Yes. Air is a contaminant of refrigerant that can enter an A/C system or cylinder and create A/C performance problems.

 

Non-condensable gasses (NCG or "air"), which are mainly comprised of ambient air commonly contaminate refrigerant storage cylinders and air conditioning systems. Contamination enters into the refrigerant from sources such as leaking joints on vehicle air conditioning systems, improper handling of refrigerant transfer hoses, improper use of refrigerant recovery and recycling equipment or failure of recovery and recycling equipment. Air contamination will lead to a number of vehicle air conditioning system problems including increased compressor heat and wear due to increased head pressures, added stress of components due to increased head pressure and reduction of system efficiency due to dilution of refrigerant by the air.

 

According to MACS' (Mobile Air Conditioning Society) statistics, the most consistent problem in a vehicle's poor air conditioning performance is the presence of air in the A/C system. Air, when mixed with refrigerant, changes the pressure of that gas and causes an A/C system to exhibit poor cooling properties. In the 1996 MACS study, 111 automotive repair facilities were checked in Florida to qualify/quantify the A/C contamination problem, 27 facilities (24%) indicated that excess air was their biggest problem/contaminant.

Tags: air, purge, contaminants