Refrigerant is absolutely essential to every air conditioner’s ability to move heat and cool your home in Yulee, FL. However, refrigerant leaks can undermine your AC system’s performance and directly damage the system itself. Here are some ways in which low refrigerant levels may harm your AC system:
Lower Performance
To cool your home, your AC system must send refrigerant to its evaporator coil, where it absorbs heat from your indoor air and evaporates. Then, the refrigerant flows to the system’s compressor, which heats and pressurizes it even further. Finally, the substance travels to the condenser coil, comes into contact with cooler air, condenses, and releases its heat outdoors.
The speed and effectiveness with which your AC system performs these actions depend on the system’s refrigerant level. This refrigerant level is called the air conditioner’s charge. If the charge is low, your system will perform poorly and work harder than necessary to transfer a given quantity of heat.
Compressor Damage
Less refrigerant means there will be less pressure in your AC system. However, manufacturers design compressors to operate at specific pressure levels. Running your air conditioner with the wrong pressure can strain the compressor or even cause it to fail.
Total Breakdown
The types of damage mentioned above, whether to your compressor specifically or to the AC system overall, may ultimately cause your air conditioner to completely break down. If this happens, you’ll need to pay for an AC replacement sooner than expected. This can be a major expense.
Refrigerant leaks are serious issues for your air conditioner. The substance itself is hazardous to breathe, and an insufficient amount of it in your AC system can cause significant problems. If you live around Yulee, FL, call Ed's Comfort Solutions today and request AC repair services to address this problem.
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