Your air conditioner uses refrigerant to cool the air down before blowing it into your house as a method of cooling. However, it is not uncommon for refrigerant lines to have leaks. If you suspect that your air conditioner has a refrigerant leak, call right away to schedule a service appointment for AC repair in Happy Valley, OR.
Our team are the HVAC experts in our area and we would love to help you with all of your air conditioning needs. You can keep reading to learn more about the signs you have a refrigerant leak and why a leak can be so dangerous for your home and family.
Understanding How Refrigerant Works
Refrigerant is a chemical inside of your air conditioner that can alternate between being a gas or a liquid. Your air conditioner has a variety of mechanisms that pressurize the refrigerant to take it from its gas to its liquid form. In its liquid form, refrigerant can absorb heat to cool down the air in your home.
Then the refrigerant cycles to your outdoor unit as a gas to release that heat outside, away from your home. The cycle continues over and over again for each cooling cycle that your air conditioner completes. Some people think that refrigerant levels get lower over time, but this is not true. The same refrigerant can last your air conditioner for its entire life span as long as there are no leaks.
Dangers of Refrigerant
Refrigerant is a chemical, but as long as it remains in the airtight lines inside of your air conditioner, it is completely safe. But when refrigerant leaks do happen, they can cause harm. If your family breathes in refrigerant fumes or touches refrigerant with their skin they could get sick and sustain burns. Refrigerant that leaks out can also cause damage to surrounding air conditioner components, as well as the structure of your home.
Signs of a Refrigerant Leak
The good news is, refrigerant leaks are fairly easy to identify. When refrigerant is in its gas form inside of your air conditioner, it makes a hissing sound if there is a leak. If the refrigerant is in its liquid form when there is a leak, it will make a bubbling sound instead. Hearing either bubbling or hissing coming from your air conditioner is a red flag that you may have a refrigerant leak.
Refrigerant leaks can also cause your condenser coils to freeze. Even if you don’t notice a hissing or bubbling sound, frozen condenser coils will be obvious. Any ice inside your air conditioner is a major problem. It doesn’t make your air any colder. Instead, it blocks airflow and can potentially shut your air conditioner down completely, leading to an even more expensive repair than if you have just a refrigerant leak.
For HVAC, indoor air quality, and water heater services, look no further than the team who is “Connecting People to Comfort” – Clawson Heating & Air Conditioning. Contact us today to schedule an appointment!