As summer temperatures begin to climb across the country, many of us turn to our air conditioners, only to feel a lukewarm breeze instead of a refreshing chill. While it’s easy to assume the unit is simply ageing, the real culprit is often the refrigerant. Refrigerant, commonly referred to as AC gas, is the substance responsible for cooling the air that flows from the system. Most people believe checking refrigerant levels is a task only for technicians. However, there are a few simple ways using which you can check if your AC has enough refrigerant (gas) at home. Moreover, the best part is that you don’t require specialised tools or professional assistance to identify that.
One of the easiest ways to check if your AC unit has enough gas is to check the air temperature at the vents. You can use a basic thermometer to measure the air entering the system at the large intake vent and compare it to the air blowing out of the cooling registers from the front. If using a split AC, then you need to check the inflow on the outdoor unit of the air conditioner and the outflow on the vents of the split AC.
If the outflow of the air is significantly colder than the inflow of the air, then your AC has enough refrigerant (gas) left in it. However, if the difference between the two numbers is very small, then it’s a strong indicator that the refrigerant is not high enough to carry the heat away.
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It may seem strange to find ice on an air conditioner during a hot day, but frozen pipes are a classic sign of low gas. When the pressure drops inside the cooling coils, the temperature of the metal falls below freezing. This causes moisture in the air to turn into ice.
You can check this by looking at the copper lines connecting your indoor and outdoor units. If you see white frost or a layer of ice covering these pipes, your system is struggling. Moreover, if you see ice, then you should turn the unit off immediately, as running it in this state can damage the compressor.
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Refrigerant travels through your air conditioner alongside a special oil that keeps the internal parts moving smoothly. When the gas leaks out through a small hole or a loose joint, the oil usually leaks out with it. Inspect the outdoor unit and the visible copper joints for any greasy or dusty patches that look like oil spills.
These stains act like a map that shows you exactly where the leak is located. Finding these spots early allows a technician to seal the hole rather than just adding more gas to a broken system.