Summer is here in Plano, TX, in deed if not in actual date, and as such you need to be especially aware of problems with your air conditioner. A seemingly innocent little twitch can mean a potential breakdown, which you don’t want to arrive just when the latest heat wave is about to hit us like a wall of bricks. The sooner you can spot such air conditioning problems and get them resolved, the better prepared you’ll be for the high temperatures of summer.
Among the issues to watch for is a loss of refrigerant, a common problem usually caused by a leak in the system. The easy way to spot this is to simply check your evaporator coils for frost or ice. If it exists, don’t try to scrape it off. Simply shut off the system and call in a repair service. Refrigerant is dangerous and correcting the leak is trickier than it seems.
What Happens When Refrigerant Leaks
Your air conditioner is designed to use specific types of refrigerant in a specific amount in order to work. When that amount drops, the delicate balance required to cool the air is thrown off. This is most prominent in the evaporator coils, where liquid refrigerant shifts to gaseous form and pulls heat from the surrounding air in the process. If the right amount of refrigerant aren’t there, the process is unbalanced and frost forms on the system.
Why Is That a Problem?
It’s a problem first and foremost because that frost represents lost cooling potential that should be going into your home. More importantly, it forms a barrier between then remaining refrigerant and the air, making it all the harder for the system to do its job and getting exponentially worse as the leak continues.
The pros at Hutchins Plumbing and Air Conditioning can seal the leak in your system!
