If your StL AC unit is low on coolant/refrigerant, or Freon as it’s more commonly known as, then it’s time to purchase more.  You’ll probably be paying a higher than normal Ameren or Cuivre River electric bill and you’re running the risk of a costly air conditioner unit breakdown.

To ensure cost and energy savings this year, be aware of these 7 signs of low refrigerant.

1. It takes a really long time for your home to cool off. With high temperatures, your AC is working in overdrive to cool your home. Low refrigerant makes this worse with high indoor temperatures and high costs.
2. Cool air is not coming out of your vents. Warm or lukewarm air blowing through the vents could indicate many different issues, but low refrigerant could be one of the causes.
3. The temperature you set your t-stat to is never reached. If you put your thermostat at 75, but the thermometer never reaches that number, there’s an issue with your AC and you need to have it checked.
4. Your electric bill is higher than normal. Comparing your electric bills month-to-month and year-to-year can help you identify issues with your HVAC unit. If you experience higher than normal electricity costs, have your air conditioner serviced.
5. Ice is forming on refrigerant lines. If you suspect your air conditioner is low on refrigerant, check the unit for ice build up. Ice accumulation on copper tubing or the evaporator coil occurs when an air conditioner does not have enough refrigerant.
6. Water leaking are visible around heater. When the ice that accumulates on the refrigerant lines melts, then water can puddle up near the furnace. This water can then drip to the floor or into the furnace. You should never see water on the floor near your furnace.
7. Hissing or bubbling noise. If you’re low on refrigerant, it’s because there is a leak somewhere. A hissing or bubbling noise can indicate an AC refrigerant leak in the system which will have to be repaired by an HVAC service technician.

Don’t let low refrigerant ruin your hot St. Louis summer with high temperatures and high energy costs.  Get your air conditioner serviced today to get the temperature in your home and your electric bill back to normal.  Signing up for AAA Service Club Membership Plan is a great way to make sure your AC unit is set with an annual scheduled AC Clean and Check appointment that we call you to set for the hot summer ahead.

For more information, visit our recent blog post on Freon and Your St. Louis Air Conditioner.

Call AAA, We’re On Our Way!

An AC doesn’t “go through” refrigerant. So you ought to never have to re-energize your forced air system with more Freon—except if there’s a hole.

However, here’s a situation we find out about way time and again:

1. AC isn’t blowing cold air

2. A cooling tech says you need Freon

3. You pay to place 1-2 pounds in your framework (this is designated “charging” your AC unit)

4. AC works for the summer

5. The following summer, rehash stages 1-4

In the event that this has happened to you, call a different AC Repair Service! You are either being defrauded or the tech is not trained. Fail to fix the refrigerant break resembles knowing there’s a nail in your tire however topping off the tire with more air as opposed to taking the nail out and fixing the opening. We can help repair your AC today.

In addition to the fact that this is more costly for (you need to continue to pay to re-energize your AC, however in the event that your framework actually utilizes the R-22 refrigerant, it’s additionally amazingly awful for the climate. R-22 is being eliminated on the grounds that it depletes the ozone, which adds to environmental change.

Peruse more about the phaseout of R-22 at phaseoutfacts.org.

So what ought to have happened when you called the AC organization about a potential Freon charge?

The AC tech should investigate what is wrong with your forced air system.

Similarly as a specialist considers your entire body’s wellbeing while surveying your indications, an AC tech should take a gander at your whole cooling framework prior to making an analysis and solution.

For this situation, the cooling professional ought to:

* Look at your air channel and indoor regulator

* Inspect the indoor unit, which is part of a regular AC Clean and Check appointment as well

* Take the cover off your open air unit to search for issues

Why not simply quickly measure the measure of refrigerant noticeable all around conditioner?

In the event that you have different issues (messy air channel, frozen evap curls, and so forth), they will influence the perusing of the refrigerant charge in your focal climate control system.

In this way, whenever they’ve examined all the other things, the specialist will know whether their instrument for estimating Freon (AC complex check) is exact or not.

In the event that refrigerant is low, they should inform you concerning the hole

Maybe simply saying, “You need more refrigerant; here’s the expense,” your AC expert should tell you that you are low on refrigerant and disclose to you that implies you have a hole.

At that point, contingent upon your circumstance, they may give several alternatives that can include:

Option 1: Recharging your AC without fixing the hole

Indeed, we recently said that is not a smart thought. Be that as it may, finding and fixing a hole can be costly. So you might not have any desire to do it if both of coming up next are valid:

* You’ve never needed to re-energize the unit—The break is likely a lethargic one and re-energizing the unit may get you through the late spring.

* You will supplant the unit inside the following year—No utilization in sinking cash into something you’ll before long be supplanting.

In any case, regardless of whether you go this course, we suggest having the tech placed in a UV dye with the new refrigerant. At that point, whenever your AC is low on refrigerant, the HVAC tech can undoubtedly find the break and let you realize the expense to fix.

Option 2: Finding and fixing the hole

The tech will probably give you a cost to find the break. At that point, whenever they’ve discovered the hole, they’ll give you the cost to fix the hole, which will rely upon where it’s found. As a rule, the AC tech should:

1. Discover the hole utilizing electronic hardware, UV color or a gurgling specialist

2. Empty all the refrigerant (this is an extravagant word for eliminating the refrigerant from the framework)

3. Fix the break

4. Re-energize the climate control system

5. Test to ensure the break has been fixed

Option 3: Replacing the unit

Indeed, we know supplanting the entire unit due to a refrigerant break appears to be outrageous. Also, it doesn’t occur that regularly.

Yet, in certain circumstances it bodes well.

For instance, suppose your climate control system is 14+ years old and to fix the break we need to supplant the gathering curl. Would you truly like to put $1,000+ into your present framework when you’ll in any case probably need an entirely different framework in a year or less?

This is generally the situation if your framework utilizes R-22 refrigerant and the fix for the hole is incredibly expensive. Since R-22 is being eliminated, parts are more earnestly to stop by and more costly. As is simply the refrigerant.

Over the long haul, moving up to another framework that utilizations R-410A refrigerant might be a superior decision. (In addition, this new refrigerant is better for the climate!)

Think your AC needs refrigerant? Contact a reliable St. Louis AC Repair Company.

AAA can fix any AC issue. Furthermore, we’ve been serving the whole St. Louis and St. Charles area since 1970.