Read the full article by Will Atwater (NCHN)
“Driving in a North Carolina summer can be miserable without reliable air conditioning.
Nonetheless, checking for a refrigerant leak isn’t part of a routine check under the hood, said ‘Crazy’ Charlie Thompson, owner of C and C Automotive in northeast Durham. By the time a driver notices a problem, some refrigerant may already have escaped.
‘When angel breath quits blowing on them, that’s when they are like, ‘Huh, we need some more Freon,’’ Thompson said.
Drivers often buy small cans of refrigerant to recharge their systems themselves. Some products contain only refrigerant; others include sealants intended to stop leaks. Thompson said those sealants can clog his shop’s refrigerant-recovery equipment.
‘When they introduce that to their system, it stops up our $25,000 reclaimer, and they don’t want to pay us for that,’ he said.”…