1 

Study conducted for the German Federal Environment Office 

Sponsorship Reference 360 09 006

Emission of Refrigerant R-134a from Mobile Air-Conditioning 

Systems 

Annual Rate of Emission from Passenger-Car Air-Conditioning Systems 

up to Seven Years Old 

by 

Dr. Winfried Schwarz 

Öko-Recherche 

Büro für Umweltforschung und -beratung GmbH 

Environmental Research and Consultancy Office 

Frankfurt am Main 

September 2001 
I 

Contents 

Rate of Emission from Car Air-Conditioning Systems up to Seven Years Old. 

Introduction and Summary. III

Purpose of Empirically Based Study III

High Refrigerant Loss attributable to System Design III

Summary of Chapters A to G IV

I. Refrigerant Record Sheets and Supplementary Information from the selected Garages 1

1. Refrigerant Records voluntarily completed by garages 1

2. Time-span and quality of garage Record Sheets on R-134a 1

3. Concentration of vehicles: Rhine-Maine Region 2

4. Three German brands of passenger car 2

5. Recovery/recharging stations employed 2

6. First stage of quantity correction - the 1,004 documented cases 2

7. Second stage of quantity correction - the 841 analysable cases 4

8. Other information from the garages and the car manufacturers 5

9. Workshop visits for opening of air-conditioning system distributed over individual months 5

B. Reliability of Records and Accuracy of Recovery/Recharging Stations 7

I. Recovery and Charging by Recovery/Recharging Station (see drawing) 7

1. Recovery (2 to 5 minutes) 7

2. Evacuation (20 to 30 minutes) 9

3. Recharging (1 to 3 minutes) 9

4. Emptying the recharging hose 9

II. Errors in determining Quantity; their Significance and Correction 10

1. Rounding off when measuring by sight, also where weighing electronically 10

2. The residue in the hose as source of error in determining the charge quantity 11

3. Temperature differences between recovery/recharging station and air-conditioning system when 

recovering 12

4. Recovery of after-evaporation forgotten 13

5. Omitted entries 13

III. Refrigerant Loss caused by the Servicing Operation itself 14

1. Loss when charging 14

2. Refrigerant loss when locating leaks with contrast medium 14

C. Reasons for Opening an Air-Conditioning System and Causes of Detected 

Refrigerant Loss 16

I. Elimination of Leaks, the Main Reason for Opening on Total Loss of Refrigerant 17

1. Empty air-conditioning system after accident involving body damage 18

2. Total loss due to stone impact or irregular component defect 18

3. Total loss followed simply by recharging without repair work 19

II. Opening a System where Refrigerant Loss is less than 40% 20

1. Component defects not themselves responsible for release of refrigerant 21

2. Air-conditioning system as obstacle to engine or radiator repairs 22

3. Establishment of accident damage and preparation for bodywork repairs 22

4. Leak tests at customer's or workshop's initiative 23

III. Consequences for Method of Estimating the Rate of Emission 23

D. The Annual Rate of Normal Emission 25

I. Regular Loss of Refrigerant from Intact Air-Conditioning Systems 25
II 

II. All 282 Emission Rates of < 40% as a Function of Vehicle Age 25

III. Statistical Correction of Normal Emission Rates 27

1. Recognisable as 'irregular' from the Record Sheets: seven cases 27

2. Eliminating anomalies above and below the line: 59 cases 28

IV. The corrected 6.3% Annual Rate of Normal Emission 30

V. Differences in Normal Emission between the Three Car Brands 31

VI. Car Manufacturer Specifications concerning Normal Leakage 33

E. The Annual Rate of 'Irregular' Emission 35

I. Inspections as Reference Quantity for Cases of Irregular Emission 35

II. Confinement of Inspections to Vehicles with Air-Conditioning System 36

1. Model of Age Patterns in Annual Inspections 37

2. Air-conditioning quotas in inspection periods 1999, 2000 and 2001 38

3. 'Workshop Rate' of air-conditioned vehicles 39

III. The Annual Rate of 'Irregular' Emission 39

F. The Annual Total Rate of Emission for Air-Conditioning Systems at most Seven 

Years old 41

I. The Calculated 8.2% Rate of Emission 41

II. Margins of Error in determined Quantities 42

1. Errors in recording recovery and recharging operations 42

2. Differences between the three brands of car 42

III. The Annual Rates of Emission with Margins of Error 43

IV. Emission on Disposal raises the Annual Rate by 10% 43

G. The Question of Reducing Emission by Regular System Inspection 45

I. Maintaining an Air-Conditioning System increases Operational Reliability 45

II. Regular Maintenance generally does not reduce Emission 45

III. Partial Prevention of Irregular Emission - Minimal 46

1. Two examples showing how emission may be reduced by maintenance 46

2. Internal corrosion by acid refrigerant is unlikely 46

3. Detection of slowly growing small leaks 47

4. Emissions prevented or caused by maintenance are approximately equal in magnitude. 48

Acknowledgements, Reference Material 49

Note on unnamed sources 49

References 49

A special debt of gratitude is due to Mr Matti Vainio for his initiative to have this study 

translated from German into English by the European Commission. 
III 

Rate of Emission from Car Air-Conditioning Systems up to Seven 

Years Old. Introduction and Summary. 

The Kyoto Protocol on Climate Protection extends not only to the greenhouse-gases CO2, methane and 

nitrous oxide, but also to the fluorinated gases (f-gases) HFC, PFC and SF6. By far the most important 

of the fluorinated greenhouse gases is HFC, used mainly as a substitute for CFCs, while the most 

significant of the HFCs themselves is HFC 134a, accounting for about three-quarters of world 

production. Since HFC 134a is mainly used as a refrigerant, it is also called R-134a, 'R' standing for 

'refrigerant'. 

Purpose of Empirically Based Study 

The greater part of R-134a use in Germany is associated with mobile air-conditioning systems. Rather 

than going by laboratory measurements and the estimations of experts, the present study has employed 

empirical and statistical methods in its attempt to determine the annual rate of R-134a emission from 

mobile air-conditioning systems. The study should also help in assessing the extent to which preventive 

maintenance and inspection might contribute to a reduction in emissions. 

Our analysis concentrates mainly on passenger-car air-conditioning systems because they account for 

about 95% of refrigerant emission and consumption in the "mobile air-conditioning systems" sector 

('Öko-Recherche - Ecological Survey - 1999, 17). The survey is based on the records kept by garages 

on the quantities of refrigerant recovered and recharged when opening the refrigerant circuit of an airconditioning system. 

High Refrigerant Loss attributable to System Design 

Unlike a stationary air-conditioning system, the refrigerant circuit of a car's air-conditioning system is 

unstable in state because its compressor is driven by the crankshaft. The compressor is necessarily 

open in design, and, being attached to the engine block, the need arises to avoid vibration as cooling 

capacity is transferred to the remaining parts of the refrigerant circuit connected to the chassis. As a 

result, only a limited proportion of metallic piping may be used in place of flexible hosing. Hoses, O-rings 

at component joints, and the rotary shaft seal of the compressor are weak points in the sealing system 

(Air-Conditioning Systems Conference - 2001), constituting the principal points of normal refrigerant 

leakage from systems which have not suffered "irregular" damage. 

It is generally recognised that the emission of R-134a from car air-conditioning systems is not as high as 

that of CFC R-12 (still being newly installed up to as late as 1994 in some cases), where losses had 

amounted to nearly three charges per life cycle. Greater care is now taken in the handling of refrigerant, 

and although the HFC-134a molecule is smaller than the CFC-12's, the additional lining of hose interiors 

with polyamide film prevents any greater permeation. 

At present, however, we have nothing more to go by than a series of estimates of the annual loss of 

refrigerant from car air-conditioning systems, with figures ranging from less than 5% to over 20% based 

on expert assessment or, rather more rarely, on laboratory measurement (see Clodic 2000; AFCE 1998; 

Baker 1999; Preisegger 1999, Öko-Recherche 1999; UNEP 1998; Fischer 1997, Pettersen/Hafner 1996, 

among others). To date, no estimate has yet been put forward on the basis of empirical measurements 

made on actual road-going vehicles. 
IV 

Summary of Chapters A to G 

Chapter A presents the study database, comprising approximately a thousand recorded recovery and 

recharging operations carried out by nine authorised dealers of three German car manufacturers during 

the period 1999 to May 2001. 

Chapter B discusses recovery/recycling/recharging stations, duly examining the accuracy with which 

volumes recovered and charged are measured, reducing margins of error, and introducing corrective 

factors. 

Chapter C analyses the reasons for the detected loss of refrigerant on opening an air-conditioning 

system. It emerges that the causes of 'total' loss (occurring in approximately 40% of cases and mainly 

attributable to outside influence) are different from the reasons for the equally high number of cases 

producing losses of less than 40%. A deficit of 40% refrigerant in relation to the normal charge is 

regarded here as the limit below which an air-conditioning system is still marginally intact (still no 

gaseous refrigerant or "flash gas", and still entirely liquid upstream of the expansion valve) and generally 

provides the same cooling action as a fully charged system. Provided they do not already occur during 

the initial phase of a system's use, refrigerant losses of less than 40% are generally the result of normal 

leakage rather than an 'irregular' event (accident, stone impact, etc.) which almost always produces 

greater loss. The study therefore sets out to examine two fundamentally different kinds of emission - 

normal and irregular. Refrigerant loss under 40% is the result of gradual, normal leakage, especially 

through seals, while the causes of any higher losses than that are 'irregular'. While it is true to say that 

continuous normal leakage of refrigerant can sometimes reach levels of over 40%, vehicles aged less 

than six or seven years (representing the majority of our chosen population) should not generally have 

arrived at that stage so early in their life. For the present, detected refrigerant loss less than 40% is 

deemed to be normal leakage. 

Chapter D examines air-conditioning systems opened for various reasons other than lack of refrigerant 

and found to have lost less than 40%, interpreting them as (unintentional) "random sample" of normal 

emission, and relates the losses to the age of the vehicle in months since first registration. Initially, there 

is no relationship to be seen between the level of refrigerant loss and the age of the vehicle, due in the 

main to numerous unexpectedly high instances of refrigerant loss during the first eighteen months of 

operation. Since such instances can be assumed to have 'irregular' rather than normal causes, they 

were eliminated from the remaining study of normal emission. Having "removed" these instances of 

emission from the series of refrigerant losses less than 40%, the remaining 216 air-conditioning systems 

in the survey indicated a mean annual coolant loss of 6.3% (52 grams) as annual rate of normal 

emission over the first seven years in use. This rate varies by about ten percentage points up or down 

according to make of car, ranging from 5.8 to 7.0%. The mean 52-gram normal leakage figure comes 

within the scope of the car manufacturers' permitted tolerance of 34 to 83 gram per air-conditioning 

system. 

Chapter E: The study determined 'normal' emission indirectly from garage records, relating the emission 

behaviour of the few air-conditioning systems opened in the garage to the entirety of passenger-car airconditioning systems in use for less than seven years. However, 'irregular' emission was determined 

directly from those records, relating the sum of irregular refrigerant loss in kilograms which a garage 

detected in one year to the number of air-conditioned cars inspected by the same garage in the same 

year. Passing through several intermediate stages, the examination disclosed an annual loss of about 

1.9% of the refrigerant carried in vehicles regularly serviced by the nine authorised dealers within the 

period 1999 to May 2001. The percentage varies from 1.5 to 2.2 % according to make of car. 

Chapter F adds the two rates of emission to arrive at an annual rate of 8.2% total emission, which varies 

from 7.7 to 9.2% according to make of car. To allow for this fluctuation between car brands and to cater 

for the inherent inaccuracy of recovery/recharging stations, the margin of error is extended by 25% 
V 

above and below the 8.2% figure to produce an annual total rate of emission varying between 6.2 and 

10.3%. This defines the magnitude rather than the exact level of the rate of emission. It should be 

remembered that these figures relate only to air-conditioning systems less than seven years old, and as

yet make no allowance for emission at time of disposal. Regular total emission of R-134a from car airconditioning systems in the year 2000 has been estimated as between 685 and 1,140 tonnes. The 

variation depends on whether an emission rate of 6.2% (the minimum) or 10.3% (the maximum) is 

assumed for the 11,500 tonnes of refrigerant circulating in passenger cars in Germany. In turn, this

11,500 tonnes is an assumed figure based on 13 million air-conditioned cars (30% of the total car 

population being thus equipped) having an average R-134a charge of 850 grams. 

Annual Rate of Emission increased to 10% on account of Loss at Time of Disposal

To guard against any misunderstanding, it should be said that an annual rate of emission over the first 

seven years in service will generally be lower than an annual rate of emission calculated over the entire 

life of a system. This is not simply due to the acceleration in normal system leakage (not quantified in 

this paper) which some experts expect to observe as a vehicle ages, it is mainly attributable to emission 

at time of scrapping an old car. Even with the improvements expected in the recovery of refrigerant by 

German old-car recyclers over the coming years, recovery related to a given originally German year of 

registration will still be limited on account of the 50% quota of used cars exported in that year to non-EU

countries (Arge Altauto 2000 - Arge old cars, 2000). Disposal loss per annum is estimated here at about 

25% until further information becomes available. This 25% distributed over a life of twelve to thirteen 

years increases the annual total rate of emission by a further 2%, so in the medium term the rate 

fluctuates around about 10%. 

Annual Rate of Normal, Irregular, Disposal and Overall 

Emissions from Passenger Car AC Units up to Seven Years old

(25 % margin of error - including disposal emissions)

6.3

1.9 2.0

10.2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Normal ER Irregul. ER Disposal ER Overall ER

percentage

Chapter G finally examines the likelihood of reducing emission of refrigerant into the environment by 

regularly maintaining the air-conditioning system. In principle, preventive inspection does increase the 

reliability of a system's operation and can also contribute to a saving in energy, but it does not reduce 

the emission of refrigerant associated with either disposal, 'irregular' leakage, or normal leakage. 

Accordingly, it is not deemed appropriate to introduce compulsory maintenance alone with a view to 

reducing the emission of R-134a.
1 

A. Database - Nine Motor-Vehicle Garages 

The actual level of refrigerant in an R-134a air-conditioning system can only be ascertained by opening 

the refrigerant circuit in a suction-based recovery operation. While the checking of pressures in 

combination with temperature measurements may indicate whether or not the system still contains 

sufficient refrigerant for it to operate, this process cannot in fact determine the actual level of refrigerant. 

Unlike R-12 systems, the collector employed does not have an inspection glass for fast diagnosis. 

Accordingly, to establish the level of refrigerant and with that the difference in charge, the refrigerant 

must be recovered entirely from the system by means of a recovery/recharging station. 

I. Refrigerant Record Sheets and Supplementary Information from the selected 

Garages 

1. Refrigerant Records voluntarily completed by garages 

Following on their records of consumption of CFC-refrigerant R-12, some garages in Germany continue 

to keep "Record Sheets on Quantities of CFC-containing Refrigerant consumed in the Maintenance of 

Air-Conditioning Systems" for the R-134a refrigerant introduced between 1991 and 1993. From the 

author's experience, this is done by about every one in ten manufacturer-tied ('authorised') workshops or 

dealership outlets. Half of these garages systematically enter the recovery and charge quantities read 

off the recovery/recharging station for every single air-conditioning system duly opened, and file the list 

both as record of their own work on the vehicle (for product-liability purposes) and as statistical 

instrument for internal management of resources. 

The law does not require any such detailed recording of refrigerant consumption. The German Federal 

Law on Environmental Statistics (Umweltstatistikgesetz) simply rules that, on request, garages should 

report their total consumption of refrigerant (R-134a) in the previous year to their designated Federal 

State Statistics Office. However, garages were in fact recommended to report vehicle-specific 

consumption of refrigerant in the standard "Fundamentals of Technical Expertise in Vehicle AirConditioning Systems" leaflet issued by the VDA, ZDIK and ZDK (German automobile industry 

associations) in the winter of 1996. 

