Air Conditioners Review

8 responses so far ↓

• 1 James M // Mar 9, 2010 at 11:27 pm

  Certainly it is NOT a recharge problem. An AC that needs a recharge will freeze over the coils and literally Quit cooling at all. Too much Freon charge makes for a "warm’ operating unit.

  Really its the opposite of what people think as temperature of the expanding liquid is directly related to the pressure, therefore less freon yields less pressure yields a LOWER temperature. I can see why this is totally mistaken, because it just seems like more freon charge yields colder unit, simply not so.

  Since the unit is 5 years old I would say the problem lies in one of two areas: First, the outside condenser coil is very dirty, you can clean it yourself by taking lose the fan and laying it on its side without disconnecting it electrically, and taking a water hose and some detergent and "back flushing" it from the inside of the unit. Lots of homeowners doing this themselves as a routine yearly thing. .

  The second major area is the inside house expansion coil or "A" coil on the furnace or air handler. That plugs with dust and dirt if you havent maintained your filters, but this is highly unlikely as the unit would freeze and water would run down the side of the large tube all the way back to the outside condenser acting like an expansion coil and dripping constantly.

  Aside from that there is an in line filter in the freon’s small copper line. Sometimes it plugs up not allong freon to pass and it then allows also the contamination of the expansion orfice and the inside coil will not be fed a sufficent amount of liquid freon. You can do noting about this problem yourself as it requires an evacuation of the system and a break in the small copper lines to fix this.

  First , back flush the outside coil, you can do it yourself, shut off the 220 power breaker of course.

  I am nearly 100% sure a cleaning of the outside coil will remedy your units inefficient operation.

• 2 Crazeddoglady // Mar 9, 2010 at 11:27 pm

  when was the last time it was serviced? could be not enough coolant (used to be freon, not sure if it still is). Could be mucked up coils. In any case unless you’re a licensed HVAC tech., call one.

• 3 amanda e // Mar 9, 2010 at 11:27 pm

  Have you been changing the filter? Have you had it serviced and cleaned every, or at least every other year? Are the coil ribs (on the outside) perfect, and not bent in from rocks/sticks/hail/kids/etc., or any foreign object thrown into it from the lawn mower? If you answer any of these questions "no", you should have someone come and look at it. By the way it sounds, though, it could be either a leak of freon (it could be a teeny, tiny pinhole leak), or your "A" coil is bad. Hope that it is the leak, because it is much cheaper and easier to fix.

• 4 brthrRay // Mar 9, 2010 at 11:27 pm

  When was the last time you had the unit serviced? It sounds to me as if you need to recharge your coolant (used to be called freon) After continuous use the "freon" gets week or goes bad. In most states this can only be done by licensed HVAC techs. Call the maker or installer of unit to see if it is under warranty.

  Also have your outside unit cleaned, (the coils) and change your filter at least twice a year.

• 5 mrbreeze444 // Mar 9, 2010 at 11:27 pm

  Have it rechargrd and change the filter. should blow out about 58 degree air.

• 6 Infantrygrll // Mar 9, 2010 at 11:27 pm

  Sometimes literally pieces of ice will form and cause your air flow to diminish, or even stop all together.

  You could try and give the unit a break, turn it off for a while. Never have it going ALL day and night. If you do I promise you, it WILL freeze up!

  Also, if you have vents in your basement, try closing them tight. This way the air flow will be redirected to your upstairs main living areas.

• 7 smokin_rob70 // Mar 9, 2010 at 11:27 pm

  i completely and totally agree with james m.’s answer…but even if the cleaning of the outdoor coil solves the problem i would still clean the indoor coil and change the air filter as well…probably not a plugged filter/drier in the refrig lines but it is possible.

• 8 yo // Mar 9, 2010 at 11:27 pm

  GAS LEAK

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