At 8 pm, while set on 78 it's 85. Assuming & hoping for a very small R22 leak.

Without a license can you even get R22? I see it's for sale on eBay.

What's a service call likely to total if I need say 2 - 3 pounds of refrigerant. Unit is 16 years old and if I replace it I'm wondering does it all get replaced and the estimates. 1,600 sq foot house in Conroe.

HollyB83 said:

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What's a service call likely to total if I need say 2 - 3 pounds of refrigerant. Unit is 16 years old and if I replace it I'm wondering does it all get replaced and the estimates. 1,600 sq foot house in Conroe.

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- $49 Service Fee + $100 ish per pound of Freon

www.ecozapphvac.com. We could have a tech there soon if needed.

R-22 units get the entire unit replaced, ( mix matching doesn't end up well)

I had 3 lbs added earlier this summer due to a small leak. It was about $350-400.

You can get R22 without a license, but only for resale or installation by a licensed tech. That's not to say you can't do it yourself, because once you have it no one will really know, but the EPA could always track you down if they decided to audit whoever sold it to you and then came to you.

As stated, mixing and matching doesn't work well. Units are designed and optimized for refrigerants. They can work because the underlying physics has not changed, but they will not work as well as they're supposed to. Think running your car's engine on the wrong oil weight. Will it work? Probably, but it will not perform as efficiently with a really heavy oil and it will probably wear much faster with too light of an oil.


Depending on the unit and how long you want to get out of it, you can try a stop leak. They're roughly $50 and easy to install. It's best to be done when your system is topped off because the freon is used to force the stop leak into the system. Otherwise you charge using the high side and lose a little. You might get a couple more years out of it, but there's no way to know for sure. I used one to get me through the summer and into September/October when I'll be shopping a new system. Seems to be doing fine right now.

- Crummy thing about r-22 is that is costs ~$30 a pound + Guy standing there time. Several or many lbs of R-22 kills more ozone than most ppl's cars will this year. + the already long Run times of old A/C systems...


( I think i heard Bryan is firing up the old Coal plant again, lots of energy old A/C system use )

Check air filters?

HollyB83 said:

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At 8 pm, while set on 78 it's 85. Assuming & hoping for a very small R22 leak.

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Holly,

Unless you're certain you've got a refrigerant leak, I might suggest you check a couple of things, if you already haven't.

1. On the outside unit, is the compressor running? Note, the compressor makes a deep, almost humming noise while its running. It is NOT the outside fan.

2. On the outside unit, is the fan running, and running the entire time the compressor is?


If the answer to either of those questions is 'no', you may have a very inexpensive electrical problem which can be fixed fairly quickly and easily (e.g. - contactor, capacitor, fan motor)

If the answer to both of those questions is 'yes', you may have a leak, which, unless it is very very small, will need to be repaired. In most cases (not all), the leak is in the evaporator coil, which is inside your inside air handler unit.

Given that the A/C guys are in their busy time of year, they won't cut you any breaks on replacing the coil right now, so be prepared to pay $1,200 - $2,000 to have it changed out, including the refrigerant.

Regarding R-22 Freon - the current bulk price is about $15/lb in 30lb bottles, and you would need EPA certification to purchase it legally, and some training and a few tools to install it correctly.

The reason contractors mark it up so much is because it's not cheap to send guys out in trucks to do A/C work.

But, there's a difference between shaving a man, which you can do every day, and scalping him, which you can only do once. Knowing that the raw materials cost/lb is $15, make sure you don't get scalped, and don't jump into buying an expensive, brand new system if all you want is a repair to your existing system.

Good luck.

This year is a bad year to have to replace any parts. Im on my third week waiting for a condenser coil due to a large leak in it. Lots of AC components are on backorder.

Thank you for the advice. I'll check it out. Maybe I could put in a leak detecting dye and see if I can find the source. I am fairly mechanical for a lady seeing as I have a mechanical engineering degree but not the hands on experience of dealing with house ACs. I remember looking at those entropy charts at A&M in thermodynamics but that was a while back and hardly translates to hands on skill with AC units. I did replace the condenser coil's on my car two months ago but that's not quite the same as a house.
I might see if an experienced handyman can assist - one who can possibly obtain the R22 and who has a vacuum pump and gauges although I'm not opposed to buying the latter.
Thanks again.

EastSideAg2002 said:

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This year is a bad year to have to replace any parts. Im on my third week waiting for a condenser coil due to a large leak in it. Lots of AC components are on backorder.

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- I mean depending on what type of coils.. we know where to find some


We have all sorts of coils & there's bumpy supply issue likely next year for those really thinking about playing the waiting over/under game.

Holly,

You've got better technical chops than I do.

