Signs Your Air Conditioner Needs a Recharge

Are you having some issues with your air conditioner and suspect it might be that your air conditioner needs R-22 Refrigerant?

R-22 is a refrigerant used in air conditioners and ac units in homes and cars for decades. It is the most common refrigerant used in the United States and is the cooling source for most home air conditioners. If your central air unit or AC is older than ten years old, it uses R-22 as the coolant.

It is not something like a fuel though which can get used up over time. In theory, your air conditioner should never need more freon refrigerant. You will only need more refrigerant if there is a leak in your cooling system. It could be leaking out slowly over time, which is a problem because not only will this affect your AC, it is very expensive to replace. This is a good reason why you should have regular air conditioning maintenance service performed.

Before you call for air conditioning repair, check for these signs to see if your air conditioner may be low on refrigerant.

Signs your air conditioner needs freon

Air conditioner is always running but it doesn’t cool your home

R-22 refrigerant is what absorbs the heat in your air. Without enough of it, your air conditioning can’t absorb enough heat to cool the air. When your air conditioner is running all day but the air never seems to get cold, this could be because you don’t have enough R-22

Related: Air Conditioning Not Working? – What to Check First

Electric bills are higher than before

If your air conditioner is running all day and all night, or at least more than it should be, you’ll probably notice the difference in your electric bill. If you see a spike in your bill that’s not just the normal jump you see during hot weather, but much more expensive, it could be a sign your air conditioner needs freon.

Related: Air Conditioning Saving Tips

Vents are blowing warm air

Without enough refrigerant it needs, your air conditioner can’t absorb the heat in the air. This will result in air coming out of your vents that is not cool enough, or maybe even warm. You may even have less air blowing out of your vents.

There is a buildup of ice on refrigerant line

When you check your air conditioner unit, or your outdoor central air unit with the fan, and see an ice building up on the refrigerant line, then you may be low on freon.

When your AC unit is low on freon, the evaporator coil gets too cold and causes the cold liquid refrigerant to flow back the refrigerant line. This will cause the surrounding moisture on the refrigerant line to freeze up. This is a sign you need freon.

If you do not get this issue repaired, the freon can make its way to the compressor unit. If this happens, it can damage or destroy your compressor, creating an even more expensive problem. You may even end up having to replace the entire AC unit.

A hissing or bubbling sound from the refrigerant line

If you are low on freon, it has to be because you have a leak in the refrigerant line. If there is a leak, it’s possible you may hear a faint sound of the freon leaking out of the line, which can sound like a hiss or maybe a bubbling sound.

What to do next

We would recommend that you call a professional air conditioning repair company. You will require not only just more freon, but you will need to repair the leak that caused the issue in the first place. Otherwise, you will eventually have the same problem again. Freon is not cheap and you won’t want to waste it and potentially put your unit at risk either.

We hope this post has been helpful to you.