The Effects of Low Refrigerant Levels on your Air Conditioner
Comfort Zone • April 27, 2015

April 27, 2015

The South is known for its hot and humid summers, and with April giving way to May, residents of Canton, GA may want to schedule a maintenance session to ensure that their air conditioners are functioning at peak capacity when the weather gets warm. One of the most important steps in any maintenance session is recharging your unit’s refrigerant levels when they get low. The refrigerant is the lynchpin of the air conditioning process: the component that allows it to cool the air in your home. The system depends on set levels of refrigerant to work, and the effects of low refrigerant levels on your air conditioner can cause some serious problems.

Frost on the Evaporator coils

The most obvious effect of low refrigerant is the formation of frost on the evaporator coils. This insulates the air you want to cool from the refrigerant doing the cooling, reducing efficiency and requiring more energy to properly cool your home.

Damage to the Compressor Motor

Refrigerant helps keep other components in the system cool as it cycles through the process. If levels drop, then those components are apt to overheat and/or shut down. The compressor motor, in particular, is vulnerable to overheating and may completely break down if the issue isn’t addressed.

Loss of Cooling Power

Eventually, refrigerant levels will drop so low that they can’t effectively cool the home at all. Your air conditioner then becomes a very expensive fan: moving the air without doing its job.

A maintenance session from a qualified professional can avert these problems: keeping refrigerant levels charged as well as sealing any leaks or other problems that lead to a loss of refrigerant. The experts at Comfort Zone HVAC will recharge your refrigerant and make sure your air conditioner is ready for summer!

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