Unfortunately, most air conditioners don’t have an easy way to check for refrigerant levels. However, there are a few industry secrets that can help homeowners detect when refrigerant levels might be lower than they should be.
By checking your refrigerant levels, or at least the condition of your system in regards to refrigerant, you can better understand what might be causing problems or why your AC functions just fine—either way, vigilance pays off. For those who need help with a malfunctioning air conditioner that might be low on refrigerant, our team provides sensible air conditioning repair in Calgary, AB for an affordable price.
The first step towards air conditioner repair is detecting there’s a problem in the first place, and if you keep reading, we’ll let you in on how you as a homeowner can check on the status of your system.
What Does Refrigerant Do?
Refrigerant is necessary for the cooling process to take place. It’s a material that exists both as a gas and a liquid in your air conditioner. When it evaporates through the evaporator coil, it draws heat with it, only to deposit that heat outside when it condenses at the outdoor condenser coil. This means heat is constantly being moved from the inside of your home to the outside. That’s how your air conditioner works!
However, in order for this process to accurately take place, there needs to be a certain amount of refrigerant listed by the manufacturer. When refrigerant leaks out, it can cause your air conditioner to start faltering, either consuming more energy to complete the same process or the efficacy of your system will start to wane. Take a look below at the signs that you’re running low on refrigerant.
Lowered Efficiency
Are your energy bills on the rise? Or perhaps you’re noticing that your air conditioner is starting to breakdown more frequently than it used to? This is because it’s running much less efficiently than it used to, perhaps due to a lowered refrigerant level. With less refrigerant, your air conditioner will have trouble keeping efficiency levels high. Call our team to have one of our professionals provide a refrigerant recharge as well as get to the bottom of how you lost refrigerant in the first place.
Poor Cooling Power
An air conditioner should be able to keep your home cool, as your thermostat has designated. If you’re noticing that your air conditioner is having trouble reaching the temperature on your thermostat, then there’s a problem. Try turning up the temperature just a little bit for now, but if you notice this as a long term trend that your system consistently can’t keep your home cool, you could be running low on refrigerant. Call our team to have the problem addressed.
Hissing or Bubbling Noise
This is a simple clue that your refrigerant levels could be low. When a system leaks refrigerant, it’s usually heard as a hissing or bubbling sound. This hissing represents the refrigerant gas escaping through the leak, and the bubbling is usually the oxygen that’s entered the line from the air. Either way, if you hear this noise, call our team as soon as possible!
The pros at Shift Air Mechanical Ltd. know exactly how to fix your system. Call us today!