Refrigerant is an absolutely necessary component of the cooling process. Your air conditioner doesn’t function like a box fan, it requires much more electricity to circulate refrigerant, pressurize it, move heat, and blow cool air into your home. While it might sound like an energy-intensive process, for the cooling produced, these systems are increasingly more energy efficient each year.
That being said, homeowners tend to forget the vital part that refrigerant plays in cooling. When confronted with the need for AC repair in Newberry, FL, so many homeowners think that their system’s low amount of refrigerant means it’s “still working just fine.” This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Refrigerant isn’t like fuel. It ‘s not supposed to be consumed by your AC. If your AC is low on refrigerant, then it’s high time you had a professional check it out and report back to explain what went wrong.
What Does Refrigerant Do?
Refrigerant is a unique piece to the cooling process. It doesn’t resemble the same thing that gasoline or oil does for your car, since it’s not supposed to be replaced or consumed. When refrigerant is put in your air conditioner as it’s installed, it’s enough refrigerant to last the lifetime of the system.
Refrigerant is a specific type of chemical that is easily pressurized and transferred from a liquid to a gas state. The evaporation of refrigerant draws in heat (usually from inside) and the condensation disperses the heat outside. The refrigerant is cycled through your system so it repeats this process and transfers heat from indoors to outdoors. Simple enough, right?
How Does Refrigerant Leak?
There are a million ways we could answer this question, but the reality is that it does happen and sometimes it’s almost impossible to prevent. Since refrigerant is kept pressurized for years at a time, it could spring a leak just through sheer corrosion of the pipe. Or perhaps the system was nibbled on by a critter or bumped by an unsuspecting passerby. Either way, refrigerant can start leaking from a system and it can spell disaster if it’s not detected.
How Can I Tell if I’m Leaking Refrigerant?
Take a close look at your air conditioner. Do you hear a hissing or bubbling sound? That means you’re probably dealing with a refrigerant leak, since the bubbling represents air bubbles in your refrigerant line and the hissing could be the gaseous refrigerant leaking out. Though, this isn’t the only way you can detect a refrigerant leak.
Refrigerant leaking from your system will also prompt it to function less effectively and efficiently. Less refrigerant means the system has to work harder in order to produce the same level of cooling you want. If your air conditioner is struggling to cool your home effectively and you’re starting to notice, or it’s starting to cost much more money to operate month after month, the culprit of the problem could be your low levels of refrigerant. Contact our team today to have your refrigerant levels recharged and the leak addressed.
The team at North Central Florida Air Conditioning can help you. Give us a call! Improving lives by improving homes!
