In recent years, studies have shown that about 90% of Americans use some kind of air conditioning system to cool off their homes. It has become pretty much impossible for people to survive the hot summers in this country without access to an AC system.
As long as you perform the proper maintenance on your home’s AC system, you shouldn’t have to worry about it doing its job at all times. But if your AC system ever has an AC refrigerant leak, it could spell trouble for you. It’s not going to be able to keep your home as cool as you might like it.
If you suspect that you might have a freon leak in your AC system, you should look out for the signs of an AC refrigerant leak. These signs will let you know exactly why you’re experiencing AC problems.
Check out five of the most common signs of an AC refrigerant leak below and learn about how to fix an AC refrigerant leak when one occurs in your AC system.
1. Your AC System Isn’t Blowing Cool Air Throughout Your Home
Every so often, you should walk around the inside of your home when your AC system is turned on and feel the air coming out of your registers. That air should be cool to the touch.
If the air that’s being delivered throughout your home by your AC system isn’t as cool as you think it should be, that’s usually a surefire sign that there is an issue with it. And that issue is, more often than not, an AC refrigerant leak.
You’re going to have to figure out how to fix an AC refrigerant leak by obtaining help from an AC repair company. They should be able to find the source of your AC refrigerant leak so that they can repair it and get your AC system working like normal again.
2. Your AC System Is Taking Forever to Cool Your House Off
Most people don’t understand exactly what the refrigerant in their AC system does. They’ve heard of it before but aren’t familiar with the key role that it plays in their AC system.
Your refrigerant is responsible for absorbing all of the heat that is inside of your home in the summertime and helping to move it outside. Without enough refrigerant in your AC system, it’s not going to be able to get this job done.
You’ll be able to tell when there is an AC refrigerant leak in your system because it’ll take your house forever to cool off. Even when there is cool air coming through your registers, your home will still be warmer than it should be.
You can change this by hiring someone to help you find what’s causing your AC refrigerant leak and fix it. It should allow you to cool your home off in no time once you turn your AC system on.
3. Your AC System Is Producing Strange Sounds
If you believe that there might be something wrong with your home’s AC system, you should stand near the part of it that’s located inside your house while it’s running and listen out for any strange sounds. You’re going to hear sounds coming from it if you do indeed have an AC refrigerant leak.
An AC refrigerant leak is caused by holes that form in the coils that carry the refrigerant around. As a result, you’re going to hear either hissing or gurgling sounds coming from these coils when there is an AC refrigerant leak present in your system.
This will let you know that you’re going to need to figure out how to fix an AC refrigerant leak. It’ll help you explain your problem to the AC repair company that you bring on board to work on your AC system.
4. Your AC System Is Freezing Up on You
In addition to standing near the coils in your AC system to hear if they’re making any sounds, you should also sneak a peek at them to see if you can see any signs of an AC refrigerant leak. If you have ice forming on your evaporator coils, that’s going to be a big problem.
This ice is an indication that you probably don’t have enough refrigerant circulating through your coils. It’ll stop the coils from being able to absorb heat and eventually result in them freezing up on you.
At first, you might not think that the sight of this ice will be a big problem for you. But it could cause further complications down the line and could even lead to your AC compressor conking out on you. It’s why you need to spring into action and address a potential AC refrigerant leak sooner rather than later.
5. Your AC System Is Causing Your Electric Bills to Soar
Throughout the warmer months of the year, you should keep a close eye on your electric bill to see what impact your AC system has on it. You should see a slight increase in your electric bill when you use your AC system on a regular basis.
But you shouldn’t see your electric bills soaring every month when you turn your AC system on. If they start to get to be too high, it’s usually because there is something going on with your AC system. You might have an AC refrigerant leak on your hands that’s leading to electric bills that are way higher than they should be.
Repairing your AC system should bring your electric bills back down to earth.
Don’t Ignore Any of These Signs of an AC Refrigerant Leak
If you’re using an AC system that doesn’t have enough refrigerant in it, you’re asking for trouble. It’ll only be a matter of time before an AC refrigerant leak backfires on you and causes serious issues.
You should keep your eyes peeled for any of the signs of an AC refrigerant leak that we just mentioned. You should also have an AC repair company on speed dial so that they can come out to your home and handle any issues with your AC system.
Find more tips and tricks on taking care of your home’s AC system by browsing through the other articles on our blog.
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