In the warm summers of Southeast Virginia, heat can quickly build up in your rooms. To move that heat out of your home, your air conditioner or heat pump uses a fluid called refrigerant.
How Refrigerant Helps Cool You
When your cooling system is running, refrigerant flows continuously between the indoor and outdoor unit. It absorbs heat from the indoor air, flows outside to release that heat, then returns to the house to absorb more heat.
The fluid enters the outdoor unit as a hot, low-pressure gas carrying heat from your home. It passes through the compressor, which raises its pressure, then moves into the condenser coils. As it flows through these coils, it gives off the heat it carries and condenses back into liquid form.
It flows back indoors through copper tubes and passes through the
thermal expansion valve, where it rapidly loses pressure and cools further. The cold liquid enters the evaporator coil, absorbs heat from the air, and changes into a gas as it does so. From here, it heads back outside.
Ensuring Safety and Efficiency
Because your system doesn't use up refrigerant, the amount in the system falls only if there's a leak. Signs of leakage include:
- Low airflow from the air registers
- Warm or room-temperature air from the registers
- Increased time needed to cool the house
- Ice on your outdoor unit's copper lines
- An oily residue on the copper lines
If you think your system is leaking, contact a technician immediately to prevent damage to your components and further spread of this toxic fluid.
Cooling systems made before January 2010 use
HCFC-22 (R-22) refrigerant, whereas newer systems use R410-A. Older systems with leaks can be refilled with the old coolant, but supplies are decreasing because this coolant is no longer being made. To avoid higher repair costs and other issues in the future, as well as reduce your cooling costs, consider
upgrading to a more modern system.
To learn more about caring for your cooling system, get in touch with us at
Russell's Heating & Cooling in the Hampton Roads area of Southeast Virginia.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Chesapeake, Virginia and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about refrigerant and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 757-750-1831.
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