Keep Your Cool!

Have you ever wondered what the words cabin filter or pollen filter mean when you spot them on an invoice after your vehicle has been to a garage and been serviced?

The cabin filter or pollen filter has a lot of work to do, and it is there to protect you from the fumes, dust, dirt and general nastiness that is in the air as you travel. If this filter is not regularly changed, it affects the performance of your air-conditioning system and heater.

It does not stop there, you can get your air-conditioning system serviced for want of a better word. This usually involves an anti-bacterial cleaner being run through the car’s heater system to
kill off any nasties that might cause bad smells when you switch it on.

The reality of this job is that your heater system will be set to re-circulate and an aerosol spray is let off in the car with the doors shut (no one is in the car). This circulates for several minutes and does the job. It makes sense to change the pollen filter at this time as well.

On the mechanical side of the air-conditioning, the refrigerant will be recharged to required levels, the oil in the air-conditioning system will be topped up, a thorough check for leaks and any moisture or air that has found its way into the system will also be removed.

On average an air-conditioning system will lose about 10% of its refrigerant every year. So if you use it a lot, it’s something that is worth getting checked regularly.

Air-conditioning is helpful to drivers all-year-round, not just in the summer months to keep things inside the car cool. In case you did not know, nothing will clear moisture inside of your windscreen quicker in the morning than switching the air-conditioning on.

By Ben Morley