Portable air conditioning unit for a car

Mine’s packed in as well!! Took it to my garage and had it re-gassed, but still just blowing out hot air. It’s booked in for when I’m back from holiday and I’m dreading the cost. I’ve got cooling leather seats, but it’s like sitting on a wet jelly - ugh!

There are some on Amazon ranging from £50-£80. Lots of fans but they’d only blow the hot air around.

Not a very efficient way of using expensive fuel.

IMO. Why not open the windows?

Oopsadaisy1, a girl after my own heart.
I had thought of posting that, then thought I would be lambasted for being frivolous.

Open the window yes.... obviously IF the air that blows in cools you down, unfortunately that was not the case considering it was a heatwave !!!

The air con unit will connect via the in-car plug (used to be known as the cigarette lighter) so no real cost incurred - running the car, recharges the battery.

Are you talking about just having the air conditioning system re-gased?
If so it’s not that expensive.
We had one of our cars done a couple of years ago and it was around £60 I think.
Ok it may have gone up, but it’s better surely than having some portable device in the car.
Maybe though the whole unit needs to be replaced in which case I guess it could be pricey.

I wouldn’t be without air con though.
Obviously with the recent heatwave it’s essential but it’s required all year round for preventing the car from misting up when it rains and we get in with damp clothes on.

Just opening windows as some have suggested never efficiently solves that problem does e?

We have several portable units in our home, work very well in extreme heat. I assume similar are produced for cars?

The more electrics you use the harder the car has to work to keep the battery charged.

A mobile phone being charged doesn’t use much power, I would think a fan would use quite a bit.

Thank-you for all your posts...

All appreciated

Jennifer - I read it that the OP’s air-con system has failed completely and she’s looking at a hefty bill to repair. I’m in the same boat - I get mine re-gassed every 2 years, usual cost below £50, but this time the new gas has made no difference, although the fan is blowing ok. It’s been absolutely boiling and taking DD2s dogs to be groomed couldn’t have been pleasant for them, despite opening the windows when I could (only in slow traffic or stationary) it wasn’t good.
Agree the air con needs to be used under different circumstances, even in Winter and I always test mine every month.

There are no portable air on unit’s for cars that Ive heard of,
The most likely cause is that the gas has leaked away over the years and you need to top it up, a garage will charge around £60 for this, there are other causes but nothing you can do yourself - other than check fuses. The garage will check for leaks before they use new gas, aircon is not needed for demisting winter, the heater does that

Serendipity I don’t know of any such units.
During the recent weather I just went out early or late as much as I could. My air con is rarely used as it uses extra fuel and for the majority of my driving life the cars didn’t have it, as MrJ’s car doesn’t now, but the windows all openebed.

Oh thanks for pointing that out Georgesgran I did wonder if that was the case, but even so I would still bite the bullet and get it done for all the reasons I mentioned.

Yet another unexpected expense though is not something anyone would relish at the moment.