What causes Air Conditioning refrigerant to leak?
Professional Air Conditioning Repairs
Have you ever been warned about an air conditioner leak? A refrigerant leak can increase your electricity bill and may incur huge repair bills later on. Freon flows through the pipes and tubes to transfer the heat from inside the house to the outside. So, what could be the reason for Freon leak?
Manufacturing defect – Humans put together machine parts, but sometimes mistakes can happen too. Certain joints may not have been aligned correctly, seal not installed correctly, welding defects, etc. Such type of manufacturing defect usually gets revealed in the first year of service itself. These early leaks can be fixed during the warranty period by the manufacturer. Get a qualified AC technician to find the defect, remove the affected area and replace it.
Wearing away – The service valves around the valve stems have rubber seals that can wear off over a period of time or due to leakage. The outside system can corrode and result in a leak in some of the assembled joints. Such leaks do not show up during the warranty period. A few of of these troubles can be fixed by just replacing the part, while parts that have been rusted may require a major repair. Sealing, repairing AC parts or replacing the corroded parts or wear and tear leaks can resolve the problem. It is usually expensive.
Hiring a Professional AC Contractor is Your Best Bet!
Pinhole leak – Formation of formic acid can eat the copper tube. These occur naturally and formation of formic acid can corrode other copper tubes in the system. Replacing this could be an expensive affair. Formation of formaldehyde gets accumulated on the copper tube and this leads to the formation of formic acid creating pinhole leaks in the tube. Leaks usually occur at the bends of the tube. Nowadays, manufacturers have switched to aluminum because it is not easily susceptible to corrosion.
Filter dryers – These are used to trap moisture in the system. If the dirt or trash gets into the components, it can lead to the freon leakage.
Vibration – The heat pump coils are held together by a metal tube sheet and because of vibration, the u-tube part of the coil keeps rubbing against the tube sheet. This can result in refrigerant leak. And when a technician uses heat to repair the leak in the coil, the heat can loosen up other parts of the coil and could lead to another leak.
Living with a leak will not help you save money. Instead, you can expect higher electricity bills and reduced freon will freeze up the system causing more damage. Contact a qualified AC technician to detect the cause of air conditioning refrigerant leaks and fix it.
