More central A/C problems. Any help?
Question:My central A/C worked fine for six summers. This year, it wasn't working, so I made a call. A capcitor was replaced. All seemed OK. Then, the tech added freon and left without rechecking. After that, the unit took 70 minutes to cool the house down about one degree.
So I called the A/C people to come back. The tech looked for a freon leak outside--nothing found over 1.5 hours; the tech suggested that looking for a leak inside the house would be difficult and likely fruitless, so I told him not to do so.
The tech said that the outdoor unit fan seemed to be displacing air unevenly and suggesteed that maybe it was bent. Like I said, I've had no problems with the A/C in the six previous summers since moving into the house. He said the temperature split is about 16 degrees. He added some more freon.
The unit is not cooling properly (about one degree an hour). Of course, we were still charged for the 1.5 hours today b/c this was a "new" call to look for a freon leak.
Any guesses?
Answers:
Don't waste your time with the HVAC company you are currently using. If your information is correct, they do not know what they are doing. The first sign of that is when they added freon without knowing if it needed any and then did not check it after-wards. Also, if there were an airflow problem in the outdoor unit, it would be because the outdoor coil is blocked with leaves, grass or other not because it suddenly and mysteriously became bent.
Displacing air un-evenly!!? Pardon me, but that horse don't buck! Why add freon if there is no leak? It appears that if freon was added it may have over-charged the system and that will cause a cooling problem. Ask the company to return if; They will come back to correct a botched service call, and they send another tech. The fellow you had just does not ( in my opinion) have the experience to correct problem; by what you have reported. good luck and keep us informed so we can help you!
I have a couple of ideas
I had the same problem until yesterday when I realized I had forgotten to turn off the builty in humidifier on my furnace
So check that. Your a/c is designed to remove humidity from the air. Leaving the April Aire humidifier on was my problem
Next check your filter on your furnace. There should be no visible dirt/dust on you filter. This filter should be changed monthly if it is a cheap one; some of the more expensive 3M ones last 3-4 months....you know which one you have.
Next outside on the a/c unit check for leaves/cotton seed built up on the outside. If these things are blocking your air flow you will never cool you house.
Annually you want to take the cover off and blow out or hose out your condenser. What I do is spay on a degreaser then gently hose off you condensers. These are thin metal that can be easily bent. If the air can not flow easily thru these you will never cool your house...This project takes time but makes a huge difference in the effectivness and efficiency of you a/c.
Last thing to check is you A coil in side of your furnace if this is frosted up (usually because of one of the above problems) you need to defrost it: use a hair dryer.....air needs to flow thru this rapidly if it does not it frosts/ices up
Freon leak in your house????the freon doesn't flow through your house only through the a/c unit outside
You may have to call a different company out!!
It sounds like you need to find a different a/c repairman. Is your compressor kicking in? Is there anything wrong with the thermostat? I'd call someone else. It could be something simple or it might be time to replace the unit.
an air leak is easy to find if you use a recovery 30 gallon ac can you could put all the freon in there, than you vacuum out the system it your guages move up you have an air leak,use a dye to locate leaks or a sniffer,repair leak add the right amount of freon and you should be okay.the guy does not know what he is doing.my ac cools 5 degrees in 20 minutes.
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