home one and add and change oil?

 

Home compressor is a dead sealed system. It doesn't move. It doesn't vibrate.

 

Car aircon has pipings, joints. It vibrates, just like your engine vibrates and shakes everything.

 

That's the difference in working environment.

[5936]

I happened to be one of the sucker in my early driving years.

 

They will usually give 2-3 options:

 

 

1) Fear tactics: Repair take very long, not worth, even if can repair maybe other parts also will fail later.

 

 

2) Recon unit- which is actually the previous conned compressor they repaired or salvaged from scrape yard with some new silver spray paint job.

 

 

3) Brand new

[Donut]

I beg to differ. Whats the diff between a car compressor and a home or a fridge one? Do you service the fridge or home one and add and change oil?

 

Its all different. Your fridge and home air con is in a very stable environment. No increase of pressure at all. Consistent output day in and out

 

Car compressor, u whack engine, adds stress to the compressor. You ever heard of drivers telling u that if u want to whack the engine, must off the air con first? Why? Coz when u whack, compressor gets stress and can kaput.

 

The compressor works in diff temperature. Hot and cold day. You on and off engine everyday.

[Mkl22]

Home compressor is a dead sealed system. It doesn't move. It doesn't vibrate.

 

Car aircon has pipings, joints. It vibrates, just like your engine vibrates and shakes everything.

 

That's the difference in working environment.

Yes but that does not justify change of oil right? This sort of environment will cause leaks earlier. But it does not mean there is any need to change oil or add oil unless you do a replacement of a component and existing oil in the system is lost and you need only to add make up oil. Adding too much oil will cause issues as well.

[Donut]

I happened to be one of the sucker in my early driving years.

 

They will usually give 2-3 options:

 

 

1) Fear tactics: Repair take very long, not worth, even if can repair maybe other parts also will fail later.

 

 

2) Recon unit- which is actually the previous conned compressor they repaired or salvaged from scrape yard with some new silver spray paint job.

 

 

3) Brand new

 

Yeah, we all went through paying "tuition fee" and learn the hard way last time.

 

We learn from experience and become wiser. Lol

[Donut]

Yes but that does not justify change of oil right? This sort of environment will cause leaks earlier. But it does not mean there is any need to change oil or add oil unless you do a replacement of a component and existing oil in the system is lost and you need only to add make up oil. Adding too much oil will cause issues as well.

 

From my umderstanding, the compressor oil is just like your engine oil. It will lose the properties over time and will get depleted somehow. That's why u need to change. It's not to ADD. it's has to be CHANGED.

[Mkl22]

From my umderstanding, the compressor oil is just like your engine oil. It will lose the properties over time and will get depleted somehow. That's why u need to change. It's not to ADD. it's has to be CHANGED.

Then going by this argument, shouldn't the oil in home be changed also. Given that the number of hours a fridge runs is for sure more than the car compressor. Ok we take into account much harsher environments in a car. Lets make it 10 times worst than a fridge. So just roughly speaking if you change oil every 2 years for the compressor in the car then you should change the fridge one every 3-4years? I'm assuming 4hours on the road everyday for the car. A day a fridge will run 6times longer.

 

None of you can still tell me why for fridges and home a/c no one changes oil.Have you change the oil at home? If not, why not? Given that it is good to do.

 

Also like I mentioned before I used to change compressor oil for the car. But then the more I questioned the more it did not make sense. Why is the car system so different that you need to change oil but not home units.

Edited May 27, 2012 by Mkl22

[5936]

How do you drain out old compressor oil out?

 

While some amount of oil will be purged out together with refrigerant, there is certainly some amount trapped inside the compressor.

 

Until now, it is either to remove compressor and drain or leave it.

 

To remove compressor will incur additional cost and make AC mechanic angry (extra work). While mixing new and old oil is not the most ideal practice.

[Kb27]

How do you drain out old compressor oil out?

 

While some amount of oil will be purged out together with refrigerant, there is certainly some amount trapped inside the compressor.

