What to Do When Your Air Conditioner is Low on Freon When homeowners A/C doesn't seam to cool off the house the most common thought is "my air conditioner is low on Freon." Is that really the problem? Summer time is almost here. It is getting warmer outside and you will soon be using your a/c. The most common question by homeowners is "does my a/c need freon?". First thing is "Freon" is a trademark name byDupont. Freon is actually regrigerant of many types. Most common residential a/c systems use R-22. Saying freon is like saying Xerox instead of copy machine. I am going to call it Freon for now. People think because the air coming from there registers feels to warm, or there house isn't cooling off fast enough it must need freon.Freon should not leak from your a/c. Air conditioning systems are sealed and should never leak. This isn't like putting gas in your car. If freon has leaked there is a problem. You need to have a qualified HVAC technician repair the leak or else this will keep happening.

When an A/C gets low on freon it is very normal for the indoor coil to freeze to a block of ice. Then when that ice melts you will get water leaking in the furnace and on the floor. central ac unit for condoWater will damage the furnace and just make your problems worse. air conditioning unit whole houseMajority of service calls for "my a/c is low on freon" turns out to be just a plugged air filter. car ac service in bangaloreIt is important that you change your furnace filter every month if you use a standard 1" thick filter.Signs A/C is low on Refrigerant You feel low airflow coming from registers Air starts to feel warmer from registers Water on floor by your furnace Ice building up on copper lines from a/c to indoor coil

House takes longer than normal to cool off Now above are typical signs, but remember the majority of problems are something else beside low on refrigerant. Having your a/c cleaned and tested annually by a HVAC company can save you a lot of money over the years. One new fact to keep in mind is R22 refrigerant is in the process of being discontinued. 2010 all manufactures had to stop using R22 in there new equipment. As this happens the cost of R22 will keep going up. So if you have an a/c leaking this is just another reason you want to get it fixed so it doesn't happen again. New a/c units will typically cost 30% less to run and will use the new enviromentally friendly refrigerant called R410a.  Now in 2012 the EPA has reduced R22 production more than expected and this has caused the price to drastically rise. More from St. Michael Patch Daily Newsletter - The latest St. Michael news delivered to your inbox every morning Breaking News Alerts - Real-time updates on breaking stories in St. Michael

If your repair problem isn't listed, to email or chat with a repair expert. Check to see if there is power getting to the air conditioner. If it is a 110-volt unit, plug a lamp or other device into the same outlet the air conditioner is plugged into. If there's no power, check the fuses or circuit breakers. If there's still no power, you will need to contact a qualified electrician to restore power to the outlet. If there is power to the appliance but it is still completely dead there may be a problem in one or more of the following areas: Work on these areas of an appliance may require help from an appliance repair person or other qualified technician. Is the air conditioner completely dead? Is the thermostat knob turned to the proper setting? Is the compressor motor running? The compressor is a football-sized case with no apparent moving parts. It is located inside the air conditioner at the center. Is it humming or making any kind of continuous noise or causing the lights to dim?

If it is making a continuous noise, and your air conditioner is still not cooling at all, there may be a serious problem with one or more of these areas: These items are not user serviceable. You will need to contact a qualified appliance repair technician to repair these components. If the compressor is not running but you do have power to the air conditioner there may be a problem in one or more of these areas: If the air doesn't seem cool enough it is necessary to use a thermometer to check the difference in temperature between the air going into the unit and the air being blown into the room. Ideally, the temperature difference should be more than 15 degrees. For example, if the temperature going into the air conditioner is 80 degrees, the temperature coming out of the unit should be at least 65 degrees or less. If the difference is 15 degrees or more there is probably no cause for concern. If the temperature difference is less than 15 degrees you should check the following:

Check to make sure the air damper is closed. If it's open, it will bring in outside air and reduce the efficiency of the unit. During the winter season many people cover their air conditioners to protect the unit from the weather. In the spring or summer they will sometimes forget to remove the cover. If your unit has a cover on the outside portion of the air conditioner remove the cover first. The condensing coils will always be on the "warm" side of the air conditioner. That is, on the side that faces outside of the room to be cooled. Air is drawn into the back of the air conditioner on the sides through vent slots and is blown directly out through the condenser coils. If the coils get clogged with lint, dust and dirt the cooling system cannot provide the cooling necessary. To clean the coils it will be necessary to remove the entire cover of the air conditioner or pull it out of the wall to gain access to the coils. They can be cleaned by blowing compressed air at them or by using a soft bristle brush to wipe the dirt off.

