Is Your AC Keeping Your Home Cool?

It’s summertime, many peoples favorite season, and we enjoy all that entails; beach, pools, picnics, family outings, and much more. But after a day of being out in the heat, one thinks about the refreshing feeling of returning to the comfortable cool temperatures of home. That is until you come back indoors and find your AC unit is not working properly. When your AC unit works as it should, you likely don’t give it much thought. But when it’s not working you quickly realilze how uncomfortable your home can become and your AC becomes the front runner of your thoughts. Let’s examine one of the most obvious reasons your AC may not be doing it’s job.

Low Refrigerant Charge

One common issue that most homeowners deal with is a low refrigerant charge. Or Freon, as it’s commonly known. When your air conditioner is low on refrigerant, it loses the ability to transfer heat from inside your home to the outside. This usually occurs because of leaks along the line or in the compressor. Now the air blown over your AC coils will no longer cool properly, so your vents will start to circulate warm air through your home.

Here are 6 signs of low refrigerant:

1. Refrigerant usually evaporates as it escapes, so you won't notice any dripping. Instead, possibly the first sign you'll see of the loss of refrigerant will be frost over the indoor coils.

2. Noise coming from the AC unit in the form of a hissing or bubbling sounds. This is indicting a leak or puncture in the hoses.

3. The temperature in your home is not reaching the temperature your thermostat is set on.

4. The unit maybe be working in overdrive to reach the desires temperature. Therefore your electric bill is higher than normal. Comparing your electric bills month-to-month and year-to-year can help you identify issues with your HVAC unit .

5. Water leaking around heater. When the ice that accumulates on the refrigerant lines melts, then water can puddle up near the furnace. This water can then drip to the floor or into the furnace. You should never see water on the floor near your furnace.

6. Vents are not blowing cool air. Warm or lukewarm air blowing through the vents could indicate many different issues, but low refrigerant could be one of the causes.

Don’t let these and other HVAC issues ruin your summer. Get your energy bill and AC under control and back to normal by calling Brinson and Sons today. We are here awaiting your call and ready to help. (910) 763-3550