Bee Cool Air Conditioning Advice

More than 92% of new cars sold this year had air conditioning systems fitted as standard. If you are the owner of such a vehicle you will appreciate the value of air conditioning. The system cools the passenger cabin during warm weather and assists the demister in winter by removing excess moisture in damp conditions.

Whilst the modern automotive Air Conditioning system is both efficient and reliable, it is a mainly mechanical system which requires periodical servicing and maintenance in order to maintain its performance. Almost without exception, vehicle manufacturers now recommend an annual service to maintain the efficiency of the system and ensure the reliable running of the vehicle.

Air Conditioning systems are still relatively new to the UK. Most car owners, and indeed, many garages, do not appreciate that if an Air Conditioning system is not correctly maintained by suitably trained and equipped technicians on a regular basis, there is a risk of system damage or even a complete vehicle breakdown. This is possible because most Air Conditioning equipped vehicles use a common drive belt to power the Air Conditioning compressor. If an Air Conditioning compressor seizes due to lack of maintenance, the subsequent drive belt failure will stop the vehicle, and lead to expensive repair bills.

Your air-conditioning system can be blended with your heater to provide you with clean, purified and dehumidified air. It should be used all year round, do not leave it turned off for long periods of time as the system will suffer from a lack of lubrication. If you do not use your air-conditioning for whatever reason, turn it on at least once each week for half an hour.

We at Bee Cool offer a convenient mobile service, and will travel to you to carry out the work required at your convenience. We are able to deal with all aspects of automotive air conditioning systems in cars, taxis, HGV, coaches, and agricultural vehicles, as well as offer a specialist service to the Motor Trade. We are also able to ‘Retro-fit’ older vehicles carrying the now banned R12 refrigerant. This was fitted to vehicles prior to 1994.

In order to maintain the Air Conditioning system in your vehicle to peak efficiency, it will require servicing once a year. Many Garages do not have the specialist knowledge needed to complete this task, as it requires specialist training, and they will need to comply with the legal issues. Bee Cool’s service technicians have been trained to C &G 6048 (Motor Vehicle Air Conditioning Service& Repair), and have a current CITB Certificate in the Safe Handling of Refrigerants. Please also note that your air conditioning system will not normally be serviced as part of the standard procedure by your local garage, or Main Dealer.

The subject of legislation still causes a lot of debate, however, in reading all available regulations and guidelines, we as a company choose to follow the following guidelines;

EPA (Environmental Protection Act) 1990, section 33, states: ‘It is an offence to treat, keep, or dispose of a controlled substance (Refrigerant), in a manner likely to cause pollution to the environment, or harm human health.’
BS4434 Section 3, subsection 6, paragraph 2, note 3, states: ‘It is an offence under sections 33(1) c, and 34, of the EPA Act 1990 (chapter 43), to deliberately discharge environmentally damaging refrigerant too the atmosphere.’ (Please Note, deliberate venting could be construed as filling an air conditioning system with refrigerant when there is a leak present or to find a leak.)
To dispose of refrigerants we again have to comply with the EPA Act 1990, section 34, which states: we must ‘complete a proper waste transfer note’, and pass the waste refrigerant to a site authorised to handle these waste refrigerants.
Finally, the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road Regulations 1996, give guidelines for transportation of refrigerants.

Failure to comply with these guidelines are severe, and although currently hard to police, breaking them can lead to 5 years imprisonment, and/or, an unlimited fine.

If you have any questions, or are unsure about the operation of your Air Conditioning system, then please call us for a chat, or email us with as much detail as possible.