This year you might have called for service on your air conditioner and learned that it is not cooling well because its Freon level was low. Some customers call us every year stating they want us to fill up their air conditioner.
We just removed a 51 year old air conditioner that was still running and had never needed Freon its entire life! Freon is not a consumable item. If your air conditioner is low on Freon, it means you have a leak.
Your air conditioner may have either R-22 or R410a Freon. If your unit is older than 2010 chances are it has R-22. Problem is, R-22 is now super expensive and if your system is down, the cost to replace the Freon might be anywhere from $75.00-$400.00 depending on how low the Freon level is. Plus labor your bill can really skyrocket. To make matters worse, no new or imported R-22 will be allowed in the U.S. on or after Jan. 1, 2020. This mandate from the Federal government will cause R-22 pricing to become much worse.
As a professional company, our goal is to provide the information you need to better know and understand the options that might come up as your air conditioner is serviced in the future.
So what does the future hold for your R-22 air conditioner? Here are my recommendations.
- If in the past you have needed to have your air conditioner recharged, have the system professionally leak tested now and get the leaks fixed. We can find a leak in any system in less than one hour so the cost of finding the leak is far less than the cost of filling it up every year.
- If you have never had the Freon checked, get it checked. Freon level greatly affects efficiency and performance so even if your air conditioner is a little low, the proper adjustment will pay for itself in energy savings.
- Air conditioners do not consume freon so if found low it is because of a leak.
- If you have an R-22 system now and it needs major repairs, a better value might be to replace it with a new system using the current refrigerant R410a.
- Start addressing this now rather than waiting till your cooling stops working.