2. Time-span and quality of garage Record Sheets on R-134a 

Between April and July 2001, usable "Record Sheets on Consumption of Refrigerant" were collected 

from nine manufacturer-tied garages (authorised dealer garages/outlets) associated with three different 

German car brands, and were duly entered in our computer. The records were deemed 'usable' where 

they documented at least one full year (calendar-year 2000, or the period May 2000 to May 2001) and 

generally contained the following data: 

1. Date of workshop visit, 

2. Registration number of vehicle (or a Job Number), 

3. Quantity of refrigerant recovered, 

4. Quantity of refrigerant charged, 

5. Charge difference, 

6. Notes (brief) on reason for operation, and 

7. Type of recovery/recharging station employed. 

The line indicating reason for recovery and recharging was left uncompleted or was insufficiently 

informative ("leaking") in half of the cases examined, but was adequately specific in the other half 

("accident, condenser replaced"). 
2 

Five of the nine garages had records on year 1999 as well, three of these also having details on the 

period May 1998 to end of 1998, and one had even kept information on the whole period March 1997 to 

May 2001. We also examined any full 'year 1999s'. Incomplete 'year 1999s' and the parts of years 1998 

and 1997 were entered in the computer for control purposes. 

Refrigerant R-134 records going back any further than 1997 were inaccessible to the author (except for 

one very patchily documented 'year 1996'). 

Where an air-conditioning system undergoes recovery and recharging, garages generally write the type 

of refrigerant on the customer's invoice and (during the warranty period) on the invoice sent to the 

manufacturer. However, the record on the invoice notes a full system charge rather than the quantity 

recovered, which is reasonable enough in view of the refrigerant-cleansing carried out in the course of 

opening an air-conditioning system. It is for this reason that customer invoices have not been used as 

database for the present study. 

3. Concentration of vehicles: Rhine-Maine Region 

Seven of the reporting garages were in the Rhine-Maine Region, and two were in the Nuremberg area. 

This means that about 80% of the documented vehicles with duly maintained air-conditioning systems 

were reported in the Rhine-Main Region (concentrated mainly on Frankfurt am Main), 15% in 

Nuremberg and its environs, and about 5% had registration plates from outside those two regions. 

4. Three German brands of passenger car 

In the year 2000, the three German car brands serviced by our nine garages together enjoyed a market 

share of about 40% of German new passenger-car registrations (KBA 2001 - German Federal Office of 

Motor Transport). Their share in the registration of new vehicles fitted ex-works with an air-conditioning 

system was somewhat higher, being just under 50% by my own estimation. The reason for this is the 

traditionally higher rate of air-conditioning system installation in German cars as compared with imported 

brands, which make up a third of new registrations. 

5. Recovery/recharging stations employed 

All of the recovery/recharging stations employed for recovery and charging purposes had been 

manufactured during the period 1991 to 1996, so none of them were of the very latest design. The four 

different types used were 

the SECUmat 134 by Behr: five units in five garages; 

the FAST 2000 by Fischer: four units in two garages; 

the RHS 850 by Waeco-A Gramkow: one unit in one garage, and 

the Robinair Vacumaster by Robinair: one unit in one garage. 

One garage has been using a Beissbarth MAC 26 instead of the SECUmat 134a since May 2001, but 

this unit had not yet been entered on the Record Sheets. 

6. First stage of quantity correction - the 1,004 documented cases 

Total number of entries from 1999 to 2001: 1,004
3 

The number of entries in the Record Sheets for full years 1999, 2000 and 2000/2001 amounted to 1,004

in total. There were a further 209 entries from the previous period, which served as control indicating 

whether a vehicle may already have had its air-conditioning system opened, and if so, under what 

conditions.1

 

The 1,004 generally analysable entries on the opening of air-conditioning systems in the years 1999 to 

2001 were distributed more or less uniformly over the three different car brands - Brand 1: 253, Brand 2: 

317, Brand 3: 434. 

Different air-conditioning systems having deducted duplicated entries: 932

Of the 1,004 entries, registration numbers duly identified vehicle air-conditioning systems that had been 

opened several times in the course of one or two years.2 There were 72 duplicated entries in total, so 

the number of different air-conditioning systems effectively opened in 1999 to 2001 reduces to 932. 

Ex-works R-134a systems - excluding R-12 conversions: 875

As a rule, mechanics expressly entered as such any conversions they made from R-12 to R-134a. (The 

list of old vehicles, which is to say vehicles not having an original ex-works R-134a air-conditioning 

system, was completed at a later stage with reference to the date of first registration and the type of 

vehicle). Reduced by the total of 57 system-openings effected for conversion or sometimes for 

retrofitting purposes during the period early 1999 to mid 2001, the number of different vehicles having 

ex-works R-134a air-conditioning systems and documented in the Record Sheets for 1999 to 2001 

amounts to 875 (Brand 1: 216, Brand 2: 284, Brand 3: 375). 

Ex-works R-134a systems excluding commercial vehicles: 841

One garage also opened and recorded the air-conditioning systems of commercial vehicles. The 34 

cases in question having been duly identified and left out of the equation, the total number of genuinely 

passenger-car air-conditioning systems comes to 841. 

Average charge quantities and losses - 841 passenger-car air-conditioning systems

The average charge quantity for all (841) air-conditioning systems was 856 grams. Differences of up to 

30% were to be found between the individual brands - Brand 1: 734 g, Brand 2: 857 g, and Brand 3: 932 

g. 

The average loss of refrigerant determined per air-conditioning system opened was 546 grams, or 64% 

of the charge quantity. Here again, there were differences between the brands - Brand 1: 54%, Brand 2: 

70%, Brand 3: 64%. 

The total volume of refrigerant lost from the 841 systems amounted to 459.2 kilograms. 

 

1

 Only very limited use could be made of another 337 entries documenting all of year 2000 at one further 

garage (a tenth) associated with a fourth German manufacturer, because a figure of "1000 g" refrigerant 

(recovery/recharge) had been entered without exception for every vehicle serviced. 2

 Such cases often involved accidents, where the refrigerant was just recovered before bodywork 

repairs, and then just charged again after the repair work (several days later). The two entries related 

here to one and the same instance of damage. Occasionally, when first coming into the workshop, a 

system was charged with addition of contrast medium but the leak was not eliminated. Then on a 

second visit, the leak was finally rectified thanks to the contrast medium. Here again, the two entries 

relate to one and the same case. 
4 

7. Second stage of quantity correction - the 841 analysable cases 

The age of a vehicle on its visit to the workshop is of decisive importance to certain aspects of the 

present study's investigations, especially the determination of so-called 'normal' emission, but this age is 

not entered in the Record Sheets. 

In a second stage of our work, the nine garages were asked, through their service managers or through 

their environmental protection officers, to examine their duly retained workshop records and provide the 

following three extra items of data on each vehicle identifiable by workshop date and car registration 

number: 

1. type of vehicle, 

2. date of first registration, and 

3. kilometre reading at time of workshop visit. 

At this point I would like to thank all nine garages for completing this time-consuming task, some 

extending it to one year, but some again covering three. In addition to which I must say that the airconditioning mechanic and/or electrical foreman in each garage showed great patience in answering my 

queries and providing me with technical information. 

"Fully identified" vehicles out of the 841: 678

Of the 841 disparate passenger-cars having ex-works R-134a air-conditioning systems, 102 could not 

be identified mainly because they had been deleted from the garage records. Deletions are generally 

effected in connection with transfers of ownership, in other words after a vehicle has been sold by the 

customer and has had its registration plate changed accordingly. The quota of deletions associated with 

dismantling is not very significant to date. 

I decided not to seek further identification of another 61 vehicles (all from record-year 1999 and all 

recording 'total' loss of refrigerant) by the garage concerned, because the additional knowledge thereby 

obtained for the purposes of the present study would have been disproportionate to the major work of 

research otherwise imposed. 

In the final outcome, the study disposed of 678 fully identifiable vehicles whose air-conditioning system 

had been opened between 1999 and 2001: 188 from Brand 1, 252 from Brand 2 and 238 from Brand 3 

(along with another 50 vehicles from the year 1998). 

At 62.5%, the rate of emission for the 678 "fully identified" passenger-cars was slightly lower than the 

64% for the 841 vehicles listed above. The charge quantities in their 678 systems were also somewhat 

lower, being on average 848 grams instead of 856 grams. 

Average age of vehicle on first opening of air-conditioning system: 34 months

The average age of a vehicle on first visiting a workshop to have its air-conditioning system opened was 

34 months, where the relevant information was available. This figure varies, being 32 months for Brand 

1, 31 months for Brand 2, and 38 months for Brand 3. The greater age for Brand 3 is quite conspicuous. 

That brand was distinctly higher than the others in kilometre reading too. 

Average kilometre reading on first opening of air-conditioning system: 74,400 km

The average kilometre reading at time of first visit to workshop to have the air-conditioning system 

opened was 74,400 km. Brand 1 clocked in at just under 71,000 km, Brand 2 coming clearly below that 

with 60,200 km. Brand 3, on the other hand, was well above, with a reading of 92,300 km. 
5 

8. Other information from the garages and the car manufacturers 

The garages provided further data for some of our investigations (those into the "irregular", damageinduced proportion of the refrigerant emission rate), for instance their annual number of vehicle

throughputs and inspections. Apart from lists of the standard charge quantities for air-conditioning 

systems in specific vehicles, the German car manufacturers also sent me the rate of installation of airconditioning systems in specific types of passenger-cars sold annually on the German market since 

1992. This extra data is expressly referred to in Chapter E of the present study - where it is duly applied 

- so there is no call to examine it any further at this point. 

9. Workshop visits for opening of air-conditioning system distributed over individual 

months 

One important aspect affecting accuracy in measuring the rate of refrigerant emission that ought to be 

introduced in this initial chapter (especially since it already arises out of the garage Record Sheets 

before they were 'corrected' - where they extend to cover a full twelve-month period, that is) is the likely 

distribution of air-conditioning-system openings over time (by the month) within a calendar year, as 

identified by the date entered for workshop visit. 

Workshop Visits to open Air-Conditioning System by Month in

Year (1,212 vehicles = 100%)

3% 4% 5% 6%

16%

12% 12%

8%

5%

4%

2%

23%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Jan Feb Mar Apr Mai Jun Jul Aug Sep Okt Nov Dez

Month

Workshop Visits

Diagram 1: Workshop visits to open air-conditioning system, distributed by month over calendar year. 

Based on 1,212 entries from ten garages. The diagram shows a significant accumulation in the warmer 

months of the year (May to August) and a distinct under-representation during the colder months from 

October to April. (We were also able to use the data from the tenth garage - fourth brand of car - for this 

graph). 

Diagram 1 shows a significant concentration over the hot months of the year (May to August), and a 

clear under-representation in the colder months from October to April. Almost 25% of all airconditioning-system openings are effected in May, this after only 6% in April. 
6 

Rather than reflecting any correspondingly more frequent occurrence of defects in air-conditioning 

systems in May, this lack of uniformity in distribution is far more likely to represent the more frequent 

perception of defects during the warmer time of year. Even where a defect might in fact be noticed in the 

colder months of the year, it apparently fails to constitute a disturbance until cooling is called for in the 

hotter months. 

In the context of determining the rate of emission, this finding demonstrates that the time at which 

emission occurs does not coincide with the time at which it is examined and eliminated in the workshop, 

in fact several months may pass by between an actual loss of refrigerant and its entry in a Record 

Sheet. Since, in the following, a vehicle's age is defined as the period elapsing from its first registration 

to its recorded visit to a workshop (the date entered in the Record Sheet), our figures are systematically 

overstated; not just because of the time it takes to arrange a workshop visit, which would be a normal 

factor to take account of, but because the time between occurrence of a refrigerant loss and its 

detection in the workshop is probably a great deal longer still. Clearly, I have been unable to correct this 

overstatement of age in any single instance. 

Accordingly, it should be duly borne in mind in examining this study that the recorded age of vehicles 

has been systematically overstated - by about two or three months in my own estimation. 
7 

B. Reliability of Records and Accuracy of Recovery/Recharging 

Stations 

The quantities of refrigerant which mechanics enter in their Record Sheets as duly recovered and 

recharged by the recovery/recharging station are of decisive importance to this study. It is even more 

important to know how accurate these records are, which is to say how close a mechanic's entry may, or 

can, come to the actual quantities in question. In this connection, it is often impossible to distinguish 

between objective factors such as the technical characteristics of the recovery/recharging station, and 

subjective factors like the mechanic's accuracy in operating and reading off the unit. Consequently, our 

study sets out below to 

• explain the recovery and charging process of a typical recovery/recharging station (taking the 

SECUmat 134 by Behr as example) by describing its four main phases with reference to a 

drawing; 

• discuss errors in determination of quantity, their significance, and their possible correction, and 

finally 

• estimate refrigerant losses in so far as caused by the servicing operation itself. 

I. Recovery and Charging by Recovery/Recharging Station (see drawing) 

The reader is recommended to refer to the drawing overleaf to assist with understanding the individual 

stages of the recovery and charging process. 

1. Recovery (2 to 5 minutes) 

The service connections of an air-conditioning system (see detail at bottom right) in a vehicle are 

arranged upstream of the compressor (grey 1) on the low-pressure side and upstream of the expansion 

valve - often on the dryer - on the high-pressure side (grey 2). The low-pressure hose (1) and the highpressure hose (2) of the recovery station are joined to these service connections. The valves are 

opened by manually turning the cock on the quick-fitting pipe union duly attached. The air-conditioning 

system's low pressure (suction pressure) and high pressure (liquefying pressure) readings are displayed 

on the pressure gauges (5) provided. Both operating points (or just the high-pressure point where a 

controlled-output compressor is installed - because low pressure remains unaltered in that case at 2 

bar) provide the first indication of a system's condition. 

The two hoses are joined together by valve taps (3 and 4), so the refrigerant passes over a single main 

line leading inside the recovery/recharging station (the set of pressure gauges and the main line are 

usually inside the station, just the service hoses being connected on the outside). The refrigerant is 

drawn in by the compressor (K) and flows over the separator (6) which holds back any entrained 

refrigerant oil. All of the refrigerant is rendered gaseous by absorption of heat by this stage at the latest, 

to prevent the compressor from being damaged by liquid. The compressed gaseous refrigerant is cooled 

in the condenser (7) and then liquefied again, after which it flows through the filter dryer (8) into the 

collecting tank (9). 

In the region of 10 to 20 grams of refrigerant may still be left to evaporate inside the air-conditioning 

system after the first recovery (taking about 2 minutes), for instance refrigerant dissolved in oil or other 

liquid refrigerant which could come from the dryer, for example. This subsequent evaporation increases 

pressure in the system to over 0.6 bar, which causes renewed recovery from the compressor when 
8 

operating automatically. Operating manually, the mechanic should wait briefly and must then himself 

switch on to recover the subsequently evaporated material. 

The air-conditioning system is opened for repair work. As alternative, the internal refrigerant-cleaning 

program can be run beforehand, in a cycle driven by the compressor through collecting tank (9), 

separator (6), condenser (7), filter dryer (8) and back to the collecting tank (9) again. 

Fig. 1: Typical recovery/recharging station for passenger-car air-conditioning systems - (1) low-pressure 

hose connection; (2) high-pressure hose connection; (3) and (4) valve cocks; (5) pressure gauge dials; 

(6) oil separator or trap; (7) condenser; (8) filter dryer; (9) reservoir tank; (10) (11) (12) solenoid valves; 

(P) vacuum pump; (K) compressor. Bottom right: compressor, condenser and filter-dryer of car airconditioning system. Grey (1) and (2): low-pressure and high-pressure air-conditioning-system service 

connections. (Source: DaimlerChrysler 2001 - modified). 
9 

2. Evacuation (20 to 30 minutes) 

The hoses of the recovery/recharging station are connected to the air-conditioning system. The line to 

the vacuum pump (P) is cleared by closing solenoid-valve (10) and opening solenoid valve (11) inside 

the recovery/recharging station. The pump sucks in the air and other non-condensable gases from the 

system, and the vacuum gradually produced in the process boils and draws out any moisture which may 

be present. Waste air is blown into the atmosphere, while low pressure develops in the system at the 

same as required condition for charging. 

