We’ll start by explaining what coolant is. Coolant is a chemical substance that we refer to as refrigerant, and it’s what actually makes the cooling process possible. Refrigerant allows your air conditioner to draw heat out of your home, and then put it through a cooling process through the compression and evaporation of the fluid.
You shouldn’t lose refrigerant charge (level) over time. It’s not like gasoline from a car–it doesn’t run out. If you are losing any, it means you have a leak! But how do you know if this is the case? For starters you can watch for these signs:
- Your energy bills rose dramatically when you started using yoru AC system.
- You’ve noticed lukewarm air coming from the vents.
- There’s ice or frost development on your air conditioner.
- Your air conditioner is hissing or bubbling.
Read on as we dive into these one by one–what they mean for your system and what we can help you do about it!
Increased Energy Bills
Of course this time of the year your energy bills are going to rise. It’s summer, and you’re using your air conditioner each and every day. What we want you to watch for, however, is if your energy bills are drastically high. You should take a look and compare your monthly bills this year to those of last year. If you can, even compare what you’re paying next to your neighbors.
If you are paying way more than you should for your electricity, there’s a very good chance that something is causing the system to work inefficiently, and it may very well be a refrigerant leak.
Lukewarm Air Is Coming from the Vents
When you have a refrigerant leak, the evaporator coil won’t have enough of this coolant to actually absorb the heat from your home. If it can’t do this, then the rest of your air conditioner can’t do its job either. As a result, you’ll notice lukewarm, or even warm air coming through your air conditioner vents, even when you have the thermostat set correctly.
There’s Ice Forming on the Air Conditioner
It’s never normal to see ice developing on your air conditioner! A lot of people have a misconception about this, since after all, an air conditioner chills the air. But ice develops when it gets too cold on the evaporator coil. And that happens if there isn’t enough refrigerant to absorb the heat from your home.
You Hear Hissing or Bubbling
If you ever hear your air conditioner making a noise you don’t recognize, it’s cause for concern. There is no exception when it comes to a hissing or bubbling noise. Depending on what phase the refrigerant is in (liquid or gas) you may either hear a hissing sound or bubbling sound if it’s leaving the system when it shouldn’t be.
The leak needs to be located and repaired so you don’t continue suffering from the above problems.
For fast AC repair in Dallas, GA, contact Dayco Systems today!
