I watched a few videos on aircon back when I was trying to troubleshoot the Puma AC, and so picked up a few hints. But yeah, if it's <£100 for a pro to do it and it gets it sorted properly, that saves a lot of skinned knuckles and missed details.Simon wrote: ↑Tue May 08, 2018 10:50 am BTW don't go the 'halfords can of AC refrigerant' route. AC refrigerant goes by weight, not pressure. Get a pro to fill it.
Also, you'll need some lubricant, at least for the o-rings. And if you're changing the condenser it doesn't hurt to pre-fill that with some lubricant too.
Good thread here which I followed. Links are old now and likely dead, but the principle is correct.
If it's more than that, then I'll do what prep work I can myself - carefully. No vacuum pump etc here, but there's no reason I couldn't change a condensor and save myself a couple of hours of labour, etc - let the aircon guys deal with the actual tricky stuff.