The leak test by vacuum ('vacuum check') is passed where the pressure-gauge dials (5) fail to display 

any readable rise in system pressure for at least five minutes after the vacuum pump has been turned 

off. 

3. Recharging (1 to 3 minutes) 

The low-pressure side (1) and high-pressure side (2) of the air-conditioning system are connected to the 

recharging station. The valve cock (3) on the low-pressure side is closed before charging, because 

liquid refrigerant must not be allowed to flow in upstream of the compressor. The valve cock (4) on the 

high-pressure side remains open. To make sure the refrigerant circuit is sufficiently well charged, the 

refrigerant in the reservoir tank of the recharging station is warmed by a heater to between 25 and 30°C, 

which increases the pressure in the tank to about 7 bar. 

Liquid refrigerant flows into the system on the high-pressure side while the charging valve (12) remains 

open. The fill level on the transparent reservoir tank (9) falls as the tank contents flow out, so the 

amount of refrigerant discharged can be visually checked while recharging proceeds by reading off the 

measuring lines encompassing the tank at 50-gram intervals (show volume converted to weight and 

allow for temperature-induced expansion). 

Instead of employing the pressure method, some stations use an additional electrical charging pump for 

charging purposes (this is actually essential when charging large quantities). Some old and all more 

recent stations permit charge quantities to be read off precisely to within one gram, being equipped with 

an electronic scale for the reservoir cylinder rather than a visual control system. 

4. Emptying the recharging hose 

Pressure in the air-conditioning system rises as the charging operation proceeds, which stops the hose 

and pressure-gauge fittings from being entirely emptied of refrigerant. The hose's quick-fitting pipe union 

closes when the service connection is taken off, to prevent loss of refrigerant from the incompletely 

emptied hose and to stop air or damp from getting in to it (an estimated quantity of just 1 to 3 grams of 

refrigerant evaporates with a hiss between service valve and the interior of the hose's quick-fitting pipe 

union.) 

The hose is emptied by suction by turning on the compressor again. Up to 50 grams of refrigerant may 

still remain in the hose depending on its length and on the internal temperature of the air-conditioning 

system. This residue is emptied for labour safety reasons among others, because even the safest of 

closure systems would be unable to rule out the possibility of a minor flash of refrigerant (engendering 

the risk of localised frostbite) when manually attaching a full hose during the next recovery operation. 
10

II. Errors in determining Quantity; their Significance and Correction 

1. Rounding off when measuring by sight, also where weighing electronically 

All modern and some older stations (made between 1990 and 1995) have an electronic scale for the 

reservoir tank which determines quantities duly recovered and recharged. The scale displays changes in 

the tank's weight digitally and therefore precisely to within a gram. Three of our nine garages had 

stations of this kind, two of them using the FAST 2000 (manufactured between 1990 and 1994) and one 

having the Robinair Vacumaster (made in 1996). With the FAST 2000, the mechanic has to calculate 

the recovery volume himself by reckoning the difference in reservoir-tank (cylinder) weight before and 

after the operation (e.g. 5,329 related to 4,803 grams). The Robinair station displays the recovery 

volume as an absolute figure related to zero. When charging - regarded as the more important operation 

- the mechanic can enter the desired dosage to within exactly one gram in all three stations, e.g. 1,000 

grams, this dosage then being let precisely out of the reservoir tank (cylinder) along with the addition of 

a compensatory excess quantity. 

The reservoir tank simultaneously serves as (transparent) measuring cylinder in the other most widely 

used types of station (SECUmat 134 or Waeco RHS 850). When recovering and recharging, the 

mechanic watches the measuring lines encompassing the cylinder at 50-gram intervals. The charge 

quantity cannot be read off from zero, but, like the recovery volume, as difference in level before and 

after the operation, so not only does the mechanic have to do mental arithmetic, he must also have a 

good eye. In practice, he usually marks the starting level on the outside of the measuring cylinder (using 

a felt pen) and thus reduces the risk of read-out errors. 

The Record Sheets furnish no proof that stations with scales and electronic display might be in any way 

superior to those simply provided with visual control means, all hand-written entries (also those entered 

manually into a computer, as done at one garage) being made in 50-gram increments. 

This is not particularly surprising in respect of charging. Almost all air-conditioning systems in German 

cars work with standard quantities stated within 50 or 100 gram limits, with 25 or indeed 10 gram limits 

rarely to be found. This is also the case with foreign makes (see Autodata 2000; Waeco 4/2000). So if 

the mechanic knows the standard charge quantity, why should he do otherwise than simply enter it 

along with the extra allowance for the hose?3

However, the 50-gram increment which both types of station use for entries seems astonishing at first 

glance in respect of the recovery quantity, because (but for a few exceptions) the recorded quantities 

must necessarily be based on figures duly rounded up or down - although it is easy to see why this 

method is used for measurement cylinders having 50-gram increments. With even the very best of 

visual inspection, a deviation of up to 25 grams from the effective quantity would be normal. As opposed 

to this, the electronic scale provides data precise to within one gram. Where not measured in relation to 

zero, the displayed weight of the reservoir tank should be noted down beforehand (on paper or pocket 

calculator) - if the weight is 4,803 grams before recovery, and then 5,329 afterwards, producing a 

difference of 526 grams, the mechanic will enter either 500 grams or 550 grams. However, he would 

also enter 500 grams for a figure of just 478. The inaccuracy of measurement amounts to about 50 

grams (25 grams up or 25 grams down). Where 200 grams of refrigerant is lost, this deviation makes up 

more than ten percent. Greater precision would take the mechanic more time and is not required of him. 

The same procedure is followed even in the garage operating a Robinair station (recovery displayed to a 

precision of one gram), where the Record Sheets also document none other than 50-gram increments. 

 

3

 A station's accuracy of measurement when charging is not all that important to the present study in any 

case, the factory standard figure duly being taken as basis for a full air-conditioning system. 
11

In all 841 cases covered by this study, the loss of refrigerant is determined as difference between the 

ex-works standard charge and the recovery quantity entered by the mechanic. From practical 

experience, there is no significant difference in the accuracy of entering recovered quantities measured 

by eye or by electronic display, both measurements, as we have said, being duly rounded off to 50 

grams.4

 Given the mechanic's routine, there is little reason to think of the entries based on electronic 

measurement as being any more reliable than those made with the naked eye. 

The foregoing has the consequence for the present study that the entries it records may generally 

incorporate a deviation of about 25 grams up or down from the effective quantity recovered. The only 

exception would be the 323 entries of 'total' loss of refrigerant (representing a recovery of zero grams), 

where rounding-off is less likely. Taken together, however, 'total' losses do make up almost forty percent 

of all 841 entries. 

2. The residue in the hose as source of error in determining the charge quantity 

As mentioned at the end of the description of the charging operation, the charging hose never empties 

entirely into the air-conditioning system. Were the mechanic simply to read off the exact standard 

charge from the charging cylinder, he would be systematically under-charging the systems he works on. 

As a result, some car manufacturers specify an 'over-dosage' of from 25 to 50 grams by way of 

compensation. This recommended extra quantity is also advised by the suppliers of recovery/recharging 

stations, into some of which the extra quantity can be permanently programmed as a function of the 

length of the recovery and recharging hoses. The advantage here is that the mechanic can still stay with 

the exact standard system charge. 

2.1 Quantity recovered occasionally exaggerated because hose not emptied.

After charging, the mechanic must always make sure to have any residue sucked back out of the hose. 

If he forgets to do so, then when he connects up the unemptied hose to perform the next recovery, he 

risks frost-bitten hands from a flash of refrigerant gas even if only a little emerges from the closure. The 

important aspect in the present context is that the quantity of refrigerant recovered with an unemptied 

hose of this kind would then be greater than the actual content of the air-conditioning system - resulting 

in an "upward" error in measuring the quantity recovered. This measurement error was mentioned in the 

course of interviews with air-conditioning mechanics during the present study, its "occasional" 

occurrence being justified on the grounds of pressure of work associated with payment of an incentive 

wage. 

2.2 Charge quantities entered in Record Sheets often deviate from standard charge

Whether or not the excess quantity is 'sucked back', the calculated extra quantity charged is actually 

more important to the exercise of determining quantities than occasional exaggerations attributable to 

recovery using an unemptied high-pressure hose. Where a car manufacturer indicates "plus 50 grams" 

along with his type-specific charge quantity, mechanics tend always to let this greater quantity out of the 

reservoir tank and to enter it as 'charge quantity' in their Refrigerant Record Sheet. Understandably, the 

quantity 'sucked back' after charging is not measured, so it is not subtracted again from the quantity 

 

4

 The latest stations with data interface to the workshop computer and/or integrated printers (for 

instance, the Beissbarth MAC 26 or Waeco RHS 800 in use with one garage since May 2001) save or 

directly provide recovered and charged quantities of refrigerant in 5-gram increments. As these types 

become more widespread, the accuracy of the data obtained should improve. 
12

delivered. For this reason, the charge entered is in very many cases not the same as the standard 

charge of the air-conditioning system, it is in fact greater than same. 

The Record Sheets clearly indicate that workshops with stations compelling the mechanic to enter the 

additional quantity himself on every occasion (this being the case with six out of the nine) enter higher 

charge quantities - and therefore greater charge differences - than workshops where the extra quantity 

is permanently pre-set. The latter workshops can work directly with the lower charge quantity. In our 

own study's case, in fact, the air-conditioning systems of vehicle makes whose charge quantities are 

specified precisely to within a gram for every model, therefore without compensatory addition, are 

recovered and charged exclusively with stations in which excess quantity of refrigerant is permanently 

pre-programmed. 

The consequence for the present study is that the differences between recovery and recharging that are 

duly entered in the Record Sheets cannot always be taken as actual refrigerant loss from the vehicles in 

question. Corrections may sometimes be necessary. Refrigerant loss in the present case generally 

comprises the difference between entered recovery and the manufacturer's specified standard charge, 

whether or not the latter is actually entered as charge in the Record Sheet. 

The varying data specific to particular vehicles and also to years of manufacture is gleaned from lists 

provided by the three car manufacturers and from the literature on the subject (Autodata 2000; Waeco 

4/2000), an approach which I think should reduce the incidence of measurement errors. At any rate, the 

present study is concerned with refrigerant loss determined on the occasion of an air-conditioning 

system's first visit to the workshop since first registration. For this reason too, the 'ex-works charge' is a 

better measure to go by than the 'workshop charge' - after all, it can readily be assumed that no car 

manufacturer is likely to fill his systems with any more refrigerant than absolutely necessary. 

3. Temperature differences between recovery/recharging station and air-conditioning 

system when recovering 

Another possible source of error relating not to the charge quantity, but to the recovery quantity - one 

that may arise in connection with all designs of recovery/recharging station - is discussed in the 

following for the sake of completeness. 

The only propelling force transporting the refrigerant throughout the recovery and charging operation is 

the compressor in the recovery/recharging station. Not only does the compressor suck the refrigerant 

out of the air-conditioning system and force it into the condenser, it is also the only agent causing the 

refrigerant already disposed in the liquids pipeline downstream of the condenser to flow on into the 

reservoir tank, in that liquid continues flowing out of the condenser thanks to the workings of the 

compressor. As soon as this flow peters out (once the system is sucked empty), the refrigerant remains 

stationary in the final stretch between condenser (7) and collecting vessel (9). Measurement errors do 

not generally arise in this connection, since when recovering the next air-conditioning system, this 

residue originating from the preceding system, downstream of the condenser in the recovery/recharging 

station, is in fact the first material carried into the reservoir tank. Not until that operation is completed 

does refrigerant begin to flow in from the system currently under recovery, once again minus the residue 

downstream of the condenser, and so on and so forth. 

In principle, the incomplete throughput of the one recovery is continuously compensated in this manner 

by the likewise incomplete throughput of the next recovery. Distortions only occur in connection with 

temperature differences and therefore differences in expansion between in-flowing new refrigerant and 

old refrigerant - which distortions, not having been examined in the present study, have not been taken 

into account. 
13

4. Recovery of after-evaporation forgotten 

We explained when describing the basic operation of recovery that, after the first recovery taking about 

two minutes, approximately 10 to 20 grams of refrigerant (which may have been dissolved in oil, or was 

not immediately withdrawn from the lower parts of the refrigerant circuit) may still evaporate within a 

system which is not yet completely empty. In automatic operation, which is a facility of all of the 

recovery/recharging stations in the present population, the recovery process is set up to extend for at 

least an extra three minutes, so that, after the station is turned off for the first time, it will start again on 

any renewed rise in pressure in the air-conditioning system and then continue with the recovery of 

residues. 

In manual operation, the mechanic must wait for any possible rise in pressure after the first recovery 

(observing the pressure gauges), and then turn on the station again where necessary. 

Clearly, this after-evaporation may well be neglected from time to time under general pressure of work. 

Any subsequently evaporating refrigerant of this kind is noticeable as emerging cloud by no later than 

the stage of opening the air-conditioning system. In such cases, the recovery quantity read off the 

recovery/recharging station understates the content of the system by from 10 to 20 grams. 

This study has not attempted to quantify the differences in measurement attributable to this neglect of 

after-evaporation (and thus the emission of refrigerant due to improper servicing). I also felt unable to 

give any estimates, in fact all I would say is that six of the nine stations did provide the option of 

manually terminating the recovery period. 

5. Omitted entries 

In concluding our discussion of sources of error in determining refrigerant quantities when servicing an 

air-conditioning system, we should mention the mistake that actually occurs most frequently: 

unintentional neglect to enter the recovery and charging operation in the Record Sheet. 

Although the Refrigerant Record Sheet is usually kept in the workshop, in a folder directly attached to 

the recovery/recycling station, it is inevitable that hand-written records of this or that operation can 

sometimes be forgotten in the general hustle and bustle of everyday garage routine. Then looking at the 

Record Sheets themselves, there is no need to be a handwriting expert to see quite clearly the 

sometimes unusually careful and identical writing of one and the same mechanic, using one and the 

same ball point, as he attempts to catch up on the entries that should have been made for a number of 

vehicles over the past three or four days. Then again, it should be said, this 'catching up' is not always 

done. 

Air-conditioning mechanics interviewed in the course of our study gave estimates of forgotten entries 

ranging from "none at all" in smaller garages, to "at least ten percent" in the larger firms. Although I think 

myself that the mean of 5% is too low, it has been taken as the maximum in this study. Which means 

that refrigerant losses in the region of 477.2 kilograms should be regarded as 5% or 24 kilograms higher 

than that in reality, amounting, in other words, to about 500 kilograms (501 kg). The loss per vehicle 

does not alter as a result, because this allowance also increases the number of air-conditioning systems 

by 5%, from 841 to 883. 

This correcting factor produces a slight increase in determination of the so-called 'irregular' rate of 

emission (see Chapters E and F), while the 'regular' rate of emission (see Chapter D) remains 

unaffected. 
14

III. Refrigerant Loss caused by the Servicing Operation itself 

Apart from neglected after-evaporation, two other sources of refrigerant emission associated with 

servicing would be loss while locating leaks, and loss when detaching the charging hose. 

1. Loss when charging 

The maximum loss on detaching the charging hose from the service connection (see description of 

basic process) is estimated at between one and three grams. The hose end closes of itself as it is 

withdrawn from the service valve (the coupling cannot be removed unless the cut-off valve is closed by 

hand), this being a major technical improvement over the period before 1991, when refrigerant R-12 was 

generally released entirely into the atmosphere on opening an air-conditioning system. According to the 

suppliers of recovery/recharging stations, the reliability of this closure system has to a large extent been 

technically perfected by now, so the mean loss estimated at two grams would be regarded as 

unavoidable at the present time (Recovery/Recycling/Recharging Stations Conference - 2001). 

Since, when we subtract 31 renewed charges not effected (including vehicles sent for dismantling) and 

then add the 72 multiple charges in the same or the succeeding year (in so far as recorded in both 

situations), the 841 different air-conditioning systems in our survey population would in fact have been 

charged 882 times in total, 882 times two grams or in total just under two kilograms of refrigerant being 

released into the ambient air in the process. 

To put it another way, loss during charging adds two grams or 0.4% to the mean loss of 546 grams 

(64% in relation to the mean charge quantity of 856 grams) recorded for all opened air-conditioning 

systems in the study population, so we end up with a total of 548 grams. 

