Can Too Much Freon Hurt Your Air Conditioner?

Freon Cycle

• Air conditioners work by moving hot air from one place where it is not wanted to another place where no one will notice it -- the already hot outside. They work by the principle that when gas is expanded it cools down, and when it is compressed it heats up. The Freon gas in the coolant coils goes through that cycle many times, providing cool air and taking the warm outside where it exhausts it.

Balance

• The Freon balance in the air conditioner must be right for it to do the task properly. If there is not enough Freon, the compressor, or the part of the air conditioner that compresses the Freon, can be damaged and the unit will not cool the air. A symptom that there is not enough Freon is the coils begin to ice up. Too much Freon can also cause the coils to ice over and may do permanent damage to the unit.

Gas Leaks

• Air conditioners wear with age and there are many places where they can develop pinhole leaks. Welds fail and crack, and Freon begins to escape. Recharging the air conditioner is the term used for bringing the Freon level back to normal. Having a professional plumber or heating, ventilation and air conditioning specialist add Freon is only legal way to recharge your system and ensures you that the job is done correctly.

Freon Detectors

• It is safe to continue to operate with a pinhole leak in the air conditioner as long as it doesn't allow too much Freon to leak. Seek service for the leak if you need to add Freon every summer. HVAC specialists have detectors that make it easy to tell just where the leak is at. If the loss is 30 percent or more, the leak must be fixed by law instead of just adding Freon.