It is important to also clean any dirt or lint build-up in the bottom of the air conditioner so the condense water will be picked up by the condensing fan slinger properly. This is normal on some models when fan is set to run constantly. If the unit is supposed to turn off and it doesn't, it will be necessary to check several things. AREA TO BE COOLED / CAPACITY (BTU/HR) If the room is heavily shaded, reduce needed capacity by 10% If the room receives a lot of direct sun, increase needed capacity by 10% Add 600 Btu/Hr for each person in the room if there are more than two people If the unit is for a kitchen, increase the capacity by 4,000-6,000 Btu/Hr. If the room size is too big for the air conditioner you have two possible choices. Either decrease the room size by shutting some doors or partitioning off an area of the room. Or, increase the BTU of the air conditioner for that room by installing a different air conditioner with a higher BTU rating.

All window air conditioners will remove moisture from the air if there is any. Most window air conditioners collect this moisture in the bottom pan of the air conditioner and attempt to evaporate the moisture. The evaporation process works as follows: First, the water drips down off of the cold evaporator coils on the front of the unit. Then the water collects in the bottom of the air conditioner base, the "pan." If the air conditioner is installed properly it will be tilted slightly back. The water then collects near the back of the unit. On some units, the fan blade used to cool the rear condensing coils will have a rim on the outside of the fins of the blade. This rim, or "slinger," will come close to touching the inside of the air conditioner pan when the fan is spinning. As the water collects in the pan and reaches the depth necessary for the fan ring to touch it, the ring will lift some of the water up and the fan will blow it at the condensing coils. Because the coils are warm, they will evaporate the moisture to the outside.

While this is happening it is normal to hear water splashing and sloshing around. As long as there is no water leaking inside the room that is being cooled there is no cause for concern. Never drill into the bottom of and air conditioning unit to "let the water out." Every air conditioner has a motor called a compressor. The compressor provides the cooling capacity for the air conditioner. If the compressor or its electrical controls are defective the compressor may try to start, fail, and create an electrical overload. If the unit does create an overload, every compressor circuit is also equipped with an overload safety switch. The safety switch is designed to protect the compressor from burning out. The safety switch will cut the power to the compressor for a certain length of time and then reset itself. When it resets it will allow the electricity to flow to the compressor once again. If the compressor then starts, the unit should function normally. If the compressor doesn't start when the overload resets, the overload will again cut the electricity to the compressor.

This cycle will continue indefinitely. (Always allow three to five minutes before restarting the compressor.) If this situation is occurring, unplug the air conditioner and get help from a qualified repair technician. This problem is often fatal to the air conditioner because the cost of repair often exceeds the price of a new air conditioner. Every air conditioner is equipped with at least two motors, the compressor and the fan motor. It is possible for the fan motor to be defective and the compressor to be running. If this is the case the unit will appear to be running and may even sound "normal" but no air is blowing out the front or back of the unit. If, after removing the cover of the unit you discover the fan blade is very stiff and difficult to rotate, the fan motor should be replaced. If the fan blade turns freely the circuit powering the fan motor will require electrical troubleshooting. It will be necessary to have a qualified technician locate the cause of the problem, which may be either a problem with the capacitor, the selector switch or the motor itself.

The compressor in all window air conditioners is a powerful motor. When it starts up - and especially when it shuts off - the whole air conditioner can shake, sometimes loudly. Usually there is nothing that can be done to correct this problem. However, it is possible that the compressor mounting pads and brackets are worn out or missing. If that is the case the pads and brackets can sometimes be ordered and replaced. Be sure that the air conditioner is securely mounted in the window frame if the unit shakes at all. It is possible for the unit to shake free of the frame if not installed properly. It is normal for water to collect in the lower base of an air conditioner. See the section entitled: "There is water sloshing around inside." If water leaks out the front it is usually because the unit is tilted forward in the window frame. All air conditioners should be installed so they tilt slightly back to allow for proper removal of the condensation collected. Air conditioners remove moisture from the air.