Is your air conditioner not working as it should? Is your air conditioner not cooling? It could be due to a number of reasons and one of the reasons could be that your air conditioning system is low on refrigerant.
The refrigerant is the chemical that is responsible for absorbing the heat from the hot air that is sucked in by your air conditioner. This refrigerant absorbs the heat and expands and it is then compressed by the compressor in the air-conditioning unit to be reused. This is how an air-conditioning system works.
If the air-conditioning system is low on refrigerant, it won’t perform as efficiently as possible and your AC will have to work much harder in order to maintain the temperature set in the thermostat. Therefore, if you feel that something is not right with your air conditioning system, you need to make sure that it isn’t low on refrigerant. Here are a few signs that point to low refrigerant levels in your AC.
1. Ice on the Refrigerant Line
Take a close look at your air conditioner and notice if there is any ice on the refrigerant line. If you want to know how that works, take the example of spraying a compressed air duster. If you do it for a very long time, it can make things really cold due to the development of low pressure as low pressure leads to lower temperatures. If the refrigerant is low inside the unit, it will lead to low pressure inside the refrigerant tubes which will lead to a lower temperature.
In fact, the temperature can get so low that it can lead to the freezing of water resulting in ice over the evaporator coil. When the evaporator coil inside the air-conditioning unit freezes, the liquid refrigerant inside the unit also gets cold and starts flowing through the refrigerant line which causes the moisture in the air surrounding the refrigerant line to cool down and turn to ice.
So, one of the signs of your air conditioner being low on refrigerant is the development of ice on the refrigerant line. Keep in mind that ice on the refrigerant line could also be due to other reasons but one of the main reasons it happens is due to lower refrigerant levels inside the air conditioner.
2. Bubbling or Hissing Noise
The refrigerant inside your air conditioner is at very high pressure. If there is a leakage in the refrigerant lines, it will start producing a bubbling or a hissing noise. The noise will be similar to when there is a leak in a balloon and the air starts escaping from it. In most cases, an AC gets low on refrigerant due to a leakage in the refrigerant line.
Most people have this misconception that the refrigerant inside the air-conditioning unit gets used up slowly like gas gets used up inside a car but that is not how it works. The refrigerant doesn’t get used up. It just gets compressed and decompressed due to action of the compressor inside the AC unit. If the refrigerant gets low in an AC, it is mostly due to leakage. So, when you call a technician, the technician will find the leak in order to ensure that the leakage doesn’t happen again.
3. Aircon Not Cold
If you keep your air conditioner on all day but the air doesn’t cool and you are uncomfortable inside your house, it could be due to a number of reasons. But one thing is certain which is that something is not right with the air-conditioning unit. AC is a mechanical device that should keep working the way it’s designed to work unless something inside the unit is broken.
If you set it to a certain temperature, the air conditioner should keep working until its internal thermostat tells it that the temperature has reached the desired level and then, it will stop working. In case your air conditioner keeps running without actually cooling your home, it could be due to a refrigerant leak. When the refrigerant is leaking, your air conditioner will have to work extra hard to cool down your home. It is important to keep in mind that there could be a number of other problems with your air conditioning unit but one of the main reasons that happens is due to a refrigerant leak.
4. Increase of Electricity Bill
If the air-conditioning system in your home is working fine, your energy bills shouldn’t suddenly shoot up. If you notice that your energy bills are much higher than the average, it could be due to a problem with the air-conditioning unit. When there isn’t enough refrigerant in the air-conditioning unit, the compressor has to work extra hard and the AC has to run longer in order to maintain the set temperature. If the AC has to run longer, it will obviously lead to higher energy bills. Therefore, when you start getting higher than average energy bills in the summer months, get your air conditioning checked from a trained technician to make sure the refrigerant levels are low.
Get Professional Aircon Service Contractor
You must be wondering what you need to do if there is a problem with your air conditioning unit. The only thing you need to do is call a professional who has the required training and knowledge to service your air-conditioner. Keep in mind that all the technicians are not well versed with all the brands of air-conditioning units. While the basic principle of all the air conditioning units is the same, there are some minor quirks in the design that only an experienced technician would be able to fix. Therefore, it is important for you to hire a professional who has experience in dealing with that particular brand.
An important thing you need to keep in mind is that some so-called professionals might try to scam you by telling you that the refrigerant level is low and it needs to be refilled. As mentioned in the above paragraphs, the refrigerant inside the AC doesn’t get used up unless there is a leak. If the refrigerant is escaping from the leakage in the refrigerant line, the technician first needs to fix the leakage and only then, do the refrigerant levels need to be topped up. In short, the refrigerant doesn’t get used up and you do not need a regular gas top-up unless there is a leakage.
Refill Aircon Gas
A professional technician will first evacuate the system by removing all the refrigerant and then, find and fix the leakage. They will also check that everything is working as it should and only then, they will refill the air-conditioner gas accordingly.
Key Take-Aways
To conclude, your air conditioning system should keep working efficiently if you take proper care of it. Keep the above-mentioned warring signs in mind to check if your AC is low on refrigerant. Also, always call in a reputed and experienced professional to fix the leakage in the refrigerant line to avoid getting scammed.
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