Repair Freon Leak From Central Air Conditioner?

Unfortunately, if you have a leak, a professional will have to deal with it. The hard part is finding someone who is not a clueless idiot and knows what he's doing and has experience. I've been doing HVAC work for 29 years and I know there are a lot of people either not really trained properly or they try to rip you off.

If the system is over 8 years old and you aren't having any luck with people finding and repairing the leak (some are easy to find, others seem impossible), you should replace it, piping and all. If it is newer than 6 years old, maybe a reputable company can find and repair the leak. Maybe try Consumer Reports magazine to find the best in your area.

Good luck. By the way, where do you live? Being a single guy, I'd love to live in a neighborhood with 70% single moms.

I'll even take a look at your A/C if you fix me dinner.

• Related Questions

Does leaving the fan function on your central ac save money?

This will depend on the SEER level of your AC unit.

14 SEER and higher have multi-speed fans. This means that when the fan is running and the compressor (makes the cold air) is not, it runs at half speed; a fan running at half speed uses 1/8 the amount of normal electricity. Running the fan all of the time will help to reduce hot/cold spots in the house.

Certain rooms and areas in houses always tend to be the wrong temperature, and if your thermostat is in one of these areas your AC will run when it should not. An added bonus during the warm seasons that you run the AC is that the air movement from the fan running will make you feel cooler, the same as running a ceiling fan. So in conclusion: if you have a 14 SEER or higher AC, running the fan all the time (better if only when you are home) will save you money since the cold/hot air will better distributed.

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What is the difference between a 1 stage and a 2 stage Central Air Conditioing Unit. THANKS!?

It is exactly what it sounds like. There are actually two stages of operation rather than just one. The functional difference is that a single stage comes on at full power (and full energy consumption) every time it comes on eve n if it is only needing to maintain the desired set-point once it has been reached.

A two stage system allows the system to operate at a lower speed (or in some cases with only one of two compressors running ) when it makes sense to do so. If your application is one that keeps a space at approx. the same temp.

throughout the day, then a two stage will pay you back in energy savings because it will not need to run at full power to maintain the set-point. If your application is one where you are gone all day and come home to an 85 degree temp. and want to cool it from there, the 2 stage will not be a real benefit to you.

If I knew more about your application, I could provide a better recommendation

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How does an air conditioner work?

AC takes advantage of the fact that as pressure is increased, the boiling point of a material increases. Likewise as the pressure is decreased, the boiling point goes down.

An air conditioner is made up of a compressor, run by a motor, and two heat exchange coils, a high pressure coil, and a low pressure coil. The Compressor compresses low pressure gas up and send it to the high pressure coil. The high pressure coil uses a fan to suck air past the coil cooling the gas and condensing it to a liquid.

(Condensing is the opposite of boiling, and it happens at the same temperature as boiling.) The liquid is then let down in pressure. This drops the temperature of the liquid because some liquid vaporizes to gas.

The cool liquid and gas go to the low pressure coil. An air recirculating fan takes air from the house and circulates it through this low pressure coil, causing the liquid to pick up heat and vaporize. This vaporized material is then ready to be compressed back outside to the high pressure coil.

In central air, four items use power: 1) the Compressor 2) the Condensor Fan (outside) 3) the air circulating Fan in the house 4) the controls for the AC System

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Regarding venting portable a/c into central air vents when air is not on.

I assume you want to use a portable A/C at night in your bedroom and turn your main air conditioner off at night? In theory you could vent the hot air into your central air ducting, but two main problems arise.

First, that hot air really needs to be discharged outside of your living space. By discharging it into the ductwork, the air will find it's way into the other rooms of your home as you've stated, but when you bring your central air on during the day, it will have to work that much harder to cool the overheated rooms you've created from the night before. Secondly, the air register in your bedroom probably won't be large enough to handle the amount of hot air put out by the portable A/C, which in turn will force some of that air into your occupied bedroom counter acting some of the effects of the cooling, or cause back pressure on the portable which will reduce its capacity to provide full cooling.

I would really recommend just venting it out the window. If it's at night, chances are that nobody will really notice it anyways.

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can someone explain the operation of an air conditioner or heating pump performance in terms of COPin terms of?

