What is an Air Conditioning Receiver Drier Assembly?
The air conditioner receiver drier assembly is a protective device that removes moisture from the air conditioning system. Of course, there is liquid refrigerant at all times inside the air conditioning system, but water moisture inside the system reacts in a harmful manner, creating a caustic substance that can cause damage to the air conditioning assembly. The air conditioning receiver drier assembly looks like a silver or black jar with one air conditioning line going in and one going out. It may be installed near the firewall in the engine bay, or as a part of the air conditioning condensing unit.
How does an Air Conditioning Receiver Drier Assembly work?
As refrigerant is pumped from the air conditioning compressor, it flows as a high temperature, high pressure liquid through the condensing unit to be cooled. Once cooled, it is still high pressure, but slightly lower temperature, and this liquid will then flow through the air conditioning receiver dryer assembly, or simply 'receiver/drier'.The liquid refrigerant will flow into the receiver/drier, create a pool of refrigerant in the bottom, and pass through a desiccant bag which absorbs non-refrigerant moisture with small absorbent beads. The refrigerant, now free of moisture, moves out of the receiver drier assembly clean of contaminating moisture, and continues down the path towards the evaporator.
What are the symptoms of a bad Air Conditioning Receiver Drier Assembly?
The most common symptom of a faulty receiver drier is the appearance of leaks in the air conditioning system. As mentioned before, water in the refrigerant will create a caustic substance that will quickly deteriorate seals in the air conditioning system, which is why the receiver/drier is used. Also, the receiver drier can cause a clog, which will prevent the high pressure side of the system from moving refrigerant to the low pressure side of the system. The result will be low pressure on the high side service port. The pressure in the system is likely to appear equalized due to a clog in the receiver drier.