Lone Star Cooling and Heating
Get help with Refrigerant Leak Repair
Call Lone Star Cooling and Heating, have us call you, or describe the issue.
Prefer to talk?
Call (325) 219-0005Finding where a cooling system is losing refrigerant and repairing that spot, rather than refilling a system that will only run short again, with a straight answer on when the leak is worth fixing.
01Refrigerant leaks
Refrigerant cannot be seen escaping. These are the signs it leaves behind.
Refrigerant is not used up, so a system that has been topped up in the past has a leak that was never found. Unless that leak is located and repaired, the charge will keep dropping.
A slow leak shows up as a system that cools a little less each week and runs a little longer to do it. The charge is measured and, if low, the search for the leak begins.
A hiss or bubbling sound at the copper lines or either unit can be refrigerant escaping from a larger leak. A technician confirms it with leak-detection equipment rather than by ear.
Refrigerant carries oil through the system, and where it escapes, the oil is often left behind as a greasy stain. It is a useful clue to where a leak is.
02Repair or refill
Both put refrigerant back in the system. Only one keeps it there.
The leak is located, the damaged joint, valve or section is repaired or replaced, the system is evacuated to remove air and moisture, and then it is charged to the correct amount. It takes longer on the day, and it is the only approach that leaves the system sealed.
Refrigerant is added to bring cooling back, and the leak stays open. It can buy time for a system already due for replacement, but the charge will drop again, and the system repeats the cycle of fading cooling and extra strain on the compressor.
Refrigerant Leak Repair
Serving Abilene, TX.
03Where leaks happen
Where the leak is decides how it is repaired, and whether repairing it is worth it.
The small valves where gauges connect have cores and caps that can wear or loosen with age. A leak here is usually quick to repair.
Brazed joints, flare fittings and copper lines that rub against a wall or bracket can wear through or crack from vibration. Most can be reached and repaired in place.
Tiny corrosion pits in the tubes of the indoor coil are a common source of slow leaks and are rarely repairable. The usual answer is a new coil, which is where the repair-or-replace question tends to arise.
Weather, lawn equipment, hail and corrosion can all damage the tubes of the outdoor coil. Depending on where the damage is, the coil is repaired or replaced.
04When it decides
Most leaks are worth repairing. A few are the point where replacement makes more sense.
A leak at a valve, a fitting or a reachable joint is normally a contained repair on any system. The picture changes when the leak is in the indoor coil of an older system, when several leaks turn up at once, or when the system runs on a refrigerant that is no longer produced and has become scarce. Each of those adds cost to a repair on equipment that may not have many years left.
In those cases a technician can lay out both paths: the repair and what it restores, or replacement and what it changes. Either way, knowing where the refrigerant is going is the starting point, because a decision made without finding the leak is a guess.
05Questions
Because the refrigerant will escape again, and the system will lose cooling and efficiency as it does. Running short of charge also works the compressor harder. A recharge without a repair can make sense only as a stopgap while a replacement is planned.
With electronic detectors that sense refrigerant in the air, bubble solution brushed onto joints, dye added to the system and traced with a light, or by pressurizing the system with nitrogen and watching for a drop. Small leaks can take more than one method to pin down.
What the system is doing, when it started, what the thermostat is set to and what it reads, and whether the outdoor unit is running. The age of the equipment and a photo of its label help a technician arrive prepared.
Lone Star Cooling and Heating
Call Lone Star Cooling and Heating, have us call you, or describe the issue.
Prefer to talk?
Call (325) 219-0005