2. Refrigerant loss when locating leaks with contrast medium 

The 'total' losses we referred to above extend not only to air-conditioning systems 'irregularly' harmed by 

outside influences (the main category being 'accident damage') and usually producing 100% emission, 

but also include vehicles having losses of over 100%. These are cars which, due to the one leak, have 

lost refrigerant in the course of more than one charging operation, because instead of being repaired 

during the first visit to the workshop, the leaking system was simply filled up. 29 of the 323 recorded 

'total' losses come under this heading. 

Where the mechanic fails to find a fault in an empty system on visual inspection or on performing the 

vacuum check after recovery, he continues by filling the system with liquid nitrogen or with refrigerant to 

localise the leak, observing the pressure-producing gas that duly emerges. To find the leak, he uses an 

electronic leak indicator unit which reacts to refrigerant escaping from the system either in pure form or 

(where flushing with liquid nitrogen) as entrained residue. Although not yet generally approved by 

compressor manufacturers as a method of locating leaks5

, it is normal practice in many garages to add 

a contrast medium or 'tracer' when charging the refrigerant. The tracer comprises a few drops of 

refrigerator oil mixed and dyed with a fluorescent substance and incorporated with the in-flowing charge 

of refrigerant. This method is used in eight of the nine garages in our population.6

 

5

 The principal reason for their reluctance is concern that the tracer might damage the compressor. One 

thing that can definitely be said, however, is that the tracer dissolves in oil, not in refrigerant. The 

refrigerant sucked in by the recovery/recharging station's compressor is colourless when it reaches the 

reservoir tank. 

6

 Obviously, pressure-based leak testing with nitrogen is a more environmentally friendly method of 

detecting leaks than charging with refrigerant and contrast medium. One of the nine garages does not 
15

Having allowed the air-conditioning system to run for a few minutes, an ultraviolet lamp will usually 

locate the tracer as luminous coloured stain around the leak (since a case of this kind involves renewed 

emergence of refrigerant, loss from the vehicle in question rises to more than 100%). The stain is 

generally cleaned off after the leak has been repaired, to prevent any misunderstanding the next time 

the car is maintained (any residue left behind might otherwise be interpreted as a new leak). 

If, even where using a tracer, the mechanic still fails to find a suspected leak on the same day, the leak 

may be regarded as active but minute, only allowing the associated volume of refrigerant to escape over 

a prolonged period under real driving conditions, so its location by staining may take days or weeks of 

further operation. The fault will not then be found and rectified until the next time the car visits the 

workshop. This method of leak detection is associated with emission rates of 200% - apart from the few 

vehicles (only two in the present population) that had different leaks in the one year. 

Refrigerant loss occurring over and above 'total' loss where a leak is not found but on emergence of 

tracer-containing refrigerant (whether this happens on the first visit or during a subsequent visit to the 

workshop) is regarded in this study as 'service-induced' emission associated with leak location. The 29 

affected vehicles in the study population suffered an extra loss of 20.5 kilograms in addition to their 

(first) 'total' loss of 27.5 kilograms. These 20.5 extra kilograms are 'service' emissions in the narrower 

sense of the word. 

Accordingly, of the total recorded refrigerant loss of 459.2 kilograms from the 841 vehicles in the study, 

20.5 kilograms (or 4.5%) is attributable to loss during leak detection. 

Other, rather more 'unusual' losses of refrigerant in the workshop should also be mentioned at this point. 

For example, one 1997 Record Sheet from one garage documents total leakage from the tank of the 

recovery/recharging station ("charge 25 kg, recovery/recharging station leaking"). The refrigerant 

released over night in this case more or less equalled the above 29 cases of 'service' emission in the 

course of leak detection (20.5 kg in eight garages). 

 

use tracer to locate leaks, with successful results according to the Record Sheets, in that none of them 

include any entry of multiple visits because of one and the same leak. 
16

C. Reasons for Opening an Air-Conditioning System and Causes of 

Detected Refrigerant Loss 

 Picture: DaimlerChrysler 2001 (modified) 

Fig. 2: Potentially defective components of a passenger-car air-conditioning system* 

1. Compressor, 

2. High-pressure line (gaseous) to condenser, 

3. Condenser, 

4. High-pressure line (liquid) to dryer, 

5. Dryer/collector (with high-pressure and low-pressure switches), 

6. High-pressure line (liquid) to expansion valve, 

7. Evaporator, 

8. Expansion valve for evaporator, 

9. Suction line (gaseous) to compressor, 

A. Service connection on high-pressure side, 

B. Service connection on low-pressure side. 

* Evaporator injection through expansion valve, not through orifice tube. If using orifice tubes the 

collector ("accumulator") is downstream of the evaporator to ensure the transformation of all the 

refrigerant into gaseous state before entering the compressor. 
17

The Record Sheets document the refrigerant which a mechanic recovers from each vehicle (having 

opened its air-conditioning system) and measures with varying degrees of accuracy. Any shortage of 

refrigerant discovered on opening is therefore recorded at the same time, as difference between the 

quantity recovered and the standard level of charge. The rates of loss determined in this manner cover 

the whole spectrum from 0% to 100% (and sometimes above). While the explanation provided by the 

air-conditioning mechanic is not always that informative, the proportion of precisely recorded cases is 

sufficient in size to provide a picture of the principal reasons for opening an air-conditioning system. 

In Table 1, all recorded rates of refrigerant loss are separated into small, medium and large volumes. 

The percentages of these losses out of all opened air-conditioning systems is shown in Column 2, their 

percentage of total refrigerant loss in Column 3. 

Table 1: Percentage of small, medium and large refrigerant loss 

within total loss of 459.2 kg (841 systems) 

Refrigerant loss Percentage of all 

opened systems 

Percentage of total 

refrigerant loss 

small - less than 40% 39% 9% 

medium - 40% to < 100% 23% 24% 

large - 100% and over* 38% 67% 

* Losses > 100% are attributable to multiple losses from the one system in the same year 

Small losses (less than 40%) were found in about 40% of air-conditioning systems opened. This group's 

percentage of total refrigerant loss is just 9%. 'Total' losses of 100% and above represent the other 

extreme, also found in nearly 40% of opened air-conditioning systems but making up two thirds of total 

recorded refrigerant loss (see bottom line of Table 1). 

I. Elimination of Leaks, the Main Reason for Opening on Total Loss of 

Refrigerant 

Total loss of refrigerant results in failure of the air-conditioning system. Even before 'total' loss actually 

occurs, however, the system will already have come to a standstill when there is only about 100 to 200 

grams left in its circuit. This is because extreme lack of refrigerant drops the system's high-pressure 

below about 2 bar (the setpoint value), on which the compressor is automatically switched off either by a 

special low-pressure switch, or by an internal control system. If there is too little pressure, the refrigerant 

will even begin to evaporate below zero degrees centigrade, causing the system to ice up. The 

compressor itself needs to be protected against running hot or clogging up, because lubricant also 

ceases to circulate once the refrigerant runs out. The driver himself will usually notice and report his airconditioning system's lack of performance, nor can any such lack escape routine workshop-inspection 

using an electronic fault readout unit, which will register the fact that the compressor is switched off. For 

the mechanic, lack of refrigerant is the obvious diagnosis inducing him to start recovery with the 

recovery/recharging station so as to find and repair a leak in the system. 

Air-conditioning systems suffering total loss of refrigerant are generally opened for one single reason, 

namely to remedy the cause of this particular kind of loss. That is the main reason. Which seems an 

obvious and trivial thing to say, but it isn't in fact, because the same does not apply to air-conditioning 

systems experiencing losses of less than 40%. 

The cause of a total loss is mainly external, but can also be internal. 

The cause is external where mechanical action from outside produces leaks in components of the 

refrigerant circuit. Such action would be an accident damaging the front panelling, or the impact of 
18

stones. The condenser is by far the most likely component to be found leaking where loss is total, being 

placed well forward on the vehicle, right in front of the radiator. 

The cause of a total loss is internal where a component, without being exposed to forceful outside 

influence, suffers an 'irregular' defect which creates an effective point of emergence for the refrigerant. 

This would not include normal wear and tear, to which every component is physically prone, but some 

unusual instance such as a burst or corroded compressor, a burst dryer, perforations in the pipeline, 

cracks in the evaporator, etc. What accidents or stone impact on the one hand and irregular component 

defects on the other share in common is an emissive pattern of damage. 

The three recorded causes of total refrigerant loss were 

1. accidents involving body damage (40%), 

2. minor collisions, stone impact or internal emissive component defects (40 to 50%), and 

3. unknown causes where the vehicle was simply recharged (10 to 15%). 

1. Empty air-conditioning system after accident involving body damage 

Accidents involving severe panel damage in the front region of the vehicle account for around 40% of 

recorded total losses. In the process, frontally positioned components of the air-conditioning system are 

pushed in and caused to leak - generally abruptly. The condenser is damaged in 90% of cases, 

sometimes the high-pressure lines connected to it too, and the adjacently fitted dryer. 

Where an accident damages the body rather than the bumper, the vehicle is given to the body shop 

which, in addition to repairing the damaged panels, also replaces the defective components of the airconditioning system. In such cases, the air-conditioning mechanic checks the system beforehand to 

make sure it is empty, then afterwards he checks it for leaks and recharges it with refrigerant. 

The mechanic, completing his Record Sheet, may enter the whole operation in two stages: 

"Recovery: 0 g, recharge: 0 g" and then some days later - "Recovery: 0 g, recharge: 1000 g", adding the 

note "accident" each time. Or, alternatively, he may combine the whole operation into one entry: 

"Recovery: 0 g, recharge: 1000 g; Note: accident". Normally, he does not name the defective part, 

because he is not the person replacing it7

.

2. Total loss due to stone impact or irregular component defect 

Another 40 or 50% of total losses are attributable to leaks caused by a minor collision, an unnoticed 

knock from a stone, or an unusual component defect. The repair work is not given to the body shop in 

such instances, but is done by the air-conditioning mechanic himself, who then also makes a record of 

the replacement of components. Here again, the condenser is a typical source of leakage, albeit that its 

leaks are mainly caused by stones. A thrown stone destroys the surface of one of the flat refrigerantconducting tubes, which then corrodes (by pitting) at the point of impact. It takes at most a week for an 

emissive leak to develop, the process in fact being accelerated by damp or salty air passing through the 

condenser. 

The Record Sheets would indicate that, at a rate of 40 to 50%, the condenser is the most frequent single 

cause of total refrigerant loss in the absence of panel damage, so it is also the component most 

frequently replaced by the air-conditioning mechanic himself; but by no means the only one, of course. 

 

7

 The absence of a second entry after the "Recovery: 0 g, recharge: 0 g, Note: accident" entry in the 

Record Sheet indicates total failure and dismantling of the vehicle - apart from occasions where the 

second entry may simply be forgotten. 
19

Table 2 reproduces the order of frequency with which components are replaced, in so far as expressly 

documented in the Record Sheets (70 instances). 

Table 2: Defective components causing total refrigerant loss and replaced by the airconditioning mechanic himself 

(70 recorded instances - excluding accidents damaging body) 

Component Percentile share of components replaced by 

air-conditioning mechanic 

Condenser 42% 

Pipelines 17% 

Evaporator 17% 

Expansion valve 9% 

Compressor 8% 

Dryer 3% 

Seals 4% 

A replaced component is only listed here where it has been the prime cause of total loss. It is important 

to mention this, since some components may be replaced because of secondary defects. For instance, 

the dryer, which generally becomes inoperative once the air-conditioning system has been running 

empty for a while. The expansion valve, too, must often be replaced in consequence of some other 

component defect, in this case a defective compressor, whose chips can clog the valve. Piping often 

needs to be replaced as well, when the component (say the condenser, evaporator, or expansion valve) 

to which it is connected suffers damage. 

While stone impact and accidents involving a minor collision bear the main responsibility for leaks in 

condensers (42%), and similarly affect the high-pressure refrigerant lines connected to the condenser 

(17%), leaks in the few other exposed components (41%) are far more rarely caused by outside 

influences. Where a defective compressor, expansion valve, dryer, connection or pipeline abruptly lets 

so much refrigerant through that total loss occurs, the reason is often 'irregular' internal damage, due, 

for example, to corrosion (including the electrochemical type), overload (excess pressure), or defective 

workmanship on the part of the manufacturer. It can also happen that components will be so severely 

damaged by a preceding lack of refrigerant (insufficient lubrication of the compressor, etc.) that they 

begin to leak of themselves, letting the very last of the refrigerant finally escape. 

3. Total loss followed simply by recharging without repair work 

Components of the refrigerant circuit are not always actually replaced when they leak, even where the 

work would be technically feasible or had even been begun (by adding tracer, for instance). In fact, 

about 10 to 15% of systems with total loss are simply recharged, the main reasons being 

• customer failure to have the necessary work done, or to bring their vehicle in on the due date for 

inspection, hoping they will get by with just a recharge especially where a leak is thought just to 

allow a very slow escape of refrigerant; 

• risk of renewed total loss after a simple recharge being taken, by customers who have to pay for the 

repair work themselves where out of warranty or not covered by goodwill, given that a recharge 

costs up to ten times less than a repair; 

• customer reluctance to undergo time-consuming repairs, for instance because they are travelling on 

business and just want their air-conditioning system "quickly patched up" and running again; 
20

• cases in which the mechanic simply cannot find a leak and therefore has no option but to recharge 

the system. 

The characteristic shared in common by all "simple recharge" cases is that it proves impossible to 

identify a mechanical leak and associate it with a particular component, as a result of which the Record 

Sheet shows no record of a component being replaced. 

II. Opening a System where Refrigerant Loss is less than 40% 

Every car air-conditioning system (even when switched off) is subject to a certain degree of slow 

leakage of its permanently pressurised refrigerant through hose unions, compressor seals and 

connection seals, especially where such parts - like the functional components of the refrigerant circuit 

themselves - are subject to the irregular movements of engine and vehicle. This "normal" loss has no 

deleterious effect on operation of the air-conditioning system over time, especially in view of the 

relatively generous margin that exists for continued operation of the system despite some reduction in 

the original charge of refrigerant. 

"Normal" refrigerant leakage has no real long-term influence on cooling capacity, at least for as long as 

exclusively liquid refrigerant continues to leave the collector where, normally, gaseous refrigerant from 

the condenser is finally separated out, and injected by the expansion valve into the evaporator. As is 

known, the cooling performance of the evaporator relies on the change in phase between liquid and gas. 

As soon as the refrigerant in the system falls below a certain level, the collector obtains too little liquid 

from the condenser and then loses its ability to separate saturated gas from the condenser to produce 

liquid refrigerant.8

 From this point on, gaseous refrigerant ("flash gas") extends up to the expansion 

valve, as evidenced by the formation of small gas bubbles in the liquid line between collector and 

expansion valve.9

 The expansion valve is not designed to conduct gaseous refrigerant and ceases to 

provide the evaporator with a steady supply. The evaporator, for want of liquid refrigerant, can no longer 

produce its cooling effect. The process proceeds fairly swiftly once begun, continuing until the system 

virtually stops delivering cooled air (Haussmann, 2001). 

The level of refrigerant loss below which an air-conditioning system will cease to work is not a fixed 

quantity. After all, 'cooling' is in the first place a matter of subjective feeling, and in the second place, a 

system's capacity to continue operating on a given volume of refrigerant will depend objectively on its 

technical design, viz. the capacity of the collector, the length of the liquid pipeline between condenser 

and expansion valve, etc. Nonetheless, a rough order of magnitude of "around 40%" can be presumed, 

which means that in the individual situation, one system might work just as well with a 45% loss as 

another one would at 35%. 

The "40% mark" standing for low loss of refrigerant is based on the experience of mechanics10

interviewed in the course of our study, who reported that a level of 60% is the bottom limit above which 

a passenger-car air-conditioning system will still be marginally able to operate sufficiently well unless it 

contains some other defect (see Chapter D). 

