Is your heating and air conditioning system low on refrigerant? We're going to go over some symptoms that you can look out for as the homeowner to decide if your system is low on refrigerant. but before we do, if you don't know me my name is Josh and I host the HVAC guide for homeowners YouTube channel If you've never seen us, give us a subscribe for more heating and air tips. So let's dive into this. symptoms for heating and air systems: Heat pumps, Air conditioning systems that are low on refrigerant first systems that are taking a long time to reach temperature.

So what we would call long run times: Systems that are taking a longer length of time to reach temperature set point: One way to look at that is, if your system's low in refrigerant, it's struggling to have the same amount of capacity that it's rated for. And so it's got a longer run time to reach that temperature that you have it set for Number two: high utility bills. So if you've got A system that is running longer than it should You've Got A system that is drawing more energy and you got a higher electric bill because of it. A lot of times that might be a sign you have low refrigerant in that air conditioning system.

Number three: a low delta T or a low temperature difference from where the temperature goes in your return Grill to where it comes out of the supply. Most systems I want to see at least an 18 degree difference. If it's any lower than 18 degrees, you might be low on refrigerant, and you can simply take a thermometer, a meat thermometer out of your kitchen drawer, just some sort of thermometer that's going to measure that air temperature, measure the temperature that it's going in your return Grill and then measure where it's coming out of the supply. Now, one thing to keep in mind is there are other factors that could change that Delta T temperature one being If The duct work is compromised or not insulated well.

that could also affect your Delta T measurement, but you should be able to at least get that 18 degree delta T Measurement Another thing to mention little disclaimer is those infrared thermometers that have the little laser you shoot up there. Don't use those. Those are not giving you an accurate measurement of what that air temperature is and it's actually giving you the temperature of that surface that you're shooting that laser to, so it's not a good accurate representation of the temperature of the air. I've seen homeowners and other professionals use those laser thermometers and they're not a good tool to use for that particular purpose.

Hey guys Josh here I Wanted to take a quick moment from the video to thank our sponsor for this video. One of the questions I'm asked more than any other is what brand do we sell at Griffin Air and why do we sell it when I started Griffin Air We installed all the major brands and tried them all out before deciding to hang our hat on one particular brand. and that brand of course is Daikin It was important to me to do business with a brand that supports American jobs my dad actually works in an American Daikin Factory Second, choose a brand that would stand behind their products with the best warranties in the industry and third, choose the brand that was leading the industry in technology and products. But most importantly I wanted a brand that when we installed their products the customer becomes a stranger again and we don't hear back from them in a good way.

So thank you to Daikin for being the best for us at Griffinair and thank you for sponsoring this video Number Four Frost or build up on parts of the system. One of those parts being the copper line sets that you see go from the outdoor to the indoor unit. If you see any Frost or ice build up there, another place you could look is at the indoor unit if you see any sort of ice buildup. Some systems if the evaporator coil is starting to ice up or the meter tutoring device is starting to ice up, you'll even see eye starting to even build on the front of the indoor unit itself so that air handler cover will even start to get a little bit of condensation, maybe even a little bit of ice forming there.

So if you see any ice or Frost buildup anywhere on that system, chances are you may have low refrigerant and that plays right into our next one, which is low air flow coming out of your supply ducts. Why would that be a sign if your evaporator coil has frozen and frosted enough to where now it is impeding airflow from going through that system? We've seen evaporator coils that look like a big Iceberg because they've ran so long with low refrigerant and they've started to ice up and it continues to build up and build up to where now air can't pass through there. you put your hand over the vent, you feel little to no airflow out of your registers. Well, that might be a sign that that evaporator coil is iced up so bad bad from low refrigerant.

Next, let's talk about sounds. If you hear that system making some sort of sound that you've never heard before, Maybe it sounds like water trickling or some sort of hissing sound. Any sort of sounds that that system has never made before, you've never heard it? Make that before. It might be a sign that your system is now low on refrigerant.

It could obviously point to other things as well, but newer sounds could be a sign that you are low on refrigerant. Next, let's talk about a leak or some sort of condensation around your indoor unit. We've seen systems have puddles or some sort of leaking around that unit. Low refrigerant could be the calls.

Sometimes we'll even see systems that are in the vertical position. and what's happening is if that system is low on refrigerant, the condensation on the evaporator coil. instead of draining down that coil to the drain pan, it'll actually drip past the drain pan. And we've seen puddles around the units signs of some sort.

A leaking or condensation around that indoor unit may be a sign that you are low on refrigerant and then finally short cycling. If you've got a system that is turning on and off frequently, much more than it used to on and off. On and off. Short cycling like that, It may be a sign that that system is turning on.

it's starving for a refrigerant. The suction pressure drops so low that the low cutout switch turns the system off. and then once it turns off, the pressure starts to rise again and the system turns back on again. So a system turning on and off frequently like that and short cycling could be a sign that you are low on refrigerant.

So if you see any of these symptoms we've gone over, definitely call a professional more times than not. If that system is low on refrigerant, you're going to want to get a professional involved. Make sure it's repaired professionally and get a good permanent fix. but that's my list.

Have I missed any? Have you had symptoms before that pointed towards low refrigerant? Maybe we didn't cover in this video video? Please comment down below I'd love to hear about that. Thanks for watching Hit that subscribe button. We'll see you next time.