Air conditioning
What gas does your A/C take? Pop your reg in and find out.
We'll tell you whether your vehicle runs on R134a or R1234yf and roughly how many grams it needs for a full charge — before you book, before you pay, no guesswork.
Here's how air-con servicing should be done — in three steps:
Step 1
Test first: find out if there's a leak
No cold air, or it needs gas? The proper first step is a nitrogen pressure test — not a recharge. Putting gas in without checking often just tells you it's leaked back out a few days later, by which point you've paid for refrigerant that's gone.
The pressure test establishes whether there's a leak before any gas goes in. If there's no leak, great — we recharge and you're done. If there is one, you've found it before paying for a refill that won't hold. Either way you know exactly where you stand. That's how it should be done, and it's how we do it.
How we test
Nitrogen pressure test
System charged with dry nitrogen to full working pressure; leaks found by pressure drop on the gauge AND leak-detection spray on the joints. No refrigerant vented.
UV dye + check
Dye added with the gas, run the car a few days, traced under UV light. Best for slow leaks.
Electronic sniffer
Handheld refrigerant detector run around joints and pipework when there's gas in the system.
Pricing
- Nitrogen pressure test — £25
- Leak-detection dye — £15
- Recharge — price from your reg (see the lookup below)
Each of these can be done on its own, or alongside a recharge — whatever you need. Pay on the day.
Step 2
Fix what's found
If the test finds a leak, we repair the actual fault — not just mask it. This is the bit a recharge on its own skips.
Step 3
Recharge, and it stays cold
If there's no leak, or once it's fixed, we recharge to the correct gas and amount for your vehicle (the gas type and price from your reg lookup below). Because the system's sound, it stays cold — instead of slipping away over the next few days.
R134a (pre-2014 cars, most motorhomes)
£35 + 6p / g
Typical car (500 g) = £65. Motorhome on Fiat Ducato (900 g) = £89.
R1234yf (2017+ cars)
£45 + £0.16 / g
Typical car (500 g) = £125. Transit (650 g) = £149.
Why so different?R1234yf is the newer, lower-GWP gas mandated on cars sold from 2017. It's roughly 5× more expensive per gram for us to buy in, so the customer price reflects that. Nothing's marked up arbitrarily — the breakdown is right there on your quote.
What do you want to book?
Choose your service
We'll always tell you straight whether you need a proper repair or just a recharge — and do whichever it actually is.