Heating And AC Repair at our Winter Haven shop

We can, and sometimes that's the right call on a system that's only slightly low with no evidence of a leak. But if the system lost enough to stop cooling, it lost it somewhere, and refilling it without finding that spot means paying for the same refrigerant twice. We'd rather look first and tell you what it will take.

Three ways, usually in this order. Refrigerant carries oil with it, so the first pass is looking for the oily film a leak leaves on fittings, hoses and seals. Then an electronic detector, which picks up traces at the joint itself. For slow leaks we add UV dye, run the system, and bring the car back under a black light so the leak has time to mark its own location.

If it's clear water under the passenger side after the AC has been running, that's condensation coming off the drain tube and it's exactly what should happen in this humidity. What isn't normal is that water showing up inside on the carpet, or a puddle that's colored, slick or sweet smelling. Bring those in.

We don't sell a recharge on a mileage interval, because a sealed system that's cooling properly doesn't need one. What is worth doing is checking vent temperature and the cabin filter during a regular inspection, so a slow loss gets caught while it's still cheap. If a system needs refrigerant every year to stay cold, the honest answer is that it's leaking every year.

Yes, and it costs you nothing to do it. The compressor's seals stay lubricated by refrigerant oil circulating through the system, and a system that sits unused all winter is more likely to weep at those seals. Running the defroster does it automatically on most vehicles, since the AC compressor runs in defrost mode to dry the air.