 

Until now, it is either to remove compressor and drain or leave it.

 

To remove compressor will incur additional cost and make AC mechanic angry (extra work). While mixing new and old oil is not the most ideal practice.

You can't simply drain out compressor oil, bcoz it's mixed with the coolant or R134A.

 

Go to a aircon specialist with a machine.

 

It will precisely add the correct amount of coolant + compressor oil, that is, after vacuuming all the old ones out.

[Kb27]

Yes but that does not justify change of oil right? This sort of environment will cause leaks earlier. But it does not mean there is any need to change oil or add oil unless you do a replacement of a component and existing oil in the system is lost and you need only to add make up oil. Adding too much oil will cause issues as well.

You can't just change out compressor oil.

It goes in together with the coolant at the correct amount and ratio.

 

Any loss of coolant due to any leaks is often accompanied by loss of some oil.

 

For those who simply "top up gas", the loss of oil is not accounted for.

With less oil, the compressor will tend to overheat due to the friction of compressing the dry coolant.

 

Ultimately, this lead to short compressor life span.

[5936]

I thought only air and gas can be vacuum out only?

 

I dont recall seeing oil being vacuum out.

 

The traces of oil being released was lesser than the 1/2 to 1 cup of compressor oil capacity. Obviously, some was still trapped inside.

[Donut]

Then going by this argument, shouldn't the oil in home be changed also. Given that the number of hours a fridge runs is for sure more than the car compressor. Ok we take into account much harsher environments in a car. Lets make it 10 times worst than a fridge. So just roughly speaking if you change oil every 2 years for the compressor in the car then you should change the fridge one every 3-4years? I'm assuming 4hours on the road everyday for the car. A day a fridge will run 6times longer.

 

None of you can still tell me why for fridges and home a/c no one changes oil.Have you change the oil at home? If not, why not? Given that it is good to do.

 

Also like I mentioned before I used to change compressor oil for the car. But then the more I questioned the more it did not make sense. Why is the car system so different that you need to change oil but not home units.

 

Can't really explain in detail, dude. I learn from experience. Never study theory. Whatever it is, I'm been doing this and I never needed to change the compressor. So it works, or I'm just lucky. I learn all these from old air con WS guy in the past. I also never knew about compressor oil until I knew this ws guy. Like many drivers, I used to know whatever happens to the compressor, just change the whole damm compressor.

 

[Donut]

I thought only air and gas can be vacuum out only?

 

I dont recall seeing oil being vacuum out.

 

The traces of oil being released was lesser than the 1/2 to 1 cup of compressor oil capacity. Obviously, some was still trapped inside.

 

The WS will use a machine to vacuum out the oil out, at the same time, the guy will release the gas out from the knob. Once the old oil is vacuum out, the machine will put in new one inside.

 

From what i know, not every air con WS has this machine, coz it's not cheap. And the WS guys must know what to do. The pressure must be precise, if not, you will have problems with the air con. (as explained to me by Kah motor)

 

Even Autosaver doesn't have this machine. I asked before recently when I did my 80k KM in defu lane

[Rainbow]

What's the servicing schedule like for car airon? I think my usual servicing doesnt include it. A 4-yr old car with 43,000 mileage needs to service?

[Picanto]

For you please dun go to this workshop

 

Please go to the one that ask me to

 

Change compressor L & Kim.

 

who here going to believe?

[Jamesc]

who here going to believe?

For you no need to believe.

 

[Genesisz]

The WS will use a machine to vacuum out the oil out, at the same time, the guy will release the gas out from the knob. Once the old oil is vacuum out, the machine will put in new one inside.

 

From what i know, not every air con WS has this machine, coz it's not cheap. And the WS guys must know what to do. The pressure must be precise, if not, you will have problems with the air con. (as explained to me by Kah motor)

 

Even Autosaver doesn't have this machine. I asked before recently when I did my 80k KM in defu lane

 

Yes. The workshop needs to know the exact pressure for each specific car or model.

 

Otherwise, if too much, the aircon will spoil.