Although often overlooked, the refrigerant is one of the most important parts of the air conditioner. It’s responsible for cycling through the system and changing from liquid to gas as it absorbs and releases heat.
Due to old age or poor maintenance, the refrigerant will leak from your system, bringing about plenty of issues such as poor air quality that can lead to a plethora of life-threatening problems such as irregular heartbeat, seizures, labored breathing, and many others.
To be safe and avoid the issues that come with low refrigerant levels, you should be aware of signs of a refrigerant leak. Here are 5 air conditioner Freon leak symptoms you should be aware of and what to do about them as given by air conditioner repair services providers:
A decrease in cooling power
One of the significant roles of the refrigerant is to absorb heat inside the house and transport it outside. The air conditioner can still do this even if the refrigerant is low, albeit ineffectively. Regardless of your thermostat setting, your house might remain hot.
Your house might also take a long time to cool down, which indicates decreased cooling power, which is a sign the refrigerant is compromised.
Higher electricity bills
If you keep a close tab on your electricity bills, you can easily tell if you have a Freon leak. If your bill is higher than normal, you could be having a refrigerant leak. Low Freon levels equate to longer wait times regarding your home reaching its set temperature. As a result, the air conditioner spends more energy, which leads to high energy bills.
If you notice your electricity bills spiking out of control, follow it up and inspect the HVAC system for leaks.
Frozen evaporator coil
In a properly functioning air conditioner, the refrigerant provides adequate heat to the evaporator coil, preventing freezing issues. If you have been having problems with your appliance, you should head to the back of the air conditioner, and if the coil is physically cold and there are signs of frost, the refrigerant may be leaking.
Turn off your air conditioner to give your evaporator coil time to thaw before an HVAC contractor arrives to inspect it.
To avoid being caught by surprise, inspect your evaporator coil a few times a month. The beauty is you only need to look at the evaporator coil with your eyes—you don’t need fancy tools or advanced AC knowledge.
Hissing sounds from the indoor unit.
Like your other home appliances, your air conditioner shouldn’t make a lot of noise when working. If you notice gurgling sounds, chances are the air conditioner leaks, and the sounds are as a result of Freon escaping.
To ensure you hear the right sounds, keep the house quiet. Switch off the radio, turn off the television, put up your pets, and ask your family members to remain silent until you have finished the inspection.
When you identify the leaking area, mark it to make it easy for the AC technician.
Failure of the registers to blow cool air
In your inspection, if you notice the air coming from the registers (vents) isn’t cold as you expected, you must be having a refrigerant leak that you should have an AC professional look into and fix it.
What’s next if leaking?
If there is no doubt you have a leak, you need to fix it. It’s tempting to ask an AC repair professional to visit your home and add refrigerant to your system, but you should avoid doing it as it’s not the proper way to solve the problem.
Instead of adding Freon, ask the AC repair services Fairfax provider to inspect the appliance and determine the reason for the leak. The contractor should then proceed to fix the cause of the leak then add the refrigerant. If your system has many leaks, you should replace the refrigerant coil.
As mentioned above, to avoid being blindsided by the leaks, make it a habit to inspect your system regularly. You can examine yourself or hire a professional to help you out.
