If you’re an air conditioner owner, then you’ve probably thought about the risk of a refrigerant leak at least once. It’s a fairly common problem, and one that can express itself in numerous different ways. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t be more prepared for when it actually does occur. For anyone more or less familiar with refrigerant leaks, this blog post is for you. We’re going to go over steps you can take to not only identify the problem, but learn about it and get professional help the right way.
Refrigerant leaks require AC repair in New Haven, IN. There’s no world in which patching a refrigerant leak yourself is going to work out for you, both in the long run and the short run. We’ll discuss this more down below, but remember to treat your AC with care by calling for a trained professional!
How to Detect a Refrigerant Leak
Let’s first start with the basics. If your air conditioner is leaking refrigerant, we won’t be able to detect the problem without your help. You need to be the one to notice the symptoms and call us for support. Here are three clues that your system is suffering from a refrigerant leak issue.
- Hissing or bubbling. An air conditioner that’s hissing or bubbling is likely leaking refrigerant. The hissing is gaseous refrigerant escaping the refrigerant line and the bubbling is the sound of air bubbles entering the line.
- Poor comfort. Refrigerant is required for proper air conditioning. If your system is lacking refrigerant from a leak, then it’s not going to cool your home the way it’s supposed to.
- High energy bills. An AC with less refrigerant is going to work harder to compensate. This means it will run for longer and consume more electricity than normal. If you detect a spike in your energy bill, then it could be from a refrigerant leak.
Once you’ve noticed the problem, you can call us for support.
Is Refrigerant Poisonous?
Let’s get one thing straight, refrigerant is not poisonous to inhale. It’s usually going to be hard to detect since it can escape into the atmosphere faster than you’d even notice it. One thing we do want to remind homeowners is that refrigerant is heavier and denser than air, so it’s going to push oxygen out of the room and it can lead to breathing problems in certain cases. That’s why we advocate for fast action when a refrigerant leak occurs. Not only will escaping refrigerant cost more to recharge, but it could lead to adverse health effects over time.
Here’s What to Do
If you think your air conditioner is leaking refrigerant, then the first thing we ask you to do is to shut the system down. It’s only going to continue leaking the harder it works, which means that you’re at least stopping the system from running into additional problems if you shut it off.
Then, call our team for support. We can patch the leak, recharge the refrigerant, and investigate if there are any other problems inside of your system.
Contact Collier’s Comfort for support. True Comfort, True Savings.