Central Air Conditioner Needs Freon

During peak summer when the ac runs for the most part of the day homeowners often worry if their machine is running low on freon.

Central air conditioner needs freon.

For decades freon also known as hcfc 22 and r 22 was the main refrigerant chemical used in residential air conditioning units and heat pumps. If your air conditioner is not performing as well as it used to finding out if it needs more freon could help enhance cooling capabilities. Spring is the best time of the year to do it before air conditioning companies get busy. Residential air conditioner freon refill cost.

We totally understand so here to help are 3 signs that point to low refrigerant. An ac doesn t use up refrigerant. Most people pay between 100 and 350 for a refill depending on the size and type of your hvac unit. Too little refrigerant leads to your ac blowing lukewarm or warm air.

How to know if a central air conditioner needs a charge. The coolants they use are. If your unit was built prior to 2010 it s likely going to use r 22. Freon costs an average of 150 for a freon refill.

Central air conditioners are designed to continually cool the home to the desired temperature of the homeowner. To be sure you can check the unit itself for a label that specifies which type of coolant to add. The good news is that new air conditioning systems made since 2010 no longer rely on freon. Freon is a brand name of refrigerant that has come to be used generically to mean any refrigerant.

A 25lb jug of r410a runs 75 to 175 labor adds an average 70 per hour. In fact if your system uses freon a brand of r 22 refrigerant you can expect to pay anywhere from 75 to over 100 per pound of refrigerant a 2 ton ac needs over 5 pounds of refrigerant. In this article we use the word freon and refrigerant interchangeably. Your ac is blowing hot air to cool your air your ac needs refrigerant.

Central air conditioning systems utilize a variety of refrigerants most of which are generically called freon while the chemical composition of refrigerant has improved over the years it is still a threat to the environment and must be carefully contained within the system. To help protect the ozone layer the epa has mandated that the production of freon be stopped by january 2020. So you should never need to recharge your air conditioner with more freon unless there s a leak. So if you have a refrigerant leak always make sure the tech repairs the leak before adding more refrigerant.

Older large r22 units can reach 600 or more. Contractors usually check for freon leaks during hvac tune ups. The first thing you need to do is find out what type of freon you ll need for your air conditioner.