How to Add Freon to Your Central Air Conditioner

It is very easy for you to find out if your central air conditioner is running out of Freon. Basically, your unit won’t be able to cool your house the same way that it did in the past. If you find yourself sweating more than usual and you’ve already cranked up the air conditioner, most probably you need to add Freon to the unit. One warning though, adding Freon will release some of the fumes. Freon is considered as a noxious gas. You do not want to inhale the material. Keep kids out of the house when you are changing the refrigerant of your air conditioning unit.

Step 1 - Know Your Refrigerant

Your air conditioner won’t be able to work properly if you add a type of refrigerant that is incompatible with your unit. To find out what refrigerant you should purchase, you can always take a look at your unit’s manual or consult your local dealer.

Step 2 - Prepare

Adding Freon to your unit can be a risky task. For this matter, make sure that you wear your protective gears starting from the gloves, to the mask and goggles.

Step 3 - Find the Compressor

You need to find your unit’s compressor for you before you are able to add the refrigerant. To do so, locate from your user manual the compressor of your air conditioning unit. You will know that the structure is the compressor because it is cylindrical and has two lines coming out of it.

Step 4 - Know the Freon Kit

Open up the Freon kit and take a lot at the contents. Basically, you will find the Freon container and two valves. The bigger valve is called the service valve. The smaller valve is known as the tap valve. The two valves have to be attached to the two lines found in the compressor of your unit. To do this, follow the instructions included in your Freon kit.

Step 5 - Set Up the Air Conditioning Unit

Once you are able to attach the different valves to the unit, you need to make sure that the air conditioner is set to draw the Freon. To do this, turn the air conditioning unit to its highest level. This will allow the Freon to be inserted properly into the unit.

Step 6 - Add the Freon

Now that the air conditioning unit is prepared to draw the refrigerant, you can add Freon into your compressor lines. Take the refrigerant container found in your Freon kit. Attach the Freon kit in between the two valves that you have just installed. Make sure that you follow the instructions attached with your Freon kit in doing so. Because you have set air conditioner to its highest, the Freon in the container will be forced into the system. Once the system has finished drawing all the Freon, turn off the unit. Remove the valves.