Things You Should Know About Refrigerant and AC Units

Even if you don't work on or install air conditioning units, it's a good thing to know a little bit about them. After all, you probably use an air conditioning unit to cool your home during the hot summer months. One thing that you might want to learn a little more about is refrigerant. These are some of the things that you might not know about using refrigerant and your home air conditioning unit. Read on to learn more. 

Your Air Conditioner Needs Refrigerant to Operate Properly

First of all, if you are wondering if your air conditioning unit can operate without refrigerant, you should know that refrigerant is a necessity if you want your unit to operate like it's supposed to. Refrigerant kick starts the cooling process in your air conditioning unit, and if you don't have it, then your air conditioning unit cannot produce cooled air.

Refrigerant Leaks Can Be a Problem

Refrigerant should have been added to your air conditioning unit when it was initially installed. As long as nothing goes wrong with your air conditioning unit, then you should not have to worry about adding additional refrigerant since the refrigerant that was added to your unit during installation can be used over and over again.

However, unfortunately, leaks do happen. If there is a leak, then you have to worry about losing some or all of the refrigerant from your air conditioning system. These are a few signs that you might have a refrigerant leak:

• Even though your air conditioner is running, it isn't effectively cooling your home.
• You can see ice on your air conditioner's refrigerant line.
• There is a strange noise coming from the refrigerant line, such as a hissing or bubbling sound.

If you have noticed any signs of a refrigerant leak, then you should call an air conditioning repair professional as soon as possible. They can verify whether or not there is a leak and can replace your refrigerant line or make other repairs to help prevent future leaks.

Refrigerant Must Be Added By a Professional

You could be wondering if you can purchase refrigerant to add to your air conditioning unit yourself. However, this is not allowed in most locations. You probably will not even be able to purchase the refrigerant that is needed for your unit if you aren't a licensed HVAC contractor. Additionally, you have to worry about making mistakes when adding refrigerant, which could prevent you from adding it to your unit properly or could even negatively impact the environment. Luckily, an HVAC professional can both repair the issue that is causing the refrigerant leak and add more refrigerant to your unit. If you have more questions, contact local air conditioning services.