How Does a Car’s Air Conditioning Work? If you need to do some work on your car or truck's AC system, be sure to have a repair manual specific to your vehicle. The various pieces of the AC system. How does air conditioning make the air cold in a car? Start with the fan speed turned to … By 1969, about half of all cars sold had A/C and 2010 about 99% of all vehicles sold have featured the luxury. Any AC system requires a refrigerant, such as R-134a. In modern vehicles it is R134a, whereas older vehicles have r-12 Freon. The air conditioning system in your car is comprised of a compressor, condenser, expansion valve and evaporator. The air conditioner won’t run properly unless your engine is running. Ok so here’s the science bit. Air conditioning has two main purposes. The final bill for replacing your car's air conditioning system will depend on the make and model of the vehicle you own. If you have ever used a can of compressed air to clean computer components, you will know that the bottle gets very cold in a short amount of time. The compressor, like in your IC engine-powered car, pushes the refrigerant through the chilling unit and cools the air before reaching the AC vent. How does air conditioning work? These variations are specific to the make and model of different vehicles. Use a car finder tool to look at everything from new car prices to used car values to determine what make and model you currently own. Air conditioners in cars. Car air conditioning works to fulfill two specific tasks, through a low-pressure and high-pressure stage. It cools the air entering the passenger compartment. Your vehicle’s compressor, powered by the serpentine belt, compresses the refrigerant into a liquid, putting it into a high-pressure state. When the air conditioning system is switched on, the gas travels to a condenser. The heater system is a little more complicated. The best setting for diagnosis is “fresh air” (not recirculated) with the air blowing out of the center vents in the dash and the AC turned on. All air conditioning systems have these basic parts, although different systems use various forms of sensors to monitor pressure and temperatures. Car air conditioners work much the same way as home and office ones, only they're a lot smaller. What Does It Cost to Replace Your Car’s Air Conditioning System? Although you may have though the air is only being cooled, the moisture content in the air is also being reduced, normally referred to as humidity. So, you see, compressors instigate and are responsible for the entire process of air conditioning in your cabin. Refrigerant: this is a liquid/gas chemical which absorbs and releases heat. Originally patented by Packard in 1939, air conditioning has added chill to the air in our vehicles. It also removes the moisture from the air so it feels more comfortable inside the vehicle. Inside the air conditioning system is a compressor which contains a refrigerant – this is the gas which needs refilling regularly. As we just mentioned, there are numerous parts of your AC system that work in a series in order to provide the driver and passengers with a cool-air-filled cabin. The air conditioning system contains a number of parts, half of which work in low-pressure and half in high-pressure. Air conditioning does several things to condition the air passing through a space, in this case the driver and passenger area of your car. The components. What Does Air Conditioning Do? In many makes, air conditioning cycles automatically when the defrost setting is chosen. Turn the air conditioning on while the car is running. Your car air conditioning works much better when you're actually driving, because the faster the engine turns, the faster the A/C compressor runs, which lets the system cool more effectively. 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