Signs Your AC Needs More Freon

When you’re headed home after a long, hot day, whether you spent it at work or relaxing harborside, there’s nothing better than stepping into deliciously cool air at home. It’s so relaxing and refreshing to settle into your comfortably cooled home. That’s why it can be so alarming when your air conditioning unit stops being able to make your home as cool as before.

This article will cover what makes air conditioners work, signs your AC needs more refrigerant, how to tell if your AC needs freon, and when to call a professional. 

How Do Air Conditioners Work? 

Most homes built in the United States since the 1960s have central air conditioning. Keeping our homes comfortable is very important to Americans – According to the Energy Information Administration, cooling and heating accounts for 43% of total residential energy use in the United States.

An air conditioner is one component of your home’s heating and cooling system which transports heated air from outside the house.

Air conditioning, in both homes and businesses, is a kind of central heating and cooling that distributes cooled air via insulated metal ducts by extracting warm air from within and exchanging it with outside air. Making the air in your home pleasant relies on a single, basic scientific premise and is accomplished mechanically

Chemicals used in your air conditioner’s rapid gas-to-liquid-back-to-gas cycle. These chemicals act as heat exchangers, releasing warm air from within your home into the surrounding environment. Using a compressor, the air conditioner compresses the refrigerant, making the liquid hotter. After that, the gas is allowed to cool while still compressed. Then, the gas is decompressed, which makes it cool to below room temperature. Air passes over pipes with the cooled gas, and then pleasantly cool air is pumped into your home’s vents. 

What’s Freon?

Freon and chemicals like it are low-toxicity gases or liquids first used as refrigerants in the 1930s; they have since found other uses, including propellants for aerosols and in a wide variety of technological settings. Because of their low boiling temperatures, low surface tension, and low viscosity, these substances are excellent as refrigerants. These chemicals are exceedingly inert and stable. Freons are used in refrigeration and air conditioning systems. They are non-flammable and have no odor. 

Six Signs Your Air Conditioner Needs More Freon 

In principle, you should never have to add extra freon refrigerant to your air conditioner. If there is a leak in your air conditioner, then you will need extra refrigerant. Slow leakage over time is problematic since it would negatively impact your AC and be costly to replace. This is why it’s important to get your air conditioner serviced regularly. You should contact a professional service for AC maintenance once a year, just like a yearly checkup. 

Check for these warnings that your air conditioner may be short on refrigerant before calling for service.

1. Your air conditioner never turns off, yet your house remains uncomfortably warm.

If your air conditioner doesn’t have enough refrigerant (Freon, R-22, etc.), the machinery will not be able to absorb the heat in the air. That means that even though the AC is running, your house won’t get much cooler. 

2. Warm air is being blown out of your vents. 

Your air conditioner will be unable to remove the heat from the air if it does not have the necessary amount of refrigerant. Because of this, the air expelled from your vents will not be sufficiently cooled, and it may even be too warm. You could even notice less air coming out of your home’s vents.

3. Your electric costs are increasing.

You should expect to see a rise in your power bill if your air conditioner is on continuously or for longer than necessary. A substantially larger increase in the cost of your utility bills than usual during the summer may indicate that your air conditioner requires freon.

4. The refrigerant line has ice accumulation.

If you check your air conditioner and see ice forming on the refrigerant line, this might indicate that you need to add freon to your system.

Due to the evaporator coil’s extreme coldness, the liquid refrigerant will flow backward through the refrigerant line when your air conditioner is low on freon. This will result in the condensation of moisture around the refrigerant line. You need freon because of this.

If you don’t fix the leak, the freon will eventually reach the compressor. If this occurs, your compressor might be damaged or destroyed, leading to an even more costly issue. The complete air conditioner may need to be replaced.

5. The refrigerant line is making a hissing or bubbling noise.

There must be a leak in the refrigerant line if freon levels are low. The hissing or bubbling sound of escaping freon is one telltale sign of a leak in an air conditioning system’s refrigerant line.

HVAC Repair Services in Boston

We suggest getting in touch with an expert AC repair service. You’ll need to fix the leak that’s causing the problem in addition to adding extra freon. If you don’t fix it, you’ll run into the same issue again. You don’t want to spend money on Freon or risk damaging your air conditioner by not using it properly.

Sinclaire Home Services has been a reliable family-run company serving Boston area residents and business owners since 1948. We provide HVAC services so that you can stop stressing about your most important infrastructure.

Our technicians have had extensive training and certification, and we maintain comprehensive insurance and licenses. As soon as you contact us, we will dispatch an experienced expert to your location for troubleshooting and repair.

Sinclaire Home Services is the HVAC company to call in Milton, Worcester, Springfield, and the Boston area for heating, ventilation, or air conditioning services. Contact us to book an appointment.