Low freon

[gcherry]

I had my unit serviced today for the first time since we built the house 7 years ago and I have a question regarding freon level.

Quick background: This past winter the outside unit started heavily frosting over and just thought I would wait until the spring to have a complete service clean and look over. A few days ago I went to replace the indoor filters and notice that water was dripping from the a-frame (it's a heat pump split unit) onto the floor under the unit, it was not going into the drain pan that the a-frame coil sits inside of. The tech cleaned the outside unit with an acid spray, checked all the wiring, and then moved inside. He stated that the indoor coils were clean and did not recommend cleaning them. We turned the unit on and he noticed the freezing up of the coils, which he stated as the reason I was seeing the dripping. He then checked the pressure (freon) levels and he told me the unit was holding about half of what it should. He added freon, checked that the register was showing a temp of 65 degrees, and told me he thought that would fix the problem.

Everything seems to be working better now, extremely cooler in the house now that it is working at full capacity with the freon level. My question is, is it normal to lose freon in the 7+ years that I've had it, esp. since I've never had it serviced?

[amd]

No - there's most likely a leak which needs to be fixed.

[catmanacman]

a system that has lost half its charge the tech should have done a leak search over 90 percent of the time its the indoor coil it probably will quit cooling before end of summer

[menaphnx]

The leak needs to be Found.

[airprokennett]

air conditioning units do tend to leak over time, some sooner than others.although i wonder about the 65 degree reading coming out the register. what was the outdoor temp on this day?

[chadakaira]

The leak needs to be Found.

Well I had a longer explination but then thought about the rules

[chadakaira]

[QUOTE=gcherry;3332542]I had my unit serviced today /QUOTE]

No kidding? Me to AWSOME!! high 5 my man!!!

[gcherry]

air conditioning units do tend to leak over time, some sooner than others.although i wonder about the 65 degree reading coming out the register. what was the outdoor temp on this day?

The outdoor temp was in the mid to upper 70's

[gcherry]

The outdoor temp was in the mid to upper 70's

And another thing . . . I assisted the tech in placing the thermostat in the ceiling vent, since I am quite a bit taller then him, before going out and recharging the unit. After he added freon to the unit and allowing it to run for a while he stated that when we pull the thermostat we should see a reading of 65, and he was right on the money.

[beenthere]

And another thing . . . I assisted the tech in placing the thermostat in the ceiling vent, since I am quite a bit taller then him, before going out and recharging the unit. After he added freon to the unit and allowing it to run for a while he stated that when we pull the thermostat we should see a reading of 65, and he was right on the money.

Thats not the right way to charge or check the charge of an A/C.

It couold still be undercharged, or now, even over charged.

[gcherry]

Thats not the right way to charge or check the charge of an A/C.

It couold still be undercharged, or now, even over charged.

He did hook up a pressure gauge to the lines and was able to show me the current reading (low), before adding freon, and what it read after afterwards.

[beenthere]

He did hook up a pressure gauge to the lines and was able to show me the current reading (low), before adding freon, and what it read after afterwards.

Can't tell if its charge right by the pressure alone.
Need to check line temps also.

So your system could be over or under charged.

[Iceman666]

should have checked superheat