 

8

 The process of subcooling the refrigerant to prevent undesirable evaporation also fails in this context, 

because it can only occur in the liquid phase. Temperature then begins to rise. 9

 In systems having a choke (orifice tube), where the collector is arranged upstream of the condenser 

(and after the evaporator), flash gas forms in similar fashion on shortage of refrigerant. 

10 The mechanics generally considered that an air-conditioning system will no longer work normally once 

it reaches "half its level of refrigerant", but that its performance already begins to fall off so much 

beforehand that the driver readily notices it is failing. 
21

As we saw above, air-conditioning systems suffering total loss of refrigerant are opened to find and 

rectify an 'irregular' cause of emission (a leak, so to speak). In contrast, refrigerant losses of less than 

40% do not generally give occasion to open the system. It is not the goal of vehicle inspection to 

arrange for "a system to be as full as possible". Routine measurements are omitted11, especially since 

the whole volume of refrigerant has to be recovered and recharged for the purpose (there are as yet no 

other methods of conducting this measurement). As a result, refrigerant loss less than 40% goes 

unnoticed in the majority of the vehicles passing through a workshop (unlike the case of 'total' loss). 

Despite this, the Refrigerant Record Sheets reported 40% of vehicles with opened air-conditioning 

system as having a rate of loss of less than 40% (see Table 1). The reasons for opening these particular 

systems are substantially different from those associated with 'total loss', however, being four in number: 

1. replacement of components not causing refrigerant loss (32%), 

2. air-conditioning system hindering repairs to engine and cooling system (22%), 

3. location of damage and preparatory work in advance of body repairs (24%), and 

4. leak tests on customer's or workshop's initiative (30%). 

It should be clearly emphasised that these were simply reasons for opening the air-conditioning system, 

and not causes of refrigerant loss already perceived - as would in fact be the case on 'total loss'. 

Although refrigerant loss is always made up when recharging, seeking the cause is not the primary 

concern when the loss is only slight. 

1. Component defects not themselves responsible for release of refrigerant 

Component defects adversely affecting operation, unusual behaviour of the air-conditioning system 

accounted for 32% of recorded recoveries from systems which still contained sufficient refrigerant to 

operate properly (loss being less than 40%). Total failure of the system was exceptional. Fault diagnosis 

was based here, for instance, on unusual noises (rattling compressor, whistling expansion valve), 

unpleasant odours (condensed water encouraging development of bacteria on the evaporator), erratic 

operation due to constant restarting of the compressor (because of insufficient supply of refrigerant and 

oil through a clogged refrigerant circuit) or the fan (continuously re-activated by the high-pressure switch 

due to reduced heat-exchanging capacity of a dirty or clogged condenser), etc. Unlike the 'total loss' 

defects, component faults of this kind are only indirectly associated with the tightness of the refrigerant 

circuit, if at all. Such "non-emissive" defects in components replaced by an air-conditioning mechanic 

are manifestly different from the "emissive" component defects causing total loss.12

Table 3: Percentages of components replaced because defective in systems where 

refrigerant loss is < 40% - 48 mentions (compared with 'total loss' percentages*) 

Replaced component Refrigerant loss < 40% Total loss of refrigerant* 

Compressor 63% 8% 

Expansion valve 16% 9% 

Evaporator 5% 17% 

Condenser 5% 42% 

Seals 5% 4% 

Dryer 3% 3% 

Pipelines 2% 17% 

* excluding 'total losses' with body damage, where the condenser is replaced in 90% of cases. 

 

11 Except for diagnosis of electronic faults, the air-conditioning system test on inspection is mostly 

limited to a brief manual examination of the flow of cold air from the evaporator during a test drive with 

air-conditioning system switched on. Some mechanics briefly press down the valve of the high-pressure 

service connection to check the outlet pressure of the refrigerant. 

12 See Waeco 3/2000b for summary of most frequent air-conditioning-system defects, their causes and 

their possible remedies. 
22

The centre and right-hand column of Table 3 show how significantly the list of components replaced 

where loss of refrigerant is slight differs in order of priority from the series of component defects 

producing total loss without damage to the bodywork. 

The compressor is by far the most frequently replaced of components (64%) where refrigerant loss is 

low, unlike the 'total loss' situation where the same unit makes up only 8% of replacements. The 

opposite can be said of the condenser, which only accounts for 5% of component defects associated 

with less than 40% loss, while it constitutes 42% of defective parts where loss is total (in cases not 

involving panel damage). Evidently, damage to the compressor (defective magnetic clutch, faulty control 

valve, seizing piston, penetrating humidity) is less likely to result in emissive leaks - and tends more to 

be contained within the component itself - than faults in the condenser, which almost always result in 

abrupt emergence of refrigerant.13 This bears out the assumption that component defects falling within 

the low-loss category are different by nature from defects that lead to high or even total loss. 

2. Air-conditioning system as obstacle to engine or radiator repairs 

About 22% of all recoveries from an air-conditioning system that had not yet lost 40% of its refrigerant 

were performed not because of the system itself, but because it left other components inaccessible. In 

17% of these cases, the air-conditioning system was in the way when dismantling and re-installing the 

engine, while on 5% of occasions, it created a problem when dismantling and fitting the radiator. 

Condensers and high-pressure lines were the main items requiring temporary removal. In such 

instances, an air-conditioning system is not actually opened because it is losing refrigerant, even if such 

loss may well be found in the process and duly rectified. 

3. Establishment of accident damage and preparation for bodywork repairs 

About 24% of recoveries in which less than 40% refrigerant was found to have been lost were 

performed on vehicles that had been in an accident. 

Just as there are 'emissive' and 'non-emissive' component defects, accidents can also be 'emissive' or 

'non-emissive.14 Accidents affecting the front of a vehicle can damage the air-conditioning system 

severely, this being the main cause of 'total' loss of refrigerant. However, even an accident involving 

serious damage to panelling can also leave the air-conditioning system undamaged, or simply buckle its 

more exposed components. 

Accordingly, there are two reasons for recovery from an accident vehicle. Firstly, the process serves to 

locate possible damage (loss of refrigerant) to the air-conditioning system, and secondly, the refrigerant 

must in any case be removed from the system before the vehicle is handed over to the body shop. An 

air-conditioning system cannot be welded or soldered when full, nor can welding or soldering work be 

done on the vehicle - or oven-drying after repairs to paintwork - because of the risk that portions of the 

system might heat up, the heat then producing excess pressure that could destroy its components. 

Furthermore, the refrigerant might produce decomposition products which are not only toxic, but can 

also corrode piping and other parts of the system. The principal culprit here would be hydrogen fluoride 

(HF). 

 

13 The condenser may suffer a 'non-emissive' defect when it is merely bent or dented in the course of a 

minor collision, without actually developing a leak. This component may also have to be replaced where 

heat exchange is inhibited by severe soiling, if the mechanic is concerned that steam-jet cleaning might 

damage its fine blades. 

14 Fischer (1997) had already distinguished between accidents destroying the air-conditioning system, 

and those leaving it undamaged. 
23

4. Leak tests at customer's or workshop's initiative 

The level of refrigerant in a system had only been measured as a 'side-effect' in all of the recoveries 

mentioned so far, whereas recovery in about 30% of cases was directly aimed at (preventive) 

measurement of the refrigerant level. 

Two thirds of these 'direct measurements' were carried out at the request or on the complaint of the 

customer, the principal motive being dissatisfaction with the cooling effect ("not cooling properly").15 The 

interesting point is that these measurements revealed only about 10 to 15% loss of refrigerant on 

average, with just a few exceptional figures of up to 30%. In other words, it is unlikely that cooling 

capacity would have noticeably improved after recharging. I suspect, myself, that customers complain 

so often about deficient working of intact air-conditioning systems because they expect far more of these 

systems than they can actually provide. 

One third of these measurements were made at the initiative of the mechanic, often because of the 

(unconfirmed) suspicion that a system fault whose cause was not otherwise to be found could in fact be 

due to lack of refrigerant. 

III. Consequences for Method of Estimating the Rate of Emission 

Even leaving out the 'middle' group of refrigerant losses between 40 and 99% (where specific reasons 

for opening the air-conditioning system overlap and are more difficult to distinguish), our analysis of 

system openings in connection with total loss and losses of less than 40% provide an important 

foundation for the principal goal of this study, namely the estimate of the annual rate of emission from 

passenger-car air-conditioning systems based on empirical findings. 

The two results of our ideally typical16 comparison of air-conditioning-system openings are 

firstly: high ('total' in this instance) loss of refrigerant is attributable to 'irregular' defects in the refrigerant 

circuit. The resultant leak causes the air-conditioning system to fail. The system has to be opened, this 

being arranged and done right away in the direct aim of remedying the source of loss; and 

secondly: limited loss (assumed as up to 40% of the standard charge) does not in itself cause failure of 

the air-conditioning system. Loss of this kind is merely detected indirectly, when opening a system for 

reasons other than remedying the source of loss - for instance the replacement of internally defective 

components, provision of access to the engine, emptying the system for work on the body, and 

preventive checking of the charge level. 

In connection with the first of these two results we found that in principle, workshop records - provided 

they have been kept continuously for one year - document all instances of repairs to irregular leaks. 

Accordingly, they cover the sum of 'irregular' emissions produced by all of the air-conditioned vehicles 

 

15 One exception would be the vehicle owner wanting to know if his air-conditioning system was still 

refrigerant-tight after rubber components had been nibbled by martens (incidentally, the system had not 

lost a single gram of refrigerant). Another was the driver wishing to be reassured of a full system before 

holidaying in a southern climate - an unusual case. 

16 It should be clearly borne in mind that this comparison is 'ideally typical' because in reality, there is no 

sharp, distinguishing line to separate 'high' loss from 'low'. 'Total' loss may also be due to a 'regular' and 

not very emissive defect persisting over a sufficiently long period of time. Likewise, refrigerant loss less 

than 40% may be attributable to 'irregular', emissive damage which simply did not have sufficient time to 

permit any higher emergence of refrigerant. 
24

serviced by the workshop in question. An annual rate of irregular emission can therefore be determined 

from these records (see Chapter E). 

The second result shows us that refrigerant loss of less than 40% is not generally attributable to 

'irregular' damage, but, in principle, to regular leakage consequent on the design and mode of operation 

of mobile air-conditioning systems. Since these losses do not interfere with the system's operation, they 

are not usually measured directly. Some, however, are measured indirectly in the process of recovery, 

representing an unintentional but thoroughly usable random sample of 'normal' emission. An annual rate 

of regular emission can be determined from these measurements (see Chapter D). 

Together, the annual rates of 'irregular' and 'regular' emission go to form the total annual rate of 

emission. 
25

D. The Annual Rate of Normal Emission 

I. Regular Loss of Refrigerant from Intact Air-Conditioning Systems 

'Regular' refrigerant loss does not mean that emission will take an identical course in every single airconditioning system. For instance, the period of time for which individual systems remain switched on 

scatters widely about a mean of 150 hours per annum (Taxis-Reischl 2000). Then the life of a vehicle's 

engine (as it undergoes vibration and the development of heat), actually a more important aspect in the 

context of normal leakage, also varies widely about an average of 450 hours (in the same year, 1997) - 

and this is not allowing for mileage or for traffic conditions. Another factor would be the driver's personal 

style at the wheel, which will have a varyingly stressful effect. Again, the way the air-conditioning system 

is handled and used has a part to play17, and the ambient temperature co-determining a system's 

pressure is not the same for every system (car garaged or parked in the open). Moreover, the quality of 

workmanship in one air-conditioning system is very rarely quite the same as in the next. 

As starting point for the statistical analysis provided below, it has been taken that, while 'regularly' 

emitting car air-conditioning systems - originally charged ex-works with refrigerant R-134a (from 1993 

on) - may have lost varying quantities of refrigerant up to the measurement period 'mid 1999 to mid 

2001', as a general rule they still contain enough to permit normal operation - provided they are free of 

any 'irregular' defect. 

In a first approximation, air-conditioning systems found to have lost less than 40% refrigerant were duly 

selected from the study population and deemed to be 'normally' or 'regularly' emitting systems, because 

to go by the experience of interviewed air-conditioning mechanics, 60% of the original refrigerant charge 

is the mean limit at which a system is still marginally intact - see Chapter C, Section II. 

Bearing in mind its technical imprecision, the '40% Mark' should be applied with a margin of error 

extending above and below, as necessary statistical aid for want of more suitable criteria governing the 

quantity of refrigerant deemed "sufficient" or "no longer sufficient" for a system's continued operation. 

Another factor to be taken into account is the general imprecision, discussed in Chapter B, in the 

measurement of recovery volumes (deviation by up to 50 grams is usual) and therefore inherent in all 

empirically determined rates of loss. The present study deals only with general orders of magnitude, not 

with absolutely exact quantities. 

The average refrigerant charge in air-conditioning systems having losses of less than 40% is 825 grams, 

consequently being somewhat lower than in all 678 fully identified vehicles (where the average is 848 

grams). See Chapter A. 7. The charge for Brand 1 is 738 grams, for Brand 2 it is 831 grams, and for 

Brand 3, 898 grams. 

II. All 282 Emission Rates of < 40% as a Function of Vehicle Age 

Plotting the rate of loss recorded (as difference between recovered quantity and standard ex-works 

charge) at the time of opening all air-conditioning systems whose age could be determined and which 

had lost < 40% refrigerant (282 units) against the period elapsing since the vehicle's first registration, the 

scatter diagram (Diagram 2) shows hardly any relation between the two quantities. 

 

17 Only a minority of drivers occasionally run their air-conditioning system for brief periods during the 

cold part of the year. This is an important way of caring for hoses and seals, allowing oil and refrigerant 

to pass through them and protect them from drying out, becoming brittle, and therefore ageing more 

rapidly. 
26

Emission Rate in Months since First Registration - all 

282Systems losing < 40% Refrigerant (uncorrected)

40% Line

0

10

20

30

40

50

0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96 108

months since first registration

ER < 40 %

ER < 40%

 Diagram 2: Emission rates (rates of loss) of all 282 systems losing < 40% refrigerant (uncorrected) in 

months since first registration. The data points of the 282 individual emission rates are broadly scattered 

below the 40% Line without taking any clear direction. The only significant factor is their anticipated

accumulation on the left of the x-axis, workshop visits being concentrated on the first 48 months duly 

covered by warranty or goodwill provisions. ER = emission rate. 

Diagram 2 reveals a diffusely scattered point cloud below the 40% Line. The only significant factor is the 

expected accumulation to the left of the x-axis, 82% of workshop visits being concentrated within the 

first 48 months, which are still covered by warranty or goodwill arrangements. 

There is still no clear trend to be discerned on calculating the average figure per year (mean value for 

months 0 to 12, 13 to 24, etc.) of the widely scattered individual loss rates 

The annual averages do generally continue to rise up as far as the seventh year, from 13% to 24%, but 

then they fall back again to the initial figure in the following two years - see Diagram 3. 

The 'annual averages' curve making its way through the point cloud of 282 "monthly emission rate" 

combinations fails to reveal any dependence of emission rate on vehicle age. 
27

Average Loss Figures in individual Years of Life of all 282 AirConditioning Systems losing < 40% Refrigerant (uncorrected)

0

10

20

30

40

0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96

months since vehicle first registered

percentile loss

Diagram 3: Trend by month of emission rates under 40% (uncorrected). The path of the curve leading

through the point cloud of Diagram 2 (q.v.) reveals nothing specific to indicate a dependence of 

emission rate on vehicle age. The rise observed up to the seventh year (between months 54 and 66) 

stops, and then the curve drops back down again. 

Diagrams 2 and 3 demonstrate that while concentration on air-conditioning systems losing less than

40% refrigerant may be a necessary or unavoidable means of identifying exclusively 'regular' or 

'normal' emission, it is not in itself sufficient. The sources of emission in our 282 air-conditioning 

systems losing less than 40% refrigerant are clearly not all of a 'regular' nature, so the next stage in the 

study was to make a correction, attempting to eliminate systems with 'irregular' refrigerant losses from 

the total figure. 

