Signs Your Air Conditioner Is Leaking Refrigerant

As temperatures start to climb toward the highs of summer, you’ll put more and more pressure on your air conditioning system. It’s important during this early part of the long air conditioning season that you watch for indications that the AC is suffering from problems. Start off by scheduling maintenance from professionals so they can catch repairs that must be completed before the summer. But you’ll still need to keep an eye out for some of the more common issues that ACs can run into because of all the work they need to do.

Refrigerant loss

A frequent trouble that crops up for air conditioners is the loss of refrigerant (“Freon,” the chemical blend that allows for heat exchange to take place). Refrigerant isn’t used up as the air conditioner runs, so the only way for the refrigerant level (its charge) to drop is from leaks. After about five years of use, many ACs may develop leaking along the copper refrigerant lines as a side effect of the amount of formaldehyde in the air. The important thing is to recognize the signs of this occurring and call for repairs right away.

• Ice on the evaporator coil: Although there are a number of reasons for ice to form along the indoor evaporator coil, the most common is lost refrigerant. The remaining refrigerant in the coil will lose heat absorption and stay so cold that moisture along the coil’s surface will freeze. But no matter what is causing the freezing, it must be professionally repaired.
• Hissing sounds: The escaping of the high-pressure refrigerant gas will give off a noticeable hissing noise. Don’t ignore this!
• Drop in cooling power: If the AC’s components all seems to be working fine, but it isn’t keeping your home as cool as it should, leaking refrigerant is a major possibilities.

You must never try to refill lost refrigerant yourself! Not only will this not solve the problem (the leaks are still present) but if you accidentally put in too refrigerant much, it can lead to catastrophic damage to the compressor. Let the experts handle this.

For excellent air conditioning repair in Chandler, AZ and throughout the Valley of the Sun, call on Magic Touch Mechanical.