The easiest way to visualise it is to consider a steam engine, boiler & condenser only in this situation the engine is driving the boiler & condenser, not the other way around. Consider the compressor as the engine & what it does is lower the pressure in the evaporator (boiler) to a point where the refrigerant will evaporate at the temperature it's at or lower. At the same time it raises the pressure in the condenser to a point where it will condense.

The result is that the refrigerant boils at a much lower temperature & condenses at a much higher one. There is a component called an "expansion valve" in the liquid line from the condenser to the evaporator & it's function is to throttle the refrigerant so that it boils & expands slightly in the evaporator. By virtue of the heat carrying capacity of the refrigerant which differs from one refrigerant to another (ammonia being one of the best) the transported heat in the cycle is more than the energy required to drive the compressor.

The relationship between the energy input from the compressor motor & the heat transported is the COP or "coefficient of performance"

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Has anyone purchased a portable air conditioner, if so, do u like it? which one do u recommend?

Portable air conditioners are useful if you want to cool a single room.

They also come in handy if you are a tenant living in an apartment with no A/C. Capacity is limited so the room would have to be small, don't expect it to cool very much area and keep the room closed to improved performance. They usually require you to have either a window open in such a way that a small hose or duct has access to the outside air for heat rejection -- or -- they require a doorway so part of the equipment can expel the heat.

One other type is a split system with flexible hose pipes between two parts of equipment, same situation here requiring outside access. Portable A/C fill a gap in the market for flexible small capacity machines. They tend to be expensive when you see what you get (capacity) but for sheer flexibility they are ok.

Recommend DeLongi if you have them where you live.

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if i buy a central air home conditioner can i move it with me if i move out?

I merely offered an incredible 8,000 btu LG window unit.

comments pronounced it develop into the main quiet. yet ALL window contraptions are noisy by using nature soooo contraptions in bedrooms are no longer that "sleep friendly". yet whilst in comparison with any others (I artwork on them) this one is quieter.

in spite of the shown fact that it in basic terms fee me $169. It you have a place for it at that fee, i could guess is barely a factor of the fee of changing the considerable (won't merely be the ducts), then it truly is relatively worth spending the money. Doing the mounting is yet another subject.

Then in spite of in case you restore the considerable, it remains extra fee-effective to run the window unit if the mattress room is the main considered necessary. it could nevertheless probably pay for itself perfect away. yet i do no longer comprehend the place you reside and how warm it gets so i do no longer comprehend what length of unit you like.

Makes a distinction if the solar hits your mattress room too, and whilst. stable success

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Is my Central Air Conditioner Transformer bad or the unit itself?

The buzzing is from the switch relay which indicates the transformer is working.

You can always check the voltage coming from the thermostat to make sure the transformer is working. Next, check the voltage on both sides of the relay switch to make sure electricity is passing through it. I have had relays go bad due to corrosion build up, bugs, ants and so on.

Fire ants seem to like these relays. You can also manually close the switch relay by pushing against the top of it with something that is not going to give you a 240V shock. If the relay is working correctly, check to see if the fan is stuck.

Give it a push in the direction of rotation to see if it turns freely. If it doesn't, the bearings are stuck. If the compressor is bad, it should be tripping the breaker.

The compressor might not be engaging due to a low freon condition. Many units also have a reset button that needs to be checked before you can check the above. My guess for the most likely cause: Low freon condition, or relay switch contacts dirty.

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Is my landlady responsible for repairing central air in our rental?

The answer is, tell her with a smile on your face and don't get angry when she thanks you but doesn't offer to pay. Yes, your landlady is responsible for anything that was there before you moved in.

The air conditioner is not like a furnace or toilet, she only has to make repairs in a reasonable amount of time. You don't have the right to fix something without her permission though. Why?

Because it's not your property, it's hers. If you had messed up she would be in her rights to make you pay for any damages or replacement. What if the unit had a warranty?

Did you void it? What if she has a contract with a maintenance service? What if her guy gets paid less then your guy?

What if while fixing something yourself, you injure yourself? Is she responsible if you didn't get her permission first? .

All of this should have been discussed before you moved in. Most people get all this in writing. I live in half a house and I signed a generic lease, with my landlady's rules added.

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