III. Statistical Correction of Normal Emission Rates 

Of the 282 air-conditioning systems losing less than 40% refrigerant, 216 (77%) still remained after 

statistical correction aimed at restricting the number of cases to genuinely 'regular' emissions. For me, 

this selection represents our unintentionally made random sampling of car air-conditioning systems (a) 

sufficiently charged with refrigerant and (b) solely producing 'normal' emission. Seven of the 66 

eliminations were based on the explanation given in the Record Sheet, and then there were 59

anomalies either above or below the line.

1. Recognisable as 'irregular' from the Record Sheets: seven cases 

In three of these cases, the mechanics' notes in the Record Sheets made it possible to categorise 

refrigerant loss < 40% as 'irregular'. Twice the notes expressly indicated leaks in the compressor, and 

once they recorded an accident as cause of 20% emission (a year and half after first registration). In a 

further four cases, the Record Sheets indicate previous losses in preceding years, which, when added 
28

to the loss in the current year (2000, 2001), produce more than 40% leakage of refrigerant and can 

therefore be taken out of the equation. 

2. Eliminating anomalies above and below the line: 59 cases 

Most of the 'irregular' cases of emission were identified as anomalous peaks or troughs when we 

applied a plausible criterion. 

Restriction to 216 Cases of 'Regular' Emission < 40%

(Statistical Correction)

0

10

20

30

40

50

0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96 108

months since vehicle first registered

percentile emission rate

ER < 40%

boundary

Diagram 4: Restriction to 216 cases of 'regular' emission < 40%. The diagram shows the same 282 

cases of emission as in Diagram 2, but, following statistical correction, 66 of them are now outside the 

boundary (outside left and bottom right) and 216 are left inside. Basically, cases of emission are 

conditionally eliminated as 'irregular' where they are either four times higher or four times lower 

(measurements of that order first occurring after 42 months) than the average. 

Losses amounting to four times the average (before correction) are classified here as abnormal peaks. 

This factor is not based on any general statistical rule - indeed, in the final analysis, it is somewhat 

arbitrary. Importantly for me, though, I feel it is high enough to prevent any emissions that might in fact 

be 'normal' from being ruled out as being 'irregular'. To my mind, emissions of over four times the 

average would seem to be so excessive that they are highly likely to have their source in an 'irregular' 

defect.18

The average loss per month is 0.55% - which is 5.5% after ten months. Constellations like "10 months / 

22% loss" can therefore be eliminated (22% being 4 x 5.5%). 38 cases met this criterion for anomalous 

 

18 Reducing the factor 4 to 3 for anomalies above the line and, correspondingly, from 1⁄4 to 1/3 for those 

below would only just about exclude no more than six further cases (three up and three down), so I did 

not think there was any particular benefit to be gained from this kind of preliminary restriction of the 

range of emissions. 
29

peaks. 33 indicated losses of over four times the average in the first year, six more reaching this level 

after at most 17 months. By definition, anomalous peaks are to be found only during the first 18 months 

of vehicle age, the 40% emission limit being exceeded after 19 months and air-conditioning systems 

above that limit no longer being taken into consideration. 

Emissions amounting to no more than a quarter of the average rate of loss (before correction) were 

deemed to be anomalous troughs. Such low emissions as these are regarded as unrealistic, since it 

would have to be assumed that air-conditioning systems falling under that heading would have suffered 

some previous loss. However, this criterion only applies to emissions from vehicles older than 3.5 years 

or 42 months. All lower losses up to that time are regarded as 'regular', including the numerous 'zero' 

emissions. 

Average Refrigerant Loss in individual Years of Life of 216 AirConditioning Systems losing < 40% Refrigerant - after

Correction

0

10

20

30

40

0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84

months since first registration

percentile loss

Diagram 5: Average refrigerant loss in individual years of life of 216 air-conditioning systems losing < 

40% refrigerant, after correction. The curve now shows a clearly rising trend, passing from about 4% 

(the mean for the first 12 months) to just under 29% (the mean for months 60 to 72), even if the rise is

briefly interrupted between the 48th and 60th month. Our correction leaves us with no meaningful 

average for the period after seven years, because there is only one instance of loss left in that period. 

Compared with Diagram 3 (uncorrected trend), the scattered annual averages for the 'corrected' cases 

now follow a distinct principal direction going from bottom left to top right. The curve is neither moved up 

by overly high emission rates to the left, nor forced down by understated rates to the right. 

After 42 months, zero losses are in the first place unlikely, and in the second place, 42 months was the 

maximum period for which I had an unbroken record of the opening of air-conditioning systems. The 

eliminating criterion 'less than a quarter the average loss of 0.55% per month' first began to take effect 

in the 43rd month, duly identifying 20 anomalous troughs (14 zero losses and 5 losses of less than 

10%). Only one of these cases exceeded 10% (actually 12%), being found after 106 months. That case 

was eliminated like the others because, although nothing can be proven in the absence of relevant data, 

it is highly likely to be associated with a previous loss. 
30

The corrected cases of emission are to be found inside the boundary in Diagram 4. The location of the 

anomalies above and below the line is graphically obvious, the excessive emissions of the first year and 

a half being left outside to the left, and the understated emissions after the first three and a half years 

appearing at bottom right. Diagram 5 shows at first glance that, where combined to produce annual 

averages, the emission rates left after eliminating the 59 anomalies (and the other seven 'irregular' 

cases) follow a definite upward trend in pace with the life of the vehicle - unlike the situation in Diagram 

3. It is my opinion that the corrected cases furnish suitable foundation material for the attempt made in 

Section IV to arrive at a quantitative determination of the annual rate of normal emission. 

IV. The corrected 6.3% Annual Rate of Normal Emission 

The annual rate of normal emission is calculated from the 0.523% monthly average of all 216 corrected 

emission rates during the period 0 to 85 months, being twelve times the monthly average, viz. 6.3%. 

Specifically, this rate of emission applies solely to air-conditioning systems in vehicles up to seven years 

old, and is subject to some degree of uncertainty on account of the rather arbitrary choice of correction 

factor. The rate comprises the emission of all three car brands taken together, distinctions between 

them being examined in Section V below. 

Corrected Annual Rate of Normal Emission for Air-Conditioning

Systems up to Seven Years old (216 Cases losing < 40%

Refrigerant)

40 % Line

0

10

20

30

40

50

0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96

months since first registration

percentile rate of emission

ER < 40%

average

Diagram 6: The annual rate of normal emission from all 216 systems losing < 40% refrigerant

(corrected). The amount by which these normal emissions increase each year is the 'annual average 

refrigerant loss' from all corrected cases, so it appears as a straight line in the graph. The rate is 6.3%. 

The straight-line average extends from intersection-point zero to intersect with the 40% Line after 76 

months. Incidentally, because of this 40% barrier, data points after the 76th month are always below the 

straight-line average, never above it, which lowers the average mathematically. 
31

Plotting the monthly 0.52% or annual 6.3% along the x-axis (months since first registration of vehicle), a 

straight line is produced which intersects the 40% Mark (still just enough refrigerant) after 76 months 

(76.4), i.e. after six years and five months. 

Since the 6.3% figure is an average calculated from widely scattered individual cases, duly 

compensating for major variations upwards and downwards, it would not of course be true to say that in 

practice, all car air-conditioning systems will come to a standstill after 76 months. Drivers' experience 

would indicate to the contrary, one having visited the workshop as often as two times in seven years on

account of his air-conditioning system, another never having been there at all. (A third driver had his airconditioning system charged elsewhere, this case not being examined any further in our study). 

However, the figure does mean that - leaving aside any of the other empirical inaccuracies of the 

present study - on average 6.3% of the original refrigerant charge is lost by other than 'irregular' means 

when we take the first seven years as our base line. 

V. Differences in Normal Emission between the Three Car Brands 

The following three diagrams (7 to 9) show the normal annual emission rates for each of the study's 

three brands of car. It should be emphasised that the cases are not sufficient in number to let us draw 

any direct conclusions from them (or from their average) with regard to the situation in reality. However, 

the indicated differences are none the less important for all that, allowing us as they do to see how the 

annual rates of normal emission range upwards and downwards. 

Annual Rate of Normal Emission and Corrected Cases of

Emission among the 77 Vehicles of Brand 1

0

10

20

30

40

50

0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96

months since first registration

percentile rate of emission

ER < 40%

average

Diagram 7: Annual rate of normal emission and corrected cases of emission among the 77 vehicles of 

Brand 1. Conditions for Brand 1 are almost the same as in the overall selection - monthly rate: 0.52%; 

annual rate: 6.2%; 40% Line intersected after 77.3 months. 
32

Diagram 8: Annual rate of normal emission and corrected cases of emission among the 60 vehicles of 

Brand 2. Brand 2 indicates the highest emission rates - 0.59% per month and 7.0% per year. The 40% 

Line is intersected by as early as 68.2 months. 

Annual Rate of Normal Emission and Corrected Cases of

Emission among the 79 Vehicles of Brand 3

0

10

20

30

40

50

0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96

months since first registration

percentile rate of 

emission

ER < 40

average

Annual Rate of Normal Emission and Corrected Cases of

Emission among the 60 Vehicles of Brand 2

0

10

20

30

40

50

0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96

months since first registration

percentile rate of emission

ER < 40

average

Diagram 9: Annual rate of normal emission and corrected cases of emission among the 79 vehicles of 

Brand 3. Brand 3 has the lowest emission rates of the whole population, being just 0.49% per month 

and 5.8% per year. The 40% Line is intersected by as late as 82.1 months. 

The annual normal rates of emission differ by more than 1% (ranging from 5.8 to 7.0) between the three 

brands of car. The 40% Line is intersected after 68 months by Brand 2, but not until after 82 by Brand 3. 
33

VI. Car Manufacturer Specifications concerning Normal Leakage 

Placed in relation to the average 825 gram charge of air-conditioning systems losing less than 40% 

refrigerant (see introduction to the present Chapter D), the annual average of 6.3% represents a normal

(not total) refrigerant leakage level of 52 grams per year. 

Fig. 3: Car air-conditioning system showing the principal points of R-134a emergence under the 

conditions of normal refrigerant leakage stipulated by the car manufacturers. An annual leakage of at 

most 10 to 30 grams is admissible from the shaft seal of the compressor (4 exclamation marks), 

altogether 10 to 20 grams (two exclamation marks each) from the hose system (the illustration shows 

four hoses), and 2 to 3 grams from each O ring (there are eleven such sealing rings in the illustration). 

Adding up the figures, annual losses of from 42 to 83 grams are considered "normal" in the system 

illustrated. The number of exclamation marks (!) stand for the relative importance of the particular 

source of leakage. Refrigerant circuit: 1 = evaporator; 2 = compressor; 3 = condenser; 4 = 

collector/dryer; 5 = expansion valve. 

Source: WAECO (modified). 

According to the suppliers of complete car air-conditioning systems (Air-Conditioning Conference - 

2001), car manufacturers specify margins - for the leakage of refrigerant through seals and hoses - 

within which a car air-conditioning system will be accepted as "refrigerant-tight". Under these 

specifications, the annual loss of refrigerant must be kept within the following bounds: 
34

• compressor shaft-seal: 10 to 30 grams, 

• flexible hose lines: 10 to 20 grams, and 

• each O ring at connections to components: 2 to 3 grams. 

The number of connections to the components 'compressor', 'evaporator', 'condenser', 'dryer' and 

'expansion' valve' (all of which can be dismantled), and therefore the number of O-ring seals, varies from 

seven to eleven according to system design. Accordingly, normal leakage through the O rings is allowed 

to vary between 14 and 33 grams.19

The annual loss of refrigerant accepted by the car manufacturers amounts to between 34 and 83 grams

when all three sources are added together. 

The average 52 grams the present study has defined as normal emission per year per air-conditioning 

system over a period of seven years in use comes about midway in relation to the manufacturers' overall 

allowance. Far from contradicting the car makers' stipulations, the study figure confirms how closely they 

approach reality. 

Looking at matters in reverse, the allowances confirm how close to reality is the result arrived at from 

the selected workshops' Record Sheets, ranging as it does from 46 grams (Brand 1) to 58 grams (Brand 

2) among the three car brands. The normal annual loss recorded for Brand 3 coincides with the average 

loss figure of 52 grams. 

 

19 Integration of the dryer with the condenser, an approach already to be found at the present time, 

saves on two connections and therefore on sources of loss amounting to about 5 grams. The same can 

be said of integrating the expansion valve with the evaporator. Then the widely introduced reduction in 

the proportion of elastomer connection lines between components in favour of aluminium piping has 

also reduced normal leakage. However, there are limits to the replacement of hoses with pipes, in part 

because of the better heat and sound insulation provided by flexible elastomer lines. In fact, the single 

line most severely exposed to high pressure (up to 20 bar) and high temperature (the gas being 

"superheated" to above 100 °C), the pressure line from compressor to condenser, lends itself least to 

being replaced with a metal tube, because not only does it need to be very large in diameter and highly 

flexible, it must also be capable of compensating for the vibrations of the engine to which it is connected. 
35

E. The Annual Rate of 'Irregular' Emission 

The approach I took when determining the 'normal' rate of emission was an indirect one. The data 

obtained on refrigerant recoveries from car air-conditioning systems losing less than 40% served as a 

"workshop sample" of vehicles which, for the most part, had not in fact visited the workshop primarily 

because of a problem with their air-conditioning system. The situation is otherwise for 'irregular' 

emission, which makes itself felt in the form of obviously faulty behaviour or functional failure, readily 

noticeable to the driver when switching on. A visit to the workshop inevitably follows, even if after some 

delay which may indeed extend to several months in the colder part of the year (see diagram in Chapter 

A). 

It has been taken as a starting point for the following series of estimates that, on principle, 'irregular' 

cases of emission (whose treatment necessarily calls for an opening - recovery and recharging - of the 

air-conditioning system) are dealt with by the originally designated workshop, which, where Record 

Sheets are kept, will also document the process. The 'non-normal' emissions contained in the Record 

Sheets (namely all refrigerant losses of over 40%, and those under 40% that were eliminated by the 

correction described in Chapter D) therefore directly represent the entirety of 'irregular' emissions from - 

basically - all vehicles making up the regular 'client fleet' of a particular workshop. 

I. Inspections as Reference Quantity for Cases of Irregular Emission 

In terms of volume, the 'regular client fleet' is understood to mean all the vehicles that would be brought 

to a particular workshop in the event of a fault in their air-conditioning system; in other words, all the 

vehicles belonging to regular customers - who are also referred to as "loyal" customers in the jargon of 

the motor industry. The question now arises of finding a suitable company 'figure' to account for these 

customers. A garage's registered daily throughput of vehicles would be too high, because it would 

include multiple countings of one and the same vehicle. The 'annual inspections' figure, of which 

garages also keep an account, would seem to be the most appropriate. Regular inspections include 

"major" and "minor" versions, which may also be referred to as 'maintenance' or 'after-care' services 

depending on the make of vehicle. Conveniently for our present purposes, on average every vehicle in 

Germany underwent approximately one (1.05) regular maintenance/inspection service in the year 2000 

(DAT-Veedol 2001, 23 et seq.). In other words, we can take it that the number of annual inspections 

equals the number of vehicles constituting a garage's annual 'regular client fleet'.

All nine garages in our selected population provided us with figures on their number of vehicle 

throughputs and number of regular annual inspections during at least one whole year in which 

refrigerant records had been kept (years 1999 or 2000, or the twelve-month period May 2000 to May 

2001) - see Table 4. 

Table 4: Annual Vehicle Throughputs and Inspections by Brand of Car 

and "Irregular" Emissions from 1999 to 2001 in Nine Garages 

1. Throughput 2. Inspections 2. as % 

of 1. 

4. Irregular Emissions 4. as % 

of 2 

Brand 1 30,396 8,495 28% 113 1.3% 

Brand 2 57,226 16,118 28% 200 1.2% 

Brand 3 37,966 9,556 25% 167 1.7% 

Total 125,588 34,169 27% 480 1.4% 

Source: reports and refrigerant records from nine garages from 1999 to 2001. 

