Cool Tech Mechanical

How Often Should I Add Or Change Freon In My Air Conditioning Unit?

As an Air Conditioning and Heating contractor it sometimes surprises me how often we get asked this question. The simple answer is technically, never.

For the sake of this article I will refer to the refrigerant your Air Conditioner uses as “Freon”. This is actually a trade name used by a manufacture for their Refrigerant 22, or R-22. But like “Coke” it has become a commonly used term to describe all refrigerants by the public so I will use it here as well.

Air Conditioning systems use Freon to transfer heat from the air in the house to the air outside the house sort of like your car uses water or anti-freeze to transfer heat from the engine. But unlike anti-freeze Freon will never get old and dirty and need to be changed. Your Air Conditioner is hermetically sealed and should never lose Freon unless a leak develops. There is also nothing in the hermetically sealed system that adds any contaminant to the Freon that would cause it to get dirty and need changing like anti-freeze or oil in your cars engine.

So in a perfect world your original charge should last forever. But since it is not perfect, leaks do at times occur. Also the electric motor in your compressor could short out causing what we call a “burn out” which will contaminate the Freon requiring it to be changed along with the compressor.

Many people have been given the wrong impression by service companies on this unfortunately. Either out of not wanting to take the time or out of intentions to milk the customer for that annual charge up many A/C companies have let their customers be mislead into thinking charging a system is normal. I even saw a company suggesting that their customers with older systems should consider changing out that old Freon. If any technician ever makes such a suggestion to you show him/her the door fast. They are either crooks or incompetent and you don't want to deal with either.

Systems do many times develop leaks over time however. It is always best to deal with the leak by repairing it or replacing the component that is leaking or up grading the whole system if it is older then 10 years. Leaks can be a little tricky to pinpoint at times. Something simple like a service valve cap leak can be fixed sometimes by just tightening the cap or replacing the rubber seal in the cap. Small leaks in the coil can be much harder to find and sometimes impossible to repair or not worth the time and cost to repair. The copper tubing in the coil can over time get small pinhole leaks where is contacts the aluminum fin due to electrolysis. These leaks are small, hard to find and numerous normally when they accrue. Repairing in this case is not usually a good option. Replacing the coil will replace the leaks and also give you a nice clean coil for better airflow and you now have a parts warranty. And probably not cost much more or even less then trying to repair it.

A leaking system is only at it's peak efficiency when the technician removes his gauges after charging it properly. After that as it leaks, it leaks efficiency and capacity. It costs more and more to operate because it is cooling less and running more as it losses it's charge. Then you have the cost of another service call and Freon to contend with. If you have an older system using R-22 the costs are just going to get worse. R-22 is being phased out. Supply and demand has seen R-22 prices more then double recently. And that is just going to get worse as production is reduced to zero in 2020.

There are times it might make sense just to charge it up even knowing there is a leak and will need a charge again. If the leak is very small or in a place impossible to isolate and repair, like in the refrigerant lines in a slab, and your immediate budget is tight, then as a temporary measure charging may be called for. Finding a small leak can take a lot of time and be very expensive. But as a home owner you should know the facts so you can make a good choice. Being given the impression that it is normal to add Freon from time to time is just false.

Also when replacing equipment check for what type of materials are being used in the coils. Manufactures like Amana, Goodman and Trane are using all aluminum tubing on the indoor coils to help reduce leaks due to electrolysis. Carrier, Byrant and others are plating the cooper with tin. Other manufactures like Lennox, Rheem , Ruud, Tappan, American Standard and others are also taking measures to improve coil life. Ask your trusted Air Conditioning repair and replacement contractor for latest details and advice. For more information or to schedule a free equipment replacement estimate or service call in the Arlington TX, Ft. Worth TX, Mansfield TX or Tarrant County and surrounding area, check out our website www.cooltechmechanical.com.