The temperature is slipping above 80 degrees. How refreshing after the winter that would never end. And, how wonderful that you can slip into your car, flip on the AC and, almost instantly, feel the cool air washing the heat away.

On a sunny day, a car parked in the sun can reach 195 degrees inside. At that temperature, foods cook. But, as long as your car has air conditioning, who cares. You’ll drive down the road enjoying the refreshing cold air that pours from the vents. But, is it cold enough; is it as cold as it should be?

When you turn on the AC, you’ll also adjust the fan to the desired speed. If the fan works, you’ll feel air rushing out of your vents. It will probably feel cool. But, this doesn’t guarantee that your car’s air conditioning is working to its full potential.

The AC in your car can lose its oomph after a while. Usually, this is because the charge of refrigerant in the lines loses its pressure. It still does its bit in sending cooled air out of the vents but not as cool as it would if the refrigerant in the lines are fully charged.

When the temperature in McHenry is 80, your car’s air conditioning may work fairly well. But, if the system isn’t fully charged, on a 95-degree day, you may find that the AC can’t keep up; it can’t remove all that heat from inside your car.

Removing heat is what your car’s air conditioning actually does. The air flows across an evaporator coil with refrigerant inside. The refrigerant is cold and acts like a magnet for the refrigerant. Now heated, the refrigerant runs out under the hood where a condenser coil is placed behind the cooling fan. The air blowing across the coils is cool and attracts the heat from the refrigerant making it cold again and ready for another pass inside the car.

Fully charged with refrigerant, a car’s AC system can keep you cool when it’s over 100 degrees outside. If the charge isn’t full, you may find that your car’s air conditioning can’t handle the hotter days of a McHenry summer. The solution is to bring the car into a trusted auto repair shop and allow an auto repair technician to check the charge, and recharge the system if it’s low.