As Table 4 indicates, 34,169 or 27% of 125,588 vehicle throughputs constituted 'regular annual 

inspections'. These 34,169 vehicles represent the permanent 'client fleet' of vehicles serviced by the 
36

study's nine 'authorised dealers'. Out of this 'client fleet', 480 air-conditioning systems producing 

'irregular' emissions were opened during the period of one year, representing an average 1.4% of all 

three brands of car, all of whose individual percentages are in any case very alike. (Adding the 175 

systems opened in connection with 'normal' emission, 655 systems were duly emptied and recharged, 

representing 1.9% of "regular customer cars".) 

The cases of emission used in this chapter (480 in number) have been chosen as a function of whether 

or not the date of their detection (and entry in the records) falls within an 'inspection year' (reference 

period) at my disposal. For instance, where the 'inspection year' is the year 2000, I have eliminated 

emissions subsequent to January 2001 that I did in fact use in another connection - in the previous 

chapter for example. This confinement is in fact matched by a corresponding broadening of our scope: 

since our sole interest at this point is in the level of an emission and in the brand of vehicle producing 

same, we can also take account of cases in which the age of the vehicle or even its type proved 

impossible to determine. 

The garages did often raise an obvious objection to the idea of using 'inspections' as a basis for our 

study of air-conditioning systems, claiming that the air-conditioning system does not belong to the 

normal work of routine maintenance and that most faults are actually reported by the customer himself, 

outside the ambit of an 'inspection'. This objection is not really relevant to our present purposes, since 

the 'inspections' serve solely as quantitative reference point for recorded emissions of refrigerant, 

concentrating in fact on their upper limit. 

II. Confinement of Inspections to Vehicles with Air-Conditioning System 

It should go without saying that refrigerant emission would not be examined in relation to all inspected 

vehicles, but just to those of them duly equipped with an air-conditioning system. 

Several intermediate steps were required in the process of confining the registered 'inspections' to those 

conducted on air-conditioned vehicles (and specifically those with an original R-134a system), none of 

the garages having classified their inspections under the headings of vehicles with and without airconditioning system. 

Every year since 1993, the percentage of new cars equipped with air-conditioning system has been 

growing at a very substantial rate, and the point of saturation is not yet in sight. Consequently, the 

percentage of vehicles equipped with air-conditioning is different not only for each brand of car, but also 

for each 'year of registration' of each car, quite apart from further differences existing between the 

numerous types of a particular brand. 

The two main steps to be taken in determining a brand-tied garage's quota of air-conditioning systems in 

a given 'inspection year' (the year 2000, for instance) are 

• firstly, arrangement of the garage's total number of vehicle inspections into their individual 'years of 

registration' (obtaining the 'age pattern'), and 

• secondly, determination of the specific quota of air-conditioning systems (MAC Quota) in each of a 

particular car brand's 'years of registration'. 

The MAC quota for an 'inspection year' is first arrived at by relating the MAC Quotas of specific years to 

the proportion (in terms of quantity) of cars from those years that call to a garage in the current 

'inspection year'. In making this calculation, we do have to take on board a measurement error 

attributable to the fact that MAC Quotas for specific years are only obtainable for Germany as a whole, 
37

so they may differ to a greater or lesser degree from the 'quotas' of the vehicles serviced by a particular 

garage. 

1. Model of Age Patterns in Annual Inspections 

What interests a garage most in respect of a 'year of registration' is the percentage of vehicles from that 

year that actually come into the garage for inspection (thereby demonstrating loyalty to the company). 

Apart from garage records, there is also a more general body of data available on these visits, as well 

as on the declining tendency to avail of an 'authorised dealer' workshop as a vehicle becomes older - for 

instance, the DAT-Veedol 2001 survey. The number of annual inspections categorised by age of vehicle 

is another question, one not normally investigated by the garages even though associated with their first 

interest. 

Working together with a number of service managers and the regional sales department of one German 

manufacturer, we developed a model of the age pattern emerging in annual inspections, which, at least 

for the year 2000, probably comes very close to the reality of the situation in authorised-dealer

workshops. This is because expert estimations for the year 2000 were supported, in three of the 

garages (covering two car brands), by the company computer which ran a program selecting inspected 

vehicles by the year of their first registration. Our model is reproduced in Diagram 10. 

Annual Inspections compiled by Age of VehicleModel for 2000 - 

German Authorised Dealer Workshops / Outlets

20%

18%

16%

14%

8%

7%

5%

4%

10%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

123 4 5 6 7 8 8 to 15

et seq.

years since first registration

Percentile share of all 

inspections in year

all inspections = 100 %

Diagram 10: Annual inspections compiled by age of vehicle. Model for 2000, authorised dealer 

workshops/outlets. More than two thirds of all inspections are concentrated within the first few years of a 

vehicle's age, older vehicles accounting for less than a third of the total. 
38

The diagram clearly shows the preponderance of inspections in the earliest years (68% in total), which 

is hardly surprising given the four-year loyalty-maintaining attraction of warranty and goodwill 

arrangements. Vehicles more than four years old (the time when changes of ownership begin to occur) 

together make up only one third of the inspections total. The two bars on the far right of the diagram 

deserve particular attention - in the year 2000, 14% of inspected vehicles were eight and more years 

old, meaning that this 14% of vehicles are very likely not to have been fitted ex-works with an R-134a 

air-conditioning system, which first really came into general use in 1993 or 1994. 

The 'age pattern model' is based on the inspections carried out in all three of the reference periods in 

question, namely years 1999 and 2000, and the twelve months from May 2000 to May 2001. 

2. Air-conditioning quotas in inspection periods 1999, 2000 and 2001 

All six German mass-producers of passenger cars reported the number of each of their passenger-car 

types (ranging from five by BMW and Audi, to fifteen by Ford) equipped ex-works with an airconditioning system and sold in Germany in 1999 and 2000. They also provided specific information on 

types during the complex changeover phase from R-12 to R-134a, that lasted from mid 1991 to the end 

of 1993. Drawing as well on the data held in ÖKO-Recherche archives for the years 1994 to 1998, we 

then duly worked out the brand-specific quota of air-conditioning systems (the MAC Quota), in each 

calendar year, from the type-specific data in our possession. 

Table 5: Percentage Air-Conditioned of New Cars sold in Germany 

(German brands only, from 1995 to 2000) 

Brand 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 

A 97% 93% 84% 84% 75% 71% 

B 97% 93% 91% 81% 75% 57% 

C 94% 90% 87% 75% 67% 58% 

D 80% 74% 63% 46% 24% 20% 

E 82% 78% 64% 55% 40% 19% 

F 82% 75% 66% 55% 17% 11% 

Table 5 reproduces these quotas without giving the names of the car brands, so that the identify of the 

three brands of car actually chosen for our study cannot be inferred from the brand-specific airconditioning quota for the inspection periods - which itself is based on the quotas of 1992 to 2000 et 

seq. (see below). 

The final step was to weight the MAC Quota for each year with the percentile share each 'year of 

registration' enjoyed in the annual inspection total, as illustrated in Diagram 10. 

A total of nine MAC Quotas were arrived at in this way, three for each of the three chosen car brands: 

one for Inspection Year 1999, one for 2000 and one for May 2000 to May 2001. 

Table 6: Air-Conditioning Quotas (MAC Quotas) in the three Inspection Periods 

1999 to 2001 by Brand of Car 

Period Brand 1 Brand 2 Brand 3 

Inspections in 1999 64% 37% 68% 

Inspections in 2000 73% 47% 75% 

Inspections from 5/2000 to 5/2001 78% 53% 80% 

As a result of the general increase in MAC Quotas over time, the MAC Quota for inspections in the 

period May 2000 to May 2001 is distinctly higher than that in the year 1999. These quotas are likely to 

continue growing for the foreseeable future. 
39

Brand 3's MAC Quota of 75% for "Inspections in 2000" (Table 6, last column, second last line) indicates 

that of the vehicles undergoing annual inspection in the year 2000, 75% were equipped ex-works with 

an R-134a air-conditioning system. 

3. 'Workshop Rate' of air-conditioned vehicles 

Eighteen times in total we were able to relate whole-year 'irregular' emissions from the three car brands 

to the respective 'inspection periods' in which they had been detected - four times for the full calendar 

year 1999, ten times for full calendar year 2000, and four times for the period May 2000 to May 2001. 

On summing up our individual calculations and arranging our figures by brand of car, we obtain the 

percentage of 'irregular' emissions encountered in workshop inspections of vehicles having an airconditioning system. I have called this percentage the 'Workshop Rate' (Table 7). 

Table 7: The 'Workshop Rate' ('Irregular' Emissions) of Air-Conditioned Vehicles 

of the Three Brands in 1999 to 2001 (Nine Garages)

All 

inspections 

Average 

MAC Quota 

Inspections of 

MAC cars 

Irregular 

emissions 

Workshop 

Rate 

Brand 1 8,495 73% 6,202 113 1.8% 

Brand 2 16,118 48% 7,772 200 2.6% 

Brand 3 9,556 77% 7,370 167 2.3% 

Total 34,169 62% 21,344 480 2.2% 

During the same period in which the nine garages detected and recorded 480 'irregular' cases of 

emission, they inspected a total of 21,344 air-conditioned vehicles (not their air-conditioning systems!). 

The number of inspections of vehicles having an air-conditioning system ('MAC cars') has been 

calculated here through multiplying the total number of inspections by the MAC Quota for the specific 

brand. This MAC Quota adds up to an average of 62% for the three brands of car, being at its lowest for 

Brand 2 (48%) and its highest for Brand 3 (77%). The (mathematical) percentage of 'irregular' emissions 

found when inspecting 'MAC cars' - or the 'Workshop Rate of MAC Cars' - averages out at 2.2% for all 

three brands. 

III. The Annual Rate of 'Irregular' Emission 

The rate of 'irregular' emission is arrived at by weighting the 'workshop rate of MAC cars' with the rate of 

refrigerant loss discovered on opening air-conditioning systems. These loss rates, obtained from the 

Record Sheets, were available as percentages and as absolute figures for all 480 vehicles in question, 

and are entered in Table 8 along with the resultant brand-specific annual rates of irregular emission. 

Table 8: The Annual Rate of Irregular Emission from Air-Conditioning Systems 

of the three Brands of Car in 1999 to 2001 (Nine Garages)

Irregular 

emissions 

Workshop 

Rate 

Refrigerant 

loss in kg 

Rate of 

loss* 

Annual rate 

of irregular 

emission 

Brand 1 113 1.8% 67.0 82% 1.5% 

Brand 2 200 2.6% 147.3 85% 2.2% 

Brand 3 167 2.3% 133.1 84% 1.9% 

Total 480 2.2% 347.4 84% 1.9% 

* percentile relationship of "refrigerant loss in kg" to the sum of standard charge quantities of 81.4 kg 

(Brand 1), 173 kg (Brand 2) and 158.5 kg (Brand 3), adding up to 412.9 kg. 
40

The annual rate of irregular emission is lower than the 'workshop rate' (averaging 2.2%), being only 

1.9% because of the loss-rate of less than 100%, namely 84%. 

Among the three car brands, this annual rate varies from 1.5% (Brand 1) to 2.2% (Brand 3)., being 

about one third as high as the rate of 'normal' emission (6.3% according to our study). 

The measurement error referred to in Chapter B - "omitted entry" of the recovery operation - is seen to 

produce only a very slight 'absolute' increase in the emission rate. Assuming 5% forgotten entries and a 

correspondingly 5% higher irregular loss of refrigerant, the annual rate of irregular emission would rise 

from 1.9 to barely 2.0 %, in other words, by just 0.1% in absolute terms. 
41

F. The Annual Total Rate of Emission for Air-Conditioning Systems 

at most Seven Years old 

I. The Calculated 8.2% Rate of Emission 

The average annual rate of emission is arrived at by adding the rate of 'normal' emission to the rate of 

'irregular' emission. 

The annual rate of normal emission is 6.3% on average, while the annual rate of irregular emission is 

1.9% on average, so the annual total rate of emission runs out at 8.2%. 

This means that passenger cars having an ex-works R-134a air-conditioning system lose over eight 

percent of their refrigerant charge every year. Placed in relationship with the average charge quantity of 

856 g, that percentage represents 70 grams per annum. Which is not to say that all of the 

corresponding refrigerant is topped up again, this hitherto only being done for a portion of the airconditioning systems found to have irregular losses and defects. Most air-conditioned vehicles simply 

produce 'normal' emission and have not yet reached the critical charge-limit (around 60%) because they 

are still too young to have done so. 

An important reservation should be mentioned at this point, to the effect that our emission rates apply 

only to vehicles in operation for at most seven years from the date of their first registration. Older 

vehicles (more than 84 months) are not included in our determination of the rate of normal emission. R134a air-conditioning systems have only been on the market to any large extent since 1993. It is 

impossible to predict at this stage whether the rate of loss will continue to rise linearly as the ageing 

process proceeds, or if - as some experts fear (Holdack-Janssen, 2000) - the rate of normal emission 

might in fact accelerate.

Finally, with regard to our total rate of emission, it should also be borne in mind that (for the very reason 

that the study vehicles are not yet sufficiently old) neither the 6.3% figure (normal rate) nor the 8.2% 

figure (total rate) as yet makes any allowance for possible emission on the occasion of disposing of an 

old car. 

Despite the limited amount of information obtainable due to the small number of cases involved, our 

study still provides us with a picture of the way in which emission rates vary from one to the other of the 

three different brands of vehicle. What for me is the most important finding out of Table 9 is not so much 

the fact that Brand 2 has the highest figures for both the 'normal' and the 'irregular' rate of emission 

(indeed it also comes highest under the heading of loss in grams per vehicle), as the actual existence of 

a difference of any kind between the brands that is not to be seen when they are viewed as a whole - 

because this difference suggests the need to leave a little latitude above and below our duly determined 

average annual rate of emission of 8.2%. 

Table 9: Annual Rates of Emission and Loss in Grams per Vehicle 

for the Three Brands of Car 

Vehicle Normal 

Emission 

Irregular 

Emission 

Total 

Emission 

Grams per 

Year* 

Brand 1 6.2 1.5 7.7 57 

Brand 2 7.0 2.2 9.2 79 

Brand 3 5.8 1.9 7.7 72 

All brands 6.3 1.9 8.2 70 

* The respective refrigerant charges are 734 g (Brand 1), 857 g (Brand 2) and 932 g (Brand 3). 
42

II. Margins of Error in determined Quantities 

Our study could be criticised on fundamental statistical grounds for not being sufficiently representative 

and its limited informative value. It is fair to say that our selection of examined air-conditioning systems 

is too small, and that it does not represent a systematically collected random sample - a fact which is 

obvious from the outset given our concentration on 'authorised dealer' workshops, which only service 

some out of the total stock of air-conditioned vehicles, and furthermore only the 'younger' of them (note 

the preponderance of vehicles less than four years old). 

Acknowledging these shortcomings, in my defence I would say that any more representative a survey 

could not have been completed within the terms of reference provided. 

That having been said, however, the study does contain some inherent sources of error, to allow for 

which certain correcting factors and margins of error did need to be introduced. 

While completing the study, one important source of error emerged in Chapter D in connection with 

determining the 'normal' rate of emission. Right from the first diagram (Diagram 2), putting "regular" 

refrigerant loss on a par with "less than 40% refrigerant loss" proved to give an unduly 'black-and-white' 

picture of the situation, given that a substantial portion of refrigerant losses under 40% are not actually 

attributable - as initially thought - to 'regular' , but to 'irregular' events. The 'irregular' events were 

eliminated by a criterion ('more than four times the average') the author felt to be plausible at the time, 

but which proved in the end to be rather arbitrary and could not guarantee that the selection 'corrected' 

in this manner would then really only include systems experiencing 'normal' leakage of refrigerant. This 

source of error is necessarily associated with the adopted procedure of evaluating Refrigerant Record 

Sheets 'after the event', and in the author's opinion, its influence on the result of the study is impossible 

to quantify. The error would be avoidable by employing another, in fact far more complex and more 

time-consuming, empirical approach involving the surveyor's own controlled measurement and analysis 

of the refrigerant charges in intact vehicle air-conditioning systems. 

1. Errors in recording recovery and recharging operations 

The general readout-error probability of plus or minus 25 grams works in both directions - upward and 

downward - by up to 15%. 

