Air Con "hiss"

[sargesmith]

Hello Guys,

First post (i think be gentle). Had my 2006 Ibiza (Sport trim) for about 2 years now I had the A/C charged as bought it in the height of summer and previous owner had never had it charged. Worked a treat, I asked the garage how often does it need to be recharged, they told me 3 years apparantly.

Today the temp is 16C and I had to run a medical errand (new social restrictions etc). I decided to try the A/C and was greeted by a hissing noise from the vents, it did go through out the drive but if I turned it off and and on ist came back no matter what.

Does it need a recharge or is it a quirk

 

[Hawkers]

You've got a leak in the system and that is your gas escaping. Common place is the front mounted condenser where a stone has pierced it causing a hole.

 

[RUM4MO]

The hissing is more likely to indicate a low fridge gas level/load, which okay has been caused by a leak, but I would not think that you are actually hearing the leaking gas, if you hear it it will be gone very quickly.

 

[sargesmith]

I was thinking if it was leaking, then I'd hear regardless if the A/C was on. I thnik it maybe low level, thinking I may get it charged when we are allowed out to play and see what garage says. where is best place to locate a leak (i know not easy to anser but common places)

 

[RUM4MO]

I was thinking if it was leaking, then I'd hear regardless if the A/C was on. I thnik it maybe low level, thinking I may get it charged when we are allowed out to play and see what garage says. where is best place to locate a leak (i know not easy to anser but common places)

One side of the compressor would be running at a lot higher pressure when chilling was being demanded, the other side would be running at lower pressure at the same time, both "higher" and "lower" are relative to the standing pressure.

 

[sargesmith]

Ah right, well I've no pressure gauge so I guess it's a trip to the garage once we can get back to normal

 

[RUM4MO]

Ah right, well I've no pressure gauge so I guess it's a trip to the garage once we can get back to normal

Absolutely as you would need a fridge manifold gauge set set to see what the running pressures were when the system was working hard.

 

[sargesmith]

thanks though i will advise when we are back out to play