What is a Receiver Drier?

The receiver drier is a critical part of your car’s air conditioning system. It serves a pretty basic purpose: To remove liquid and particulates from the refrigerant before the refrigerant heads to the air conditioning compressor and the rest of the AC system. Water in the refrigerant is bad. When the two liquids meet, they form either hydrochloric or hydrofluoric acid, which leads to corrosion in the air conditioning system. And then you’ve got a really big air conditioning problem on your hands. It’s also vital to have the refrigerant in a completely gaseous state when it heads to the compressor, so removing all the moisture is vital. The receiver drier, which as a metal canister, is located immediately past the condenser. The refrigerant enters from the top of the receiver drier, and is then passed through a filtration system. That’s where the moisture and particles are removed from the refrigerant. The refrigerant then leaves through the exit tube. Some cars don’t have a receiver drier, but instead have an accumulator. The accumulator serves the same purpose, though it’s a little bit bigger.

How urgent is a Receiver Drier replacement?

The receiver drier is a part of your air conditioning system, so it’s not exactly going to impact the safety of your car. You can still drive around without worrying about your safety.

But ignoring a broken receiver drier can cause damage to your entire air conditioning system, so it’s a pay now, or pay way more later situation. Seems obvious what the answer is here.