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Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Speaking of Freon...recs needed for company to recharge home A/C coolant
Posted by:
Olde Farte, II
()
Date: June 27, 2013 08:23AM
My AC is freezing up - "experts say" the standard things to check for are airflow, then low coolant; airflow is fine at the time of this post.
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A long time ago an AC guy/firm came out to replace a failed-bearing blower motor. The guy who replaced it said (vague memory but accurate): "I don't have a direct replacement for your motor so I'm going to replace it with a lower RPM motor. I'll bleed off some [coolant] to compensate".
Not knowing a damn thing at the time about AC I trustingly said something like "Uh...okay".
Well, eventually after this I noticed that the AC (basement) unit was freezing up solid. THIS year (many years later) I thought about it more than simply in passing and thought "Hmmm...maybe it's that slow motor!" so I replaced the replacement motor with the original higher RPM motor (aside - this actually was a satisfyingly easy change for me to do myself). The increased airflow of that replacement is noticeable.
However, the freezing, though seemingly somewhat slower to occur, still occurs.
So...
I'm now assuming (*) the problem is insufficient coolant dating from the time the original "repair" guy bled some off.
Anyone have recommendations for a reliable AC repair shop that can come out and check/fully charge the coolant for this 20+ year-old AC unit? Any idea what such a "repair" costs (since it needs it this may be moot but I am curious)?
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(*) AC units really are pretty simple but have a few critical parameters that have to be followed, otherwise problems occur. Since I've taken care of the airflow potential problem and the hardware appears to be solidly working (that is, pumps work, fans work, thermostats work, and there are no leaks of cooolant), a LACK of coolant caused by that initial "repair" has moved to the top of the possible reasons for the freezing.
==========
A long time ago an AC guy/firm came out to replace a failed-bearing blower motor. The guy who replaced it said (vague memory but accurate): "I don't have a direct replacement for your motor so I'm going to replace it with a lower RPM motor. I'll bleed off some [coolant] to compensate".
Not knowing a damn thing at the time about AC I trustingly said something like "Uh...okay".
Well, eventually after this I noticed that the AC (basement) unit was freezing up solid. THIS year (many years later) I thought about it more than simply in passing and thought "Hmmm...maybe it's that slow motor!" so I replaced the replacement motor with the original higher RPM motor (aside - this actually was a satisfyingly easy change for me to do myself). The increased airflow of that replacement is noticeable.
However, the freezing, though seemingly somewhat slower to occur, still occurs.
So...
I'm now assuming (*) the problem is insufficient coolant dating from the time the original "repair" guy bled some off.
Anyone have recommendations for a reliable AC repair shop that can come out and check/fully charge the coolant for this 20+ year-old AC unit? Any idea what such a "repair" costs (since it needs it this may be moot but I am curious)?
------
(*) AC units really are pretty simple but have a few critical parameters that have to be followed, otherwise problems occur. Since I've taken care of the airflow potential problem and the hardware appears to be solidly working (that is, pumps work, fans work, thermostats work, and there are no leaks of cooolant), a LACK of coolant caused by that initial "repair" has moved to the top of the possible reasons for the freezing.