As discussed in Chapter B, the 50-gram rounding practised when writing Record Sheets can give a false 

impression of emission by an amount of 25 grams above or below reality. Without exception, refrigerant 

loss of less than 40% is deemed to be 'normal' emission. That 40% is at most 340 grams of the average 

850 gram charge quantity. Then, when it is put in relationship with the mid-point between 0 and 40% 

(therefore with 170 grams), the '25 gram allowance' is in fact 15%. 

Rounding errors have some part to play in the rate of 'irregular' emission too, even if to a very much 

lesser degree because we are dealing here with 'total' loss. On top of this come the omitted entries of 

refrigerant loss, which I estimated to account for at least 5% (Chapter B, Section II, Paragraph 5). 

2. Differences between the three brands of car 

Comparing the three brands of car, both the 'normal' and the 'irregular' rates of emission vary either 

upward or downward by more than 15% from the average. 
43

III. The Annual Rates of Emission with Margins of Error 

The emission rates duly determined include 'fault tolerances' of at least 25% above and below to allow 

for inaccuracies of measurement and to account for the different figures from the three different car 

brands in our study. These margins are illustrated graphically in Diagram 11. 

Annual Normal, Irregular and Total Rates of Emission of R-134a 

from Car Air-Conditioning Systems up to Seven Years old (25%

margin of error - not including 2% emission on disposal)

6,3

1,9

8,2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Normal-ER Irregul. ER Overall-ER

 percent

 Diagram 11: Annual rates of 'normal', 'irregular' and 'total' emission from car air-conditioning systems at 

most seven years old - with 25% margin of error and excluding an approximately 2% annual rate of 

emission on disposal. The total rate of 8.2% is made up of the 'normal' rate (6.3%) and the 'irregular' 

rate of emission (1.9%) added together. Our examination proved the need to allow a 25% margin of 

error above and below, so the 'total' rate fluctuates within the region of 6.2 to 10.3%. 

Allowing for the necessary 25% margin of error above and below the line, the 'total' rate for airconditioning systems up to seven years old varies (without including loss on disposal) between 6.2% 

and 10.3%. Current total emission of R-134a from car air-conditioning systems in the year 2000 can be 

confined within the limits of 685 and 1,140 tonnes, these different figures depending on whether an 

emission rate of 6.2% (the minimum) or 10.3% (the maximum) is assumed for the 11,500 tonnes of 

refrigerant in circulation in passenger cars in Germany. These 11,500 tonnes are based, in turn, on the 

assumption of 13 million air-conditioned passenger cars (30% of the total population being thus

equipped) having an average R-134a charge of 850 g. 

IV. Emission on Disposal raises the Annual Rate to 10%

It is worth remembering at this point that an annual rate of emission extending over the first seven years 

of a system's use will be quite different (lower, in fact) from an annual emission rate calculated over the 

whole life of a system. Factors to be mentioned in this connection would first of all include the agerelated acceleration of normal system leakage feared by some experts (Holdack-Janssen - 2000, and 
44

others), an aspect neither examined nor quantified within the confines of the present study in which the 

rate of normal emission remains at 6.3%. 

A more important aspect is the loss associated with the scrapping of old cars. Weaknesses in this 

respect do not lie with German recyclers of old cars, who by this stage are very largely equipped with 

proper refrigerant recovery stations. Indeed, the situation is likely to improve even further over the 

coming years, thanks to national and EU regulation. The weak point is the fact that the approximately 

1,400 recyclers in Germany receive not even the half of the 1.3 to 1.5 million old cars taken out of 

circulation (Arge Altauto 2000, 34). About half of the cars from any original German 'year of registration' 

are first exported as used cars to countries outside of the EU (Arge Altauto 2000, 48). I know nothing 

about refrigerant recovery in the importing countries, but it probably does not carry any great weight in 

practice, an assertion which would admittedly need to be examined. An investigation of this kind is 

called for, in that evidently "all western European states" (ibid.) are faced with this export problem. 

If we were to say that an air-conditioned old car still contains 50% of its standard charge of refrigerant, 

and if we were then to assume, crudely speaking, a figure of 100% recovery of refrigerant under 

German recycling conditions and none at all for exported vehicles, then 25% of the refrigerant 

associated with a whole 'year of registration' would remain un-recovered. 

Interestingly, Pettersen/Hafner published 75% as a maximum level of recovery from R-134a airconditioning systems as early as 1996, a figure that has not been refuted to date. Tujibayashi arrived at 

something in the same order of magnitude (70%) for the island state of Japan in 1999, as a goal to be 

aspired to by the year 2010. 

Distributed over a car air-conditioning system life of twelve to thirteen years, loss at disposal produces 

an increase of 2% in the annual total rate of emission. That rate therefore fluctuates within the region of 

10% unless the situation should change substantially within the medium term. 

The risk of an incorrect estimate increases very considerably once the 'first seven years' period has 

elapsed. 

In any case, precise figures are not the goal of the present study, and never were, the prime purpose 

having been to arrive at the order of magnitude of emission from ex-works R-134a air-conditioning 

systems which are seven years old at the most. 

I feel the study has duly achieved its aim by localising this order of magnitude within the region of 6 to 

11%, or, including emission on disposal, 8 to 13%. 
45

G. The Question of Reducing Emission by Regular System 

Inspection 

All manufacturers of air-conditioning systems recommend regular maintenance (Air-Conditioning 

Conference - 2001). However, these systems are not included in the scope of the vehicle inspections 

specified by the car manufacturers. Preventive maintenance is carried out on a voluntary basis and 

therefore rarely, although many garages do offer the service of checking an intact air-conditioning 

system along the lines of the description in the box below. 

Air-Conditioning System Check (as recommended by WAECO) 

Every twelve months 

Function check: high and low pressure readings, condenser fan, temperature of air 

blown into passenger compartment. 

Visual inspections: soiling of or damage to the condenser, fault location on airconditioning system using leak indicator unit. 

Every twenty-four months 

Replace dryer 

Recover and clean refrigerant, dehumidify system at same time. 

Recharge up to standard level. 

I. Maintaining an Air-Conditioning System increases Operational Reliability 

Checks in which the refrigerant circuit is not opened can provide clues to faults and may improve the 

efficiency of a system where a contaminated condenser is cleaned in the process, for example. 

Attention of this kind to the condenser may reduce fuel consumption, thus contributing to climate 

protection. Severe loss of refrigerant may well be suspected if pressure levels are too low or if the 

temperature of the air leaving the evaporator is too high, but the problem cannot be rectified for as long 

as the system remains unopened. There is little sense in looking for leaks in a closed, intact system, 

because normal emergence of refrigerant through hoses and seals will neither be detected nor 

eliminated in the process. In turn, a check of this kind is unnecessary in respect of irregular leaks, 

because lack of refrigerant will already have brought the system to a standstill. 

Checks in which the refrigerant circuit is opened in an intact system make more sense from the 

technical point of view. The refrigerant is duly cleaned (dehumidified, that is) in the recovery/recharging 

station, and the emptied system is dehumidified by vacuum at the same time. The dryer may be 

changed to ensure continued absorption of diffusing humidity once the system is closed up again. 

Finally, recharging prevents operational faults attributable to loss of refrigerant. Provided no irregular 

damage occurs, the cleaning and recharging of refrigerant does help to improve functional reliability. 

However, the possibility that measures of this kind might prevent effective emission of refrigerant is quite 

another question. 

II. Regular Maintenance generally does not reduce Emission 

This question needs to be examined individually with regard to the different forms of emission. 
46

Emission on disposal can only be avoided where the refrigerant is properly removed when a car is 

scrapped - the question of reduction by means of regular maintenance with a top-up of refrigerant does 

not apply to this class of emission (rather more the reverse, in fact, since an air-conditioning system 

which is not properly pumped dry during the scrapping process will emit more if it had been topped up 

and remains full, than it would if it were half empty). 

The same applies to irregular emission caused by an accident or by stone impact, since regular 

maintenance will not prevent external damage to the air-conditioning system accompanied by abrupt 

emergence of refrigerant. 

Normal emission consists mainly in leakage of refrigerant through seals, a factor inextricably linked 

with the present-day design of air-conditioning systems whose compressor is driven by the vehicle's 

engine (see Chapter D, Section 6). Regular refrigerant top-ups (calling for the system to be opened) 

may recurringly put off the day on which refrigerant shortage begins to cause operational problems, but 

they do not help to reduce emission. 

III. Partial Prevention of Irregular Emission - Minimal 

Nonetheless, suppliers of recovery/recharging stations have put forward two examples demonstrating 

how they think that emission could be reduced by maintaining a system regularly and checking it for 

leaks (Recovery/Recharging Station Conference - 2001). Both of these examples relate to 'irregular' 

emission. 

1. Two examples showing how emission may be reduced by maintenance 

Example 1: where the refrigerant is not regularly cleaned, penetrating moisture may overcome the 

absorbent capacity of the dryer and mix with fluorinated refrigerant to produce corrosive acids (HF) 

which cause internal corrosion and leaks in metal components. 

Example 2: a leak, whether attributable to internal or external causes, may initially be so small that the 

amount of refrigerant escaping is still too slight to be noticeable as a fault. Over time, however, the leak 

grows and grows in size and may eventually become sufficiently large to let through the whole charge of 

refrigerant. This emergence of refrigerant would be confined by checking for leaks in good time. 

2. Internal corrosion by acid refrigerant is unlikely 

The experts have dismissed the first example (Air-Conditioning Systems Conference - 2001), stating 

firstly that the capacity of the dryer is designed so that, for the whole life of the system, it will absorb the 

moisture that penetrates under normal operation, and secondly, that any irregular admission of moisture 

to the refrigerant circuit to produce a non-evaporating liquid would so severely damage the compressor 

by 'liquid shock' that this component would fail well before acid could form. Rather than a release of 

refrigerant, the outcome would be a visit to the workshop to have the refrigerant circuit opened with a 

view to replacing the compressor. 

So with regard to Example 1, while regular dehumidification (and recharging) of the refrigerant is 

undoubtedly a good way of enhancing a system's reliability, regular inspection does not prevent 

'irregular' penetration of moisture. Where moisture does penetrate 'irregularly', the occurrence makes 

itself felt not through loss of refrigerant, but as (non-emissive) component defect, interfering with the airconditioning system's operation and therefore causing it to be opened in the workshop in any case. 
47

3. Detection of slowly growing small leaks 

The second example gives rise to the fundamental question of how large a leak has to be before it can 

be found in the course of a regular examination. 

The principal form of emission - normal emergence of refrigerant through intact seals - is too slight to be 

found by manually operated leak detector on an unopened system. The detector will only respond to 

larger-scale leaks, by which stage the operation is generally too late. The only reliable way of looking for 

leaks is to open the system first. There are two methods of location when this is done. 

The first method is to charge the emptied system with liquid nitrogen, metered by pressure reducer from 

a gas cylinder (kept at 200 bar pressure) into the system, where it develops pressure of up to 20 bar and 

higher in order to simulate extreme conditions. The leak detector then has a chance of locating leaks 

which otherwise, under normal workshop conditions, would let out too little refrigerant to be perceptible. 

The second method - more frequently used because less complex - is to add a contrast medium or 

'tracer' when recharging the system with refrigerant (see Chapter B, Section III, Paragraph 2). The 

pressure in the system does not rise as high as when adding nitrogen, so if the leak is not immediately 

revealed by a coloured stain (visible under ultraviolet illumination), the driver is asked to call again at an 

appointed date, when his air-conditioning system is run under practical conditions and the source of 

emission becomes clear to see. 

To return to Example 2, neither the nitrogen method nor the tracer method20 are suitable means of 

finding 'normal' leakage through intact seals. There would also be little sense in replacing intact seals, 

new ones would not necessarily reduce the pace of refrigerant emergence. However, both methods lend 

themselves to the detection of "irregular" sources of emission. 

Irregular leaks, responsible for just under 2% of annual emission from air-conditioning systems (at most 

seven years old), are generally associated with abrupt rather than 'creeping' emergence of refrigerant. 

Within less than a month of being damaged on the outside by a thrown stone, a condenser will have 

begun to leak so badly because of pitting that hardly any refrigerant will be left in the system 

(Haussmann, 2001). Refrigerant emerges abruptly in any case after a frontal collision involving body 

damage. Accidents and stone impact are by far the most frequent causes of 'irregular' loss of refrigerant 

(see Chapter C, Section I). Generally, too, where other components develop leaks for irregular reasons 

(compressors, evaporators, dryers), the pattern of damage will be fast-acting to precipitate by nature, for 

instance when a compressor breaks or a dryer cracks. 

It can indeed arise that a hole will enlarge continuously but so slowly that it fails to interfere with the 

system's operation by the time of the next regular inspection, which may be six months away or as far 

as two years into the future. However, such a situation is the exception to the rule among cases of 

'irregular' damage, which for the most part cause refrigerant loss in such a short space of time that 

established maintenance intervals of two or four years will intervene either too early or too late in time. 

The vehicle has to be brought into the workshop without delay. 

 

20 Since the tracer dye bonds to the refrigerant oil, not the refrigerant itself, no stain will form where a 

leak is so small that only gas can pass through, not oil. 
48

4. Emissions prevented or caused by maintenance are approximately equal in 

magnitude. 

It may be broadly assumed that 15% of cases of 'irregular' emission comprise leaks of a slowly 

developing nature which do not interfere with system operation before an inspection, but which are 

nonetheless found during the inspection. Under this assumption, the emission prevented in the process 

comes to about 0.2% of the total annual loss of refrigerant. That percentage, related to the 11,050 

tonnes of refrigerant in circulation in the year 2000 (13 million R-134a air-conditioning systems each 

containing 850 grams of refrigerant), corresponds to at most 22 tonnes of emission prevented per 

annum. 

Against that there is the enormous effort and expenditure of opening 6.5 million air-conditioning systems 

per year where regular maintenance is arranged once every two years (the interval cannot afford to be 

any longer if leaks of this kind are to be located in good time). 

It should be duly noted that the 2 grams of recharging loss normally accompanying each maintenance 

service (see Chapter B, Section III, Paragraph 1) adds up to 13 tonnes per annum, on top of which 

service-related losses in the order of 0.1%21 or 10.4 tonnes may arise where a leak is not found during 

the first visit to the workshop. 

Consequently, the level of emission which maintenance prevents is almost exactly the same as the level 

it produces. 

As overall outcome, regular maintenance generally does not prevent direct emission of refrigerant, 

although it may enhance a system's operational reliability and save on fuel consumption. At a more 

detailed level, our study describes two particular, conceivable cases demonstrating that regular 

maintenance either does not prevent refrigerant loss, or does so only at the price of emissions of just the 

same magnitude attributable to the maintenance operation itself. 

 

21 This percentage rate is derived from the present study, based on the figure of 20.5 kg (from 29 cars) 

in relation to 21,300 inspections of air-conditioned cars by the nine garages. 
49

Acknowledgements, Reference Material 

Before all else, I would like to thank cordially Mr Matti Vainio on whose initiative this study has been 

translated from German into English, by the staff of the European Commission (DG Environment). 

Throughout the course of this study, the author exchanged opinions with Jochen Harnisch of the 

ECOFYS, whose ideas and suggested alterations have been duly taken on board almost without 

exception. A special debt of gratitude is due to Mr Harnisch for his most valuable assistance. 

Note on unnamed sources 

Unfortunately, the study's most important sources of information could not be named without revealing 

the identity of the three selected brands of car. This is a pity, in so far as our study has really been 

based not only on the Record Sheets, but also - indeed above all - on the experience of the airconditioning mechanics from our nine garages. Service managers, environmental and safety officers, 

trainers and sometimes managing directors were as much involved as the apprentices who transferred 

the necessary data from the garage computers. The assistance provided by the sales departments of 

the three car manufacturers was just as indispensable, as were the information and suggestions 

originating from company head offices. While extending my heartfelt thanks to each and every one of 

my sources, I really must mention four particular contributors at this point, even if in abbreviated form: 

Mr F and Mr S of Garage L, Mr P of Garage V, and Dr. M representing one of the three manufacturers. 

The author himself must of course accept full responsibility for the actual content of this study. 

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