<VV> A/C Usage Re: Corvair Miles

[Vairtec Corporation]

Frank, while your advice is sound for owners of older air-conditioned 
cars such as a Corvair, in general what you suggest is not necessary for 
a more modern car such as your Pontiac dustbuster van.  Reason:  The 
modern cars cycle the A/C on with every use of the defroster, regardless 
of time of year or outside temperature.  This provides the dual benefit 
of better defroster performance AND exercise of the A/C system as you 
recommend.

There is certainly no harm in doing what you suggest on a newer car, and 
for persons living where defroster use may be rare it remains a good 
idea.  But for the great majority of car owners who, like my wife, would 
not know a preventive maintenance step if it bit them on the ankle. the 
fact that the defroster automatically engages the A/C goes a long way 
toward maintaining A/C performance over the years.


On 9/17/2012 12:11 PM, FrankCB at aol.com wrote:
> JR and V Vers,
>      The way to keep your AC (in any car) operating is  to use it
> periodically.  My 180 doesn't have AC, but the AC in my 95  TransSport is still
> working after 17 years and almost 160,000 miles.  I try  to run it at least 10
> minutes even in relatively mild days in almost EVERY  month of the year.  If it
> doesn't cool very much I add a can of 134a to it,  lately I've had to add
> as much as 2 cans.  But if you don't run it AT  ALL for many months the
> charge will gradually leak out so much  that air will begin to leak IN (due to
> day/night temp. changes) and dilute  the charge, whether it's R-12 or 134a.
> Once that happens the system needs  TOTAL evacuation to get the air out and
> that requires a DEEP VACUUM machine  operation which costs $$$$$ at an AC
> service station.  It's a lot  cheaper to run it regularly and add a few
> dollars of 12 or 134a when the cooling  effect starts to diminish.  That keeps the
> air out and, as we  know, AIR is a rather poor refrigerant.<GGGG>
>      Frank "likes cooling" Burkhard
>   
>