Mudman Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 (edited) Apparently if I can read a dipstick according to Halfrauds I can recharge my aircon system with a £34 kit which looks like a bottle of R134 and a valve and hose Anyone tried it ? Edited June 21, 2014 by Mudman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMballistic Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 No haven't tried that. My mother just had her aircon recharged locally by a firm who charged her £50 all in and tbh I would rather pay that then f**k with that stuff myself. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyleR Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Nissan charged me £40 for it at last service, why would I bother doing it myself? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jp606 Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 (edited) The joys of being a refrigeration engineer with a big bottle of R134A left over from a job ages ago Edited June 22, 2014 by Jp606 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bounty Bar Kid Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Be careful. You can damage your air con system. I can't remember the specifics but I believe the halfords kit relies on psi of the system. Which is not how it's supposed to be done. When the garage connects up its machine it uses another measurement entirely. The so called right psi could damage your car. It's a quick fix not a correct fix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flex Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 I tried years ago with a similar kit and it did nothing, so in the future I'll probably take it somewhere and save wasting money. At least if you take it somewhere you should get some form of guarantee for the work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudman Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 OK wow general response is a serious body swerve Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilp Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 If it needs recharged then theres usually a leak. As an engineer with lots of A/C experience, I understand the damage that can be done to a system if not done correctly. Other A/C engineers, does anybody know how this is not covered under the f-gas regs? Is it purely down to weight of gas being used? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jp606 Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 (edited) It does come under F-gas regulations, only trained and suitably qualified personnel are allowed to work on the system. However buying gas doesn't seem to be regulated... (Although 'handling refrigerants' is) If the system has lost gas then there will be a leak on the system, which will need to be properly repaired by a qualified person, yet some how anyone can just buy these pre-charged canisters to charge the system themselves which will just leak back out. Any person could walk into a refrigeration supplier and buy as much gas as they want, it's just a massive grey area in the regulations. On the other hand, engineers are getting £1k fines per bottle of reclaimed gas for not carrying filled out paperwork with them. The weight of gas is for leak checking and maintenance, as vehicles gas charge falls under 3kg it doesn't need a regular inspection. R134a is also being phased out. Edited June 22, 2014 by Jp606 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.