Air con usage

[Hughsehhh]

As the title really. Instead of shifting my 986, I may just buy another car for motorway munching the long journeys.

How does the air con hold out on the cars when only taken out and driven occasionally? As I take the train to work, I only use the boxster once a week normally, and this would probably drop to once a fortnight if I bought another car, possibly even less over the winter.

On other cars I've had, if you didn't use the air con say once a fortnight, it would rapidly dry out and seals would start going, knackering the system 

[dpg123]

Mines an occasional use car, once every couple of weeks. I changed the condensers/seals/desiccator about 3 yrs ago (7,000 miles) and it's still blowing cold. I'll probably have a regas prior to the summer next year though.

[GmanB]

Had my car a year and half and hardly use the air con. I use the car daily, but there's just not much use for air con. I used it twice last summer (not once this summer) when it was really hot, albeit with the roof down. It does get a little more use in the winter to help defrost/demist the windows. Anyway, it's held up well so far. I'm not a fan of air con at all, but on the odd occasion I do need it, it hasn't let me down. 

I think it's more to do with the exposed condensers and pipes corroding on the boxster, rather than seals/dry out. 

[Menoporsche]

Mine is occasional use and seems fine. And when I use the car I set aircon to off, running it maybe once every two months. So far so good. 

[mike597]

What car have you had where this has been a problem? Never heard of it being a problem on any car built this century. Maybe if the air con was off for a year or so but a couple of weeks? Nah.  

[Nobbie]

Mine gets left for weeks between uses in winter and was off the road for 5 months last winter without any ill effect. My old 107 lasted 10 years without a regas despite often not being used for weeks.

[Hughsehhh]

44 minutes ago, mike597 said:

What car have you had where this has been a problem? Never heard of it being a problem on any car built this century. Maybe if the air con was off for a year or so but a couple of weeks? Nah.  

Mk6 fiesta ST. 

[mike597]

1 hour ago, Hughsehhh said:

Mk6 fiesta ST. 

Shrug..  You've got a Porsche now.... 

[Billzeebub]

Wouldnt worry too much about the system generally. I mainly use my aircon for demisting on cold/wet days. If you only drive every couple of weeks maybe give it a blast every journey. The main weakness on Boxster's is where the condensors are situated. The area around them in bumper needs to be regularly cleared of debris or mesh grills fitted to stop ingress of leaves and other such debris, especially this time of year 

[Rev Ken]

My aircon stopped working due to lack of use and needed refilling. This happened twice over two years, but now I use the car every week, and use the aircon I've had no problem over the last two years.

[jonogt6]

7 hours ago, mike597 said:

Shrug..  You've got a Porsche now.... 

That's why he's worried! 😁

[stevemag]

I've never used the aircon , I drop the roof and drive 

Aircon is a pretty useless addition to an open topped sports car IMHO 

 

The heater is however, quite useful 

 

 

[Hughsehhh]

I never use the soft top, most of my journeys are motorways and to go anywhere i have to jump on the m25, so the roofdown has zero appeal at motorway speed.

I think the aircon is great, allows you to regulate the temperature perfectly and dehumidifies the air, making it much more comfortable. Mine's set to auto whenever i'm in the car

[GmanB]

18 hours ago, Hughsehhh said:

I never use the soft top

Whaaaaat? 

[½cwt]

4 hours ago, GmanB said:

Whaaaaat? 

Each to their own.  Were we not saying in a thread just last week that we're all inclusive here....? 

Besides top down at sustained motorway speed is a touch hard core.