I suspect you're in a hurry to fix that A/C, but if not, add EPA Certification to your bag of tricks. FWIW, I got certified by taking one class on a Saturday at a local technical college. They trained in the morning, and tested us in the afternoon.

I've used UV-dyes to find leaks before. Sometimes it's not so easy, and I've been tempted to spend a few bucks to buy a modern electronic detector.

I usually stop after I find the leak, and call in a pro to fix the leak I found or change out the coil. He's got the recovery unit, the vacuum pump, the nitrogen purge rig and the ox-acetylene torches to do what needs to be done.

I limit myself to electrical problems, and checking pressures with gauges. Yes, I have injected stop-leak products, but have had mixed results. It seems the leak really needs to be very small for them to be effective. But, when they do work, it's a cheap fix. I'll add refrigerant, too, but I'm not going to be irresponsible and waste it if I know there's a significant leak.

I'm a dinosaur, but I'm still a fan of R-22. I like the lower operating pressures (compared to say, R-410A) especially since I feel it increases system longevity. It's also easier to service.

Thanks!
I got home late and turned the AC on as I left it off for 6 hours and ran outside to listen for the compressor. I couldn't tell but my guess is it had already kicked in.
I got a temperature gauge and inserted it in the air outlet vent in my bedroom and after an hour the temperature gage read 68 (so certainly the compressor is working at least to some degree). The house was 82 and the outside temperature was 76. The outside unit said the maximum charge was 93 ounces but I'm sure you have to add more to account for the line length. I was outside with a flashlight but frustrated that I couldn't determine how many BTUs (or the tonnage of the unit). It's only a 1,600 square feet house and the unit is a Rheem manufactured in November 2003.
So apparently you can get your EPA license with a day of training and no purchased equipment. Useful information if nothing else to be able to purchase R22.

Mine does this every coupe of years during the first big heat surge. I'd start with these two things that can be done by yourself very cheaply.

Make sure your filters in the air handler are clean/replaced quarterly.
Turnoff the unit and spray down the coils on the outdoor unit (water is fine, just don't use anything higher pressure than the "shower" setting on one of the multistage hose end sprayers). Anything higher can damage/bend the coils. Start at the top of the coils and work your way down. You'd be surprised how dirty these can be if you haven't done it in over a year. These dirty coils inhibit the unit from being able to perform the heat exchange it needs to for cooling.

May need a lb or two of Freon too. Legally, a contractor can't add more Freon if there is a known leak so don't expect it happen more than once.

I changed air filters recently but took off the covers and my cooling fins were filthy so gently spray washed them inside and out. Ran out of daylight so will put the cover back on tomorrow and see if I notice a difference - either way they needed cleaning.
Thanks!

Last night at midnight (After a thorough cleaning of the cooling fins outside and having the AC off for 20 hours)
Outside 93; After 20 hours turned the AC on and the inside was 87 and the inside vent was 67

At 4:17 am the inside temp was 81

Today at 5:30 pm: outside temperature 99; Air vent 80; inside temperature 84 (The AC has probably been running nonstop from say 10 AM until 5:30 PM (set on 78)
**** I look outside at the high pressure line and the copper pipe is coated with about an eighth to a quarter of an inch of ice for the approximately 2 feet of exposed pipe.

Thoughts?

Holly...I'd be more than happy to have one of my techs come check it out for you? It sounds like you are low on freon...I own Enviromax Services and my office number is 713-466-7555 and my mobile is 832-347-0807...Jim Wolf class of '88

HollyB83 said:

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Last night at midnight (After a thorough cleaning of the cooling fins outside and having the AC off for 20 hours)
Outside 93; After 20 hours turned the AC on and the inside was 87 and the inside vent was 67

At 4:17 am the inside temp was 81

Today at 5:30 pm: outside temperature 99; Air vent 80; inside temperature 84 (The AC has probably been running nonstop from say 10 AM until 5:30 PM (set on 78)
**** I look outside at the high pressure line and the copper pipe is coated with about an eighth to a quarter of an inch of ice for the approximately 2 feet of exposed pipe.

Thoughts?

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Low freon

Thanks Rib-eye Rare! This chick is now EPA Section 608 Type 1 certified. When you're hot call me. It tool 6 hours between reading a 148 page manual and 50 question test and cost $24.95 and never expires.

So knowing R22 is banned for import and production in the USA in 2020, should I buy 15 pounds at $229 (free shipping) or get 5 pounds for $149 for 5 pounds (free shipping)? $15.93 per pound never using more that 3 pounds probably or
$28.80 per pound and have a commodity likely to rise in price and may come in handy or never used at all?

A mechanical engineer, this broad will unlikey use the extra 10 pounds.

HollyB83 said:

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Thanks Rib-eye Rare!

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You're very welcome.

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